Scent and smoke are ways of connecting the spirit to the body, and the body to the atmosphere. From smudging a home to spritzing on some Tom Ford Private Blends, we have continually used fragrance to enhance our surroundings, and sometimes it becomes something deeper. This is Palo Santo (Bursera Graveolens) – a South American tree that translates as ‘Holy Wood’ and has been used as spiritual incense for healing all sorts of ailments.
I tried it for the first time a few days ago, and to be completely honest it wasn’t an instant favorite. It wasn’t entirely off-putting, it just had a thread of something I didn’t immediately love, an element of the faintly medicinal, not unlike the first time I smelled the creosote bush after a rainfall in the desert (which I eventually came to love). I switched back to my favored Tibetan cedar wood incense sticks for a week of mindful moments, wherein I worked on mindfulness and meditation. Maybe that changed something in me, because when I returned to try the Palo Santo again, I found its fragrance pleasant and calming. Its purported benefits are certainly worth a second sniff, so I’m glad I didn’t give up on it. Some things deserve a second chance.
