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About Aina S. Erice
Born and bred on a small Mediterranean island, she currently lives with her husband, dividing her time between Spain and Italy. She loves and enjoys so many things, she won't bore you with a full list (on which one may find, in no particular order: languages and words, anthropology, art and design, history, reading, cooking, coffee, and trying to understand the human psyche --just to mention a few).
She is a staunch defender of the need to join rigorous research along with poetic, beautiful language to tickle the reader's imagination; and of the power of good storytelling to change the world for the better.
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Author Updates
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Blog postCapítulo #18 del podcast La Senda de las Plantas Perdidas [~ 17 minutos de lectura]
https://www.ivoox.com/de-perfumes-citricos-ancestrales-citrus-medica-la-senda_md_48272598_wp_1.mp3 [Emitido el 27.02.20] | Abrir el podcast en una ventana nueva [iVoox] o Descargar
Suscríbete ;) a través de… Apple Podcasts | ivoox | Spotify | RSS
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Como dioses arcaicos de panteones olvidados, suplantados por divinidades más jóvenes,5 months ago Read more -
Blog postCapítulo #17 del podcast La Senda de las Plantas Perdidas [~ 15 minutos de lectura]
https://www.ivoox.com/flor-herida-oraculo-achillea-millefolium-la_md_47681389_wp_1.mp3 [Emitido el 13.02.20] | Abrir el podcast en una ventana nueva [iVoox] o Descargar
Suscríbete ;) a través de… Apple Podcasts | ivoox | Spotify | RSS
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Sus corimbos blancos de fino encaje ruborizado le valieron el nombre de milenrama.
Sus poderes vulnerarios, e6 months ago Read more -
Blog postCapítulo #16 del podcast La Senda de las Plantas Perdidas [~ 14 minutos de lectura]
https://www.ivoox.com/gloria-declive-arboles-leche_md_47150047_wp_1.mp3 [Emitido el 30.01.20] | Abrir el podcast en una ventana nueva [iVoox] o Descargar
Suscríbete ;) a través de… Apple Podcasts | ivoox | Spotify | RSS
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Érase una vez un grupo de árboles que amaban el agua y el viento, que refrescaban plazas con su sombra y saciaban el h6 months ago Read more -
Blog postCapítulo #15 del podcast La Senda de las Plantas Perdidas [~ 14 minutos de lectura]
https://www.ivoox.com/arbol-se-hizo-lanza-bronce-y_md_46617011_wp_1.mp3 [Emitido el 16.01.20] | Abrir el podcast en una ventana nueva [iVoox] o Descargar
Suscríbete ;) a través de… Apple Podcasts | ivoox | Spotify | RSS
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¡Canta, oh ninfa, la tristeza del árbol de bronce, que antaño protagonizó innumerables gestas, que fue am7 months ago Read more -
Blog postCapítulo #14 del podcast La Senda de las Plantas Perdidas [~ 12 minutos de lectura]
https://www.ivoox.com/corona-del-verdor-eterno-myrtus-communis-la_md_46072425_wp_1.mp3
[Emitido el 02.01.20] | Abrir el podcast en una ventana nueva [iVoox] o Descargar
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Si las plantas abriesen perfumerías, en la entrada de la tienda de Myrtus communis quizás po7 months ago Read more -
Blog postCapítulo #13 del podcast La Senda de las Plantas Perdidas [~ 15 minutos de lectura]
https://www.ivoox.com/arbol-sacaba-ramas-sin-corazon-sambucus_md_45391311_wp_1.mp3 [Emitido el 12.12.19] | Abrir el podcast en una ventana nueva [iVoox] o Descargar
Suscríbete ;) a través de… Apple Podcasts | ivoox | Spotify | RSS
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En las orlas del bosque, donde alcanzan las caricias del sol y los suelos son frescos y profundos, viven los saúco8 months ago Read more -
Blog postCapítulo #12 del podcast La Senda de las Plantas Perdidas [~ 11 minutos de lectura]
https://www.ivoox.com/fibras-agua-alimento-ancestral-typha-spp-la_md_44866046_wp_1.mp3 [Emitido el 28.11.19] | Abrir el podcast en una ventana nueva [iVoox] o Descargar
Suscríbete ;) a través de… Apple Podcasts | ivoox | Spotify | RSS
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Ciñen las aguas en su abrazo de hoja y tallo subterráneo; chapotean en el lodo, lanzando al aire mareas8 months ago Read more -
Blog postCapítulo #11 del podcast La Senda de las Plantas Perdidas [~ 12 minutos de lectura]
https://www.ivoox.com/guardian-umbrales-cupressus-sempervirens-la_md_44304802_wp_1.mp3 [Emitido el 14.11.19] | Abrir el podcast en una ventana nueva [iVoox] o Descargar
Suscríbete ;) a través de… Apple Podcasts | ivoox | Spotify | RSS
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Funestos, aciagos, sombríos.
