A 'wunderkammen' Fragrant: The Secret Life of Scent author, Mandy Aftel teaches is a 'cabinet of wonders'; forerunners of the first Natural History museums. A 'Book of Secrets' she continues, is a forerunner to the modern cookbook or herbal grimoire. Fragrant is all this and more- an expansion of tale, personal perspective and DIY recipes of Essence and Alchemy to academic levels; each chapter offering a blend for solid, oil and alcohol perfumes as well as edibles and vintage formulations. Mandy's book of secrets, is one of revelation- using olfactory, psychological,literary, historical, medicinal and spiritual markers to point toward a singularity: fragrance. Working with archetypical aromas cinnamon, mint, frankincense, ambergris and jasmine- Mandy uses aroma as muse and guide into an exceptionally well documented unfolding of the human experience.
Merchants of the bazaar have always placed the pleasing and profitable within view and scent range of the passers-by… hidden within tents and spoken of in a language all its own were aromatic treasures, alchemical Books of Secret and the workings of things occult. Mandy's own book of secrets, Fragrant, is one of revelation- including a bibliography, notes and sources section which could leave one in an ongoing inter-library loan relationship for life back in the day before the internet. It is this Notes section I would like to offer as a means of hunting, of 'bringing back the goods.'
Illustration for Cinnamon in Fragrant the Secret Life of Scent
Each chapter's quotes are dutifully noted- each an emotional trigger which brings you to scent. Chapter II is Cinnamon, appealing to our sense of adventure, as perhaps every heroic myth is begun. It is also within the mythic framework when this staple has, alternately through time, been the cause of war, but of poetry and brings us to the treasure of “The Cinnamon Peeler's Wife” by Michael Ondaatje, something based on but beyond the simple explanation of cinnamon essential oil.
Mandy Aftel at "Home" Photo:Mandy Aftel
Chapter III presents Mint and the scent of home. Nothing could hold more true for me as I grew up in the Yakima Valley in Washington state where mint is still an indigenous way of life. “Home is the source of all art,” Aftel cites poet Charles Keeler when describing her own Berkeley Bohemia. Within moments, the poet and I are both entwined in our mutual aromatic history
Elevating 'home' to the divine with Frankincense, Chapter IV , gives perhaps the most poignant example of how fragrance has changed the course of humanity; Mandy delves into Kabbalistic/Old Testament exchanges of blood sacrifices for incense: “..sacrifice is a two way street… we breathe in what we burn… and are thus inspired.” One could, by navigation of emotional response, search through topics in the book as one takes an aromatic journey by visceral reaction to the presentation of perfuming materials. “Trees are sanctuaries.” A quote from Hermann Hesse might resonate with the Druid and the botanist alike- uniting them in the transcendent nature of frankincense. Those searching for something more tangible will find as much inspiration in the note for 'A formula for incense… Bare Boughs” from Perfumery Technology: Art: Science: Industry (Billot & Wells) as the many utilitarian yet technically beautiful compositions Mandy has offered. Quotes from Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen in the same chapter bring musicians, while the works of James McHugh and E.E. Slosson call to the spiritualist, philosopher and hallucinogenic alike.
The Boat of Foolish Smells from Fragrant The Secret Life of Scent
Chapter V is about the obscure, unknown, animalics and perhaps unintentional commentary on the beauty which only age and 'rough waters' can provide, Ambergris. We visit again the indelicacies of fragrance, the harvesting of animalic raw materials such as Civet, Castoreum, African Stone, and Musk may not be for the squeamish.
Reaching Chapter VI, a discussion of beauty iconized by Jasmine, we are indeed seduced by her sensuality, if not unfathomed history of the flower, itself. "Without Jasmine there is no perfume". Mandy Aftel does not rest at simple, ordinary beauty- revealing another secret- indoles. James McHugh explains their putrid importance from an Indian treatise on perfume: “…a perfume should be like a well-run kingdom, 'with the correct balance of allies… and enemies."
Illustration from Fragrant the Secret Life of Scent
From Sinners (Charles Baudelaire) to Saints (Saint Augustine), our primordial fifth sense has guided us through our evolution. The secret behind the illustrated book in your hands is Mandy Aftel has no secrets- she has given you keys to a kingdom of scented treasures from the beginning of written history. Her own kingdom is comprised of a multiplicity of realms both within the text of Fragrant, and the myriad routes Mandy has traveled to bring this wunderkammern of raw materials, exotic tales of our human folly and fortune, a card catalog of further works to pursue- not because Aftelier Perfumes is her creation, but because fragrance, itself, is her purposed passion.
"Smell me.” -Michael Ondaatje
Disclosure: I purchased my book at The Institute of Art and Olfaction October 16, 2014.
The kit includes .5ml cinnamon essential oil, .5ml spearmint essential oil, .5ml jasmine tincture, .25 ml ambergris tincture and 1 piece of frankincense
We have a draw for The Companion Kit which was generously sent to our Editor in Chief by Riverside Publishing. Michelyn believes that to best experience FRAGRANT The Secret Life of Scent, it is 'essential" to have the five heros of the book: Cinnamon, Spearmint, Jasmine, Frankincense and Ambergris at your side. We have one kit for a US Reader. To be eligible please tell us what you enjoyed about Einsof's review and if you are planning to read the book. The Smell-A-Long Kit is available on Aftelier.com for purchase at $25 USD. You can also buy a signed copy of FRAGRANT on Mandy's site. Draw closes November 3, 2014 and there is no spilled perfume.
–Einsof, West Coast Contributor