Essential Oils:The unseen Energies 

In the usual light photographs of the Milky Way, the shape seems obvious - it's a spiral disc, a basically flat circular shape  made up of countless white stars - but when you get on the internet and look at some of the photographs that have come back from space, you can see the reality is much more complex.

The web sites to visit are the Goddard Space Flight Centre, NASA, and the University of Illnois, which displays photos of the Milky way taken using X-ray, infra-red and radio equipment. When the frequency is charged, further levels of reality are exposed.

Using computer enhancement and colour, different swirls of energy are highlighted, and 'bipolar outflows' are revealed as emerging from the centre, like two trumpets, perpendicular to the disc of stars. These exciting new pictures illustrate how much more there is to life than we can see with our eyes.

Life on our planet certainly seems more benevolent than on the other planets in our solar system, and more vibrant, but what do we know of its invisible energies? Human energy fields have been recognized in most, if not all, spiritual traditions. Eastern traditions talk of Prana and ch'i - the energies that are vital to health. In Western terminology, we hear of the 'Aura', or the 'ethric body,' 'astral body', 'menta body' and 'spiritual body', and a 'golden web' that connects us all. It is likely that we are dealing with several energy fields that interact with each other, and our physical selves, and they are said to be the means by which we connect with the divine.

According to Dr Valerie Hunt, a physiological scientist and author of Infinite Mind. the science of Human Vibrations, although the electrons existing in humans and interactive matter are the same, the human field absorbs and throws off energy, while inert matter is passive. In addition to the electrical frequencies of muscle, brain and heart there is 'another field of energy, smaller in amplitude and higher in frequency'.

Apparently this energy is electromagnetic, and eight to ten times faster than the other electromagnetic energy recorded on the body's surface. Dr. Hunt has done much research on the human aura: taking measurements when subjects were in the mountains and near the sea; or after having a swim, a shower or a barefoot walk in the grass; and in special scientific study environments, such as the Mu and Anechoic rooms at the university of California in Los Angeles.

The Mu room, located in the physics department, is an environment in which the electromagnetic energy in air can be altered. The Anechoic room is designed to take out sound and light, and thus these sources of electromagnetism: and subjects lost their sense of time and became unable to operate the instruments taken in there for research study. There are few people in the Western world who have carried out as much scientific research on the human aura as Dr. Hunt, and she writes:

The human field looms as primary to life
Resonating frequencies are primary physical bonds in nature, For every frequency or frequency band, there exists natural or created resonators. In other words, a fields frequency pattern at a given time is a resonating structure that determines the energy it will absorb or by which it will be affected. Theoretically, all frequency vibrations exist in the universe

which includes the body) - from sub herzian to as high as modern instruments can measure - billions and trillions of cycles per second. Nonetheless each material substance, living or inert, mineral or chemical, has its own vibratory signature carried in the structure of the field. There are dominant and recessive vibrations in each field, giving it a character. Field interactions result from the strength and patterns of these field vibrations. These constitute windows, or thoroughfares for transactions. A sound general principle states that interaction between fields occurs when there are compatable frequencies. 

I believe essential oils are 'thoroughfares for transactions - they have their own vibrations which connect with the frequencies in the human energy field. Causing effects in the physical, emotional and spiritual body. Essential oils have different electrical qualities, and different molecular shape and vibration. Interesting though all the data is, it does not explain what one might rather vaguely call  'the energy' of a particular essential oil. New methods of recording are required. With this in mind, I went to see Harry Oldfield, who co-authored The Dark Side Of The Brain, with Roger Coghill in 1988, at the time a seminal work on unseen energies. Harry has invented an energy field imaging system which records the invisible aura of energy around living things, and I was interested to know what it could reveal about essential oils.

According to Harry, the images produced show interference patterns with light, as light rays and photons get 'interfered with by the subtle energy effects emanating from the object or space point.  I say "space point" because there are atmospheres and places that give off emanations too.'

