Essential Oils for Lovers: How to use aromatherapy to revitalize your sex life. Maggie Tisserand

      ‘The love of two pure lovers consists of desire and in mutual pleasing. In it nothing can be worthwhile unless their will be equal.’

      JAUFRÉ RUDEL

      Sex is beautiful, fulfilling – and good exercise. No revelations here; the benefits of good sex have been known and written about for a long time. But what of the theory that sex can improve your health, strengthen your immune system and prevent the onset of disease? When sex is enhanced by aromatherapy, all this is also true.

      This is not a book on ‘how to get a man’ or ‘how to score with women.’ It is a book for lovers. You can be as hedonistic as the ancient Greeks and Romans, as worshipful as the Taoist Chinese or Tantric Hindu. The recipes and descriptions in this book will help you use aromatic oils to scent and massage your body and that of your partner. You can indulge all your senses, in the privacy of the bedroom.

      While writing this book I had to stop and ask myself the question, ‘Why am I writing a book about sex in this age of AIDS? Am I exploring an issue 30 years out of date? Am I being irresponsible?’ A bit of reflection, however, gave me my answer. There is no reason for sex to stop being fun just because it needs to be ‘safe’. And isn’t the safest sex that which takes place within a loving monogamous relationship? Monogamy need never be boring. Sex need never be boring: each of us has an innate need of pleasure and fulfilment, as well as a need to give pleasure to another. What greater or keener pleasure is there than that of sex?

      Sex and aromatherapy marry together perfectly. Imagine how, hundreds and even thousands of years ago, lovers rubbed scented oils onto each other’s body, experiencing the fulfilment of all their senses. Their sense of smell delighted in the wonderful perfume of natural essences intermingling with the body’s own perfume; their sense of touch revelled in the feel of massaging their loved one or in being massaged by him or her; their eyes beheld the erotic sight of oil glistening on naked skin; their ears took in spoken words of pleasure – and when they kissed, the fifth sense was fulfilled, for what finer taste is there than that of the lips of your lover?

      I believe that good sex is life-enhancing, as is aromatherapy. Even when sexual intercourse is not involved, the physical pleasure of touching, of intimate body contact in the form of massage – all this equals happiness, and happiness is a potent medicine. Joy and pleasure send the right stimuli to the body cells to keep them healthy. By using essential oils on a daily basis we create within ourselves a state of health and harmony.

      You may already be a keen advocate of aromatherapy and appreciate its benefits but if this book is your introduction to essential oils, you have a treat in store. Enjoy the sensual pleasures that lie ahead. Fragrant essences not only excite the senses and lift the emotions but also work on a deeper level, to nourish and protect the cells of the body.

      Aromatherapy can be used to address many health problems, enabling us, for example, to break with the antibiotic habit. In recent