Holmes Peter - Aromatica

This is a truly outstanding contribution to the literature on essential oil therapeutics. Based on years of experience, Holmes shares his profound insights into the therapeutic and clinical usage of essential oils, seamlessly weaving vitalistic and allopathic paradigms. Regardless of the individual practitioners approach and philosophical leanings, this is an invaluable resource. Aromatica is the most significant text on essential oil therapy to emerge in recent years, and is destined to become a classic in the field.

Jennifer Peace Rhind, author of Essential Oils: A Handbook for Aromatherapy Practice, Fragrance and Wellbeing, Listening to Scent and Aromatherapeutic Blending

Aromatica is a meticulously researched and scholarly book, which covers the use of essential oils from a wide-ranging clinical perspective. It includes precise data on some unusual oils such as Blue tansy, as well as outlining the critical importance of selecting premium quality oils to ensure their therapeutic effectiveness. Overall, this book is a valuable and original contribution to the literature presently available.

Julia Lawless, owner of Aqua Oleum and author of The Encyclopedia of Essential Oils and Complete Essential Oils Sourcebook

If there was ever a book that could transmit the full spectrum of treasure, value and validity of essential oils in our time, this is it.

from the Foreword by Tiffany Carole Pollard, MS, LAc, LMP, Synergy Wellness Center

Peter shares with us his great gift for using the terms and principles of Chinese medicine to explore herbal medicines from beyond the classical Chinese Materia Medica with easily understandable and clinically useful clarity. It is a real feast for the student and the seasoned clinician alike. This book secures Peters place as a master of weaving eclectic systems of classification into a clinically useful modern construction.

from the Foreword by Charles Lev, Faculty Instructor in Family Medicine, Oregon Health Science University and Clinical Supervisor, National College of Natural Medicine

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AROMATICA

A Clinical Guide to Essential Oil Therapeutics

V OLUME 1: P RINCIP LES AND P ROFILES

P ET ER H OLMES

F OREWORDS BY G ABRIEL M OJAY ,
T IFFANY C AROLE P OLLARD AND C HAR LES L EV

I LLUSTRATED BY M IMI C AMP

LONDON AND PHILADELPHIA

Disclaimer

The information contained in this book is for educational purposes only. It is not intended to diagnose, treat or prescribe, and does not purport to replace the services of a duly trained practitioner. The information presented herein is factual and accurate to the authors knowledge up to the time of printing.

First published in 2016

by Singing Dragon

an imprint of Jessica Kingsley Publishers

73 Collier Street

London N1 9BE, UK

and

400 Market Street, Suite 400

Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA

www.singingdragon.com

Copyright Peter Holmes 2016

First foreword copyright Gabriel Mojay 2016

Second foreword copyright Tiffany Carole Pollard 2016

Third foreword copyright Charles Lev 2016

Illustrations copyright Mimi Camp 2016

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, Saffron House, 610 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Applications for the copyright owners written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the publisher.

Warning: The doing of an unauthorised act in relation to a copyright work may result in both a civil claim for damages and criminal prosecution.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Holmes, Peter, 1949 December 16- , author.

Aromatica : a clinical guide to essential oil therapeutics / Peter Holmes.

p. ; cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-84819-303-1 (alk. paper)

I. Title.

[DNLM: 1. Aromatherapy--methods. 2. Oils, Volatile--therapeutic use. WB 925]

RM666.A68

615.3219--dc23

2015035670

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 978 1 84819 303 1

eISBN 978 0 85701 257 9

Contents

Foreword

About 25 years ago, an important book entered my then modest library of herbal texts. That book was Peter Holmes The Energetics of Western Herbs. Having first studied medicinal plants from the vitalistic perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, the two-volume tome instantly became a valuable guide for my professional practice. Working as I did according to the same terrain-based, mind-body diagnostic principles enshrined in the book, my first reading of it was akin to meeting someone who spoke the same distinct dialect and who could expand and refine my therapeutic vocabulary. Whats more, the text encompassed discussion of several aromatic extracts and while the extent of that discussion was naturally but an inkling of what has now arrived in the form of Aromatica , it nevertheless reinforced my understanding and clinical use of essential oils.

Over the quarter of a century since, the general popularity and therapeutic use of essential oils has grown exponentially. During that time, Peter Holmes has continued to explore and research plant aromatics and their diverse clinical applications as a practitioner, scholar, educator and importer-purveyor. He therefore brings to bear a uniquely multifaceted insight into the world of essential oils one that is imbued with an intricate knowledge of both their empirical history and their medicinal dynamics.

I first met Peter in 1997, at the Tisserand Institutes Aroma 97 conference at Warwick University, England. It was at this event that he delivered a seminal paper on the key concept of fragrance energetics , designating the fragrance of essential oils as their primary effective quality just as the characteristics of a herbs taste is indicative of its generalized effect on the body and mind. Thus, in the same way that classic herbal compendia of both the East and West refer in the first instance to the sweetness, bitterness and/or pungency, etc. of a herb, and so provide information about its fundamental faculties, Peter highlighted the importance of apprehending and interpreting the effective fragrance qualities of an essential oil.