Using this new equipment, which produces moving images on a computer monitor, colourful and dynamic patterns emerge in the air around the end of the smelling strip, on which the essential oils are placed. With some, such as jasmine and ginger, the end of the strip appeared bright white, with all the colour spectra in that spot. In others, the whole strip appeared energised, while yet others showed no change. The background is generally green but each essential oil makes it explode into different colours and shapes.

We saw either magenta, predominantly purple, orange, turquoise, or blue circles and squares: all actually layers of colour, rather like a rainbow. With eucalyptus citriodora a yellow haze appeared: while with frankincense a sudden rocket of energy flew out from the end of the strip; and with neroli a blue circle appeared at a distance and started beating like a heart, getting slightly smaller then larger - a flashing light of life - pulsating seven times before dispersing.

The individuality of these essential oil energy patterns is amazing, and the more you see, the more amazing they are! What are we seeing, Harry believes, is the etheric energy in the fabric of space itself, going beyond the molecules themselves, an energy that is in a buffer zone between the physical and higher energies. Some of the essential oils made little impression, and some  were very dramatic, and the differences were not related to when the image was taken. it cannot be said, then, that as the aroma molecules built up in the atmosphere, things got more dramatic.

Sometimes, toward the end of the session, there would be an essential oil that showed very little activity altogether. Also, some of the energy fields were very small and remained close to the end of the strip, while others immediately shot out all around and took up much space. In some, the energy field seemed to hover above the smelling strip, then in others it hung below. Some fields seemed to come towards us, some went out, some stayed where they were,. while others leaped! The kinetic nature of these events is not of course captured by the still images reproduced here. In some essential oil recordings, the energy was slow to build up, in others it was instant.

Discussing the images observed on the computer screen with the other people in the room, I realized that we were using the same vocabulary as I use when describing essential oil fragrances in other contexts. Someone would say it's 'round' or 'sharp' 'sparkly' 'heavy', 'light', 'soft' 'dynamic', or that it 'has direction'.

It was also very interesting to watch the energy field of the essential oil mingle with and affect the aura emanating from a person, if they held the smelling strip, or stood near by. I was reminded of Hunt's phrase, 'a thoroughfare for transactions'. When the energy fields from the essential oil and the person gently connected, we saw an expansion of the human aura. Harry's words were emphatic: They definetly interact in the human energy field, there's no doubt about it.' The mystery of the 'life force' of essential oils was looking less mysterious by the minute.

Essential oils are crystalline structures that carry light. They vibrate, and cause selective synchronous vibration; they are electromagnetic, as we are ourselves. They are thought to travel through the interstitial fluid and the extra cellular space - the space between the cells, where the molecules of emotion may also travel, as described by psycho-immunologist Candace Pert in Molecules of Emotions. It's no wonder that fragrance has been used since time immortal to connect people with the divine, lifting us to finer, higher vibrations, in touch with a wider consciousness. 

Reference: The Fragrant Heavens/ V.A. Worwood

The Sanctity of Plants

People have  always been spiritual, at least we can say so from looking at palaeolithic cave art and many images and objects people have created since that time, say 30,000 years ago. Indeed, spirituality has been the drive of much, if not most, culture and art through out time - think of the temples, sculpture and paintings. People used to believe so sincerely an afterlife that they made them sure their relatives were buried with goods they would need there, including sometimes a fortune in gold jewellery.

Today we may question the existence of an afterlife, and any jewellery goes in the will. Sometimes, we don't seem very spiritual at all . Yet, even we feel it strongly - there must be something else....

Where does this spirituality come from? put another way - what has made people think there is a life after death, and an intelligence that embraces the universe? Some sceptics would say that spirituality is just an ongoing tradition or superstition - that people don't have spiritual experiences, they just think they do.

These people can point to certain evidence. For example, the crystal in granite, being radioactive, cause brain stimulation including hallucinations, which may explain why it was used to build the neolithic dolmens (shelters) and to cover the walls of important rooms, like the King's chamber in Chepos pyramid in Egypt. People sat in these places  and 'tripped out' - more or less like an acid trip (LSD).They thought they were having spiritual experiences, but may have been playing with their own minds.

