I’m perfectly willing to assume this has some mundane explanation. I won’t completely discount that. But I have yet to find one and it is getting weird. For at least a week now I’ve been bothered by the odd smell of sawdust and wood shavings. I have had caged pets over the years and I recognize it right away as smelling just like small animal bedding shavings. However I don’t currently have a small caged rodent. Besides while I have smelled it in the house, I’ve also picked it up while driving somewhere, at work, and even outdoors.
More recently it’s been the very strong smell of cigarette butts. I do not smoke. I have never smoked. I DO have smokers living in the house, but they have never been ones to leave full ashtrays laying around to stink. they have said in passing that they both actually find ashtrays of old stale butts very offensive. And anyway I’ve not yet found any stinking stale butts laying around. I’ve picked up this mostly in my own bedroom oddly enough and no one has ever smoked in here at all. I’ve also smelled it in my truck and I don’t even have an ashtray in there.
Have you been working with any specific spirits lately? There was a period where whenever I evoked Raphael, I would smell lavendar almost everywhere I go, and that’s counting the times that I didn’t use any incense at all.
Smelling saw dust or wood chips, is it possible you are working with a demon or entity that is known for working with animals or known as a woodland, forest dwelling entity? If you think about it, there are alot of stories in books and online that try to prove many of the demons we know today, were actually pagan gods and goddesses. Like Astaroth can be linked to Isis. Some believe that they are the same beings, but with religious stories perverting the original contexts over time, it is now assumed that these beings are “evil” demons by christianity.
A pagan might argue that they are the same being, but only known as demons today because judeo religions have turned them into such. I have also heard that the original form of the word demon (Daemon) means divine. Maybe there’s a link there and someone you are working with is known in another cultures as an earth spirit. Because I would associate wood with the forest, sensing a strong connection to the element of earth. It could also be an entity that seeks to connect with you and the smells are a way to get you to investigate. For instance, Astaroth, when she wants to connect with me or tell me something, she doesn’t wait for evocation, she starts flashing things in front of my face, ideas, sensations, emotions, and smells that are like clues for me to follow.
However, that’s how I learn. I have a massive collection of Nancy Drew dectective games and have always learned by piecing things together like a puzzle and she knows this. So maybe this woodsy scent is a clue of sorts? I would suggest researching demons and pagan gods (because both types of literature are helpful in figuring out who is trying to contact you) that are associated with the forest, earth, or animals. Also, take into account when you smell this, how you feel. Do you get any sudden emotions, ideas, or thoughts that come to mind? Start writing down everything that comes to mind and how you feel when you smell the wood dust, it may lead to further information in the future.
Sounds odd I know, but this is how many entities contact me and let me know answers to my questions or tell me things to avoid. You may be the same way. And please do not discredit what I said about pagan gods. There are many strong links between gods and demons. White magick as a whole may not be effective, but many of the techniques can be when applied to black magick principles.
Forgot to mention that smells are common when a presence is with you. I accidentally evoked a malign entity several years ago, he was terrifying to be around and loved to toy with your emotions, start fights, etc. I always smelled rotting sewage before he arrived, until I figured out a way to banish him so I would no longer notice him. With Lucifer, I always smell a fresh earthy musky scent like sandalwood or patchouli.
Thought I would post a quick update. I actually discovered the meaning off the cigarette butt smell. One evening recently I was sitting thinking about completely unrelated things and it popped into my head at once out of seeming nothingness. Cigarette butts represent something dirty, offensive, undesirable and off putting. I understood it too be a clear hint about a need to offend the target of a semi-baneful working I am putting together. The need to repell and put them off… That was a missing piece. Crazy enough as soon as I figured that out and then actually started to assume I had gotten it right and taken the hint, I have never smelled the order of old ashtrays since.
Unless it’s clothes or perhaps some left-over cages or bowls which have not been properly cleaned or sterilized from the animals, not excluding cigarettes - EDIT: looks like you found the source for that, nice. Regarding those other smells your mention, there’s some of the smell from the animals that could have attached itself to the walls. What’s weird is that the smell of Wood that’s hitting you when driving. In case you are not working with a spirit I think your sense of clairsailence (psyhic sense of smell) might’ve spotaneously awoken.
For some people though it’s rarer, psyhic senses are instilled with you since birth f.e people that aee born with the psychic sense of hearing (clairaudience). They will likely keep dissmising it until about young adulthood or even far later, it will always be in the background until it’s undeniable. Then we have the people whose senses awaken for some reason later in life. And then lf course we have the others who must develop their senses. In my case I was gifted with clairsentience, most of my other psychic senses I have developed. Some needs more developing.
In your case you may have experienced an awakening of one of your senses. Unless you find the source/’s for the smell/’s. And if that’s the case unless you find a mundane source for the other smells, then you might have an entity on your hands.