Si los cipreses hablasen, me gustaría preguntarles algo así9 months ago Read more -
Blog postCapítulo #10 del podcast La Senda de las Plantas Perdidas [~ 8 minutos de lectura]
https://www.ivoox.com/multiples-personalidades-del-acerolo-crataegus-azarolus-amp_md_43766640_wp_1.mp3 [Emitido el 31.10.19] | Abrir el podcast en una ventana nueva [iVoox] o Descargar
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Quizás hayas oído hablar del acerolo, de sus extraordinarias propiedades antioxidantes,10 months ago Read more -
Blog postNenúfares & otras obsesiones vegetófilas [~ 15 minutos de lectura]
Al son de: Warumpi band, Jailangaru Pakarnu
{Hace unos años leí y reseñé un libro titulado El Mesías de las Plantas. Unos meses más tarde, tuve la oportunidad de entrevistar a su autor, Carlos Magdalena, para la maravillosa plataforma digital basada en Australia The Planthunter —e intentamos, por supuesto, dar protagonismo a la incre&iacut10 months ago Read more -
Blog post… and in diversity bind them [~ 12 minutes]
Listening to: Loreena McKennitt, Kecharitomene
Once upon a time, the essence of every plant in the world thrummed in a pomegranate twig.
Ancient traditions have it that long ago, in the lands that later became Persia, there lived a prophet who sang to mortals how to tell apart order from confusion, good from evil.
He sang to the sacred fires —and as time went by, fire became the most important symbol identifying his3 years ago Read more -
Blog post[~ 12 minutes]
Listening to: Achillea, Amadas estrellas
{Spanish version can be read here}
This should’ve been an easy one. I even had the perfect title:
“Floating gardens, past and present”.
The idea cropped up a while ago after reading about a recent invention called Jellyfish barge:
a self-sufficient, modular agricultural system that produces fresh vegetables on any water mass (salty, brackish, polluted) you choose.
Once built (with r4 years ago Read more -
Blog post[~ 10 minutes]
Listening to: Brooke Fraser, Scarlet
O my Luve’s like a red red rose
That’s newly sprung in June
— Robert Burns
I. Hortus conclusus There’s a rose garden I know, a garden I haunt on occasion.
It’s not particularly large; close to the sea, girdled with a stone wall that turns it into a modern day variety of hortus conclusus, only with no virgins in sight.
Many roses grow there, some old, some new. I have no names for mos4 years ago Read more -
Blog postHow a scented Mediterranean flower ended up bewitching the Far East [~ 6 minutes]
Listening to: Yoko Kano, Aqua
’Tis said that the sense of smell is intimately connected with memory, something that Proust and his madeleines apparently turned into an incontestable truth.
I am not usually assailed by memories when smelling anything in particular; however, there’s one scent that does trigger a Proustian recollection within me, the scent of a flower that blooms ever4 years ago Read more -
Blog post(Shanahan. Unbound 2016) Listening to: Enya, Storms in Africa
“Dear Reader: You and I are related, both in blood and through figs.”
Figs have been part of my story since I was a child.
Not that I noticed them at the time; for many years they were in the background of my memories, whether as stumpy trees that yielded fruit others loved eating, or as the benevolent green giants that shadowed our front school yard.
I don’t think I knew they were related, my famil4 years ago Read more -
Blog post[~ 6 minutes]
Listening to: Sleepthief feat. Jody Quine, Eurydice
It was the beans’ fault, of course.
Had it not been for the philosopher’s strange obsession with them, Pythagoras would’ve probably been filed away in my memory alongside other mathematically inclined Greek figures.
But he did have something for fava beans (Vicia faba L.), or so the ancients wrote, and everybody has been trying to explain it away ever since. This means he crops up in the most une4 years ago Read more -
Blog post(Berliocchi. Timber Press 2004) Listening to: Seay, Orion’s Gate
Orchids are something of a cultural conundrum.
