Press - Essential oils for beginners: the guide to get started with essential oils and aromatherapy

Essential Oils for Beginners

Copyright 2013 by Althea Press, Berkeley, California.

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ISBN: Print 978-1-62315-239-0 | eBook 978-1-62315-259-8

For thousands of years, people have been using essential oils to enhance physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health. Only recently has science begun to discover how these volatile aromatic liquids and the precious chemical compounds they contain work to affect both body and mind.

Perhaps you are interested in using these delightfully scented oils primarily for aromatherapy, or maybe you want to learn how to create a wide variety of therapeutic products and solutions for enhancing beauty the natural way. Within these pages, youll find a wealth of valuable information about the worlds best-loved essential oils, along with more than a hundred tips for using them with confidence.

Each essential oil described in this book may be used for a variety of purposes. For example, pure peppermint essential oil is well known for its ability to soothe digestive discomfort, relieve inflammation and pain caused by arthritic conditions, and give fresh flavor to a variety of products, ranging from candy to toothpaste. This book is a comprehensive resource you can refer to whether you need a natural remedy for treating a headache or soothing cold symptoms, or even for helping minor wounds heal rapidly.

Sourced from plants, healthy for our planet, and naturally effective, essential oils are versatile and convenient. By choosing to use these fragrant gifts from natures abundant apothecary to replace chemical-based products whenever possible, you open yourself, your family, and even companion animals up to total well-being.

PART ONE

Essential oils are more than just highly concentrated plant extracts. Most possess potent medicinal qualities, and many are valued for their exceptional cosmetic qualities. While the whole plants or plant parts they are derived from possess beneficial qualities, essential oils are much more powerful.

Sometimes referred to as ethereal oils or volatile oils, essential oils carry the actual essence or fragrance of the plants from which they are extracted. A few popular essential oils are derived from whole plants, but most are derived from specific sections of the plants for which they are named. Some essential oils, including almond and nutmeg oils, come from seeds. Many, including patchouli, eucalyptus, and tea tree oils, are extracted from leaves. Still others come from wood, flowers, resin, or roots. Some plants, including cinnamon and bitter orange, are used as sources for more than one distinct type of essential oil.

Professional practitioners use approximately three hundred essential oils to treat a vast range of illnesses, but home practitioners typically use between ten and twenty essential oils on a regular basis. Some favorites include lavender, eucalyptus, clary sage, and orange essential oils.

Cave paintings discovered in Lascaux, France, suggest that prehistoric people used medicinal plants on a daily basis. These fascinating images have been carbon dated to approximately 18,000 BCE.

Humans have possessed an understanding of the healing power of plants for thousands of years. While it is not clear when essential oils were first distilled, we know that these oils were used in various cultures, and we know that they were used for religious ceremonies as well as for healing purposes.

Herbs and Essential Oils in Ancient Times

The Egyptian people are widely renowned for their achievements, so it might not come as a surprise that ancient Egyptians were among the first to use essential oils. In fact, records show that aromatic oils were part of daily life in Egypt as early as 4500 BCE. Cinnamon, myrrh, sandalwood, and frankincense were treasured favorites; they were of such great value that they were sometimes purchased with pure gold.

In Egypt, pure essential oils were believed to be sacred, and only high priests and royalty had the authority to use them; each deity was assigned a signature essential oil blend. Images and carvings of gods and goddesses were frequently anointed with precious oils during religious ceremonies. Each pharaoh used a variety of unique essential oil blends during meditation and intimacy, and even during preparation for war.