is for Aromatherapy–
makes scents to me!

The smell of a thing is rarely forgotten. The aroma of cinnamon and molasses may transport you to your grandmother’s kitchen (for me it’s Parmesan cheese and parsley); the cedar chest where she kept her linens; the sandalwood incense she burned in the Buddha dish; sitting in her lap and breathing her sweet smell …

The inspirational speaker and writer Helen Keller, robbed of vision and hearing as a child, became so aroma-sensitive that she could guess the occupation of passers-by. Olfactory experiences may be fleeting and mystical like a daydream, but their effect is sustained and unforgettable. Some researchers believe this phenomenon is caused by odor “imprinting,” wherein certain aromas remind us of people, places, or things. Each person is born with their own personal smell-print, and odors seem to affect our memory and perhaps even our learning processes. The sense of smell is of such evolutionary significance that the cerebral hemispheres of the brain were once mere buds on the olfactory stalks.

Our Sense of Smell and How It Works

Strategically located over the mouth, where it can survey all substances that enter, the nose reacts to gaseous molecules carried on the air. We need only eight molecules of an airborne substance to trigger an impulse in one of the exposed nerve endings, but forty nerve endings must be stimulated before we actually smell anything. Unlike other neurons (nerve cells) in the body, many of which are injured or destroyed over time, these cells are replaced every thirty days or so.

Our sense of smell is ten thousand times more sensitive than our sense of taste, and about 80 percent of what we “taste,” we really smell. We can actually taste only four flavors—sweet, sour, salty, and bitter; some researchers add alkaline and metallic to the list, and the foodies among us add pungent and golden. Everything else we call a flavor is really an odor. The average sheepdog can smell forty times better (and more) than we can!

The effect of smell is immediate and potent. Smells trigger powerful images and emotions before we even have time to consider them. The smell of a person, place, or thing triggers an electrical signal, which moves directly to an ancient part of the brain called the rhinencephalon, literally the “nose-brain.” The rhinencephalon is part of the limbic system, where all basic life processes are regulated, such as heartbeat, respiration, body temperature, and blood-sugar levels; it is the brain center where memories are activated and is part of a primitive network of nerves that govern the fight-or-flight response, as in “the smell of danger,” as well as sexual impulses. In some places—Borneo, Burma, and India, for example—the word for kiss means “smell.” A kiss can certainly be thought of as kind of prolonged smelling, and it has been observed that frequent prolonged smelling seems to make men’s beards grow faster.

If your partner ever comes back from four days of elk camp, all tired and dragged out, and mistakenly says “it’s good to smell you” instead of “see” you, well, maybe he really meant it! The so-called chemistry between lovers could be considered a response to acceptable pheromones, or specialized aromatic chemicals secreted by one individual that affects the sexual physiology of another. It’s a well-known phenomenon that a male moth will fly for miles on the wind of a single ripe female in order to mate. An experiment was once conducted in a waiting room where a chair was doused with male sex hormones. Men tended to avoid the chair, while women took the seat much more often.

Scent Classification

Most classification systems seek to relate the effect of scent on emotions, while others classify scents by the similarities of their aromas. The response to scent is so subjective, it is difficult to duplicate any anticipated results in a lab. One system developed by a perfumer several years ago is based on emotional responses. Naturally, many plants fall into more than one category.

Sex-stimulating aromas are usually wax- or fat-based, which when undiluted can be fairly unpleasant but when diluted “bloom” into low, sweet, deep, or warm fragrances suggestive of body heat. Musk, ambergris, and civet are examples; unfortunately for the animals, very few plants carry this effect, but synthetics are available that often come close.

Intoxicating fragrances, such as jasmine and ylang ylang, are usually floral, sweet, heady, and soft. They create languor and relaxation, dulling the senses and slowing reactions. In excess, they can cause headache or nausea.

Refreshing aromas have a sharp, clean, high, and piercing quality, such as mint, lavender, evergreen, citrus, and camphor. These scents stimulate and awaken, and large amounts can clear the sinuses. Rosemary and eucalyptus are other examples.

Stimulating aromas are similar to refreshing but tend to be more bitter, dry, or spicy in quality; woods, mosses, seeds, roots, resins, and some leaves fall into this category. They are said to invoke intellectual and physical stimulation. Mint and eucalyptus are included in this category (as mentioned, some plants fall into more than one category), as are bergamot and other citrus fruits, and the fruit of black peppercorns.

Another classification system is based on fragrance quality or effect on emotions and physical sensations, and takes an either/or approach. For example, is a fragrance faint or intense, fresh or stale, sharp or dull, robust or feeble, pungent or bland?

While most aromas are subjectively described, there are some that most agree fall into certain categories, such as wintergreen: most folks will agree that it is “cool,” but it is also “bright,” “intense,” and “animated.” And when it comes to the smell of patchouli, opinions also are intense and animated—people either love it or hate it. I think a little goes a long way.

