HEAVY SOUL
Patchouli: The Feeling Essence
By
Kedra Hart
If I had to choose only one word to describe PATCHOULI, it would be “Primal”… To me, it is the Essence of FEELING. I reach for it when I need a little bit of grounding or to comfort and soothe. One whiff and I feel like I just got a big “hug” from the Universe!
The scent of PATCHOULI has intertwined with our human experience throughout the ages, so I’m sure we all know the story by now of how Patchouli traveled the long and arduous road from the East to the West and everywhere in between…
It is certainly a love/hate thing for everyone that I have ever exchanged with on the subject… Not to mention an ultra fun Parlour Game wherein you gather a group and have everybody tell their “Personal Patchouli Story!” Be sure, Everybody has one…
Mine goes back to 1970 when I was around 4 years old. It was a hot Summer day in LA, and as fate would have it, my young bohemian self came to be at the Janov Institute for Primal Scream Therapy.
I remember it like it was a dream… I came into the waiting room and a very emotional John Lennon (yes, THE John Lennon) was there, winding down from a Primal “Session” with my father who was his therapist. To me he was all hair and looked like Jesus in his long white robe. Oh, and Smelly! It was a strangely familiar “Earthy” aroma that emanated from him, and I remember that this manly, almost animalic scent was so strong that it filled the entire room space!
When he saw me he beckoned me over to say hello… I imagine now, that from his spent primal self he must have felt a connection to something in my innocent child-self-mind-space that drew his attention to my corner at that particular moment… And so, there he was calling to me, wanting to engulf me in a warmly abundant hug, and as you can imagine the last thing I wanted was a hug from a smelly (you guessed it – PATCHOULI) Primal Screamer!…
Not one to be deterred, this industrious Patchouli Loving Jesus Christ Superstar proceeded to lure me over to his corner with a handful of Chiclets!… Yes, that’s right, I have always been a sucker for the simple pleasures and those CHICKLETS did the trick! Yep, those pretty little candy gems were even more fun than I first imagined they would be, as I learned about gum and how to “chew” these tiny colorful treats instead of swallowing them whole… It was like a magic trick! And for a short while, this became a tradition with us – the “Jesus Man” would greet me with Chiclets, and I would give him big a hug… It turned out to be one of the few perfectly reciprocal relationships in my life ~ I was OK with the “Patchouli Hugs,” as long as he didn’t forget the Chiclets!...
© 2011 Kedra Hart
Monica: Kedra Hart is one of 15 Perfumers in Perfume Pharmer’s Summer of Patchouli LOVE 2011 Natural Patchouli Perfume Challenge, to be celebrated by 12 fragrance writers, 10 Celebrity “sniffers” and many more patchouli groupies and fans…
images:
http://www.cute-wallpaper.com/preview.asp?id=2776
http://www.funnypuppysite.com/pictures/Cute_Little_Hug.htm
http://animal-pics.org/details.php?image_id=1151
http://www.flickr.com/photos/46145831@N00/344942117/
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Oh, I love this story! That’s a wonderful memory to associate with such a powerful and pervasive scent. There is nothing like patchouli, chameleon that it is, to take us from skanky to sophisticated, to earthy delicious. There is room on this planet for all kinds of incarnations of it, and luckily, there are perfumers like you to indulge everyone.
What a wonderful scent memory! John Lennon?! In white robes and smelling of patchouli, no less.
Glad you gals enjoyed my Patch story
! … This has been such a fun project – I so love having an excuse to spend time with one of my all time favorite Essences!
Lured by chiclets into a patchouli scented embrace! I think that might work on me today
Well I’d have totally hugged the man! How amazing is that story?!?
I loved this story. I loved John Lennon in 1970 and I love him today.
The patch is one of my favorite scents, so I was happy to read that it was John’s too.