Tomato

TOMATO
Historically, tomato is not a widely-used note in perfumery, but it is gaining a little traction. Its pungent, spicy scent is evocative of summer gardens, and lends well to fresh, wild, outdoorsy fragrances.

The correspondences of the tomato in magical work is complex. The bisexual flowers of the tomato plant can be used in works of transformation, duality, and the combination of opposing forces. The tomato plant corresponds to Saturn or Venus, depending on your tradition, your intent, and your point of view. In contemporary magick, the fruit is used in love work – their voluptuous shape and piquant-sweet flavor are very much in tune with the Venus aspect. Tomatoes are, however, members of the nightshade family – a clan of plants that relates to death, transformation, invisibility, authority, discipline, and, to the unscrupulous, malefic magick. This firmly thrusts the plant back under the auspices of Saturn. Until the early nineteenth century, many believed that the fruit of the tomato was poisonous. Poison and toxicity, as concepts, are another manifestation of Saturn’s power. In our Twilight Alchemy Lab division, we generally use the fruit of the plant for Venus work, and the leaves and roots for Saturnian operations.

The tomato is much more complicated than it seems, no?

Notable tomato-laden BPAL scent:
JERSEY DEVIL
The scent of the wild, hauntingly beautiful Pine Barrens of New Jersey! Pitch pine with blackberry leaf, cranberry, cedar wood and tomato leaf.

(Photo by m’self of a tomato plant in my garden.)