Ninja Perfumers
Perfume is love.
Like love, perfume is a bridge between the people
Like love, perfume radiates from you and enters the heart of others.
Like love, you can learn to love only by loving, you can learn to make perfumes only by making perfumes
Like love, being in love happens without effort, it is like loving perfumes, but to learn how to love is to learn how to give love to others, and it is like learning how to make perfumes for others.
I have been telling you many metaphors in order to teach you how easy it is to make perfumes. Love is one of them.
Making perfumes is like swimming. Only at the beginning it is difficult, until you realize that floating on water is your natural state. It is fear that makes you drawn, and lack of trust and confidence.
You have abandoned yourself with trust to my guiding hand and you have seen that composing scents is like an innate capacity we all have as throwing arrows with a bow is. You acquired confidence.
You nose now knows what it smells and you are able to think with smells. You can take a brief and make a perfume in 10 minutes. You can work on different perfumes contemporarily, you can conceive perfumes before making them. You have become real Ninja perfumers in your spirit.
I have tried to teach you Humility as a Way in making perfumes and also Trust in Destiny.
Your perfumes are like your children, they will never be as you want, they will be as they want.
Be satisfied therefore when your perfumes are good, it is enough, and do not ruin them by trying to make them perfect. That is something that may happen to them with ageing. You will not have to wait long, like with your children.
It is always an adventure to meet a new person. I learned this in the Sahara where very few people frequent. Every person is a universe to discover, an infinite universe like none other.
Teaching this group from such different countries as China, India, Russia, Canada, USA was a unique occasion for me to apply my philosophy in perfume making as a bridge between east and west.
My Sufi teacher used to say to us: “When somebody knocks at our door we know who has sent him”.
Destiny has sent you to me and has reunited you together on this occasion.
We have eaten and drank perfumes from the first minutes we came together until our parting. You have been composing new perfumes every day without limit, you were never tired. If I had left the door open after the class you would have continued during the night.
Happiness was your perfume in these days. I am so happy about it.
You did a great work! This is very interesting
Keep doing more
Destiny lead me to knock at your door and caused you to reconsider teaching again Salaam. You listened, opened the door and this is the flow on affect. Thank you for being the conduit that allowed many to experience an amazing new world of love to open up. Thank you for enabling wonderful connections between others of like mind to develop and grow. Truly, to make perfume is to love.
My Dearest Abdes Salaam,
the perfume making was just a means of learning, you taught me so much about life, and I learnt it through the medium of perfumery . Allah bless you and keep you happy
As-Salaamu alaykum
Becoming a Ninja Perfumer….
What I feel today, about perfumes and my state and inner being is far different, from a few weeks ago. I have been learning about perfume and reading as much as would cross my path, But in the course with Salaam he has helped develop our instincts and confidence to actually catapult us forward, or deeper, if we choose to let-go.
My trip started out strange, with a long flight, lost luggage and delayed planes and with train workers on the verge of a strike. I felt exhausted and stripped to a zero point, so all I could do was receive what was about to happen. I think now, after the course, this was just the divine plan for me to let go of fear and my own baggage, to then, just dive into this perfume course.
If you haven’t heard of Jalaluddin Rumi, he was one of the world’s most revered mystical poets. I know him for describing the ever-vast all encompassing subject of divine love. Salaam quotes him by saying one of his many quotes “like love, you can learn to love only by loving!” and you can learn to make perfumes only by making perfumes.
And that is exactly what I did; fall in love with making perfumes. I started to discover pure bliss when working with all of the different essential oils and absolutes. I felt like the fragrance of the perfumes had merged their soul with mine and influenced my body, mind, and spirit. For instance, I never really felt anything from Rose. But the Rose essences Salaam had got me drunk, it was so pure. And, somehow I ended up with 5 different perfumes all having rose in it. Rose is the symbol of love. It evokes heightened states of love and compassion, and I feel I have fallen into the universe of love. Smelling the pure essence, it’s intoxicating.
It’s the energy that is the bridge and connection that we feel. Its a tangible thing/moment, that can make us feel alive and in relationship with nature. I haven’t felt this before, but now I feel like each oil, absolute or perfume ingredient speaks to me. Some scream, like civet, but that is a different voice.
I feel one thing I have learned is The Story, create the story with the language of smells. Let your brain think with smells. Then, have strong concept and clear idea when making a perfume. It can be as simple as Salaam, showed us with one of his perfumes “Holy Water.” His story/concept was blending east and west mystic, unifying east and west spirituality. The ingredients are Rose, Neroli (representing the west and then, Frankincense and Sandalwood representing the east. The blend is beautiful and also has healing aromatherapy benefits. That is why I fell in love with the class, its more than smelling good. It’s a deep understanding of people and fragrance. I actually look at people now and think what are the attributes they have and how can I find that in nature? What of there personality can remind me of a tree (woody smells) flowers (rose, heart) sky (neroli) sensuality (jasmine) earthy (patchouli, vetyver) and so on.
I feel each moment that I’m away from the perfumes, oils I feel like a lost lover pining for love. I am grateful to Salaam for his knowledge and generosity. I have to say that when I first heard of the course and price of traveling to Italy, I thought is it worth it? YES! I know I have received way more in knowledge, growth and materials than I paid for the whole thing. I feel humble and thankful that, I was able to come Salaam has put this together with ingenuity and care that we would learn new knowledge and skill. And would I do it again? DEFINITELY and absolutely!!
Since the course has finished I have come home to make tea everyday with one or more oils mixed into acacia honey, that I bought in Italy. Lavender is one I am experimenting with now. I have noticed a huge difference in my posture. I feel open and like my arms could reach beyond the walls of my apartment. I feel Lavender has balanced my mood, my emotions and soothed me in situations that might have been upsetting before. But the Body structure is feeling more open with the use of lavender. It’s amazing me right now.
I think of why Salaam calls us Ninja Perfumers: shinobi (忍) means to hide” and Mono (者) means “a person”. We learned to move swiftly and trust in our gut and intuition, but its not just the swift certainty and stealth of the Ninja? It’s about us loosing our ego or what we think we should smell in a perfume, it’s making the ego disappear and hide, so the perfume is created through us. We tell the story, but we are not the story itself. And we are to make perfumes for the people.
Rumi was described as if he was a small river pulling a giant ocean behind him. That is what I feel about Salaam and his gift to us. Thank you, Salaam.
my last thought is a quote from Jack Gilbert. “Do you have the courage to bring forth this work?….The treasures that are hidden inside you, are hoping you will say yes.!
I say yes. Do YOU?