Essential Oils for Lovers: How to use aromatherapy to revitalize your sex life. Maggie Tisserand
of perfumery and aromatherapy. The ancient Chinese say that The Yellow Emperor first brought medicine and perfumes to the world, while in India the birth of perfumery is attributed to the god Indra. Most probably the art of aromatherapy passed on like this: ancient China/India → Egyptians/Hebrews → Greeks → Romans → throughout the Roman Empire/Arab world → on to Europe/rest of the world.
Wherever aromatics were grown people recognized their contribution to sexual and religious ecstasy and, realizing the value of these commodities, travelled to other lands to trade, selling the aromatic plants that grew in their own land and buying aromatics that did not. In this way the knowledge of perfumery/aromatherapy spread.
AROMATHERAPY THROUGH THE AGES
SCENT AND SEX IN ANCIENT CHINA AND JAPAN
Sexual union between man and woman was the basic concept behind Yin and Yang, the ancient Chinese polar and complementary forces of life. The Chinese believed that sexual union had a cosmic influence on world events. Earthquakes, tidal waves, fierce winds – all these were attributable to disharmony. The emperor and empress of China epitomized the balance of the positive and negative elements in the realm. Special court ladies kept records (with a special red writing brush) of the sexual relations between the emperor and his wives. According to R. H. Gulik, ‘ancient China considered the clouds to be earth’s ova, which are fertilized by the rain, heaven’s sperm.’
The emperor had one wife, with whom he copulated once a month. He would practise the Taoist discipline of having sex without ejaculating, which allowed him to indulge in sexual relations many times in the space of one night. Although he only had sex with his wife once a month, he also had three consorts, nine wives of second rank, 27 wives of third rank and 81 concubines. Conserving his sperm was the only way in which he could make love with these 121 different women! Far from being exhausted by so much activity, the Chinese recognized that ‘during sexual union the man’s vital force is fed and strengthened by that of the woman, supposed to reside in her vaginal secretions’
Old Chinese sexual guidebooks preach that the more times one has sex without ejaculating the greater the benefits to the health. Once – and the vital essence are strengthened; twice – there will be an improvement in sight and hearing; three times – and all diseases will be cured; further practice – will result in the man’s having a religious experience. By recycling the semen it was thought that the brain would be nourished and that longevity would be assured.
In their time these sex manuals would have played another very important role – that of mentally exciting the emperor, for it would not be possible for him to feel aroused by each of his women when he needed to make love with at least three every day of the week. Yin and Yang depended upon the harmony between a man and a woman, and as a woman is slower to be aroused and to reach orgasm than a man, it would be up to him to preserve the harmony and satisfy her needs by practising ‘The Tao of Loving’: ‘Man is fire, which quickly flares up and can easily be extinguished. Woman is water, which takes longer to heat up, but once hot, cools down slowly. Fire is extinguished by water and water is heated by fire.’
At the same time it was recognized that inside every man there was some feminine and inside every woman there was some masculine. Harmony between the two is only possible if the man is in harmony with himself and the woman in harmony with herself. Having found harmony within himself, the man could practise Taoist sex, making love to his chosen partner for several hours at a time, without expending his ejaculate.
Many Chinese herbs, such as ginseng, were useful in strengthening sexual potency; aromatic spices and herbs were used regularly both to enhance sexual union and to promote harmony between the two partners.
Such was the Japanese understanding of the importance of sexual expression that the genitals were worshipped. Ancient fertility festivals frequently culminated in a sexual free for all. Phallic worship is one of the oldest aspects of religion in Japan, and even today a shrine exists in Kanamara with a giant wooden phallus on which grandmothers sit their small grand-daughters in the hope that they will receive good luck for a fertile and happy marriage.
Courtship rituals were often elaborate affairs, with go-betweens carrying letters and poems. Sometimes a poem would be written on tinted paper, according to the season of the year, and delivered on a heavily scented fan. If the correspondence was mutually encouraging, it would result in the suitor making a night call to the lady. ‘Stealing behind the curtains and into the scented darkness of the waiting lady’s bedchamber, the man simply removed his clothing and got into bed with her’ (Nicholas Bornoff, Pink Samurai). Sex was guiltlessly regarded as one of the pleasures of life – and free love was very common place. Attached to the kimono sashes of both sexes were little boxes called Inro. These were used for medicines and love potions and other aids to sexual fulfilment.
The Japanese passion for incense was transformed into an art still practised today by devotees of Kodo and known as the Way of Incense. In ancient times perfumes would waft through the temples, clothing and people’s homes, and of course bath water was delicately scented. Bathing in Japan was and still is a very important ritual. Washing was done first outside the bath, and only after scrubbing away the dirt and dead skin debris and rinsing thoroughly did the bather step into the deliciously scented tub of water, where the cares of the day were soothed away.
TANTRIC SEX
Tantra or Tantric sex is the Indian equivalent of Taoist sex. The major difference is that Tantra is seen to be a step on the road to spiritual enlightenment and mystical union, whereas practising Taoist sex does not require a belief system, merely the cultivation of will power.
The Hindu words for the genital organs are ‘lingam’ for the man and ‘yoni’ for the woman, and these organs – which to us are associated with sex, birth and maturity – have in Indian culture a much more spiritual association. Just as the Christian theory of the origin of the world is the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve, so in India the god Shiva and his mighty lingam is believed to have brought the world into existence. Throughout India there are shrines – elaborate ones in temples and simpler ones tucked away on side streets – where the lingam and yoni can be worshipped. Sex in all its forms is considered acceptable and beautiful.
A nation that reveres the sex organs certainly has no sexual hang-ups compared to Western nations, and India’s openness to and unabashed enjoyment of sex has provided the world with the most famous sex manual of all – the Kama Sutra. This text’s illustrations of the various sex postures is not considered pornographic nor is its discussion of oral sex meant to be taboo but a normal part of healthy love-making. Yet eye contact is still considered the most important facet of love-making, because the eyes are windows to the soul, and Tantra is the experience of God within oneself and within one’s partner, through sexual union.
Perfumes, particularly sandalwood, went easily from the temple to the bedchamber. The Hindu god Indra is always represented with his breast tinged with sandalwood. Kama, Hindu god of love, is always pictured holding a bow and arrow. The bow is made of sugar cane, the string consists of bees, and each of his five arrows is tipped with the blossom of a flower. The arrows are meant to pierce the heart of the recipient through one of his or her five senses. One arrow is tipped with the jasmine flower, known for its aphrodisiac value. Kama Sutra, or Kama Shastri, means ‘Scripture of Love’, as Kama is the Hindu word for love and is the equivalent of Eros or Cupid. The Kama Sutra has many references to aromatics, as they were an intrinsic part of the sexual act:
‘… the outer room, balmy with rich perfumes, should contain a bed, soft, agreeable to the sight, covered with a clean white cloth, low in the middle part, having garlands and bunches of flowers upon it, and a canopy above it, and two pillows, one at the top, another at the bottom. There should also be a sort of couch besides and at the head of this a sort of stool, on which should be placed the fragrant ointments for the night, as well as flowers … and other fragrant substances.’
The Ananga Ranga, another Indian text, rivals the Kama Sutra and gives the following recipe for a night of passion:
‘… scattered about this apartment, place musical instruments, bottles of rose-water and various essences … Both man and woman should