For over 30 years, I travelled to share and teach Indigenous healing arts, philosophy and spirituality, in which I trained with several Native Elders for over 20 years. In that time, I also wrote 8 books, composed, recorded and performed 8 music albums and created 7 shamanic fragrances and 2 beautiful all natural perfumes. These days, I’ve transitioned from travelling and teaching to dedicate myself fully to what excites me most: the art of natural perfumery. While I occasionally offer healings to close friends, my heart and energy are devoted to our fragrance company.
I am so passionate about this art form. The methods of creation and production are those of traditional French perfumery, which I learned from a great perfumer whose father was one of the greatest noses of the 20th century. I work in the native way, inspired by the plants whose essential oils I want for the specific purpose of my fragrance. My first is, by far, the one that sells the most. Its first name was Invocation Liquid Smudge. The name became Chiiyaam and Invocation is the name of the company producing it, where I work today as CEO. The purpose was purification, so there were 2 varieties of sage, sweet grass, cedar, juniper and other purification essences, 16 essences in all.
I created that fragrance because I wasn’t able to smudge when I was called to treat Native patients in intensive care at a local hospital. As they were connected to monitoring devices, the electromagnetic pollution around them was intense and my healing work, without any purification, was not as powerful as usual. Thus, my incentive to create a liquid smudge that would not require burning. Sweet grass does not produce enough essential oils to be in any way feasible. That’s when, in my first tests, I had it macerating for a month in alcohol to capture the scent and the colour. That’s also when I realized I was making perfume. Perfumes are in alcohol to disperse the fragrances as the alcohol rapidly evaporates. As I was working at that, towards the end, after visiting France to learn the basics of perfumery, I was amazed at the efficiency of my first tests. It was more powerful than smudging. That’s when I added tobacco to the formula, so I could also use this fragrance as an offering when doing the ceremony. I also added what I now call encoding. All our perfumes are blessed with a ritual combining several shamanic techniques that I devised to amplify the efficiency of the liquid smudge. They instill into the liquid-specific intentions that crystallize into the fragrance. For example, Chiiyaam Liquid Smudge’s intentions are: Purification, Protection, Healing and Inspiration, for the greater good of all beings.
The second fragrance I created was the complement to Chiiyaam. When purification happens, it can leave empty spaces in the energy field. Those will attract energy to fill in that empty space. To ensure that what comes will be beneficial, we use Miwah. The main ingredient is sweet grass. We devised a sweet grass extract, one of a kind, that some Native people have affirmed is the best there is. In the formula there are 21 other essences. The encoding is: Attracting beneficial energies and favourable circumstances for the greater good of all beings.
Then, we created a fragrance for each element. As many healing traditions have a theory of the five elements, so did one of the clans I studied with. Thus, these Sacred Essences are Wind, Water, Sacred Sound, Fire and Earth. Sacred Sound is the ether, infinite space.
As I was working on all this, I came to realize that the vast majority of perfumes on the market are predominantly made with synthetic fragrances and chemicals. It’s a lot easier to use, as you can isolate a single molecule. Any essential oil has many different molecules. Knowing that chemicals are not the best for our health and that many people today have developed intolerance towards all forms of fragrance because of this chemical component, I have seen the importance of creating all natural beautiful perfumes to wear. My first one, called Graces had 40 ingredients. When my perfumer friend in France smelled it and saw the formula, he looked at me and said, “How did you manage this?!”?
Thus, my passion for this art form has continued. I have a second perfume called Belle and 3 more almost ready. So, we’ve decided to create a new division in our company that is devoted to producing and distributing beautiful fragrances to wear in our everyday lives. They will be encoded, of course, and will have a purpose, but that will not be the primary message they will carry. We aim to become North American leaders in natural perfumery. Our influence and our fragrances are gaining in intensity and beauty.
This new division represents a dream coming to life: making the healing power of pure, natural fragrances accessible to everyone in their daily lives. We’re not just creating perfumes to wear—we’re offering people a way to carry beauty, intention, and natural wellness with them throughout their day. Our goal is to prove that luxury perfumery can be both entirely natural and absolutely exquisite, setting a new standard in North America.
I am so excited and passionate about this work. When I spoke of this article to my team, and as we are expanding, they asked me to invite people living in the Quebec City area to send in their resumes. As we do all by hand here, if you just have some time to offer on a regular basis, we are also open to that. Since the very beginning of our company, I’ve had people spontaneously offer volunteer work. This is very special. Not many companies have this relationship with people. As our foundation and functioning are based on universal indigenous spiritual values, it’s actually a privilege and an honour to work for Invocation Canada. At least, that’s the way I feel about it.
Love and light to you all!!