Episode 3

Jun 15

The Spiritual Sense of Smell

It’s Episode three, the Spiritual Sense of Smell! Three different spiritual practitioners share how smell is used in their tradition. Episcopal Priest Steve Paulikas, Lukumi Priestess Maya Louisa, and Ayurvedic physician Dr. Sundara Raman are dropping jewels.

When you scent your space, when you scent your body, when you choose to add scent to an experience, it adds a sensory element. It heightens things, it makes you more aware, and it adorns the present moment, brandishing it in your memory. Smells have always seemed spiritual to me because they’re mysterious, like vapors, as if they’re coming from another realm or a higher power, and at the same time, they ground us to our own earthly presence.

Smell is used to clear our auras, spaces, connect us with altars and ancestors, create holy moments, and provide renewal and protection. The Writer Diane Ackerman points out that the Latin roots of the word “perfume” mean “through smoke”, and incense has long been an offering to the gods. Whatever your own spiritual beliefs may be, the act of tuning in to smell can be a meditation, or in the case of some smell loss, a road to recovery. And as always, we’re giving you tips.

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