Essential Oils & Aromatherapy

by Marlene Houghton

  CONTENTS

  INTRODUCTION

  CHAPTER ONE

  History of Aromatherapy

  CHAPTER TWO

  The Healing Art of Aromatherapy

  CHAPTER THREE

  The A to Z of Essential Oils

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Carrier Oils

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Blending Essential Oils

  CHAPTER SIX

  Using Essential Oils

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Daily Essential Oil Therapy

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Aromatherapy and Beauty

  CHAPTER NINE

  Male Grooming

  CHAPTER TEN

  Seasonal Health with Aromatherapy

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Body Systems

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Home First-Aid Kit

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Ancient Oils for Love and Attraction

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Magical Blends

  GLOSSARY

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  IMAGE CREDITS

  INDEX

  INTRODUCTION

  “Their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.”

  Ezekiel 47:12

  Welcome to the fragrant art of aromatherapy. I have been using essential oils for many years for both health and beauty and have found them useful for the prevention and treatment of minor ailments and skin care. The life-enhancing qualities of this holistic system of medicine have provided my family and me with vital protection from colds, coughs, and flu during the winter months, and pleasure when used for skin and body care.

  This ancient healing system has become very popular with the general public, and today many women’s magazines carry articles on essential oils and their uses. Aromatherapy has left the fringes and become complementary to mainstream medicine. The aim of this book is to introduce the layperson to the principles of this wonderful therapy so that readers, armed with a broad knowledge of the basics of these essential oils and their application, will be able to gain many health benefits by using the oils for prevention, healing, beauty, and pleasure.

  Many aromatherapy books concentrate on women and their health and beauty issues, but I thought it was time that men were also included. I have added a chapter on aromatherapy oils for men, as male skin is not the same as female skin, and men also have to deal with the daily ritual of shaving, which can be associated with a number of skin problems. This information seems to be hard for men to find, and they have been neglected, so I have attempted to put this right. At last there are some valuable tips for men when using aromatherapy that will help them with natural daily grooming. Male readers will recognize the benefits that these aromatic essences will bring to their skin, body, hair, and health when they start to use them, and they will wonder how they ever managed without them.

  Aromatherapy Today

  This form of ageless medicine used for thousands of years throughout Europe and the Far East has gained popularity in the West. Today it has become one of the most popular and fastest-growing branches of complementary medicine. Researchers and many medical professionals increasingly recognize aromatherapy’s therapeutic value in helping to keep the body, mind, and spirit in harmony. Recognizing the healing properties of essential plant oils, practitioners trained today learn that this healing modality is a gentle holistic therapy that draws its powers from Mother Nature’s plants, flowers, leaves, roots, seeds, fruits, and barks. Used to relieve stress, boost physical and psychological well-being, and improve the health of the immune system, this popular therapy is being used more and more by enlightened practitioners of mainstream medicine although it has not yet been accepted scientifically. The claims made for aromatherapy’s healing effect according to science are not supported by any research or evidence. It is true that most of the evidence in favor of the use of essential oils for healing and prevention is empirical, gathered first-hand over centuries and through observation. The upsurge in interest in this holistic therapy, however, is due to the acceptance by the public of aromatherapy principles and skepticism regarding using only drugs to restore health.

  I accept the wisdom of the ancients, and my experience when using these precious essential oils therapeutically has proven to me that they have preventative and restorative value. I think that over 8,000 years of use shows that Mother Nature’s essential oils have withstood the test of time and that these plant oils play a valuable part in the treatment of minor ailments and also health problems that orthodox medicine is unable to cure.

  Enclosed Essential Oil Wall Chart

  Included in this book is a wall chart that serves as a quick and handy go-to reference guide containing a summary of the major essential oils, their characteristics, and their healing properties from the following pages.

  Take Care Never drink any essential oil, whether diluted or not. Oils should be diluted in a carrier or base oil and massaged into the skin, put into bath water, or warmed in a diffuser to fill a room with a specific aroma. Some oils will require a patch test, which involves putting a little of the mixture on one spot on your arm to see if it causes an irritation.

  “But Flowers distilled though they with Winter meet, lose but their show, their substance still lives sweet.”

  William Shakespeare

  Aromatherapy is the art of using essential oils for the purpose of restoring balance to the mind, body, and spirit. It is a form of natural healing that goes back more than 8,000 years. Many think that aromatherapy is a New Age therapy, but in fact it is one of the oldest known medicinal therapies. Like all other holistic treatments, it works on the principle that the most effective way to promote health and well-being is to strengthen the immune system, which is critically important to good health. This healing art is also good for stress reduction, as it promotes calm and balance, restoring the body and mind to a state of equilibrium. Aromatherapy treats the whole person: the physical body, the emotions, and the spirit. In this way, harmony is reinstated between this important team that makes up the whole person by bringing each system into alignment.

