ellempire

this is a place where notes and research go. by emilie baltz & others.

Category: Aphrodisiacs

Frankincense

Category:  Ingredient 1. Origin:  Asia, Middle East History:  300 BC to the 200 AD Heavily traded along Incense Road Technique:  Commodity/luxury Effect: 2. Origin:  Asia, Middle East History:  c. 10 C. BC The Queen of Sheba used Frankincese and Myrrh to seduce King Solomon and secure the freedom in incense road. Technique:  cultural/myth; smell; commodity/luxury Effect: [...]

Fleawort

Category:  Ingredient Origin:  Europe, Roman History:  According to Pliny the Elder the sap of fleawart was effective in securing the birth of boys. The parents needed to drink sap three times a day while fasting for forty days. Technique:  cultural/myth Effect:  fertility Reference: Simons, G.L. USA Harper & Row Publishers 1973 pp. 31

Fig

Category:  Ingredient 1. Origin: Europe History:  Rome 8th century Phallic statues were carved from the wood of fig trees, and the tree itself was dedicated to Bacchus. Figs also represented the festivals of Priapus. All phallic statues were made from fig and baskets of figs featured heavily in the processions. Technique:  Cultural/myth Effect:  lust/desire 2. Origin:  Asia [...]

Fenugreek

Category:  Ingredient 1. Origin: Europe, Greece/Mediterranean; Asia, Middle East History:  Also know as “Giant Fennel” Technique: physiological; biopsychological; psychological Effect:  influences estrogen/progesterone level 2. Origin:  Americas, North America History:  It was a main ingredient in Lydia Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound for “female complaints” (19th C.) Original formula was as follows: Unicorn root (Aletris farinosa L.) 8 [...]

False Unicorn Root

Category:  Individual Origin:  Americas, Native American History:  no specific dates dates (likely 19th C.) reportedly used by Native American tribes for dysmenorrhea, uterine prolapse, pelvic congestion and to improve ovarian function. Technique:  physiological; cultural/myth Effect:  improve female dysfunction; influences estrogen/progesterone level Reference: http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Lydia_Pinkham

Pope Joan

Circa 1030 a fantastical personage who was tempted by spices and oriental flavors. Supposedly had a baby with her attendent, gave birth during a procession, and was stoned to death thereafter in the street (named Vicolo della Papessa)

James Leslie McCary

Article Aphrodisiacs and Anaphordisiacs: Taste, texture and aroma play an integral role in bedding someone:. Ie: “The dessert is smooth, rich and creamy in texture–qualities we sunconsciously equate with sexuality. In addition, its redolence (cloves, cinnamon, liquer) is ‘exotic’, another word we tend, however vicariously, to identify with sexual concepts.”

Ibn al-Jazzar

a Tunisian physician who was the immediate source of Constantine’s prescriptions. touts ginger as aphrodisiac of choice also touts benefits of galangal

Eugene Rimmel

Category:  Expert Writer of “The Book of Perfumes” Thorough source on the olfactory sense used throughout cultures of the world

Constantin the African

The premiere sexologist of the middle ages. -wrote  De Coitu (On Sexual Intercourse) – collection of recipes and rituals (kissing, staring longingly into eyes, etc) -see pg 185 < of Spice Book URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_the_African

Avicena (Ibn Sina)

Category:  Expert the most famous scientist philospher of Islam he built upon the teachings of Galen (Latin name Claudius Galenus ?130-?200 AD), the Greek physician, anatomist, and physiologist, or his teachings or methods **Maybe should be listed as historical figure??**

Amy Riley

Category:  Expert Dissertation Food movements: 60’s-70’s, food as seduction, exciting, sexual, attainable 80’s 90’s: food as taboo, forbidden (weight watchers, etc)

Albertus Magnus

Category:  Expert dominican friar and bishop : medieval philosopher and occultist. Created love potions. Recc recipe: the brains of a partridge calcined into a powder and swallowed in red wine

Excrement

Category:  Ingredient Origin:  Global History:  In Essence and Alchemy Mandy Aftel writes, It is truly the fecal essence of our most pungent bodily odors that draws us, even as it repels us. The precarious balance between arousal and disgust is sexual in its very nature, creating erotic tension and heightening arousal. It manifests itself in the pervasiveness of [...]

Doctrine of Signatures

Category:  Equipment Origin: Europe History:  A medical theory in which Renaissance and Baroque physicians put great stock was the Doctrine of Signatures: the premise was that after Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden and humankind began to experience diseases, God mercifully gave each plant a visible sign, usually in the form of a resemblance [...]

Distillation

Category:  Equipment Origin: History:  images taken from John French’s The Art of Distillation provide us with what may be considered the key interaction within alchemy. The use of tinctures and repetitive condensing and distilling until a pure clear liquid is achieved is the process for the creation of many medicines not to exclude aphrodisiacs Type:  Device; Metal?? Technique:  manual; [...]

Communal Eating

Origin:  Europe; Asia History: Consider the Communal aspects of PUNCH: In 1750 one Dr Short, “a physician of great ability and repute”, declared with the sort of swelling effusion one might associate with a person newly refreshed: “Punch is an admirable liquor – the best liquor in the world. The universe cannot afford a better liquor for [...]

Advertisement

Category:  Technique 1. Origin:  Global History:  As Jill Kilbourn observes in Dangerous Persuasions, “Advertising encourages us not only to objectify each other but also to feel that our most significant relationships are with the products that we buy. It turns lovers into things and things into lovers and encourages us to feel passion for our products rather than [...]

Emu Egg Dust

Category:  Ingredient Origin:  Oceania, Australia History:  recent – no specific dates Australian artist, Ivan Durant accidental discovery Technique:  physiological Effect:  increase libido Reference: URL: http://www.deccanchronicle.com/headlines/will-egg-dust-become-new-viagra%3F-457

Egg

Category:  Ingredient Origin:  Global History:  That eggs would be eaten for fertility and potency is an obvious association; they are a type of womb, and their yolks nourish their embryos. Eggs were sacred symbols of the earth’s regeneration in pagan spring equinox celebra- tions (which gave rise to the tradition of Easter eggs). The Perfumed Garden declares that [...]