Money Tree Soap: The Story of Herbs, Spices & Symbolism

Some soaps begin with a fragrance.

Money Tree began with an idea.

I wanted to create a soap that felt like movement and growth. Not something delicate and sleepy, but something earthy at its roots, bright at the top, warm with spices and alive with plants.

Perhaps that instinct comes from my grandmother, Kemiskhan.

I grew up with the understanding that plants were never simply decoration. Leaves were collected. Herbs were dried. Seeds and spices were kept. Things were brewed, mixed, saved and used.

Nobody called the kitchen a laboratory, of course.

But looking back, perhaps that is where my habit began.

Give me an interesting herb, oil, leaf or spice today and I immediately want to smell it, read about it, learn its history and discover what happens when I place it beside another ingredient.

Money Tree grew exactly like that.

First Came the Roots

A tree needs roots before it can have branches.

So I began with cedarwood and patchouli.

Across old traditions and modern spiritual practices, aromatic woods have been connected with grounding, strength, protection and stability. Patchouli carries particularly strong associations with prosperity, attraction and material abundance.

And cedar carries a much older story.

Cedar and precious aromatic woods appear repeatedly in ancient cultures and sacred literature — valued not merely for their fragrance, but as symbols of permanence, purification, sacred places and something precious.

At the time I formulated Money Tree, I wasn’t thinking about ancient manuscripts.

That connection came later.

More about that in a moment.

Then the Tree Needed Sunlight

Once I had the earth and wood, I wanted something completely different above them.

Orange.

Money Tree shouldn’t smell heavy.

Growth needs light.

Orange has gathered its own symbolic language over time — joy, vitality, good fortune and abundance.

Beside it I placed lemon, sharper and cleaner, traditionally associated with cleansing, clarity and renewal.

And then bergamot — citrus with another personality entirely. In spiritual and folk traditions, bergamot is particularly associated with prosperity, success and opportunity.

Three citrus oils.

Three different kinds of light.

And Then Came the Little Star

Of all the ingredients in Money Tree, star anise may be the one that looks as symbolic as its story.

It doesn’t need somebody to carve it into a meaningful shape.

Nature already did the work.

I use star anise powder in Money Tree, so the botanical itself becomes part of the bar. And in various folk and esoteric traditions, star anise is associated with good fortune, abundance, protection, intuition and spiritual awareness. Its star shape naturally helped it acquire a symbolism all its own.

One person can look at it and see a remarkable seed pod.

Another can see a symbol of abundance.

Someone else simply loves the fragrance.

It is still the same little star.

Cinnamon Brings the Fire

Then Money Tree needed warmth.

Cinnamon powder and cinnamon leaf essential oil give it that.

Its warm, energetic character made it a natural ingredient in traditions surrounding prosperity, success, attraction, energy and good fortune.

The cedar and patchouli say: stay grounded.

The citrus says: move.

And cinnamon says: wake up.

Peppermint Refuses to Let Everyone Become Too Comfortable

By this stage I had earth, wood, citrus and warm spices.

It needed interruption.

So I added peppermint.

Mint has a long symbolic history — associated in herbal and folk traditions with prosperity, protection, vitality and clarity.

But you don’t need a book of symbolism to understand peppermint.

Smell it.

It announces itself.

And that is precisely its job in Money Tree.

And Underneath Everything — Green Earth

Money Tree needed to be green, of course.

But I didn’t want a brilliant artificial “money green.”

I wanted the color to belong to the story.

So I chose French green clay — its muted mineral green brings the whole composition back to earth, the place where every tree actually begins.

Suddenly I could see the entire soap:

Clay and earth.
Patchouli and roots.
Cedarwood and trunk.
Cinnamon and star anise for warmth.
Peppermint for movement.
Citrus above everything like light.

And Money Tree had found its character.

Then I Opened the Book of Enoch

This happened much later.

Recently I began reading the Book of Enoch — not because I was researching soap, but because ancient texts and their history fascinate me.

And something funny happened.

I kept meeting trees.

Trees that behave unusually. Leaves carefully observed. Mountains, gardens, fragrant substances and remarkable woods. The ancient writer seemed to keep pulling my attention back toward the botanical world.

And I thought: Wait a minute.

Here I was reading an ancient text and finding myself surrounded again by trees, leaves, wood, fragrance and precious aromatics — the same language I had instinctively used when building Money Tree.

The soap wasn’t created from the Book of Enoch.

I discovered the echo afterward.

And I loved that.

For thousands of years, people have surrounded trees, herbs, spices and fragrant woods with stories. They have represented life, prosperity, protection, endurance, wisdom, purification, abundance and renewal in different cultures and different times.

Perhaps my intuition simply followed a very old path.

Why I Called It Money Tree

Eventually all those ingredients had to become one soap.

And Money Tree felt inevitable.

Not because money grows on trees.

Unfortunately, I have checked my garden carefully and can confirm that it does not.

But because a tree is one of the simplest and oldest images of abundance I know.

A seed. Then roots. Then a stem. Then branches.

And eventually something that can flower, fruit, create shade, produce more seeds and continue beyond where it began.

Money Tree carries earth, wood, spice, citrus and herbs, along with the histories and meanings people have attached to those plants. Some will be drawn to the aromas. Some to the symbolism. Some to the history.

And some may simply pick up the bar because they like the name.

I rather like leaving that part open.

You can decide what your Money Tree means to you.

Made by Hand in Dubai

Money Tree is made in small batches using the hot-process method, with French green clay, cinnamon powder, star anise powder and an aromatic blend of patchouli, bergamot, orange, lemon, cedarwood, cinnamon leaf and peppermint.

Behind every bar is still the same very ordinary scene: a working table, pots, oils, herbs, moulds, handwritten notes — and usually far too many plants occupying my workshop.

My grandmother Kemiskhan would probably recognize the important part.

You take what nature gives you. You learn about it. You work with your hands.

And you see what grows from there.

Curated with care by Kemiskhan.