| A coin of Cleopatra, minted in her lifetime |
"Cleopatra: This is an exciting scent for lovers only. Rub it on the ear lobe, between fingers, and behind knees. Also place five drops upon each corner of the bed to excite the senses."
So says Anna Riva in Golden Secrets of Mystic Oils.
The word Cleopatra is Latinized Greek for "Famous Father" (kleos = glory or fame, patros = father) and was a popular name for the Greek Ptolemy queens of Egypt. "The" Cleopatra that usually comes to mind is Cleopatra VII, the last of the pharaohs.
And I ask, why the heck would anyone want to wind up like her in a love spell?
Frankly, the famous Cleopatra wasn't exactly a great example of a happy love life. She was forced to marry her brother, then had an affair with the already-married Julius Caesar till his murder, and then finally killed herself over Mark Anthony.
She also failed to preserve Egypt from being absorbed into the Roman empire. She wrote books on science and chemistry that were all lost.
She wasn't known in her time as any sort of great beauty -- some reports even say she had a goiter, and her possession of the so-called "Ptolemy Schnozz" is well documented.
The reputation of Cleopatra as a great seductress was based on negative political propaganda from Rome. In fact, what made her seem appealing to men of her age was not her beauty or sexiness or luxury, but her education. Women didn't usually get much in the way of education in those days. But Cleopatra -- ! She spoke numerous languages and was well-instructed in science (Galen quotes from her!) and we can presume other intellectual pursuits. In other words she was a woman who could actually hold a reasonable conversation -- and probably in any major language you wanted, as she was also well known for her linguistic skills, including having been the first Pharaoh in hundreds of years to have troubled herself to actually learn to speak Egyptian instead of Greek. She also had a bit of good luck, in that she tended to bear sons to her boyfriends rather than daughters (or in the case of Anthony, a set of twins, one male one female.) This made her seem much better than their wives to whom they were already wed, who weren't doing as much.
A respectful Cleopatra oil, based on the truth would probably consist of -- King Solomon oil, frankly. That too is for wisdom and love, plus other things that Cleopatra strived for like success, beauty (many of her chemistry recipes were cosmetics) and wealth.
You can also trouble yourself with some male-heir rites while you're at it, to really capture the essence of the famous queen.
Here is a formula allegedly for Cleopatra's incense.
8 oz winter's bark
12 oz sandalwood
4 oz orris root
4 oz patchouli
4 oz myrrh
4 oz frankincense
2 oz saltpeter
"wood base"
This formula is here lifted from Jeanne Rose's Herbal Body Book, BUT, she herself probably took it from either Gamache's Magic of Herbs or de Claremont's Ancient Book of Formulas, both of which use this recipe. It is certainly not authentic to Queen Cleopatra VII -- winter's bark is an American plant and would have been unknown in Ancient Egypt.
I was reading through Henri Gamache's Magic of Herbs lately, looking over the formulas in the book. It appears to be with him that the historically inaccurate "Cleopatra Incense" originates (though Gamache merely states that it's "An incense such as Cleopatra might have used" and not that it really is her recipe, as others have since claimed.) The incense recipe he gives for Cleo's fragrance is this:winter's bark - 16 ounces
sandalwood - 24 ounces
orris root - 8 ounces
patchouly [sic] leaves - 8 ounces
myrrh - 8 ounces
olibanum tears - 8 ounces
wood base - 8 ounces
saltpeter - 2 ounces
light pink coloring - 2 ounces
Later in the book he gives several other incense recipes, including one for Commanding formula. But look at what recipe he provides!
winter's bark - 16 ounces
sandalwood - 16 "
orris root - 8"
patchouly [sic] - 8 "
myrrh - 8 "
olibanum - 8"
woodbase - 16 "
saltpeter - 4"
purple coloring matter - 2 "
Item for item, it's the same formula! Only the color is really changed, and the Cleopatra recipe uses a bit more of the expensive sandalwood in place of the common wood base, but in both cases the yield is 32 ounces of powder between the two ingredients.
The practice of selling the same formula with a different label is fairly common among spiritual merchants, and this shows how long it's been going on for. It also gives some further insight into a vintage manufacturer's expectations of what Cleopatra formula was supposed to do.
