Perfume Spiritual Meaning

Your here because you are wondering what does perfume really mean (deep down). And I want to start by saying that perfume has a MASSIVE spiritual significance. Perfume has never been just about smelling good. Oh no it is so much more than that. Ive done a video for you to watch... also there is so much more that I have written below this to really make you THINK. 

What is the real meaning of perfume?

If you think it is just about smelling good then your wrong, and that's the kind of story that we hear from those Facebook ads, the ones we tell ourselves when we're spraying something on before a date or a job interview. But underneath that (way underneath) perfume is about the invisible.The stuff you can't see but absolutely can feel. Think about it. Scent is the only sense that bypasses the logical brain entirely. It goes straight to the limbic system, straight to memory and emotion. You don't decide how a smell makes you feel. It just happens to you. That's not an accident. That's why every spiritual tradition on earth has used fragrance as a way to reach something beyond the ordinary.

What is the spiritual significance of Perfume?

Think about it for a moment, in my view, we use perfume for lots of different things, sage in ceremonies, oud in mosques. Sandalwood in temples. And, humans figured out thousands of years ago that scent opens a door. This is a door between the boring stuff in life and the sacred. Between who you are on the surface and whatever's underneath.

So when you wear perfume, you're being part of something ancien,t whether you know it or not, it's like biblically anointing yourself. You're saying, this is how I want to move through the world. 

What does it mean if someone buys you perfume?

When someone gives you perfume, and they get it right (when the scent feels like you), like something you would have chosen for yourself…that's a kind of recognition. It means they see you. Not the performance of you, not the version you trot out for public consumption, but something closer to the actual thing. That's rare. That's worth paying attention to. But when they get it wrong, that's information too. It means they're seeing someone else. 

What is the history of perfume and how has this shaped its spiritual meaning?

This is something I bet you don’t know…perfume is older than writing. Older than cities. Humans have been burning aromatic resins and rubbing fragrant oils on their skin since before we had language to describe why.

The ancient Egyptians loved perfume and I remember learning this in school, they used it in religious rituals, in burial rites, in medicine - basically all over the place. They LOVED perfume. If you have ever heard of Kyphi (this was a sacred incense made from honey, wine, raisins, and a load of other different resins) and was burned at sunset as an offering to the gods. They believed perfume could carry prayers to the gods, that the smoke was a messenger between the human and the divine.

The word "perfume" itself comes from the Latin per fumum which means…through smoke. That's the origin. Not beauty counters and department stores. This is because smoke rises to heaven.

When I read the hebrew bible (yes it took me a long time) there is specific ingredients, specific proportions. These are not suggestions. This are not holy technology, the oil used to be used to consecrate priests and to mark something or someone, In ancient India, sandalwood and jasmine were used in devotional practices. In Islamic tradition, the Prophet spoke of perfume as one of the things made beloved to him in this world, a REAL reflection of your own inner beauty, a reminder of paradise. In Buddhism I know you will know that incense means that the gods will be "given" something important via the smoke..

I want you to know that this is NOT about attracting a mate or making you smell really nice to people. It is about crossing a threshold, it is about using the sense that bypasses the rational mind to access something the rational mind can't reach.

What does it mean to wear the same perfume all the time?

Every time you spray something on your neck or temples - it is sort of participating in a ritual that is very old. Just like you would a candle when doing candle magic you are anointing yourself, you are making an offering to the world and the people you'll encounter, and yourself. The spiritual meaning of perfume isn't something we invented for Instagram. It's something we've been carrying all along. Sometimes wearing the same perfume is a way of stopping getting older, just like "freezing" yourself in time, a bit like refusing to change. Of holding onto to a version of you. If you've been wearing the same perfume since you were 22 and you're now 45, it might be worth asking: is this still me? 

I want you to know that I feel smell is identity. That's the whole point. But identity isn't supposed to be static. You know I said before about wearing different smells as you grow older I want you to know that growth has a fragrance too. Change has a fragrance. Sometimes switching your perfume is a way of announcing to yourself that something has shifted. That you're ready.

And sometimes wearing the same one forever is exactly right. Some people really do know who they are. They found their smell and it fits and they're done looking.

What does it mean to smell the perfume of someone who has passed?

This can be super creepy. I know. You go in the room and smell some old rose perfume. It could be spirit trying to connect with you. I won’t deny this. As a medium I hear this all the time.  It means they're not as gone as you think. I know how that sounds a bit mad, I know some people want a scientific explanation like it’s not spirit its more memory, hallucination, the brain misfiring maybe. And sure, maybe. Maybe that's what it is. 

But I've heard too many stories from too many people contacting me on my socials - to believe that's all it is. Someone loses their granny, and six months later they're standing in the kitchen making coffee and suddenly the room smells like their rose powder. No explanation. No perfume anywhere in the house, just that smell, unmistakable, overwhelming, and then gone. You can call that coincidence. And yes you can call that the brain doing weird things. But the people it happens to don't experience it that way. They experience it as presence. As visitation. As proof that love doesn't end just because a body does. In almost every spiritual tradition, scent is associated with the presence of spirits, ancestors, the divine. When something invisible wants to make itself known, it often comes through smell. 

In pretty much every spiritual tradition across the world (the ones I have researched) perfume is connected to spirits and ancestors and the divine. If something (or someone) invisible wants to get your attention it often comes through smell. Not sight. Not sound, but smell. And, this is not spooky, or sad, that's the most natural thing in the world, actually.

Read this before you go..

So in my view, perfume is never just perfume. Remember as well you are anointing yourself and participating in something ancient. You are deciding, even if just for today, who you want to be and how you want to move through the world. That's sacred work. Blessings. You're deciding even if just for today who you want to be and how you want to move through the world.