Last night I attended a lecture from an expert in essential oils and learned quite a bit; enough to know I’m going to start using them for aromatherapy and for medicinal purposes. Each participant concocted a small cobalt blue glass spritzer bottle of a refreshing combination of tea tree oil, lavender oil, and orange oil, mixed with a few ounces of water. It’s an air freshener as well as can be used to put into a diffuser to breathe in.
I learned about the “almost universal” benificence of lavender.
I learned about 4 thieves from hundreds of years ago who combined 5 essential oils and applied them to their noses and ears to ward off Bubonic Plague while they robbed the dead bodies. They were caught and were pressured to tell the secret of how they cheated death. The ruler in charge agreed not to burn them at the stake if they told their secret. They gave up the secret ingredients in exchange for not being burned at the stake (they were hung instead goes the legend.)
That secret recipe is touted as a miracle blend these days and has been named Thieves Oil.
Recipe:
Clove (bud oil) 35 drops
Lemon (peel oil) 30 drops
Eucalyptus Radiata (leaf oil) 13 drops
Cinnamon (bark oil) 15 drops
Rosemary (leaf oil) 7 drops
10 oz of witch hazel or water
Dropper the oils into a small GLASS jar and fill the rest of the jar with the witch hazel or water, but leave a minimum of an inch of room at the top. Put spray top on and tighten. Shake to mix.
Drops of it can be added to olive oil, coconut, or other carrier oil and rubbed onto the skin. Never rub the full strength oil onto your skin unless you’ve researched it won’t irritate your skin.
The two most important things I learned from the lecture is how powerfully healing essential oils are and that because they are so powerful you should learn how to apply them in a way that helps and doesn’t harm. With the internet so full of sites that talk about herbs, if you want to use them, do research at several sites to make sure you’re not going to harm yourself. If you’re blessed enough to know an herbalist or essential oil specialist, consult with them.
I would encourage each person reading this to learn more about nature’s lovely healers.
Tao Talk 
I’ve been using various essential oils for years. Lavender especially. You’re right, you do have to be careful with the use of many of them. My reference ‘bible’ is The Fragrant Pharmacy by Valerie Ann Worwood, so old and well-used it’s almost fallen apart. I know there’s a lot of info on line, but I’d really recommend her book if you can get hold of a copy.
I’ve never heard of the Thieves Oil, I’ll have to try that. :)
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Chris, thank you very much for the book reference. There is just so much info and so many books, to know which to choose can be difficult as a quality source. I wrote the book title down :)
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I’ve tested the benefits of lavender oil. It is great stress reliever.
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I got some bath bombs from my younger son and his wife for Christmas. One was lavender scented and in the middle were lavender flowers that ended up floating in the tub. Such a fun experience. My plan is to buy lavender oil and try a few drops in the tub.
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That was a cool idea.
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Yes, do that. Before we had our water crisis (sadly now, baths are way too extravagant) I used several different essential oils in the bath. Geranium and lemon is lovely in the morning – a couple of drops of each; marjoram and chamomile is wonderfully relaxing in the evening, especially if you’ve done too much gardening!
Enjoy!
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Chris thanks!
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p.s. It’s really cold here in winter and I keep the thermostat low. It seems the only way I unthaw is a hot bath.
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It’s a great oil when used properly.
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Chris, that’s cool you use them. Any in particular you like using? Any tips are appreciated.
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Sure– examples would be:
Ginger Oil for pain in pain in joints
Blue Geranium Oil for inflammation
Clove Oil for tooth pain
My son uses Tea Tree for psoriasis
I usually keep about 20 different ones on hand for different applications – and I’m always up for trying new ones. I don’t usually find premix blends as cost effective .
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I need to get some ginger oil for my finger joints. Very cool that you have your own home pharmacy without paying a fortune or getting any of those harmful additives they put in the shelf products.
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I gotta say… self experimentation with oils and supplements over the years has been both a blessing and a curse. :-D
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I know the lady who gave the talk said there can be unpleasant side effect, the worst one being photosensitivity. I’ve got a book ordered from the library that should be here in the next week.
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Which book was it ?
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The complete book of essential oils and aromatherapy : over 800 natural, nontoxic, and fragrant recipes to create health, beauty, and safe home and work environments / Valerie Ann Worwood.
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wow– that looks pretty comprehensive alright. Let me know what you think of it, ok?
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Chris Hall, a blogger, recommended it but an older version of it. After I told you the name I went out on to amazon and saw it for $20 so bought it. It looks like a keeper. Will let you know.
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I will buy it if you like it. It looks well done.
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It is packed full of information. Only issues so far is it’s printed on newsprint kind of paper and some of the print is very small. It also doesn’t have at least one essential oil I really wanted to learn more about — vervain from verbena plants.
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I’ll see what my stuff on the subject has on it.
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Great, I’d appreciate it.
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copyright 2016 (a revised and expanded edition)
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The four thieves were finally captured in Marseilles, France and charged with the crime of robbing the plague victims. At the trial, the Magistrate offered to go easy on them if they would divulge how they avoided contracting the horrific infection, in spite of their continual and very close contact with infected corpses. It was revealed that the special formula they had concocted was provided by perfumers and spice traders.
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Thanks for fleshing out the story, Jim. I read varying accounts. Were they hung instead of burned at the stake? I would hope they’d be allowed to live!!!!!!!
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I did not find any information on that, but I did find this story very interesting.
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One of my most beloved subjects <3
It started with Lavender and then branched out from there. I rub it on OV when he comes to visit,lol. Calms him down to a more manageable level. I also like it rubbed on my temples when I have a headache. Peppermint works too. Have you seen how they distil the oil? It takes a huge amount to get a wee tiny bit! No wonder its so expensive, yikes!
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. I bet that smells amazing!
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Somehow it doesn’t surprise me that you are into essential oils. No, I haven’t seen how they do it, other than on a massive scale in France, which isn’t my idea of artisan. I’d like to see if growing enough herbs to try to distil before investing in a distiller. I wonder if the distiller could be used for other purposes (like home-made vodka)?
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:)
Heheheheh, that thought about distilling crossed my mind too.
If you like YouTube you can find some cool videos about home distilling there. Blew my mind. Although seeing it in France would blow my mind too!
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I just got a book from the library on essential oils. They talk about how much of each flower/bark/etc it takes for distilling. It takes 3 million jasmine blossoms for one pound of jasmine oil. It takes 150# of lavender blossoms for one # of oil. If you have space to grow or know where to gather a lot, it might be worth the effort. I will check out youtube (isn’t youtube the greatest invention since chocolate?) and see what they have!
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Lavender smells soooo good. I’ve used some of the oils as perfume, and my daughter used to make up vials of all different kinds. :)
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Let me guess that’s where Grandma’s potion room comes from :)
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heh heh – I hadn’t really thought of it, but could be. I’ve always been interested in such things like potions. :)
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I’ve used oils for headaches before…they worked…or relaxed me enough where the headache went away.
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The lady who gave the talk was talking about them for headaches. I was talking with my hairdresser today and she is into them bigtime. She said she uses coconut oil with a few drops of eucalyptus for a chest rub for her kids instead of Vicks. Healthier and way cheaper.
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I’m a believer in it. Jennifer asked me to try and it worked. It had an effect like icy hot in a small way…I loved it.
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