Fragrance – The Story of Perfume from Cleopatra to Chanel
Book Reviews

April 26, 2024

Fragrance – The Story of Perfume from Cleopatra to Chanel

By Edwin T. Morris Published: 1984 by Products of Nature and of Art My copy is now held together by lots of cello tape. I purchased my copy in one of those awesome New York bookstores on my first ...
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Perfume and flavor materials of natural origins
Book Reviews

April 26, 2024

Perfume and flavor materials of natural origins

While it was originally written back in 1961, I am sure that it is still an invaluable reference for perfumers wishing to use aromatic ingredients of a natural origin such as essential oils and abs...
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Aromatica: A Clinical Guide to Essential Oil Therapeutics – Volume I: Principles and Profiles
Book Reviews

April 26, 2024

Aromatica: A Clinical Guide to Essential Oil Therapeutics – Volume I: Principles and Profiles

I have long been a big fan of Peter Holmes’ writing. I have his original books – The Energetics of Western Herbs (Vol. I and II). I first met Peter when he spoke at a 1998 aromatherapy conference i...
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Essential oil Safety 2nd edition
Book Reviews

April 26, 2024

Essential oil Safety 2nd edition

By Robert Tisserand & Rodney Young Published 2014 by Churchill Livingstone This book without a doubt is the benchmark in understanding the true issues regarding essential oil safety. It provide...
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The fragrant mind By Valerie Ann Worwood
Book Reviews

April 26, 2024

The fragrant mind By Valerie Ann Worwood

The one reason I fell in love with essential oils is because they truly are a portal into our psyche and soul. When it comes to describing the psyche of essential oils – No one does it better than ...
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Medical Aromatherapy – Healing with Essential Oils
Book Reviews

April 26, 2024

Medical Aromatherapy – Healing with Essential Oils

Without a doubt, Kurt is one of the most perceptive aromatherapy authors around. The title of this book is a little misleading. One would be lead to believe that it is about medical aromatherapy as...
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Gabriel Mojay succinctly provides us with the foundations of TCM in describing the principles of Yin and Yang and the role of the Five Elements, how they interact to support health and wellbeing, and what happens when the elements are out of balance.
Book Reviews

April 26, 2024

Aromatherapy for healing the spirit

Gabriel Mojay succinctly provides us with the foundations of TCM in describing the principles of Yin and Yang and the role of the Five Elements, how they interact to support health and wellbeing, a...
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Marguerite maury’s guide to Aromatherapy – the secret of life and youth
Book Reviews

April 26, 2024

Marguerite maury’s guide to Aromatherapy – the secret of life and youth

While this book provides us with very little information about the chemistry or pharmacology of essential oils and while the language Maury uses may now be a little old-fashioned, without a doubt, ...
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Complete aromatherapy handbook
Book Reviews

April 26, 2024

Complete aromatherapy handbook

Susanne Fischer-Rizzi’s book has always been my favourite. You can tell how passionate she is about essential oils in the way she describes them. Her description of each essential oil allows you to...
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Sal’s COVID-19 Diary | 6 April
Health & Wellbeing

April 26, 2024

Sal’s COVID-19 Diary | 6 April

I rarely look at the screen, lost for words. My mind is often overloaded with so many ideas and concepts about aromatherapy I am always eager to share. However, as COVID-19 ravages the very fabric...
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Why hand washing and hand sanitizing are both so important
Health & Wellbeing

April 26, 2024

Why hand washing and hand sanitizing are both so important

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends washing hands with soap and water wherever possible as handwashing reduces the amount of all types of germs and chemicals on the hands...
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Why are Chakras so popular?
Subtle Aromatherapy

April 24, 2024

Why are Chakras so popular?

The aromatherapy and chakras workshop that I have been teaching for over 20 years has always been one of the most popular workshops. It is an excellent way to incorporate my passion for essential o...
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Aromatherapy and Influenza Viruses
Aromatherapy

April 24, 2024

Aromatherapy and Influenza Viruses

In light of the concern about the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), I wish to examine the role of essential oils in minimising the risk of influenza viruses. Unfortunately, there are very few the...
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Sacred Scents
Subtle Aromatherapy

April 24, 2024

Sacred Scents

Since the beginning of time, we have been fascinated with ephemeral nature of scent. We have often assigned many sacred and spiritual qualities to scent. Master perfumer, Dove, exquisitely describe...
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Sourcing Essential Oils Sustainably
Essential Oils

April 24, 2024

Sourcing Essential Oils Sustainably

I am concerned some of the aromatic plants that are highly sought after have been traditionally wild harvested, and this has placed significant stress on their availability. Many aromatic plants ha...
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CO2 Extracts in Aromatherapy - 50+ Extracts for Clinical Applications
Book Reviews

April 24, 2024

CO2 Extracts in Aromatherapy - 50+ Extracts for Clinical Applications

Apart from Siberian fir, ginger and frankincense I have not had the opportunity to work with many CO2 extracts. The CO2 extracts that I have ever smelt have such a delightful aroma reflecting the t...
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Aromatherapy and sacred spaces – Part 1
Subtle Aromatherapy

April 24, 2024

Aromatherapy and sacred spaces – Part 1

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom the emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand wrapped...
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The web that has no weaver
Book Reviews