The same sceptical attitude could be taken towards the spiritual use of sound, dance and plants. Sound, in the form of chanting, singing, or the repetition of mantras, sets up a vibration which changes the brain functioning and could cause a 'spaced out feeling'. Dance can do the same thing. Certain plants are psychoactive  - they have an effect on the mind or psyche - and have been used by shamans for millennia, from South America to Siberia, to facilitate a state of trance, and another perception of reality. Some say these activities gave a false impression of 'spirituality' and fear and superstition did the rest. 

This is a very one -sided point of view, for there are many other types of spiritual experience which involve neither stones, sound, dance nor plants. The basic spiritual experience is love, with some people falling in love  after a very long time of knowing each other or instantly - seeing a stranger across a crowded room.  When that loved-one is far away, they can be thought about, scanned for on the distant horizon, located  and their spirit brought into the heart.

We seem connected in a way in a lay that defies the laws of place. Love is spiritual. Also nature is spiritual, with many people saying their strongest feeling of spirituality is when out amongst nature, on a mountain top perhaps, admiring the view, overcome  with a strong sense  of there being a beneficent intelligence watching over us all. 

Many people have spontaneous spiritual experiences, when they suddenly 'get it' and become devout. Others have near-death experiences, see the other side, and come back certain of an after life. People hear voices - including some of the central characters in the Old Testament - when they're just walking along, not expecting revelation. And people have been bumping into angels for millennia.

It's because the spiritual realm is there that we have this thing called 'spirituality' . When people use stones , sound dance and plants, they are seeking to make the connection with something that they know is already there. These things are not the rason for spirituality, but a means to spirituality. People want to reconnect, and they feel they need help.

When Aaron burnt incense every morning and evening, it was not to create two little pockets of 'spiritual experience' within the day. Aaron felt they spirit all day long. He burned incense to concentrate  his mind on the subject....and because God had told him to. Likewise, Buddists don't burn incense to receive the enlightment of Budda's words, they already know them, and believe them to be the right path to follow in life: incense is burnt to experience the enlightment directly, to connect with something they know is there.

 Certain plants have been chosen as spiritual aids by people living thousands of miles apart, on different continents, in different millennia. Cedar is a case in point. The temple of Solomon in Jerusalem was built with cedars from Lebanon, and it is possible the Hebrews extracted an oil from the wood. In India, cedar is used to induce trance, while in Native American culture it is said to have the ability to counteract negative forces. Why should these, and other peoples choose cedar? Is it because it smells good: or because it does something in the spiritual realm: or because it does both?

Plant materials have long been used in spiritual practice, and the more fragrant they were, the more spiritual they were considered. This may be because fragrance transports. You can be in a place feeling very uncomfortable, with chaos and noise all around, then close your eyes, inhale a particular fragrance, and bypass it all, reconnecting with the great cosmic whole, and peace. It's like a private vehicle silently and instanteously whisking you away to reconnection: fragrance can be a ticket to the divine.

Reference: The Fragrant Heavens: V.A Worwood

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Plants That Feel And Speak - 2

When you think about it, this is not dissimilar to the way horticulturists and gardeners view plants in their care. Older plants possess an authority that seedlings do not. Also, each species has its own nature, and individuals within the species have their particular character.

We speak of animals in much the same way, describing a breed of dog as generally 'good' with children', but individuals within the species may not be good, with children in general, or with a particular child. Many Western gardeners 'tune in' to their plants in essentially the same way as do indigenous peoples. Looking at a bed of roses, next to a bed of hollyhocks, we might perceive each species to have a different emotional tone.

Each species looks different , grows differently, with different kinetic qualities and character - in much the same way as people have different characters. The more species we grow , and the longer we work with them, so our 'instinct ' about plants develops  (as instinct develops over time when using essential oils

The difference between our approach and that of indigenous peoples is the way we learn about plants. We spend time reading gardening books , while they sit with a plant for hours, days even, getting to know it. They'll respectfully bring it little presents, in gratitude for what it offers and to let the plant know they care. They go to plants as a pupil goes to a wise person, to learn. Western horticulturists, on the other hand , often feel that they are the holders of information, and that it is their job to control the plant, which they see as their property.

