White Lotus Aromatics Newsletter - Incense in Literature, January 1, 2004
NewsNeNwsNNewsletter Archive ewsl
Incense in Literature
Dear Friends-
Suzanne and I hope that all of you are enjoying some relaxing time as we begin the New Year. We have just returned from visiting my mom in the Pacific Northwest where we enjoyed many nice hikes near the small town where she lives, Port Angeles.
The weather was cool and fresh, with alternating periods of sun, rain and a bit of snow. It was exhilarating being out amongst the fine glories of nature in the form of rivers, mountains, lakes, trees and other quiet wonders. The beauty of nature in the winter is no less than any other time. Bundled up in warm jackets, hats, gloves and boots, one can roam about freely and take into the heart impressions that are sweet and deep. Added to that was the simple joy of walking with my mom, her Welsh coorgi, and Suzanne-such companionship greatly adds to the warmth and happiness of such simple times.
The next series of newsletters will concern itself with the use of various commonly used words that relate to the world of olfactory perception. As all of you know the deeper enjoyment and appreciation of any subject which is dear to the heart increases as we find new avenues of exploration and we refine our own understanding of it. Sometimes in life we find a subject which naturally holds our attention and whether it becomes part of our professional life or simply something we pursue as a means of relaxation, inspiration, creative activity, we need to find new ways to interact with it to keep our sense of wonder and awe, alive and fresh. This can take on a variety of forms according to our own natural propensities.
Those of us who have been enchanted by the world of natural aromatics in the form of essential oils, CO2 extracts, absolutes, attars, etc have endless olfactory adventures before us whether our main avenue of approach is through natural cosmetics, natural perfumery, aromatherapy, quality control analysis, or any other discipline. There is even an extensive body of literature existing regarding this intriguing world of aromas, but one has to be willing to "sniff it out" as description of non-visible phenomenon is significantly less that visible phenomenon. They type of feelings and emotions that fragrances evoke though are certainly powerful ones and writers who have been so bold as to write about them have often opened charmed casements into worlds that are well worth exploring and are often very closly connected with the most precious experiences in life.
For those of who are in one way or another involved with aromatics as a profession-one of the great challanges is to find words to describe, for our customers and colleagues, attributes of our products. You cannot for instance hold up a bottle of Jasmin grandiflorum absolute and easily describe its qualities. One does need to describe the essence however imperfectly but it will only as much power as our actual experience of the plant, the people who tend it, the people who harvest, our personal interaction with it-many of these things cannot be included in the actual description yet influence the way we feel about it and that more total awareness goes into what we have to say on the subject. If any subject is very dear to our heart we do find ways to increase our sensitivity to it. Literature in which others have brought this intangible world of aromas into the tangible can be a great help in this. Here for instance are a few short quotes on Jasmine.
There was a scent of jasmine in a shrubbery, and one I know thrilled with joy, not for the jasmine’s scent but for all there was—for the light in a window, a memory, the whole of life. He was called away from the jasmines after, but he had been paid
beforehand for that little mishap.
Knut Hamsun A Wanderer Plays on Muted Strings
Stephen mastered the little hand that was straying toward the table, and touched it lightly with his lips. Little Lucy felt very proud and happy. She and Stephen were in that stage of courtship which makes the most exquisite moment of youth, the
freshest blossom-time of passion,—when each is sure of the other’s love, but no formal declaration has been made, and all is mutual divination, exalting the most trivial word, the lightest gesture, into thrills delicate and delicious as wafted jasmine scent. The explicitness of an engagement wears off this finest edge of susceptibility; it is jasmine gathered and presented in a large bouquet.
George Eliot The Mill on the Floss
Jeanne looked out over the long, undulating surface that seemed to slumber beneath the heavens. All the fragrance of the earth was in the night air. The odor of jasmine rose from the lower windows, and light whiffs of briny air and of seaweed were wafted from the ocean.
Guy de Maupassant Une Vie
Fine literature often helps us to awaken to distant worlds, past times, and new places that are related to a particular plant and its scent. These new inner vistas that appear before our inner eye are at once new and fresh yet often famailiar. It is something like looking at a famaliar landscape that has been washed with rain or covered in snow. If in our heart there is a place where we can recieve these gifts that come to us from men and women, known and unknown, who have shared their thoughts with us-then our own treasure of perception becomes greatly enhanced.
As our heart becomes richer and richer with the inner appreciation and understanding of the things which are dear to our hearts-then the power of those qualities will go into whatever we do surrounding that subject.
So today we will begin our explorations with the word "incense". In the newsletters to come we will take up, "aroma, perfume, fragrance, odor, smell". I hope this literary adventure will be as interesting for you as has been for me.
With kindest regards-
Christopher
Before starting here are a few things to note:
Lavender Kashmir has just arrived
The organic Kashmir Lavender essential oil has just arrived(8 liters) This is the most popular of all the lavenders that we offer. If you require it then this is a good time to order. 8 liters will last anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months depending on the mysterious ordering patterns of you, our customers.
