Essential Oils for Lovers: How to use aromatherapy to revitalize your sex life. Maggie Tisserand
and recovery can be hindered by a depressed state, as mental depression also causes a depression of the immune system. Use any of the uplifting essences – rose, ylang ylang, lavender, bergamot, geranium, rosewood, rosemary, sandalwood, neroli or petigrain – to remove unnecessary burdens from the body and allow it to repair itself.
Our ‘will’ is a powerful tool that we can use for our own benefit and for the benefit of others, but only if we recognize that we own such a tool. Will power is linked to the solar plexus, and when we are under attack from negative emotions, whether our own or someone else’s, the solar plexus area becomes very tender. It is a vulnerable and highly sensitive area of the body, and is where ‘gut feelings’ are registered. Overloading this area can result in loss of will-power, a feeling of helplessness and the inability to effect positive change.
‘I feel as though I have been punched in the gut’ is a familiar cry from someone who has suffered an emotional shock, as is the expression, ‘I’m gutted.’ Diluted essential oils, when applied to the solar plexus, can help to heal and protect this susceptible region.
BEAUTY INSIDE AND OUT
Because of their beneficial action on the skin, essential oils make perfect skin care products. Valuable research into this area has been conducted by Dietrich Gumbel. He says that ‘Blood sugars, which have been stored in fat deposits, are released by the use of sandalwood [oil], so that the sugars can reach the skin and oxidize, thus vitalizing the skin. Skin water-retention is improved and the elasticity of fibres is maintained.’ In other words, sandalwood helps your skin stay moisturized and young-looking, from within.
Lavender, rose, bergamot, rosewood and ylang ylang are invaluable if you want to maintain a healthy, glowing complexion. Acne and even chronic skin problems such as eczema and psoriasis can be treated successfully with soothing essential oils.
Tea tree, lemon, lavender and geranium regulate the skin’s production of sebaceous oils, and so can help treat greasy hair. And a combination of tea tree oil and the ‘liquid wax’ of the jojoba plant makes for a very effective treatment for dandruff. More on aromatherapy for healthy and beautiful skin and hair can be found in Chapter 5.
STAYING IN TUNE
Aromatherapy self-help can strengthen our bodies and protect us from succumbing to colds, flu and other diseases. Oils that help to fight viral and bacterial infections include lavender, ravansara, niaouli, bergamot, tea tree, lemon and myrtle. Any one of these, diluted in a base oil, may be massaged into your back and chest to help you to feel better. With the possible exception of tea tree (which cannot be said to be pleasant smelling), any of the other, oils makes a wonderfully soothing and healthy bath. As only 4 - 6 drops are required for a therapeutic bath, using essential oils is also a very economic way of staying healthy.
Blends of these essences can be made following the instructions in Chapter 8. More detailed information on the use of essential oils for curing common ailments can be found in my book, Aromatherapy for Women.
THE GODDESS WITHIN
Over the centuries gender roles have shifted; what is expected of women has changed dramatically; more importantly, the way women view themselves and their position in society and in relationships has altered drastically. Today’s woman is multifaceted; often juggling a career, husband, children, politics, the pursuit of sports and much else besides.
In a remarkable book called The Goddess Within psychologists Jennifer and Roger Woolger attribute these different facets of a woman’s psyche to six major goddesses: Demeter, the nurturer; Hera, the power-seeker; Athena, the wise and confident career woman; Artemis, the lover of Nature and freedom; Persephone, the intuitive, psychic, sensitive aspect of a woman; and of course Aphrodite, goddess of love, ruler over sensuality, the arts and beauty in all things.
The balance between these different goddesses will vary from woman to woman and from time to time, even within one woman when her lifestyle forces her to embrace one goddess more fully. As the authors of this marvellous book say, ‘To know oneself more fully as a woman is to know which goddess one is primarily ruled by and to be aware of how different goddesses influence the various stages and turning points of one’s life.’
For aromatherapy it is Aphrodite particularly who interests us. She is the goddess governing perfumery, sensuality, massage, cosmetics and all things aesthetic and joyful. To be ashamed of your sexuality means that you are not sufficiently in touch with the Aphrodite part of yourself.
Aromatherapy can help you to get and stay in touch with this element of your psyche; oils such as rose or myrtle can help you to identify with this goddess within. You share with all women an innate sensuality, and should rejoice in it. You may be a partner, mother, co-worker, but you are also a vibrant, sexy, sensual being.
In Greek myth, myrtle was the plant chosen by Aphrodite to hide her nakedness and it has been associated with her ever since. To let go of your business stresses, domestic strains, mental worries or physical aches and pains and connect with the loving, sensual woman within, take a myrtle bath in a quiet, subtly lit room. Imagine that you are free from your current problems, allow yourself to be enveloped in this timeless fragrance while it cleanses, soothes and inspires you. Allow your imagination to make you feel that you are a goddess – after all, you are breathing the same aromas as the goddess did, all those millennia ago.
Rose oil is soothing to the heart and is comforting in time of sorrow; through its uplifting powers it removes psychological pain and opens up a channel to sensitivity, love and empathy. It balances a woman’s hormonal system and would be useful for anyone who feels ‘at a distance’ from her emotional centre.
Using geranium and clary sage oils will help to harmonize a body that has been neglected and is tense and lacking in sensitivity, whether male or female. When you become aggressive and full of stress a massage using clary sage, rose, myrtle or geranium will rebalance the male/female forces within you, resulting in a calmer, more lovable you.
When the pressures of holding down a job or the trauma of losing a job have temporarily ‘castrated’ you, and the joy of making love seems like a distant memory, then once again aromatherapy can be of assistance. Using those aromatics that contain phyto-hormones (plant hormones) can restore harmony to your body and mind, leading to a calmer way of being, and allowing you to accept help and healing from those around you. Being in harmony and being in touch with yourself brings about the ability to empathize with and reach out to others in their time of suffering.
The Greek god Apollo, representing life, immortality, harmonious balance, beauty and goodness, could be considered to be the male version of Aphrodite. The way to become the perfect lover is to be beautiful from the inside out – and allowing aromatic essences to make you feel beautiful is a step in the right direction.
‘Of all the ten thousand things created by heaven, man is the most precious.
Of all the things that make man prosper, none can be compared to sexual intercourse.’
LI TUNG HSUAN, Ars Amatoria (The Art of the Bedchamber)
‘Therefore I come forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee. I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of love until morning, let us solace ourselves with love.’
PROVERBS 7
The word ‘aromatherapy’ may have been coined in the twentieth century but the use of aromatic oils and unguents for religious and sexual purposes goes back thousands of years, to the dawn of civilization.
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