Natural Perfumer Mandy Aftel Creates Perfume for Mummy Sherit

[Guest guest]

It's quite inspirational to all of us, as we perfect our art and craft of

natural perfumery, to hear success stories and see recognition for

colleagues. Many of you know Mandy's book Essence and Alchemy, and her

newer book on solid perfumes.

Recently a Bay Area company performed a series of respectful studies on the

mummy of a little girl, only 3 feet tall, lovingly prepared for the

afterworld by her mother in full accordance to Egyptian rituals of the

time, which included, of course, many aromatics. She has been named Sherit,

or " Little One. " Mandy was contacted by this firm to assist them by

recreating the fragrance of the aromatics. They supplied her with a GC of

the fragrance, and Mandy was able to create a fragrance and give samples

out to the audience at the unveiling of the project the other day.

We can all hope one day to take part is such a wonderful project -- the

world is responding to natural perfumery in unexpected ways!

Here is a news story on the event: (the mummy will go on display at the San

Rosicrucian Museum I believe on August 8th

http://www.egyptianmuseum.org/ call to confirm)

A Look Inside A 2000-Year-Old Mummy

http://cbs5.com/topstories/local_story_215195220.html (go here to see photos)

(CBS 5) In Mountain View Wednesday, scientists unveiled digital pictures of

the insides of a 2000-year-old mummy.

The little girl was about four and a half years old when she died suddenly.

The child's baby teeth show she was healthy just before she died, and she

had a nice smile. Under her gums, her adult teeth are starting to form. If

she was born today, she might need braces when she was 12. Her hands are

folded neatly across her chest.

She was given the best mummification money could buy. She was dressed in

death with earrings and necklaces, and the painting of a sphinx on the mask

covering her face.

We know all this without removing any of the bandages wrapped around her

little body, or even opening her gold-plated coffin. A team of doctors from

Stanford and engineers from SGI produced high-resolution, 3D images that go

far beyond anything now being done with X-rays or CT scans.

Researchers say you may see pictures like this of yourself in five years,

as the technology used on the mummy becomes widely available to doctors and

hospitals. It will give surgeons a powerful new tool to visualize treatment

and technique.

Egyptologists, meantime, hope to gain a much clearer vision of the past.

" There are thousands of unidentified mummies around the world -- mummies

that have been separated from their names, their tombs, from all their

property, " said Schwappach-Schirriff, curator of the Rosicrucian

Egyptian Museum. " By using this technology, we can actually give them a

part of their life back and let them tell their own story. "

The researchers have named the girl Sherit, ancient Egyptian for " little

one. " Her real name and family history is probably written on a breastplate

under the wrappings. The scan is so sensitive, the impression of the

writing may be revealed with more study.

Plastic surgeons used the scan to mold a bust of the girl's head. If she

were a child walking by you on the street, you wouldn't look twice,

although you might notice her perfume. Chemical analysis of the black

tar-like substance on the coffin revealed it was infused with frankincense

and myrrh from Somalia, and carried by Moringa oil. The analysis was so

precise that a Berkeley perfume maker was able to recreate it.

" I think it's very beautiful, " said perfumer Mandy Aftel. " It's very

soothing. It's very grounding. These are oils that have been known to be

very soothing and to be in man's spiritual life since the beginning of time. "

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Here's a PDF I c/p'd for this email about the event :

Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum

Child Mummy Discovery Day

August 3rd, 2005

Silicon Graphics Inc.

Taking Egyptian Mummy Visualization and Discovery to the next level

Schedule for August 3rd, 2005

9:00am Mummy arrives at SGI

9:00am – 11:00am Prep (speakers arrive, dry run, etc)

11:00am – 11:20am Press & Special Guest Check in and

Child Mummy viewing (Solution Center)

11:20am – 12:30pm Reality Center Press Session

12:30pm – 2:00pm 1:1 interviews with Press and light lunch served

2:00pm - 3:00pm Break

3:00pm - 4:00pm Presentation in RC for Customers & Partners

4:00pm - 4:30pm Break

4:30pm - 6:30pm SGI Open House for Employees

7:00pm Mummy Departs

Roman Period Child (RC 22)

Background

This child is a mystery. The name and titles probably appear on the

cartonnage, which is covered with resin. Its sex is not known. The purely

Egyptian method of mummification demonstrates that this child is Egyptian,

rather than a member of a Roman family who moved to Egypt to rule. This

child was a member of a family that worshiped the traditional pagan

Egyptian gods, rather than a pagan Roman, a Jew, or a Christian, who lived

side-by-side at this time period.

