Perfume therapy

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I just finished reading Alyssa Harad's Coming to My Senses, about her discovery of perfume, and was inspired to set forth my own approach toward arming oneself against the world with scent. I rank perfume up there with recorded music and books when it comes to tools for mental health. Approximately every four years I will forget to put perfume on in the morning and three hours later I will stop short and think, Oh-my-god-I’m-not-wearing-perfume-is-it-Alzheimer’s? For those of you who were not convinced of the power of scent by my earlier post on the psychoactive properties of frankincense, allow me to address a few potential barriers to perfume appreciation. It doesn't have to be expensive. Decant services such as The Perfumed Court allow you to buy samples starting at about…
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OTC psychoactives

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This originally appeared on my older blog, Blessed Depth. Updated Sept 2020. In July 2011 Marla at Perfume-Smellin' Things blogged about perfumes featuring frankincense, a component of incense which, according to a 2008 research study that somehow completely missed me, is a psychoactive agent that can affect depression and anxiety. Apparently history is full of censer-swinging dope fiends: the use of frankincense, aka oliban or olibanum, goes back all the way to the ancient Egyptians. In addition to the usual religious ceremonial uses, it has been used to "benumb the senses" of condemned prisoners, among other applications. We will ignore the research paper's reference to an ancient Greek rumor about it causing madness. As I read the discussion between Marla and her commenters about their favorite frankincense or incense scents,…
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