The Search for Sacra, Part 2.

Years ago, before Nature's Gift even had a name, I was visiting a friend in Brooklyn, and she took me shopping to two fragrance stores in Manhattan. One was....affordable... and probably didn't offer the type of products that interest me. The other was very high end. Amazing. Not like anything I had ever experienced.  And, because at that time in my life, I was living on a very limited income, totally not affordable.  But, I ooohed and aaaahed, and never forgot the name.

A few years later, Nature's Gift was attending a very "new age" holistic conference in Arizona. (I think it was Arizona.)  And the booth across from ours was representing that exquisite New York shop. I met the owner but things were much different then...I was new to the aromatic world and at the time she was very much a "somebody," and I was very much a "nobody," in the industry; so our paths did not cross again.  As a result, we never got to know each other and the conference was the end of our contact for several years.  But even back then, I admired (and was envious of) her beautiful range of aromatics.

Over the ensuing years, she spent more time exploring the world.  I don't know when she started distilling Frankincense, but I do know that she had been traveling to Oman to buy the resins for her store and her stills.  I followed her blog, which was fascinating (and no longer exists.) I know that she began distilling in Oman close to a decade ago, and now lives there most of the year.

And I know she shares, or even excels, my passion for true authentic beautiful oils.

Trygve taught us that the resin is only collected during the dry season, when the trees are leafless.

But, did you know that during and following the monsoon season, the trees blossom, before they leaf out.  And that they are pollinated by butterflies?

These are photos of some of the Hojari trees.   And below is resin collected from them.  Please note, these trees grow on the dryer coast of Oman, protected from most rainfall by the mountains.

We have offered other oils from artisan distillers.  This beautiful Frankincense is a gift.  Trygve shares her passion for the Frankincense trees, and their gifts.

"The frankincense tree is the mother of society, the umbrella which shelters her children, and, like a mother, she gives her very blood so her children can use it to live. " Trygve Harris

You may read about, and order, this beautiful Frankincense Sacra essential oil here. 

Photos, courtesy of Trygve Harris, shared by Anya McCoy of Anya's Garden Perfumes.