The Herbalist Newsletter

Essential Oils
The Sense of Smell Delivers More Than Fragrance
Volume 1, Issue 4

PRECIOUS LIQUIDS
Essential oils (EO) are the fragrant parts of plants which can be gathered in a liquid oil form. There are over three hundred plants harvested for their EO content. Plants that make essential oils are found on every continent and in every family of plant life, from sea algae and tree moss to flower petals and rain forest tree heartwood. One thing they all have in common is that they will totally evaporate without leaving a trace. Some EO's have bigger molecules than others and take longer to evaporate, while others will volatize quickly. When blending essential oils, perfumer's use the various evaporating times to create top, middle, and base notes in the blend. The top notes are the first to be sensed, then middle notes, and finally the "fixative" bottom notes. The complex mixing of the molecules of different oils intermingle and create an overall "bouquet." This blending craft is the ancient and magical art of perfumery.

Plants that have fragrance have inspired myths and stories. In the most ancient of days, fragrant plants were burned on altar coals to envelop the temples with perfumed air. The word perfume is from the Latin words, 'per' and 'fume', meaning 'through smoke.' The ancients went far and wide to obtain new aromatics, which were among the first items of world trade. The biblical Queen of Sheba is the first to have organized caravans into the ancient lands of Punt and Chem for the fabled Al Oban incense. This oil is our modern olibanum, and is the first cosmetic essential oil of history. The arts of extraction and distillation began in the Egyptian land of Chem. The roots of the words Alchemy and Chemistry find their common origins in this ancient land. From these beginnings, the world of aromatics has unfolded into our modern age.

AROMATHERAPY
Essential oils are plant chemicals. They fall into the category of Volatile Organic Compounds and are complex botanical hydrocarbons. Because of their volatile nature, the controlled heat in a distillation apparatus can draw the essential oil from the plant fibers and collect these essences in a bottle. The amount and quality of the plant material needed to produce the oil controls the cost.

The term aromatherapy is from the title of a book first published in 1937 by Rene-Maurice Gattefosse, a famous French perfumer and prolific writer. His goal was to put into one volume a compendium of studies on the therapeutic uses of essential oils to date, and to validate the need for further scientific study. He authored twenty-four books on perfumery and many others in history, science, and metaphysics. His theories and practices of aromatherapy were to lay dormant for many years.

The natural products revolution of the 1960's re-ignited the interest in pure essential oils. First used as alternatives to synthetic perfume, the new naturalists rediscovered their therapeutic powers. In recent years, many books have been published on aromatherapy, and the general availability of essential oils has brought the art into widespread acceptance.

MY SYSTEM OF AROMATICS
Aromatherapy is based on the reflex action of the central limbic brain to the sense of smell. The olfactory nerve stem goes directly to this area, which is known to be responsible for memory and emotions. The olfactory nerve is our environmental chemical detector-o-meter giving us identification signals of our surroundings. This, in turn, modifies our behavior. The incredible number of recognizable scents is baffling. In many cases, the sense of smell can be very subtle, detecting molecules in the air measured in parts per million. Only a few airborne molecules can signal danger, stimulate memories, or cause sexual attraction. Sometimes one can even smell a lie!

By the time a child reaches the age of reason, much of the primal scent imprints have already been made. Babyhood years will have impressed the brain with a great deal of reflective and memorable scents, which will effect the entire psychological pattern of an individual. Some aromatic information may not be enjoyable! The fearful memory of being lost as a child in the pine barrens may lead to discomfort at Christmas because of the evergreen scent. This reflex presents many complex implications. For this reason, it is almost impossible to supply a prescriptive dispensatory for the use of aromatics as a healing or comforting therapy. Local and cultural conditions modify this idea more. It is best for a person to choose the essential oil products found pleasing. This assures the person that the brain has accepted the aromatic as favorable, or at least neutral in limbic reaction.

Because aromatics have a reflex action on the mind they can be used to train a behavior response on a primal level. An example is stress reduction. Stress interferes with health and vitality. First, use bathing, meditation, or massage to achieve relaxation and support this with the use of an aromatherapy scent to identify relaxation with the scent. Later in the day, when stress conditions arrive, the use of the scent will help recall relaxation. Another method is to use a scent to reinforce a personal affirmation in the same way. This natural reflex of the scent, mind, and body is aromatherapy.

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