April 24, 2024

The web that has no weaver

In preparing for the Advanced Aromatherapy and TCM Masterclass in Melbourne last week I decided to dig out the first book I ever read about TCM. This was also used as my first-year textbook when I ...
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Aromatherapy Insight cards - By Jennifer Jefferies
Book Reviews

April 24, 2024

Aromatherapy Insight cards - By Jennifer Jefferies

I was privileged to see the Aromatherapy Insight Cards while they were being created. After almost 20 years, I am still profoundly moved by each and every one of the images that Karen Osborne has c...
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The Blossoming Heart - By Robbie Zeck
Book Reviews

April 24, 2024

The Blossoming Heart - By Robbie Zeck

Robbi’s partner, Jim, reminded me that it was at one of the first ever NAHA conferences in Seattle when I gave Robbi the advice to write a book if you want to be taken seriously. I am ever so grate...
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Energetics of Essential Oils
Aromatherapy

April 24, 2024

Energetics of Essential Oils

In my essential oil monographs of The Complete Guide to Aromatherapy, I have a subsection called Energetics, psyche and subtle uses.
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Blends with Thyme Oil
Blending Tips

April 24, 2024

Blends with Thyme Oil

Thyme oil has been referred to as one of the most important essential oils in aromatherapy. It is always important to be aware of the chemotype being used. I have been meticulous in sourcing the w...
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Speaking at the National Association of Holistic Aromatherapy (NAHA) – Beyond Aromatics Conference
Conferences

April 24, 2024

Speaking at the National Association of Holistic Aromatherapy (NAHA) – Beyond Aromatics Conference

I have just had the honour of speaking at the NAHA conference in the USA. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Annette Davis, the President of NAHA, the NAHA conference committee and all...
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Part III – Perfume Blending Technique
Blending Tips

April 24, 2024

Part III – Perfume Blending Technique

A perfume is a blend of aromatic materials, which is perceived as having its own aesthetically unique identity. Jellinek & Calkin describe it as a carefully balanced blend based on a definite s...
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Part II – The Art of Smelling
Blending Tips

April 24, 2024

Part II – The Art of Smelling

The challenge has always been to come up with a uniform, structured approach to describing smell; especially in occupations where smell is very important. The most obvious is as a perfumer, but jus...
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Part I – The art of the perfumer
Blending Tips

April 24, 2024

Part I – The art of the perfumer

Many of us consider blending of essential oils as the fun, playful aspect of aromatherapy. It can become a very enjoyable hobby. However, blending essential oils is an art, and like any art it requ...
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Chakras, GDV and Essential Oils
Subtle Aromatherapy

April 24, 2024

Chakras, GDV and Essential Oils

Many of us within the holistic healing profession take chakra energy centres for granted. There is no reason to doubt their existence. However, have you ever researched the origins and the theory a...
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Aromatherapy’s role in nurturing biophilia – helping the bond between nature and humans
Health & Wellbeing

April 24, 2024

Aromatherapy’s role in nurturing biophilia – helping the bond between nature and humans

I have often explained that essential oils help to re-establish the subtle and profound spiritual connections that we have long had with nature. Fischer-Rizzi beautifully explains that getting to k...
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Using essential oils safely with cats
Health & Wellbeing

April 24, 2024

Using essential oils safely with cats

Can essential oils be safely used with cats? Several posts on social media and online suggest that vaporising essential oils around your cat can be toxic and dangerous. I can confidently state tha...
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Plants and the Human Brain
Book Reviews

April 23, 2024

Plants and the Human Brain

David O. Kennedy, professor of Biological Psychology and the director of the Brain, Performance and Nutrition Research Centre at Northumbria University in the UK, has written a most thought-provok...
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Gratitude and The Yellow World

April 23, 2024

Gratitude and The Yellow World

In The Yellow World, Albert shares with us the important lessons he learned from his experience with cancer as a child. He does not have any rules; however, he does provide us with a list of twenty...
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Skin’s ability to ‘smell’ seems to help it heal itself
Health & Wellbeing

April 23, 2024

Skin’s ability to ‘smell’ seems to help it heal itself

Believe it or not, this was the title of an article in a recent New Scientist magazine. This sounds like it was straight from Ripley’s believe it or not! However, it was based on a paper published...
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Why the third edition of The Complete Guide to Aromatherapy?
Book Reviews

April 17, 2024

Why the third edition of The Complete Guide to Aromatherapy?

I first wrote the first edition in 1995. The inspiration to write the book in the first place was to create a handbook and textbook for aromatherapy students. These were still early days and aromat...
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Lavender and tea tree oils are not oestrogenic

April 05, 2024

Lavender and tea tree oils are not oestrogenic

I am concerned how the media and some researchers have jumped on the bandwagon following a 2007 report by Henley et al. that was published in the New England Journal of Medicine suggesting that rep...
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A weekend in Hong Kong – Review of IFA Hong Kong Conference 2018
Conferences

April 05, 2024

A weekend in Hong Kong – Review of IFA Hong Kong Conference 2018

A weekend in Hong Kong – Review of IFA Hong Kong Conference 2018 On the 24 and 25 March 2018, I had the honour of speaking at the IFA conference held in Hong Kong. It is so exciting to see how...
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