Rending the Veil - A Trilogy of Four in Two Parts. April Aromatics - Agartha and Precious Woods - Tanja Bochnig
Walter Crane . Kirsty Mitchell.
We are fragments, bounded by numerous lives, only in the perfection of Agartha are we found whole. DsF 21
Here within this second part of my April Aromatics trilogy of Four, I write about Tanja Bochnig’s creations - ‘Agartha’ and ‘Precious Woods’. To be honest so many of her collection sound out to me, all so well crafted with noble intention, it has been a difficult task to speak of only four, this time. Agartha was released in 2016 and Precious Woods in 2012.
Agartha - April Aromatics -2016 - this word and what it symbolises are not unkown or foreign to me, what it represents and the myriad beliefs, myths and legends that have its origin perhaps in a distant memory in our very fabric of this place of perfection.. In Agartha, Tanja has managed to capture a fleeting glimpse, a glance through the veil, translating all that is to be felt there, how within our humaness there is as the Welsh say, the ‘Hiraeth’, the longing, the Calling to Home. A fragrance of remembering and the Returning to an original estate. The original Eden, perhaps and the yearning of our deepest undertstandings of what was once had and since lost, a residual sense within us of the need to Return and what lies waiting.
Home - Marta Bevaqua
Woven in this delicate and intricate perfume are traced secrets, that encircle me like a constant and never ceasing wind, always warm and the delicacy of a hand upon the shoulder that is everpresent like a known yet unknown friend.
Mimosa, radiant and enchanting, laced with a dripping honey, as Soma, a gentle drawing us close to the remembering, always known yet long forgotten. Enticed to a field of constant luminousity, walking under an eternal Sun. Grasses mown to rest in heated spiced cardamon and honey, the place of absolute surrendering to tranquility, the parting of the ways of strife and pain, of all that assails us, to walk in a land where all the richest and most noble of Man resides. Recall moments that give rise to recognition, the innocent joys of being a child, sun dappling skin and running headlong through cut hayfields, the scent rising to meet you, not a care to disturb your ebullience. These moments in a life that delight and exult us, giving rise to awe and wonder, there in those moments captured is Agartha, there is the secret Man has long sought. As always it is within and without……
Josephine Cardin, 2 and 3. Marta Bevaqua, 4.Dawdra Budd
As time walks in step with the evolving Agartha on my skin, much is revealed, Patchouli, Oud, Tobacco and Labdanum in unity, there is a scent of ancient tomes with parchment inscribed with rich wisdom, libraries of Agartha, wandering its halls I am imbuded with all that is highest in Humankind, our most noble endevours and all our manifestations of Beauty. An osmosis of the highest order.
April Aromatics- Agartha is a joyous reuniting, full of light and warmth, a gentle, persistent call , a reminder of an ancient way of being. The indefatigable fragment of Agartha that resides in us all, encapsulated here in this gentlest prompt to not forget.
Marta Bevaqua, 2. Agartha - April Aromatics, 3. Tanja Bochnig- April Aromatics.
Notes: Mimosa absolue, Fruit accord, Honey, Hay, Cardamon, Labdanum, Oud, Tobacco leafs, Patchouli
Marta Bevaqua
Precious Woods - Tanja Bochnig - 2012, is the second and final part(for now) in my Trilogy of Four Parts. It speaks my language of murmerings in woody delights. I am a forest dweller by nature preferring the infinite comapny of trees to that of most humans. They cause no trouble and invite you to dwell in their company, peacefully with nothing asked in return, except perhaps guardianship and gift such a transformation in our state.
Precious Woods is fecund in its earthiness, at first the simple joy of observing the cycle, the fallen leaves to be stirred with barefoot pleasure, humus flecking my pale skin shoes. A familar chord struck between Man and trees, a DNA encoded in ancestral times in both. A Dryad presence in its core and a Dryad tendancy in me.
All images- Marta Bevaqua.
Precious Woods is an elemental unfolding, whisking us away and integrating us into a plethora of forested vegetation, its Vetiver and Buddahwood yield to us roots that entwine across the undergrowth, the sensing of life pulsing in all its sum of parts, marbled light mingling with branches overhead, clarity of thought and elevation of spirit are conjoined in this glade of tryts.
Each footfall of submersion into this earthiness leads us further into the depths of the forest, far, far away from the ‘madding crowd’. Sweeping tendrils of low-slung fingerling branches brush past borne by the winds, sending forth perfumed traces, high flung, of Cedarwood accompanied by a soft swath of Patchouli and a plume of White Sage at its heart.
1 and 4 - Kirsty Mitchell, 2 and 3 - Marta Bevaqua
Precious Woods envelope in a nuturing embrace all that is gifted to us when we commune within the realms of the forested. Lingering with us, long, long after we have turned in our tracks to follow the path back into the outer world, always a signpost and an open invitation to return.
April Aromatics Precious Woods, Tanja Bochnig, Marta Bevaqua
Notes - Sandalwood/India, Sandalwood/New Caledonia, Cederwood Virginia/USA, Cederwood/Himalaya, Cistus Vetiver Bourbon, Patchouli/Indonesia, Buddha Wood, White Sage, organic alcohol.
Disclaimer-Samples sent to me from Tanja Bochnig, with thanks.
Agartha and Precious Woods can be found here-
https://aprilaromatics.com/
https://aprilaromatics.com/produkt/agartha_en/
https://aprilaromatics.com/produkt/precious-woods-en/
https://www.facebook.com/april.aromatics/
Follow on instagram here -
https://www.instagram.com/aprilaromatics/?hl=en
https://www.instagram.com/danu_sf/?hl=en
https://www.instagram.com/ode_r_/?hl=en