Frangipani and Rosa bourbonia absolutes are on the way
Many of you ordered the Frangipani and Rosa bourbonia absolutes from South India and I ran out of stock. I received word from the extractor that the consignment was sent on Tuesday. So it means that it should arrive next week. If you ordered the above-chances are very good that I have your order registered-but it would not hurt to remind me.
Some General News
1. For those of you who keep up with such things, the $US continues to decline against the Euro. In practical terms what this means is that the price of the essential oils, organic or otherwise coming out of those countries who base their currency on the Euro, continues to go up. This further translates into rising prices for all of us who are direct sourcing from those countries. I have a good stock of most of the organic oils right now but they will go up again when I next order which will probably be in March or April.
2. A new law went into effect in December which affects those of us who are importing essential oils directly. This concerns the Food and Drug Administrations Bioterroism Act of 2003. In effect what it says is that any company in the USA that is selling a product which can be used in food preparations and is importing them directly has to register as a food facility(whether the product itself is going to be used for oral consumption) Not only does the company importing have to register but all the companies overseas selling the products have to register. So in accordance with that law, we have registered White Lotus Aromatics. And the distillers we are working with in Africa, Madagascar, India, Nepal, etc have done the same. But we have been warned that it may make for longer times for receiving the goods. So those of you requiring essential oils in larger quantities need to be aware of this so I can plan purchases accordingly.
Word Associations
STICK OF ; burn incense; Syrian incense smokes; fresh incense; burned incense, unlimited incense, incense sweet. burning branches of incense, air rich and heavy with incense, smoking incense. reek of incense, holy cloud of incense, offer incense, incense-breathing myrrh, frail column of incense, two incense-bearers, wreathed incense, curling incense, vapor of the incense, fumes of incense, fumes of incense. power of incense, air thickened with incense, incense laden, over–powering fumes of idolatrous incense, incense-burning altars, faint incense rising upward, heavy resinous incense, evening sacrifice of incense, amid the incenseof the flowers, sweet savour of incense, odor of incense, priests perfumed the coffin with incense, incense-bearing tree, drowsy with incense, luscious incense, mystic’s incense, incense from the shrine of a barbarian idol, faintly phosphorescent blue incense, blue smoke of the rising incense, pious incense, costly incense, Arabian incense, sacred incense, whiff of incense, smelt a sweet–scented vapour and incense–odour, incense filled the air, encircled in misty clouds of incense, hung like incense on the air, purge with incense every cranny of the air, incense mingling, morning incense, Thick, luminous smoke of incense filled the nave, heav'nly incense, temple incense, grain of incense upon
the fragile altar
In Literature
Presently the magician brought out from his breast pocker a casket, which he opened, and drew from it all he needed of incense. Then he fumigated and conjured and adjured, muttering words none might understand. And the ground straightway clave
asunder after thick gloom and quake of earth and bellowings of thunder. Hereat Aladdin was startled and so affrighted that he tried to fly, but when the African magician saw his design, he waxed wroth with exceeding wrath, for that without the lad his work would profit him naught, the hidden hoard which he sought to open being not to be opened save by means of Aladdin. So, noting this attempt to run away, the magician arose, and raising his hand, smote Aladdin on the head a buffet so sore that
well-nigh his back teeth were knocked out, and he fell swooning to the ground. But after a time he revived by the magic of the magician, and cried, weeping the while: "O my uncle, what have I done that deserveth from thee such a blow as this?" Hereat the
Maghrabi fell to soothing him, and said: "O my son, 'tis my intent to make thee a man. Therefore do thou not gainsay me, for that I am thine uncle and like unto thy father. Obey me, therefore, in all I bid thee, and shortly thou shalt forget all this travailand toil whenas thou shalt look upon the marvel matters I am about to show thee."
Sir Richard Burton The Arabian Nights ALADDIN; OR, THE WONDERFUL LAMP
But the first morning of the new life! A perfect combination of invigorating elements. The cloudless sky, the clear air, the shining sea, the green folded slopes of Tam o’ Shanter Point opposite, the cleanliness of the sand, the sweet odours from the
eucalypts and the dew-laden grass, the luminous purple of the islands to the south-east; the range of mountains to the west and north-west, and our own fair tract-awaiting and inviting, and all the mystery of petted illusions about to be solved! Physic was never so eagerly swallowed nor wrought a speedier or surer cure.
Feebleness and dismay vanished with the first plunge into the still sleepy sea, and alertness and vigour returned, as the incense of the first morning’s sacrifice went straight as a column to the sky.
E. J. Banfield The Confessions of a Beachcomber
To guard against the baneful influence exerted voluntarily or involuntarily by strangers is therefore an elementary dictate of savage prudence. Hence before strangers are allowed to enter a district, or at least before they are permitted to mingle freely with the inhabitants, certain ceremonies are often performed by the natives of the country for the purpose of disarming the strangers of their magical powers, of counteracting the baneful influence which is believed to emanate from them, or of disinfecting, so to speak, the tainted atmosphere by which they are supposed to be surrounded. Thus, when the ambassadors sent by Justin II., Emperor of the East, to conclude a peace with the Turks had reached their destination, they were received byshamans, who subjected them to a ceremonial purification for the purpose of exorcising all harmful influence. Having deposited the goods brought by the ambassadors in an open place, these wizards carried burning branches of incense round them, while they rang a bell and beat on a tambourine, snorting and falling into a state of frenzy in their efforts to dispel the powers of evil. Afterwards they purified the ambassadors themselves by leading them through the flames.
