Mao

from Ethiopia and France

In Tokyo for the fifth time.

It’s easier to be lost in the world than find a home…

She was emotional from the moment she arrived at the table.

Perhaps I felt her tension already before we entered the space.

She did not hide big drops of tears welling up in her eyes.

It was unsettling to see someone whom I’ve never met

revealing such primal emotion.

I had to hold the space gently and steadily.

After my usual short-hand explanation of Aromancy concept

I waited for her question.

It didn’t come, or if it did, I missed it completely.

The only potentially useful keyword I heard was

“procrastination” “Afraid of not doing anything”

these words gave a hint, but we still could not compose a question

that can be lead to an answer.

I asked her to go visit the board from whichever the color that she liked the most.

It was the yellow, earth element.

She liked in general everything she picked.

Then I asked to visit the color she liked the least.

It was blue, water element.

Next, green, then white, and finally red.

In general, she had good capacity to accept wide varieties of scents,

but interestingly she showed confusion,

or outright dislike for scents that had remotely having to do with her cultural background.

Cassis, typically French, Muhuhu from the land she was born in Africa,

and Pine needles that came from Northern Europe.

More surprise came in the next steps when I asked to choose one out of each categories.

In deciding how many oils to use her blend,

I asked her to choose between “security” and “adventure”.

She immediately responded security.

She said her life is an adventure already and would like to find her a home.

But she chose Mugwort out of the Water Element where most of the base notes are found.

But then she chose Ginger out of Earth, and Benzoin out of Metal Element

which compensated and shifted the weight down.

Her choice of Ginster is a fitting one -

a flower of bean family that symbolize harvest and optimism.

Sometimes we don’t even know we are hurt.

We can’t place a blame on anyone outside,

nor can we blame ourselves for the situation that we are in.

But somehow we seek to heal intuitively.