Fragrance as a
Protective Shield

by Valerie Ann Worwood

Continued from Part I

Healing Agents of Today

Many of the incense ingredients used throughout history and today are healing agents — myrrh, frankincense, cinnamon, clove, hyssop, sage, cedarwood, juniper, cypress, and pine, among others. No wonder then that incense and fragranced ointments and salves, which may well have conferred health, should be seen as “protective” — a beneficent agent of the deity, and this was especially the case when it was thought that physical health was inextricably linked to spiritual health.

The unfortunate Europeans who suffered during the plagues of the fourteenth to seventeenth centuries must have been sure they had in some way transgressed when they read this in the Old Testament: “If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee.” 

The agents for healing at this time, these people’s saving grace, came in the form of fragrance and perfumers. Fragrant materials became highly sought after, especially rosemary, cloves, garlic, rue, melissa, rose, lavender, and juniper, and were vital protection when gathering with other people, in church for example. 

Around 1700, British author Daniel Defoe described one such scene in London: “The whole church was like a smelling bottle; in one corner it was all perfumes; in another aromatics, balsamics, and a variety of drugs and herbs; in another salts and spirits.” In 1646 France, Arnaud Baric gave a full description of the role played by perfumers who, under the lead of “the health captain”, passed through houses fumigating them with perfume burnt on coal fires. At the end of the long day, the perfumers were themselves cleansed by standing in the “steaming room”, a cloth tent with perfume material boiling away in a pot.

Fragrant Plants

It is a curious thing that so many fragrant plants should he protective to the health. It is almost as if we are invited by the creative force of the universe to examine them, taste them, put them in our food, enjoy their aroma, and in other ways make use of them. The healing properties of many fragrant plants were of course well known in ancient times, which may account for the very widespread practice of aromatically cleansing strangers or guests before allowing them into the village or house.

A hundred years ago in central Borneo, the Blu-u Kayans burnt bundles of fragrant plehiding bark when strangers arrived, to drive away any accompanying “evil spirits”. In Turkey, Afghanistan, and Persia visiting guests were first cleansed by burning branches of fragrant plants or incense, while aboriginal Australians saved their hosts the trouble and came with their own lighted bark or fragrant burning sticks. 

As well as fragrance, fire and loud noise have been widely employed, as author J. G. Frazer states in The Golden Bough, “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.” 

Aromatic Cleansing

In the contemporary world, the practice of aromatic cleansing is still ubiquitous in the Middle East, where it is perceived as a hospitable kindness to guests. In tents in the desert, a few small pieces of aromatic resin may be put on the brazier, while in towns visitors are more likely to be greeted with rose water sprinkled from a long-stemmed gulabdan. Guests in Turkish households have lemon-scented cologne sprinkled on the hands, so it can be wiped on the arms and neck. This fragrant nicety is also offered by the conductor to passengers on long-distance buses.

Fragrance is also widely used to cleanse buildings, especially those used for spiritual practices. When Saladin retook the Mosque of Omar at Jerusalem from the Christians in 1187, he had it purified with rose water; and when Mohamet II captured the Church of Sancta Sophia in Constantinople in 1453, and made it a mosque, it was likewise first treated with rose. Sage is the most sacred herb of the Yuwipe Native American nation, and it is this that covers the floor of the medicine man’s house, as he goes about the purification process.

Fragrance and spirituality have always been inextricably linked. In Mesopotamia, four thousand years ago, incense was used both to attract the goddesses and gods, and to repel malevolent spirits. In Muslim terminology, jinn are said to be an order of spirits that can assume human and animal form and exercise negative influence over people, and pirs are people brought in to deal with them — often incorporating the inhalation of jasmine oil as part of the proceedings.

This article is excerpted with permission from the book The Fragrant Heavens, by Valerie Ann Worwood, published by New World Library, Notavo, CA 94949. Toll free ordering at 800-972-6657 Ext. 52. Visit their website www.newworldlibrary.com.

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