The Magic of Scent

Why is scent so powerful? Why are men and women so drawn to perfume, cologne, essential oils, and especially to certain scents that evoke and invoke some ancient feeling within us, make us feel safe and loved, and unite us with the past as well as some unforeseen future we have yet to meet?

Our sense of smell bypasses our modern brain and connects right to our limbic brain, our ancient brain that has no capacity for language but knows everything about love, magic, sex, happiness, joy, sadness, grief, pain. The Big Feelings all reside in our limbic brain. When we smell our mother’s signature perfume, even decades after she’s gone, we’re transported and it’s real. Our brain is triggered in a way that we can’t even explain. And yet, we’re moved.

Scent moves us. Spirit can even reveal itself to us in the form of scent. This has happened to me before, when an entire room fills with a specific scent that was not there before I entered and is gone before I leave.

The magic of scent is our subconscious connection to our deepest self. I’d go so far as to say our sense of smell has been with us for lifetimes. Here’s the real magic kicker to this scent story: Spirits recognize scents. Some ancient smells like frankincense, myrrh, neroli, rosemary, lavender, rose, and jasmine are powerful signals to our friends and guides on the Other Side. They come when they smell the timeless scents, which is why it’s so critical to understand what those scents mean to spirit so we blend them in thoughtful and significant ways. When I do the ancient work of perfuming, this is what I do: I engage the scents on their terms, and practice mindful blending of them to draw the spirits to the scents who will carry them on the wind and manifest my intuition for each perfume once it leaves my hands and finds its way to you, you who will enjoy the benefits of my creation.

Scent is like magic; it’s as old as time.
I teach sacred perfumery in my Magical Sabbatical where we do the work of ancient scent combining each season in the form of sacred perfumes, smudge sprays, incense blends, and more. So fun for me to pass on this knowledge and the Old Ways to others who seek and benefit from them.

Enjoy your sense of smell, beloved spirit. It connects you with All Time.
And so it is,
Athena