Woods

  • The Sweet Smell of Plague Preservatives

    This post is part of the Scented History of the Plague series. If you are not familiar with the history of the plague in Europe, you may want to pop over to our primer first or learn about why miasma was important to the Black Death. In today’s post, we will be discussing the deliciously…

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  • The Rise of Miasma

    The Rise of Miasma

    This post is part of the Scented History of the Plague series. If you are not familiar with the history of the plague in Europe, you may want to pop over to our primer first. In this post, we’re discussing the rise of Miasma Theory during the Second Pandemic and how it impacted European olfactive…

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  • The Perfumed Mummy

    The Perfumed Mummy

    Now we reach the intersection of material culture, belief systems, and death with the physical preparation of the body, which used many aromatic ingredients. The creation of the archetypical Egyptian mummy was a complex evolution that embraced the olfactive elements of the putrid and the divine.

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  • Oud, the Wounded Hearts of Sacred Trees

    If you are a Fummie, you know Oud and its sweet balsamic smokey woodiness. It is also one of the rarest, and most beautiful scent ingredients who’s path to your bottle is so strange it seems almost mythical. It is also in danger of being lost forever. If you have been watching perfume trends for…

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  • Between Life & Death

    Between Life & Death

    In this series, we examine aspects of death and bereavement through art, olfaction, and imaginative thinking. Feel free to follow along at home and leave your take on this scented death meditation below.  This Week’s Muse The Genius of France Between Liberty and Death, Jean-Baptiste Regnault, 1795 Even though the Rocco and then the Neoclassical…

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  • Death the Bride

    Death the Bride

    In this series, we examine aspects of death and bereavement through art, olfaction, and imaginative thinking. Feel free to follow along at home and leave your take on this scented death meditation below.  This Week’s Muse Death the Bride, Thomas Cooper Gotch, 1895 This Pre-Raphaelite work is rather subdued in both theme and colour pallet…

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  • The Fragrance of the Soul: Olfaction and Death in Ancient Egyptian Religion

     As a society, we have an anosmic view of history. We don’t think about how things smelt or what olfaction meant to people in the past because olfaction is not a primary consideration in the present. When we do think of the scents of the past, it is with modern snobbishness and assurance that all…

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