We know, of course, from 'companion gardening' that plants can influence each other in terms of preventing pests and disease. This is often accomplished through scent, as aroma molecules from the plant waft over another, exerting their beneficial influence. Stephen Harrod Buhner relates an interesting anecdote on this subject in Sacred Plant medicine.

He was sitting with a lichen called usnea, which has powerful antibiotic qualities when suddenly the usually subtle 'feeling tone' of the usnea increased in intensity, Buhner felt his 'personal boundries' dissolving, and the plant appeared as a youngish man. The plant-man told him that usnea's primary role is to keep the earth's lung system healthy, by being an antibiotic for the trees on which it grows, adding that as a by-product of this intended role, usnea can also be used to treat individual human lung infections.

Imagine how much more we could learn about plant interaction, and how many new medicines we could discover, if more of us could hear what plants have to say. Plants are sensitive, sentient beings. 

There has been a great deal of research in this area, starting in 1966 with the work of Cleve Backster, then a New York expert in the field of lie-detection working for law-enforcement agencies. One classic Backster experiment involved plant murder. He put two plants next to each other in a room, along with six of his students, who each picked a piece of paper from a hat; one of the pieces of paper carried instructions for the murder. The people with the five 'blank ' papers left the room with Backster. 

In the room the 'murderer' ripped one of the plants to shreds . Backster then returned, attached the remaining plant to a polygraph machine, and called the students into the room, one by one. There was no response on the machine to the five innocent students, but when the murderer entered the pen flew across the paper as the 'silent witness' recognized the guilty party.

The implications of Backster's work on plants are staggering enough, but he has also done experiments with other life forms, including eggs, shrimps, and human mouth cells - the implications of which are equally amazing. Backster had to conclude that all nature is essentially unified and not separate.

The planet earth hums. It emits a low-frequency radio signal, the earth's 'vibration' which is known as the Shumann resonance, and it can be detected coming from trees. Researchers in America were curious to know whether this vibration could be altered  with human thought and feeling, and connected an oak tree to a machine described as being not unlike those used to measure brainwaves in humans.

A group of people circled the tree and saying a traditional native American prayer, sent it love. The charts reportedly went off the scale. Although the measurements couldn't indicate whether the tree was happy to receive this love, or whether it wanted everyone to go away, clearly some form of interaction was taking place.

Plants respond to human thought, and to the human energy field . You can prove it for yourself in the following thought experiment  devised by Marcel Vogel. Pick three leaves from the same tree or plant band place them by the side of your bed. (Vogel put them on glass, presumably so that he could view the underside  without touching the leaves , but a sheet of paper will do.)

Each morning when you wake, concentrate on just two of the leaves , sending them love and pleading with them to live. Imagine them green and healthy-looking. Ignore the third leaf. don't touch any of them. After seven days the two chosen leaves should look fresh, while the ignored leaf should be shrivelled.

Do the experiment when you wake because that's when you're most physically and mentally relaxed. It's absolutely vital to approach this with a pure heart, because plants know what you think. Don't try to fool them because you'll only be fooling yourself. Expect the experiment to work.

Another classic experiment was originally devised by mathematician and healer Daphne Beall. Fill a container with water and energize the water by putting both hands around the container, without touching it. Relax and visualize white-light energy coming out of your hands into the container. Imagine the water becoming bright white; do this for ten minutes. Then put an organic, non-genetically manipulated tomato in the water.

Fill a second container with water, and put another similar tomato in that container without giving it any thought. Leave both containers overnight and in the morning take the tomatoes out of the water and place them somewhere, where they can sit for two weeks without being moved . make sure you have a way of remembering which is which. The tomato placed so briefly in the energized water will prove to have a much greater life span.

