Terrestre
for, and, of the earth
Every perfume I create has its own unique story, each a seed, influenced by the elementals that flow, spiral, shine and fertilize the crude imaginings that begin in the heart and percolate outwards.
Feeling back into the space of when Terrestre was conceived, I see fragile threads of my love and devotion to plants, and seeking to communicate it as an illustrator. When the career shift from the visual to olfactive arts took place, along with a massive emotional upheaval, the earthy, grounding essential oils of vetiver, patchouli and cedar helped with all the dynamic, emotionally shifts.
Looking through my decades old, three ring binder, I see notations referring to a tincture of Biodynamic earth from a Waldorf conference, and a chord simply labeled “dirt.”
All this, and probably more that I am not conscious of, were part of the invisible matrix that would eventually become Terrestre. The conscious ignition point, was when I learned of something called "Earth Hour" in April 2009, a worldwide event where between the hour of 8:30pm to 9:30pm individuals and businesses turn off non-essential electricity. At that time, I wasn’t as educated as I am now to all the Earth changes, and how the Sun affects our planet. What was really attractive about the idea was that I was part of a world wide collective working together to affect change, like a wave of meditation traveling across the earthly plain with a positive intention.
During that hour of switching off non-essential electricity, I lit a candle and formulated on paper what would eventually become Terrestre. The original name was "The Earth" solid botanical perfume and shared the following…
“the…fragrance has a grounding, warm quality with chocolate gourmand notes. There are 19 essences in the composition including: Patchouli, Vanilla, Labdanum, Benzoin, Vetiver, Saffron, Myrrh, Rose, Cepes (Mushroom), Cedar and Bergamot. Comprised primarily of base and middle notes the longitude evolution is a hum, like a giant OM.”
The naming of the perfume was part of a Name Game I hosted where on my blog where I asked for suggestions on what to name this new fragrance I had conceived. One of the comments was by Felicia Shenker who shared "...Tellus (latin for 'earth'), Terre (french for 'earth'), Terra (latin for "the earth,) Terrestre (french for 'of the earth'), and Terreau (it means something like compost, but it sounds pretty....;))”
Of all the contributed names I selected five and then asked my readers to vote for one which best represented the Earth Solid Perfume. The result was Terrestre with 57.14% of the vote.
Having the formula and name set, I moved onto selecting a color harmony, which at first was a dusty earth tone and later shifted to copper. Alchemically, the metal cooper, is considered the substance of the planet Venus. The glyph which represents Venus and copper is a circle rising above a cross, interpreted as spirit inspiring matter to higher aspirations over the material desires of Earth.
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An early form of the symbol for Venus was the ankh from Egypt, viewed as the an egg-shaped womb of the Goddess and referred to as the Key of Life. This womb is represented by the copper cauldron of alchemy.
In the alchemical correspondence system the metal copper is related to the human heart and to Friday, Venus Day.
The coppery color harmony of Terrestre re-minds us to stay grounded and in the heart. I was recently in California spending time with my mom, I was able to photograph the embroidery thread used to make the heirloom pouches.
Elemental Earth is the home of our connection to the here & now. It is related to the base chakra, the place of manifestation, control & restraint and grounded in experience. Home of the Male, strength and man-ifestation. The spirit medicine of Snake dwells here with the ability to move swiftly, above and below the ground, to shed what no longer serves and be born anew. The lesson of earth requires us to let go and break free of constraints and the compulsion to be rigid and controlling. We are asked to be present here within our bodies, feeling our feet upon the ground.
In natural perfume we have many different botanical essences that are in the “earth” family of fragment notes. The ones that come to mind immediately are Patchouli and Vetiver. Where Patchouli contains more of a musky note, Vetiver gets down and dirty with dark and damp qualities. You will find this pair seamlessly united in Terrestre.
The enchanting and expansive landscape of Abiquiu where Georgia O’Keeffe made her home. The photo was captured on our way back from Southern Colorado a few years ago. The textures and colors of the landscape remind me of the layers of earth notes in Terrestre.
As I shared above, during the original hour when I was jotting down the formulation I was mainly interested in elements the communicated earth, later I realized that a strong story point was love for Planet Earth, so I added Rose otto from Turkey to add heart to the composition.
Anoint or spray Terrestre when you desire to feel grounded, connected to the Earth, and thus connected to your self. The feeling of connection will create an expanse of calm strength within your inner landscape.
Imagery & photos by Roxana Villa and Greg Spalenka, please respect our copyright.