The Aroma of Fresh Soap

Photo: Natalia with the icon from her grandmother.

Natalia prepared to host the Rose Priestess Retreat near her home in the south of France. She’d chosen Rocamadour because of its sacred feel and its purported connection to Mary Magdalene.

Natalia offers a rich multi-cultural, multi-lingual background to her clients. The death of her parents in a car accident when she was a teenager, and her sometimes rocky relationship with her grandmother Rimma, forged her powerful self-reliance and connection with heaven. She radiates an understanding of who she is.

A week before the retreat, Rimma came to Natalia in an exceptionally vivid dream and warmly embraced her. Natalia took in the familiar aroma of fresh soap, a scent that had always accompanied Rimma in life. They stood near the stones and altars where Natalia would soon host her retreat.

Suddenly, Rimma produced a beautiful wooden and gold icon depicting a woman adorned in red. She placed it on the sacred stones. Natalia felt an immediate connection to the woman and the place.

When Natalia awoke, the pleasant aroma of her baboushka lingered. In her heart, Natalia felt Mary Magdalene and concluded she’d been the woman in the icon. And though she wondered for a moment about the validity of her experience, her doubts were immediately swept aside when she realized the dream had come on Rimma’s birthday.

Grandma Rimma sealed the deal later that day when she sent Natalia into a local thrift shop. There, in bold beautiful material reality, Natalia found the exact icon her grandmother had shown her.

Our deceased loved ones care about us. Sometimes, they even give us an encouraging wink.