The aroma of trees | An invitation into the understory

The scent of the forest

May 24, 2024

Scent is dependent on water

Living in the desert has made me hyper aware of water. Its presence and in contrast, lack thereof. Both exist, often simultaneously even. It’s hard to explain yet in a landscape of extremes where one can be literally on the heels of the other it can seem quite normal. The behavior of water becomes more apparent this time of year as the spring rains become more and more erratic, the acequias start to rise and fall with the irrigation schedules, and the fragrance of earth, tree bud, and pollen bloom. 

Similar to my recent post on deep listening, our depth of knowingness also arises from smell. You and I are not the only creatures which breathe nor communicate through breath. A breath is medicine, an electric pulse. And that life force which rides on the breath can travel deep into our bloodstream and memory. 

I studied aromatherapy and while I found it fascinating to harness the therapeutic effects of botanicals and their archetypes via essential oils in medicinal balms and oils, or even floral waters, there’s nothing like being immersed in the living fragrance of honeysuckle, piñon, cottonwood, grass, rose or datura. All that is saturated with water has fragrance. One cannot be without the other. Water is required for transpiration. 

On deep listening and taking a breath

Trees, like many plants and the storehouses of water they are, communicate through scent. Their story is ancient. Their frequency is unhurried. The Aromas of Trees: Five Practices from Emergence Magazine is a wonderful way to experience the nature of smell and to follow your nose. The writer, David G. Haskell offers five beautiful and thoughtful invitations for you to commune with the sensational world of scent. Enjoy. 

From Invitation Three: Aromas across Time and Space

Pause, get close, and suck in the odors. Learn that springtime sap awakens before leaves, that the mountain trees have a different signature that their lowland cousins, that the late summer drought is simple bitterness but rainfall in spring is indescribably complex. There are rhythms and maps awaiting us, tree languages of the land.