Using Essential Oils For Making The Transition

Which essential oils you use is entirely a matter of personal choice. The essential oils are profiled in chapter 11, and you may find that or other sections in these pages useful. If you like flowers, pick from the flower essences, and if they are not right for you there are also herbs, fruits, seeds, woods and resins to choose from. When you are happy with a fragrance or blend, you may find your perception of the odour changes, as you are on the journey of your own soul-fragrance evolution.

Blends have a delight all of their own, and a richness which is perhaps appropriate at this time, although many people have a single favourite fragrance which can be found in essential oil form and may prefer that.

Here is just one suggestion

This is quite a heavy fragrance but if only a small amount is used the aroma is sweeter and lighter: the strength depends on the dilutions you use. The effect will be very different if you use 2 or 8 drops in a diffuser. It is always better to use smaller amounts to begin with, then see if the person making the transition would like more.

Spritzers
One way fragrances can be used is in a spritzer which mixes water and essential oils together. Boil some water with the essential oils added, keeping the lid shut tightly. The ideal thing for this is a stainless stell pot used for making herbal infusions or for cooking. allow it to cool, without opening the lid, and place in a fridge for twenty-four hours. When you take it out of the fridge there may be still some oil floating on the top, which can be spooned off and used in a diffuser. The water that remains will have a delicate light fragrance, ideal for spraying around the room or on the body. For those who like to use Frankincense in a blend, use only a small amount as it can overpower the rest of the fragrances when used in this way.

Hydrolats
Another way of using natural, water-based fragrance is to blend hydrolats, which are the floral waters left after distillation. Rose and Orange flower (neroli) are just two of the fragrances that could be used, and ideal for spraying rooms, bedclothes and around people, as they have antiseptic properties as well as delicious fragrance. However, because only the water soluble components of the plant remain in the water, the hydrolat will not smell exactly the same as the flower. Lavender hydrolat not at all like the lavender we know so well, and rosemary hydrolat can be quite camphorous.

Reference: The Fragrant Heavens: Valerie Ann Worwood