  The application of essential oils for therapeutic purposes can be traced back to all major civilizations. In the ancient world perfumed oils, believed to be sacred, were used in rituals and religious ceremonies. They were also used medicinally by priests/physicians to treat many of the diseases that have afflicted humankind since the beginning of time.

  In India this tradition has not been lost, and temples built entirely from sandalwood are still in existence. Ayurveda, the holistic tradition of medicine in India—over 3,000 years old—is practiced by present-day Ayurvedic doctors who still use traditional health care concepts when treating patients. Oil massage treatments for health and well-being are an important holistic therapy in Ayurvedic medicine. For relaxation of the body and mind, skin nourishment, improvement of circulation, and removal of toxins, Ayurveda uses many essential oils to good effect.

  Ancient Chinese herbals going back thousands of years describe the use of aromatic woods and herbs that were burnt as offerings to the Gods. The essential oils from plants, barks, roots, leaves, and seeds were also used medicinally by Chinese apothecaries. In 2650 BCE, The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine contained references to these valuable oils.

  The ancient Egyptians, regarded as the founders of this healing art, used therapeutic oils in massage, skin care, and medicinally. The High Priests burned heady mixtures made up of spikenard, cinnamon, and other rich and potent ingredients so that the Sun God Ra would return safely in the eastern skies every morning. They also used cedarwood and other aromatic oils for embalming the dead. Cedarwood was the wood of choice for the sarcoph
agi in which the royal Egyptian mummies were buried. In the Ebers Papyrus, dated 1550 BCE, medicinal formulas were found for various diseases that were treated with inhalations, compresses, and gargles. Essential oils are truly ancient medicine.

  In the Middle East, merchants brought back precious spices, cinnamon, ginger, frankincense, and myrrh from their journeys to the Orient. Between the seventh and thirteenth centuries, the Arabs produced many scholars and scientists. An Arabian physician and philosopher born in Persia in 980 CE named Ibn Sina, and known more often as Avicenna, the Prince of Physicians, has been credited with the discovery of distillation, the method most commonly used to obtain the oils. This gifted man of science wrote more than a hundred books, and his book The Canon of Medicine was used by students of medicine for many centuries. One of his books was devoted entirely to the rose, the most valued flower of Islam, whose reavenly and divine fragrance is believed to have permeated the Garden of Allah. Legend has it that the ruby-red damask rose petals were created from a single drop of sweat from the brow of the Prophet.

  The Yellow Emperor

  Ibn Sina, also known as Avicenna

  Hippocrates

  The classical Greeks used these precious oils in their bath houses for relaxation, hygiene, health, and beauty. Hippocrates, the Greek physician who today is known as the Father of Medicine, advocated the benefits of bathing in warm baths scented with sweet-smelling perfumed oils. Later, the Romans obtained much of their medical knowledge of essential oils from the Greeks and then improved on this knowledge. They were aware of the beneficial properties of these wonderful oils and, apart from using them to treat disease, the Romans—well known for their hedonistic lifestyles—used them for sensual reasons, to enhance sexual desire and uplift and alter mood. Unfortunately, with the fall of the Roman Empire around 410 CE, the use of these valuable oils declined in Europe, probably as the influence of the Church began to get a grip. The Church frowned on pleasure-seeking practices, communal bathing, and using fragrance for beautifying the body, judging them to be sinful and vain. Consequently, the use of these beautiful essential oils, for pleasure and also for use medicinally, fell into decline. The lack of hygiene during the Dark Ages led to the rise of many diseases, and ultimately the plagues in which millions of people died.

  During this time, when the bubonic plagues wreaked havoc throughout Europe, herbalist-physicians urged people to use essential oils in an effort to stop the outbreaks from spreading. When they treated their patients, they wore beaked masks filled with cloves, cinnamon, and aromatic spices, believing that breathing the herbal aroma through this beak would protect them. They must have looked terrifying in this hideous outfit, and many of the victims probably died of fright instead of bubonic plague!

  These plague-doctors carried sponges soaked in aromatic oils for protection but unfortunately this did not appear to work and thousands died. However, one group of people was protected against these epidemics, and it was not known why. They used what came to be known as “Four Thieves Vinegar.” It contained many herbs and oils and appeared to provide protection against the infection. The name derived from a story about four thieves who robbed the dead victims of the plague. They doused themselves in this vinegar and mysteriously did not appear to catch this virulent disease that was killing millions. One of the therapeutic ingredients in this vinegar was garlic. Today we know that this pungent, volatile garlic oil contains important antibacterial and antiviral properties. Other essential oils in this protective mixture were rosemary, eucalyptus, and cinnamon. These oils contain substances that obviously helped defend the four thieves from catching the pestilence. Today we know that these three essential oils are strongly antiseptic, and this must have been the reason these thieves did not die. Who said crime does not pay!