Perfume and Other Aromatics

The ancient art of perfumery has been practiced in one form or another for perhaps 25,000 years. The word perfume comes from the Latin words per fumum, meaning by or through smoke, and perfume initially referred to incense. Quite often, scented products were reserved for religious rituals. By offering pleasant odors to the gods—by burning incense—the use of aroma to induce altered states of consciousness became incorporated into rituals and religious ceremonies the world over. By inhaling the burning fumes of sacred plants, incense is thought to inspire one’s mind to devotion. The ancient Hebrews burned incense in honor of Astarte, Queen of Heaven. Myrrh was burned at the Greek festival honoring the handsome youth Adonis, said to have been born of a myrrh tree. According to Mrs. M. Grieve in A Modern Herbal, the ancient Greeks wrote of anointing all the parts of the body with different scents, such as mint on the arms, cinnamon, rose, or palm oil on the jaws and chest, and almond oil on the hands and feet. Indeed, the first gifts to the infant Jesus were incense, and he was later anointed Christos with precious scented oils, some say by Mary Magdalene. Also known as olibanum, frankincense has historically been burned to drive out negativity and is still used in some rites of the Catholic Church. Myrrh, once used as a preservative in wine, also purifies the environment.

The most renowned perfumers in history were the Egyptians, whose complicated and mysterious incense known as Kyphi is said to be intoxicating, bringing on religious ecstasy. The Egyptian goddess-queen Cleopatra, a serious perfume devotee, was said to have met her lover Marc Antony on a barge made of fragrant cedar and perfumed sails, her palace floors spread knee-deep with rose petals. Many ancient temples and palaces were built of fragrant cedarwood, partly because it is a natural insect repellent. Islamic mosques had rose water and musk incorporated into the building mortar. Another aromatic wood used for buildings and for making ritual accoutrements is sandalwood, or santal, of which there is a red and a yellow or white variety; each are said to possess very high spiritual vibrations.

Healthful Aromas

In the ancient traditions of Greece, Rome, India, and the Far East, medications and perfumes were one and the same; both were thought to have medicinal properties. Even today, breathing the forest air deep into your lungs is still good medicine, at least energetically.

Many aromatic plants can be burned for therapeutic benefits. Juniper gives off disinfectant fumes said to destroy airborne fungi; it was once burned in hospital rooms and is most often used during winter. Spruce is another evergreen burned for clearing the air of airborne illness, and so is pine, while cedar is noted for helping clear head colds. Smoke from mullein is especially healing to the lungs; it is a disinfectant and has a long history of pulmonary use. Rosemary, one of the oldest incenses, is a powerful cleansing and purifying smoke, both physically and psychically. Birch twigs, leaves, or bark can also be burned in the same manner. If you are sensitive to smoke, all these plants can be made into a strong “tea” and simply simmered in an open pan or slow cooker (the mini versions are great for this), or run the strained tea through a vaporizer to release the healthful qualities.

I find it very practical to keep a bottle of lavender essential oil around. The aroma is both relaxing and refreshing, and I often add a few drops (not droppers) to the wash and rinse cycle of my washing machine for fresh-smelling laundry; it really does smell clean (and I use unscented laundry soap). Spruce essential oil is nice to use when mopping floors; just add a few drops to a bucket of warm water (or directly on the sponge) and mop away. I like it better than pine, although a small piece of pitch from either tree smells great when melted on the wood-burning stove.

Into the Mystic

Several different herbs are burned for their healing influence, and this means psychic as well as physical. Some of these herbs include cinnamon, hops, lavender, sage, thyme, and most resins and evergreen trees. Some herbs are combined to burn at a certain phase of the moon or time of year. Traditionally, wormwood has been burned on the summer solstice, as has St. John’s wort. Rosemary is sometimes burned to bless a new home or for cleansing the atmosphere after a great turmoil. Broom flowers have been burned to calm the wind. Laurel leaves are burned to enhance divination, as in the Greek oracle at Delphi.

When creating fragrance blends, you are actually creating moods. When crafting fragrances for ritual or ceremony, these herbs and resins are blended for their vibrational qualities as much as for their aromas. As a focal point during meditation, we can burn incense or natural-scented candles to enhance the atmosphere. Many of us are familiar with Native American smudge sticks crafted from wild sage, which are burned to purify the human aura, the room or immediate surroundings, and to send prayers. It is not difficult to see that incense has been burned throughout the ages and for many purposes. As mentioned above, if you are sensitive to smoke, you can make a very acceptable and fragrant herbal vapor and accomplish the same thing. Besides, the most important thing in the spirit world is intention, and all the books and guides about magical herbalism or aromatherapy in the world don’t mean squat if the scent or smoke from a sacred herb makes you want to hurl!

The following incense recipe is very easy and similar to one found in A Book of Pot-pourri by Gail Duff. Please don’t let the kids get ahold of the potassium nitrate (also known as saltpeter).

Lavender-Stem Incense

Remove flowers from dried lavender stems and save for another use. Soak the stems in a water/potassium nitrate bath, 1 cup water to 1 tablespoon potassium nitrate, for 30 minutes. Remove from solution and dry completely on paper towels. Place the end of a stick in an incense holder or a jar of dry sand and light. They will burn slowly like incense. Do not leave unattended.

Take all necessary precautions with any burning object, whether they are candles, herbs, or incense, and be sure to place them on flameproof dishes, perhaps in a bit of sand.

The following books are a good place to start if you’d like to read more about aromatherapy, natural scents, magical herbalism, and our never-ceasing-to-amaze human physiology:

• A Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman

• Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs and The Complete Book of Incense, Oils & Brews by Scott Cunningham

• Healthy Pleasures by Robert Ornstein & David Sobel

• Herbs & Things by Jeanne Rose

• Human Anatomy and Physiology by John W. Hole, Jr. (my old college text)

• In the Shadow of the Shaman by Amber Wolfe

• Potpourri: The Art of Fragrance Crafting by Louise Gruenberg

• The Art of Aromatherapy by Robert Tisserand

• The Encyclopedia of Herbs & Herbalism, Malcolm Stuart, ed.