Favorite Essential Oil Books Part 1
There are so many fantastic books out there on essential oils and aromatherapy. We often get asked which books we recommend, so in the next few posts, we'll be describing some of our favorites. Here are two we recommend for everyone interested in aromatherapy:
The Complete Book of Essential Oils and Aromatherapy by Valerie Ann Worwood
If I had to pick one book to recommend for the public, this would be the one. Besides being fun to read, this book includes over 600 recipes, practical chapters on creating your own aromatherapy kits (basic kit, travel kit etc), and chapters dedicated to the specific needs/concerns of women, men, children, and the elderly.
She has information on using aromatherapy for celebrations, to beautify and clean your home, and in the garden. The end of the book includes charts on which essential oils are most useful in different circumstances, which is handy. The best part of the book are the recipes: she has everything here, from athletes foot, coughs, toothache, headaches to anti-wrinkle creams, face masks, air fresheners and furniture polish.
Another favorite is Aromatherapy for Healing the Spirit by Gabriel Mojay. This is a beautiful book, which addresses the use of essential oils in the realm of emotional and spiritual matters. Gorgeous illustrations, clear writing and new insights make this useful to anyone who is new to or already working with essential oils. Mojay combines the wisdom of Chinese medicine with the use of aromatherapy, and describes the energetic nature of 35 different oils.For example, in his discussion of Juniper, he writes:
“Juniper works, therefore, to break through psychological stagnation and consolidate will-power. It is suited to the individual who, feeling burdened and aloof, is deeply absorbed in their own thoughts – thoughts which revolve around worries, pressures and unpleasant memories.”
The first part of the book is devoted to describing individual oils, uses, cautions, indications, etc, and the last part describes remedies and blends which may be useful for emotional issues, such as depression, anxiety, anger, indecisiveness, and much more. With each emotional state, he delves deeper. For example, he breaks depression down into five categories, based on the Five Elements of Chinese medicine, and recommends blends based on the particular element.
In the foreword, Robert Tisserand describes this book as “…dense with insight, and yet concise and easy to reference. Every page draws the reader inexorably into an intricate web of holistic truth.”
That’s it in a nutshell. We highly recommend this wonderful book!