Despite being one of nature’s most diversified and sizeable plant families, with members spread all over the world (save for Antarctica), their role in our cultures is disproportionately small, and blooms relatively late in time. With the exception of some oriental orchids (Cymbidium spp) beloved by the Chinese and Japanese, Mesoamerica’s precious black v4 years ago Read more -
Blog postOn the elusive history of thorn-apple in the Old World (Datura spp [~ 8 minutes]
Listening to: Delerium feat. Michael Logen, Days Turn into Nights
I walked out of the botanic garden with my legs on fire and my heart overflowing with excitement.
I’d gotten her. At last.
Flirty white skirt fairly glowing in the darkness, I’d caught my ghost by moonlight —or, rather, LED-light.
After a month of chasing shadows we had finally met, Datura and I.
Before4 years ago Read more -
Blog post[~ 9 minutes]
Listening to: Conjure One feat. Azam Ali, Nargis
Warning: this is a personal how-to guide for people (I’m guessing mainly females) interested in henna-dyeing their hair by themselves, in which I talk about my own henna experiences.
Quite unlike my other articles around here, it’s less theory/ideas and more practical —but if this doesn’t sound to interesting to you, never fear! Here’s one on the strange connections between henna and an ancient philosopher’4 years ago Read more -
Blog postThe story of an obsession [~ 5 minutes]
Listening to: Devaldi, Istambul’s Night
{Versión en español, aquí}
Let’s make an experiment.
Choose five people and ask them, What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when hearing or reading the word tulip?
When I did it, the unanimous result was… Holland.
Because that’s what the Netherlands are to us: windmills and tulip fields.
You’ll have to picture the windmill. Th5 years ago Read more
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¿Por qué hemos olvidado la riqueza que esconden determinados frutos, hojas, cortezas o flores? Por plantas olvidadas entendemos especies «poco aptas al ecosistema supermercado» y al entorno urbano en el que vivimos. Ante el nulo o vago recuerdo de nuestra flora, este libro nos sorprende con plantas comestibles, medicinales, decorativas, melíferas… que pueden ser verdaderamente relevantes para nosotros en pleno siglo XXI.
A través de los orígenes, parentescos, curiosidades, usos materiales y simbólicos de 100 especies en concreto, la autora construye un rico catálogo en el que conviven desde la caléndula, la ortiga, la malva y el ajenjo, hasta el serbal, el nispolero o el guillomo, pasando por el caqui, el malvavisco, el tomillo…, plantas que pertenecen a diversos paisajes y costumbres, pero que conforman nuestra historia aunque hoy solo seamos capaces de reconocer a unas más que a otras.
En esta guía estructurada alrededor de huertos, campos, bosques, aguas y montañas, la ilustración que acompaña a cada una de las especies permite a su vez una mejor identificación y recuerdo de esas «plantas olvidadas».
Los hombres le damos un uso práctico a los vegetales desde hace miles de años. Nos sirven de alimento y de medicina, los usamos en la construcción y en los tejidos… Pero estamos ligados a ellos a niveles más profundos. La primera gran revolución que vivimos —la cultural— se produjo cuando plantamos el primer grano de maíz; y hemos sabido crear belleza a través de los jardines. Al mismo tiempo, hemos sido testimonios de luchas de poder originadas por flores… Sin olvidar la dimensión religiosa que ciertas culturas han encontrado en árboles, plantas y flores.
De la mano de José Antonio Marina, Aina S. Erice, se adentra en nuestra relación con el mundo vegetal, y nos regala un libro único. Nos desvela misterios de la historia, compara la mentalidad de distintas civilizaciones y, cuando hace falta, nos deslumbra con datos científicos. Un canto a la naturaleza marcado por la sabiduría y el respeto.
An exploration of one of the world’s most desired perfumes…
Beyond the sands of the great desert there grows a tree whose white blood holds the key to the ancient gods’ favorite perfume.
The sages call the trees Boswellia sacra, but the aromatic resin they yield goes by many names: some know it as al lubān; others, as franc encens, or frankincense… or olibanum.
Desired by both mortals and gods, this substance coursed through the Incense Routes for millennia before slowly fading into a ghost of its past glory. Yet it survives among perfume formulae, and in incense shops and churches, patiently waiting to be rediscovered.
Following the scented yarn of olibanum across time and space, Of Perfumes & Gods: Tales of Olibanum is an exploration that combines history, biology, and human stories in a single journey at the edge where nature & culture meet.
(Warning: it contains no directions about using its essential oil in aromatherapy. It does, however, examine some of the health claims made about it, in order to arm the discening reader with important information about its properties.)