Sir James George Frazer The Golden Bough : a study of magic and religion
Still gliding onward, Hilda now looked up into the dome, where the sunshine came through the western windows, and threw across long shafts of light. They rested upon the mosaic figures of two evangelists above the cornice. These great beams of
radiance, traversing what seemed the empty space, were made visible in misty glory, by the holy cloud of incense, else unseen, which had risen into the middle dome. It was to Hilda as if she beheld the worship of the priest and people ascending heavenward, purified from its alloy of earth, and acquiring celestial substance in the golden atmosphere to which it aspire. She wondered if angels did not sometimes hover within the dome, and show themselves, in brief glimpses, floating amid the
sunshine and the glorified vapor, to those who devoutly worshipped on the pavement.
Nathaniel Hawthorne The Marble Faun
Now flames this radiant chariot of the sun
High o'er the earth, at whose ethereal fire
The stars into the sacred night retreat:
O'er the Parnassian cliffs the ascending wheels
To mortals roll the beams of day; the wreaths
Of incense-breathing myrrh mount to the roof
Of Phoebus' fane; the Delphic priestess now
Assumes her seat, and from the hallow'd tripod
Pronounces to the Greeks the oracular strains
Which the god dictates. Haste, ye Delphic train,
Haste to Castalia's silver-streaming fount;
Bathed in its chaste dews to the temple go;
There from your guarded mouths no sound be heard
But of good omen, that to those who crave
Admission to the oracle, your voice
May with auspicious words expound the answers.
My task, which from my early infancy
Hath been my charge, shall be with laurel boughs
And sacred wreaths to cleanse the vestibule
Of Phoebus, on the pavement moistening dews
To rain, and with my bow to chase the birds
Which would defile the hallow'd ornaments.
A mother's fondness, and a father's care
I never knew: the temple of the god
Claims then my service, for it nurtured me.
Euripides Ion(410 BC) translated by Robert Potter
Again, an ancient sombre town, under the brilliant sky; with heavy arcades over the footways of the older streets, and lighter and more cheerful archways in the newer portions of the town. Again, brown piles of sacred buildings, with more birds flying in and out of chinks in the stones; and more snarling monsters for the bases of the pillars. Again, rich churches, drowsy Masses, curling incense, tinkling bells, priests in bright vestments: pictures, tapers, laced altar cloths, crosses, images, and
artificial flowers.
Charles Dickens Pictures from Italy
“There are likewise some dervises that get money here, as well as at other places, by burning of incense, swinging their censers as they go along before the people that are sitting; as this they do commonly on Friday, their Sabbath. In all other Gamiler or
Mosques, when the Hattib is preaching, and the people all sitting still at their devotion, they are all in ranks, so that the dervise, without the least disturbance to any, walks between every rank, with his censer in one hand, and with the other takes
his powdered incense out of a little pouch that hangs by his side.41
Richard Burton Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah and Meccah
The child could not think what she was talking about, but he quite understood the soup, which tasted most delicious. His mother had often given him nice things, but nothing had ever seemed so good as this. The smell of the herbs and spices rose
from the bowl, and the soup tasted both sweet and sharp at the same time, and was very strong. As he was finishing it the guinea pigs lit some Arabian incense, which gradually filled the room with clouds of blue vapour. They grew thicker and
thicker and the scent nearly overpowered the boy. He reminded himself that he must get back to his mother, but whenever he tried to rouse himself to go he sank back again drowsily, and at last he fell sound asleep in the corner of the sofa.
Andrew Lang The Violet Fairy Book
He could not see what the woman was about, but heard the dish-clash of her jewellery for many minutes. A match lit up the darkness; he caught the well-known purr and fizzle of grains of incense. Then the room filled with smoke — heavy aromatic, and stupefying. Kim
The next day Lavretsky went to mass. Lisa was already in the church when he came in. She noticed him though she did not turn round towards him. She prayed fervently, her eyes were full of a calm light, calmly she bowed her head and lifted it
again. He felt that she was praying for him too, and his heart was filled with a marvelous tenderness. He was happy and a little ashamed. The people reverently standing, the homely faces, the harmonious singing, the scent of incense, the long slanting gleams of light from the windows, the very darkness of the walls and arched roofs, all went to his heart. For long he had not been to church for long he had not turned to God: even now he uttered no words of prayer—he did not even pray without
words—but, at least, for a moment in all his mind, if not in his body, he bowed down and meekly humbled himself to earth. He remembered how, in his childhood, he had always prayed in church until he had felt, as it were, a cool touch on his! brow;
that, he used to think then, is the guardian angel receiving me, laying on me the seal of grace. He glanced at Lisa. “You brought me here,” he thought, “touch me, touch my soul.” She was still praying calmly; her face seemed him to him full of joy, and he
was softened anew: he prayed for another soul, peace; for his own, forgiveness.
Ivan Turgenev A House of Gentlefolk