Symbolorum: The Secret Wisdom of Emblems, with Mandy Aftel

Join us as we welcome perfumer, writer and museum founder Mandy Aftel for a discussion about her new book, Symbolorum: The Secret Wisdom of Emblems (Abbeville Press, 2025). Emblem books were an incredibly popular literary form in the 17th century, and then totally disappeared! Mandy is eager to introduce the lost literary and visual world of emblems to a modern audience.

There is a hunger in the modern world for a more enchanted, less rational view of nature, evident from our interest in spiritualism, astrology, tarot, alternative healing, and the enduring popularity of Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter and Outlander series. Aftel has seen it in the museum of scent she created in her backyard (www.aftelarchive.com) a decade ago, which includes her antique book collection and other treasures that leave visitors transfixed and transformed.

As a perfumer and perfume historian, Aftel was inspired thirty years ago to start making natural perfumes by researching antique books filled with witchy recipes and rich historical lore. The natural essences she used were part of an unseen world of magic and mystery. Aftel writes about this centuries-old world of natural aromatic essences, and the ancient wondrous view of nature that they embody. Her first of four books on this realm, Essence and Alchemy (2001), connected the process of perfume-making with the process of transformation in alchemy -- it has now been translated into 17 languages and become like a bible to many readers interested in perfume.

Wherever she encountered this older view of nature and the way it infused experience and understanding with magic, she was enthralled most especially when she came upon Joachim Camerarius’ Symbolorum et Emblematum. Aftel has selected one hundred of the bewitching circular engravings of the Symbolorum, in which giant hands reach from the sky; lions, bears, and unicorns gambol; and distant spires beckon. The startling pictures, together with their mottos and Camerarius’s commentaries on the classically inspired stories they depicted, were a tantalizing and profound combination. Aftel added commentary to the lessons in the book, which offer wisdom about how to live your life. Like a long lost cousin of the tarot!

Pre-order book on Amazon

Mandy Aftel is a preeminent natural perfumer, educator, curator, and author on natural fragrance and flavor. She is the founder of Aftelier Perfumes (www.aftelier.com)—her artisanal line of natural fragrances. She created the Aftel Archive of Curious Scents (www.aftelarchive.com)—a cabinet of curiosities about natural essences. Her ten books include Essence and Alchemy: A Natural History of Perfume, which helped spark the natural perfume renaissance and has been translated into sixteen languages, and The Museum of Scent, an illustrated exploration of the Aftel Archive.

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