Aromapedia

The idea of aromapedia is nothing new.  There are excellent A-Z guides available.  I particularly recommend that by Patricia Davis and Julia Lawless. There is also the useful Wikipedia entry on Essential oils.

 Aromapedia by Ian Brealey is a follow on booklet to the Everyday Aromatherapy students booklet. It deals with the most commonly used information of value to students and new practitionersAn essential oil is a concentrated hydrophobic liquid containing volatile aroma compounds from plants. It is essential in that it is something of importance.  Essential oils find many applications however a particularly useful one is for maintaining health and wellbeing, this is the subject matter of aromatherapy.

The moment we use the word wellbeing we move beyond the medical world of helping people to stay alive or die with dignity to self help and professional help for everyday living well. This is a vast area drawing on all human experience from commerce, combat, spirituality  to making a home or maintaining a community.

Aromatherapy does involve using the senses but appreciation of essential oils for their relaxing or stimulating fragrance is strictly the world of perfumery. When we use the grand fragrances Jasmine, Rose and Neroli and combine them with geranium and ylang adding a drop of Benzoin, Frankincense or Vetiver we are drawing heavily and usefully on this world of accords being top, middle and basenotes. Pure aromatherapy involves study and application of chemical communication between the aromatic compounds found in essential oils and the body.  

Aromatherapy has its art but this is also high science.  In fact essential oils attract the attention of researchers worldwide not only for their particular pharmacological effects but also for health and beauty.  This has found particular application in rejuvenation where the energy of the aromatherapist and essential oils interacts with the energy of the individual.  Chemistry indeed.

 Restoring the appetite of an elderly individual for food and life may not seem the stuff of Nobel Prizes but such rejuvenation is valuable all the same and has obvious application in the wellbeing of our own families. Poor appetite and nutrition lowers the bodies defences making the body suceptible to infection and cancer.

Essential oils have also been used since they were first obtained for flavouring, and preservation and first aid for cuts and bruising.