Ardent Garland

Ardere, to burn. A garland is a wreath of flowers, worn or hung. The name holds fire and flowers in the same breath, and Mars is the planet of heat and edge. What came out of the bench was the flowers, not the fire. Lavender is almost a third of the blend by drop count, and it leads from the first moment to the last.

Ho wood sits directly behind it. Ho wood is nearly all linalool with essentially no camphor, so it lengthens the lavender rather than arguing with it, the way a second voice at the same pitch makes one voice sound fuller. Palmarosa brings the rose edge and marjoram a faint herbal dryness. Frankincense, copaiba, patchouli and balsam fir hold the base.

This is the blend that drew the first unprompted reaction at the bench, before it had a name. Poured by hand in Calumet into 7 ml black glass. Beeswax, tallow and jojoba have different melt points, which gives the balm its three-phase slow release.