  In Tudor England, Elizabeth I (1533–1603) used fragrant oils to cover what must have been the nauseating smells of her court. The queen’s physician is said to have advised her that bathing was dangerous! Taking his advice, she had only one or two baths a year!

  During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in Renaissance Europe, the essential oils began to enjoy a resurgence. The perfumer’s art was revived when Catherine de Medici, the queen of Henry II of France, created a fashion for aromatic products. Apparently, she adored the beautiful haunting fragrance of neroli, whose hypnotic, euphoric properties are known to act as an aphrodisiac, increasing sexual desire. Fascinated by the occult sciences, she regularly consulted Nostradamus, along with her court alchemist and astrologer. Catherine is said to have used the Dark Arts to dispatch a number of her enemies, using a few of the poisonous oils blended for this purpose by her court apothecaries!

  Nostradamus

  By the end of the seventeenth century alchemy gave way to chemistry, and eventually the early nineteenth century saw the start of the scientific revolution. For the first time, chemists were able to identify the various properties of the essential oils, and as this research developed, it saw the development of synthetic chemicals. It is from these early beginnings that the modern drug industry developed. Natural medicines fell into decline. Gradually, health care became professionalized and individuals no longer treated themselves with natural remedies or folk medicine, but instead relied on medical doctors. These doctors were very expensive, so the poor still visited apothecaries.

  Aromatherapy is a specialized branch of herbal medicine that consists of natural plant products and developed alongside herbalism, but both have a common root. The plants that yield the essential oils are also used in herbal medicine. In nineteenth-century Germany, books on distillation were beginning to appear, and it was at this time that the great European herbalists began to write their herbals, a number of which are still in print today. By the nineteenth century, with the advent of synthetic medicine, the practice of herbalism and the use of natural remedies and essential oils for therapeutic purposes faded out, as scientific medicine began to take over, and people began to place their faith in these new chemical drugs.

  Eventually, with the rise of side effects and the realization that drugs were not the panacea they were once thought to be, the pendulum began to swing back to natural remedies and individual empowerment. People began to treat minor illnesses themselves, using the many natural medicines found in Mother Nature’s pharmacy. Therapy through plants or the use of their aromatic essences using essential oils was an easy way to self-treat minor ailments, so modern aromatherapy began to take off.

  The twentieth century saw the resurgence of essential oils used for therapeutic purposes. Rene Gattefosse, known as the Father of Aromatherapy, was the first to call this practice aromatherapy. His first book on the subject, titled Aromatherapie, was published in 1928. Following on was a medical doctor, Dr. Jean Valnet, who pioneered work with oils and published his findings in The Practice of Aromatherapy. Dr. Valnet had already enjoyed a long medical career when he began to use essential oils to treat infected wounds, burns, and gangrene during his work as a military surgeon in the Indochina rice fields on the front line at Tonkin. During this time, he noticed the beneficial effects of all the constituent parts of whole plants, and he developed a profound interest in natural medicine. He also found these therapeutic plant oils to be successful in his work with psychiatric patients. This natural therapy was based on the use of whole plants, and Dr. Valnet was awarded numerous honorary distinctions for his work and experience in this field.

  Two other pioneers who are credited with bringing aromatherapy back into the consciousness of the general public were Marguerite Maury, a biochemist who studied Dr. Valnet’s work, and a name we have all heard of today, Robert Tisserand, whose book The Art of Aromatherapy, published in 1977, generated much interest and still does today. This age-old practice of natural health and beauty therapy has become very popular, and it is now tailored for use in a modern, stressful world. The beauty of essential oils is that they have multiple properties, and each oil has many uses. Let these mysterious oils, through regular use, enter yo
ur daily life to work their powerful alchemy!

  “There is a remedy for every illness to be found in nature.”

  Hippocrates

  What Is an Essential Oil?

  An essential oil is the pure concentrated substance found in selected aromatic plants. The essential oils are distilled from herbs, flowers, spices, fruits, trees, woods, and resins. These oils are the basis for aromatherapy treatments. The extracted oil has also been described as the plant’s life force. The beneficial properties of pure essential oils are well known, and their status as natural, effective remedies with important physical and emotional benefits is widely accepted. Essential oils can be used in many different ways and for many different conditions. These very versatile oils are not used for just one purpose—they have multiple uses. You will find that many of the oils I mention in this book are used for a number of different conditions. Easy and pleasurable to use, each essential oil has its own aroma that falls into one of these fragrance families:

  • floral

  • spicy

  • herbaceous

  • green

  • citrusy

  • camphorous

  • resinous

  • earthy

  • woody

  You will find that because of their complex nature, most essential oils belong to more than one fragrance family and are therefore useful in a number of ways.

  Each essential oil is made up of hundreds of different factors, and although these can be chemically identified, they have never been reproduced in a laboratory. Mother Nature’s pharmacy is truly mysterious and has not yet yielded all of its secrets.