The Creativity of Natural Perfumery

While I am creating perfumes I find my brain slips into alpha mode. My imagination runs riot and I feel myself becoming totally and completely absorbed in my work. Like meditating and making love it makes me forget myself. I know when I am in the zone because I can no longer feel my seat under me, and in a way I am no longer in my body. I am floating up high on wafts of sweet florals and shiny resins, of warm ambers and animalic musks and honey. Time ceases to have any meaning. I am in the habit of having my pen and notebook at my side and making a note of everything I do. If I add one more drop of an essence to a blend I will write it down. At intervals I will put the dropper down and close the bottles and write perfumes like poetry on the pages.

While I am getting to know each of my essences I smell and close my eyes. I will often see a face or hear a voice. I meet a character somewhere in the aroma I am chasing, I make a new friend.
Recently I was getting to know Champaca, at first I thought the character was female. A bit like seeing a persons back and guessing that you are looking at a girl, then they turn around and you realise you were wrong. Champaca is a pre-pubesent boy, at that age when a boys facial features are still soft and skin has a translucent glow to it. In my mind I heard his voice, not yet broken, he said softly "Hi, I'm Champaca". He tells me his life story, he tells me he is the son of Jasmine Grandiflorum, I tell him I know his father well.

Natural perfumery materials are as complex and unique as individual people, they interact with each other in a similar way. Sometimes they dance and sing and sometimes the clash and fight.

The Balance of Natural Perfumery

There was a fine balance in everything she did.
Her laughter was filled with tears.
She made stones her pillows and her walls from cloth.
Her eyes were ancient and her face was young.
Half the time she was my friend and the other half my enemy.
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