What we previously knew about the Child Mummy

The child appears from previous x-rays to be 4-6 years of age when it died

and was mummified. A cartonnage mask covered with gilt, is over the face of

the child and covers the chest. The child’s arms are crossed and her face

is tilted down, her forehead resting on the chin of the mask, probably from

the Roman Period custom of standing the deceased up in a case in the home,

to keep her close to the family.

Another cartonnage breastplate appears to cover the front of the mummy,

under the wrappings, although the extent of the cartonnage is not possible

to assess due to the coating of resin across the wrappings.

The Time Period: Roman

The Roman period of Egypt was long thought to be a black hole of Egyptian

history. Now, it is believed that the period following the death of

Cleopatra VII may have actually been a rather prosperous time for the

people of Egypt. Some Egyptians did quite well under the new government,

and, as is evidenced by this child, acquired wealth.

Under the Romans, a diverse society developed. Worshippers of Isis and

worshippers of lived side by side, with Jews and eventually

Christians. This project will allow Egyptologists to gain new understanding

into this particular time in history.

The Scanning and Discovery Process

Step 1 - Stanford University School of Medicine. Scan completed on May

6th 2005

This was the most important phase in acquiring the best high-resolution

data from the Mummy to do further research and discovery. The Rosicrucian

Museum and SGI worked with experts from Stanford Hospital for the scanning.

Three different scanners were used at Stanford Hospital, including the

latest CT scanners with the highest resolution imagery. 60,052 images were

taken in one day.

Radiologists, doctors, neuromuscular experts and SGI 3D graphics experts

were on hand during the scanning.

Step 2 - Data Translation from CT Scanner to SGI format

For the past few months thousands of high resolution images acquired by SGI

and Stanford Radiology were processed on SGI’s computers, allowing experts

a view inside the mummy with unprecedented quality, resolution and

interactivity.

This process is quite different from the traditional CT scans that show

static images of particular regions. This process takes the data from the

scanner and converts it to SGI format for viewing in an immersive theater

at 3840 by 1024 pixels wide format.

Step 3 - Data Interpretation and Discovery Day – August 3rd 2005

On August 3rd 2005 the Rosicrucian Museum will transport the 2000 year old

Child Mummy to SGI Headquarters in Mountain View, CA. Announcement of the

discovery will be made in the 25 foot wide SGI® Reality Center® where the

latest non-invasive technologies from Silicon Valley companies will present

their findings.

Some of the technologies that were used for the Child Mummy:

* Siemens Sensation 16 CT scanner

* Siemens Axiom Scanner (only five scanners in the world)

* Eklin digital radiography images

* Scientists took microscopic samples and analyzed the resin on the

child mummy using Gas Chromatography, Mass Spectrometry, Infrared

Spectroscopy (IR), Raman spectroscopy and Scanning Electron Microscopes (SEMs)

* Famous alchemist will discuss the perfume used by ancient Egyptians

in the embalming and funerary process.

* A complete replica of the skull will be shown, using the latest

techniques used by surgeons for pre-operative surgery planning.

Questions to be answered

- Is the child a boy or a girl?

- Was this child disabled, and if so, how badly?

- Why did this child die?

- What is the child’s name?

- What amulets are present, and do any of them have a non-Egyptian

origin?

We believe that this project will be of immense interest to viewers because

Egyptian Mummies mystify every man, woman and child and with advanced

technology we can embark on an unprecedented process of discovery in the

Silicon Valley.

The Experts

Schwappach-Shirriff

Curator

Rosicrucian Egyptian

Museum & Planetarium

Afshad Mistri

Advanced Visualization - Corporate Marketing

Silicon Graphics Inc.

Mummy Project Manager

Fahrig, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Department of Radiology, Stanford University

Dr. Amy Ladd, Professor of Orthopedic Surgery

Lucile Packard Children's Hospital

Herbranson, DDS, MS, FICD

Stanford/NASA Biocomputation Center

Mandy Aftel, Alchemist, Perfumer and founder of Aftelier Perfumes

A. Schendel, MD,DDS

Plastic/Reconstruction Surgery – Stanford Hospital

Lily Kimbel

Department of Anthropological Sciences – Stanford University

Anya

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