VOL. II: THE SPELL OF SHARAZADE
Beholding Beauty is a series of books that takes readers on a treasure hunt to seek the origins and secrets of beauty and wellbeing. The author descends into the realm of myths and legends to unravel the deeper meaning and functions behind these beauty rituals and the plants intrinsic to their use.
Get in Touch
We are living in an epoch of the greatest cultural exchange the world has ever known and have much to learn from each other. We won’t succeed alone, which is why we ask you to voice your ideas if you share our philosophy. Beholding Beauty is looking for collaborative partners in all media outlets to further our efforts to preserve the indigenous traditions and knowledge in the arts of beautification and wellbeing.
We are also inviting writers and photographers to participate in our future volumes Love for the Lotus, Baltic Sea Maidens and The Caucasian Circle. If you are interested in taking part in these projects, please send us your C.V. and/or portfolio and we will be in touch with you.
BEHOLDING BEAUTY
Humans have an intrinsic need for beauty: it awakens, inspires and elevates us.
Since the dawn of civilisation, the vision and appreciation of beauty has gripped man’s imagination. Today’s $600 billion cosmetics industry reflects this fixation superficially, but what many of us do not realise is that the ancient practice of beautification has its roots in healing and communication.
Whether divided by aeons or continents, ancient societies recognised beauty’s single unifying quality as a perceptibly luminous state of wellbeing, devoid of the dis-ease that plagues a body out of harmony with itself and its environment, and whose rural women adhere to simple, ancestral methods of beautification and traditional preparations that have been handed down over the generations.
WISDOM FROM ANCIENT CROSSROADS
Beholding Beauty encompasses all corners of the globe, collecting stories, indigenous cosmetic practices and plant-derived recipes from rural women living at the world’s ancient crossroads, cultural melting pots that have produced an astonishing spectrum of beauty over the years that have also witnessed the trade of luxury products, ideas and spiritual worldview for millennia.
These authentic women are not only living vaults of practical and spiritual knowledge but also the keepers of cultural diversity, which is fast becoming lost as the global spread of Western uniformity threatens the survival of indigenous cultures and eco-diversity alike.
AMONBÊ
Beholding Beauty is a multi-media campaign operating within Amonbê, a non-profit organisation, based in Monaco. Amonbê is committed to the study of ancient arts of wellbeing and the preservation of medicinal and aromatic plants in their natural habitat.
Amonbê also has two other vital programs, Global Gardens and Kanon Kosmetika.