An energy connects us to plants. in some people the energy is very obvious, when they transform a neglected piece of earth, with fairy dust, into a resplendent garden. We call this 'having a green thumb'. Almost everybody, natural gardeners or not, have empathy for the glory of nature.

Human-plant interaction involves the study of light, physics, astrophysics, metaphysics, botany, biology, harmonics, electromagnetics, hydrology, minerology, and a dozen other things, including neurology, philosophy, spirituality, theology and psychology, to name but a few. Perhaps that is why it is so little researched - we don't know whose academic territory it is! The answer may be of course that it is everyone's territory, because there is only one territory, in that we are all part of the connecting whole.

Reference: Fragrant Heavens/V. Worwood

The Singing Forest-2

In British Columbia, Canada, the drive to harvest large dimension lumber is in full swing, as logging companies race to bring down  the last remaining  trees before politicians accept what environmentalists  have been telling them for years and bring the harvest to an end.

Standing in these forests is scary. You can hear the drone of mechanical saws  and you know you're standing among doomed giants. These magnificent trees  are silently performing crucial ecological tasks  for the whole living planet; they have lived through so much of human history and yet are helpless to stop  our saws cutting through them. This helplessness, coming from such powerful, massive living things, is infinitely sad.

I was intrigued to hear about a woman who claims to have heard the forest sing. Living deep in a forest in British Columbia, where the loggers cut 1,000-year-old trees, Gladys McIntre earns a living planting seedling trees. In June 1990, in part of the cedar wood forest called Howser Creek, Gladys found herself thinking about the 'immense  verticality' of the trees when 'a profound vertical alignment took place in me in response; and suddenly I felt about twelve feet tall.

I wondered for a moment if this was soul consciousness, then I was struck in my solar plexus by an impact of sound, in range and tone unlike anything I had ever heard before! Emanating from the forested hillsides across the valley, it was unquestionably a great hymn of adoration, of joy in Creation and praise to the Creator! Words cannot possibly express the magnitude of this joyous sound, nor my absolute awe at witnessing it.' 

But from being a song in praise to the Creator, the song abruptly changed from 'overwhelming joy to abject sorrow'. Gladys writes: 'My cognitive mental faculty seemed to be translating information received by my soul from that incredible presence at worship over there.' It said 'O noble and worthy, exploiters and conquerors, have mercy, have mercy, do not end our singing which allows the conditions necessary  to all life on the planet as you know it.'

I came away thinking that if the forests do communicate , Gladys is the right person to hear it. But she is not the only one. In another ancient forest  a young woman and her boyfriend  went to sit on a splendid mountain ridge  to admire the forest view. But instead of feeling glad to be in the splendour  the girl became overcome with a sense of panic  and fear coming from the forest. Sick with anguish, she had to return home. Days passed, but the sadness wouldn't go. The girl felt driven to return to that part of the forest, to try to understand  why she had been so affected.

When she arrived she was horrified  and stunned to discover the whole area had been clear-cut to the ground.

Although to  'civilised people' communicating with trees may sound bizarre, it is in fact something  that's been going on for a long time . Indeed , trees have long been central to spiritual culture. In ancient Egypt, the 'word tree' was associated with  a 'sycamore', possibly the sycamore fig that gave shade  to the goddess worshippers in their 'groves'. Kabbalah, the mystical aspect of Judasim has its 'tree of life' and has traditionally been taught  to men over fourty while they sat under trees.

In the last book of the new testament, revelations 22;2, we hear that the tree of life is in 'the midst of the street' in Heaven. Buddha received enlightenment while sitting under a tree. The ancient Assyrians had many tree cults, with the tree of life sometimes depicted as a cedar, fir, date, or pomegranate. The Chinese associated the tree of life with the peach, and in later times the Casia, while in Norse mythology it was the ash.

A Polynesian legend says 'out of this magic breadfruit tree a great goddess was made'. The sacredness of trees is universal, and this may not simply; be because they routinely offer their bounty, but because they have a spirit we can feel.

Reference://Fragrant Heavens/Valerie Worwood