Please be aware that the use of essential oils in aromatherapy is an
art-science which does affect the human body for good if used properly or ill
if used improperly. Proceed slowly in your application of aromatherapy being
vigilant in your observations. Please consult trusted references like The
Complete Book of Essential Oils & Aromatherapy by Valerie Ann Worwood as
to the toxicity and strength of various oils. Use common sense and in general
do not ingest or apply essential oils directly to the skin.
Isis Books and Gifts carries an excellent selection of 100% natural, pure
essential oils at very reasonable prices.
Aromatherapy is the therapeutic use of the essential oils of plants. It can
help to relieve stress, restore balance on all levels, contribute to the
rejuvenation and regeneration of the individual. As an 'official' therapy,
it is a 20th century science with its roots in ancient Egypt, India and the
Mesopotamian areas. The word was first coined by a French chemist,
Gattefosse, in 1928 when he discovered the healing properites of lavender oil
as a topical application for burns. As early as 1946 another French
scientist, Valnet, was using essential oils extensively as a part of his
physical and psychotherapeutic treatments. Two modern founders of the
Aromatherapy movement, Marguerite Maury applied his research to her beauty
therapies and Robert Tisserand to massage therapy.
Essential oils are pure, aromatic substances extracted or distilled from
flowers, herbs, trees, fruits and roots. They each have their own specific
properties, like herbs, and are highly volatile, concentrated with molecules,
and are 75-100 times more concentrated in an essential oil than the dried
plant. They've been called the life force or quintessence of the plant.
Essential oils are blood of the plant, contain its life force as well as its
chemical make-up. Most are clear, some are colored. Essential oils are
odorous and highly volatile. Also, essential oils are soluble in alcohol or
fixed oil, but only partially in water.
Essential oils consist of chemical compounds which have hydrogen, carbon and
oxygen as their building blocks. The chemical families of essential oils
are:
• Terpenes: Hydrocarbons - anti-viral, antiseptic,
anti-flammatory, bacterial (lemon, pine)
• Esters: Oxygenated - fungicidal, sedating and very
aromatic (bergamot, clary sage, lavender)
• Aldehydes: Oxygenated - sedating & antiseptic
(melissa, lemongrass, citronella)
• Ketones: Oxygenated - ease congestion, aid flow of
mucus, can be toxic (fennel, hyssop, sage)
• Alcohols: Oxygenated - very antiseptic, anti viral with
uplifting qualities (rosewood, geranium, rose)
• Phenols: Oxygenated - bactericidal & strongly
stimulating, can be irritating to skin (clove, thyme, oregano)
• Oxides: Oxygenated - expectorent & bacterial
(eucalypus, rosemary, tea tree)
The same plant grown in a different region under varying conditions (soil,
temperature, rain) can produce essential oils with diverse characteristics
(chemo-types). Therefore it's important not only to know the oil by its
Latin botanical name but also by its place of origin.
How aromatherapy works:
aroma therapy works in 4 distinct thought interrelated
ways:
• Pharmacological - the effects of the chemical changes which take place
when an essential oil enters the bloodstream and reacts with enzymes,
hormones etc.
• Physiological: the effects which an essential oil has on the systems
of the body - sedating, tonic or stimulating. Nerve pathways from nose to
limbic brain and olfactory bulbs, stimulates nerve cells and centers.
Forebrain develops in response to smell. 1956 neurologist David Ottoson
attached electrodes to brain centers, recorded electrical response to
different scents. Acts directly on body via nervous system and endocrine
system and directly on tissue or organ.
• Psychological: the individual's response to the scent upon
inhalation. Stimulates emotional and physiological response - acts on
attitudes and emotions. Nerves from olfactory bulb extend throughout brain.
• Wholistic: the total response with the inclusion of the subtle or
vibrational effects on the energetic or auric body.
By contact with the skin, essential oil's small molecular structures
penetrate the dermis into the blood and lymph stream, strengthening and
toning the body's organs and the hormonal, nervous & immune systems.
Through inhalation, the molecules stimulate a sensory cell in the back of the
nose which travels to the limbic brain, effecting neuro-chemicals, the
memory, and emotions.
All herbs, oils, incense, etc. can be found at the best Wiccan online store.
Top-quality products, great prices. Herbal and essential oil reference guides
available online.
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