This summer and the last, I’ve had the good fortune to wander through a variety of landscapes and cultures, each its own scentscape.
The musty industrial streets of Manhattan. The salty, rugged coastline along the Mediterranean. The mossy woodlands of Western Canada. The deep floral perfume and worn asphalt of Frankfurt. Each place released a ghost—its scent etching fingerprints into my memory.
Scent- the wandering ghost of these spaces—unseen, yet deeply felt. The more we attune our awareness, the more it reveals itself. Its unique tone and character become an identifying marker. Very simply, we know that we have reached our destination by its smell.
After 22 years away from Europe, when I disembarked a plane in Germany, a sophisticated floral musk greeted me. I’d only ever encountered this scent in Europe. This smell instantly welcomed me to my memories of living in Germany and the transient beauty of being young.
Scent is a ghost conjuring our past, grounding us in the present, inspiring our future.
And here lies its magic, its ability to drift through the veil of time and space—both a time traveler and a grounds traveler.
Walking through a crowded subway tunnel, I catch the smell of smoke with tones of soft wood, I am at once grounded in the natural world and taken into a more profound human knowingness that I can’t quite put into words. I am walking within steel and cement, yet I have simultaneously traveled to a comforting fire in the deep woods. It brings unexpected warmth to the underworld of my commute.
Then again, catching the smell of a freshly paved road as I hike in the evergreen forest could transport me to traffic-filled streets, even as I stand amongst the spruce and fir. This takes me out of the forest and reminds me of a life of emails, notifications, and to-do lists. The stillness of the forest breaks, bringing visions of a rush-filled future. Scent does not always do us a favor.
We can harness its power to reconnect us with the present, if we need to escape ideas of the future or memories of the past. The options are endless. In this way, scent can be a powerful tool of self-discovery and healing.
How might we begin? By noticing the scent ghosts in your own life. Where do they carry you? What memories do they conjure? Might they offer comfort, clarity, or insight in moments of despair or longing?
In the upcoming weeks, I will share with you the places I have traveled with the scent ghosts I have met. Follow here for more!