Julia Lawless - Aromatherapy and the Mind

Copyright Copyright Dedication Foreword Introduction Part I: The Use of Aromatic Plants – Past, Present and Future 1 Aromatics: Medicine for the Mind 2 The Ritual Use of Incense 3 Scent, Soul and Psyche 4 The Allure of Perfume 5 Psycho-Aromatherapy 6 The ‘Individual Prescription’ Part II: A Guide to Selected Essential Oils Keep Reading Appendix I: Useful Addresses Appendix II: Directions for Use and Safety Data Appendix III: Astrological Correspondences Bibliography Note Acknowledgements Also by the Author About the Publisher

Thorsons

An Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers

77–85 Fulham Palace Road

Hammersmith, London W6 8JB

First published in Great Britain by Thorsons 1994

Copyright © Julia Lawless 1994

Julia Lawless asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

All rights reserved under International and Pan–American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e–book on–screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse–engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e–books.

HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication .

Source ISBN 9780722529270

Ebook Edition © August 2014 ISBN: 9780008106164

Version: 2014-08-22

Dedication Dedication Foreword Introduction Part I: The Use of Aromatic Plants – Past, Present and Future 1 Aromatics: Medicine for the Mind 2 The Ritual Use of Incense 3 Scent, Soul and Psyche 4 The Allure of Perfume 5 Psycho-Aromatherapy 6 The ‘Individual Prescription’ Part II: A Guide to Selected Essential Oils Keep Reading Appendix I: Useful Addresses Appendix II: Directions for Use and Safety Data Appendix III: Astrological Correspondences Bibliography Note Acknowledgements Also by the Author About the Publisher

To Alec

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright Copyright Copyright Dedication Foreword Introduction Part I: The Use of Aromatic Plants – Past, Present and Future 1 Aromatics: Medicine for the Mind 2 The Ritual Use of Incense 3 Scent, Soul and Psyche 4 The Allure of Perfume 5 Psycho-Aromatherapy 6 The ‘Individual Prescription’ Part II: A Guide to Selected Essential Oils Keep Reading Appendix I: Useful Addresses Appendix II: Directions for Use and Safety Data Appendix III: Astrological Correspondences Bibliography Note Acknowledgements Also by the Author About the Publisher Thorsons An Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 77–85 Fulham Palace Road Hammersmith, London W6 8JB First published in Great Britain by Thorsons 1994 Copyright © Julia Lawless 1994 Julia Lawless asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library All rights reserved under International and Pan–American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e–book on–screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse–engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e–books. HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication . Source ISBN 9780722529270 Ebook Edition © August 2014 ISBN: 9780008106164 Version: 2014-08-22

Dedication Dedication Dedication Foreword Introduction Part I: The Use of Aromatic Plants – Past, Present and Future 1 Aromatics: Medicine for the Mind 2 The Ritual Use of Incense 3 Scent, Soul and Psyche 4 The Allure of Perfume 5 Psycho-Aromatherapy 6 The ‘Individual Prescription’ Part II: A Guide to Selected Essential Oils Keep Reading Appendix I: Useful Addresses Appendix II: Directions for Use and Safety Data Appendix III: Astrological Correspondences Bibliography Note Acknowledgements Also by the Author About the Publisher To Alec

Foreword

Introduction

Part I: The Use of Aromatic Plants – Past, Present and Future

1 Aromatics: Medicine for the Mind

2 The Ritual Use of Incense

3 Scent, Soul and Psyche

4 The Allure of Perfume

5 Psycho-Aromatherapy

6 The ‘Individual Prescription’

Part II: A Guide to Selected Essential Oils

Keep Reading

Appendix I: Useful Addresses

Appendix II: Directions for Use and Safety Data

Appendix III: Astrological Correspondences

Bibliography

Note

Acknowledgements

Also by the Author

About the Publisher

Foreword

Aromatherapy and the Mind explores the impact of scent on human consciousness throughout history. Part I asserts that scent is not only therapeutic and aesthetic, but profoundly psychoactive. It examines the way that botanical aromatics evolved through the use of incense, perfume, the symbolic imagination and psycho-aromatherapy. We are introduced to ancient fragrant myths, magic and romance, as well as modern aromatic psychology and science.

This book is an aromatic treasure chest, for there is a wealth of information here. It is peppered with apt literary quotations and redolent poetic images. Part II is a compilation of the psychoactive and therapeutic properties of specific oils and an excellent complement to Lawless’s earlier work, The Encyclopaedia of Essential Oils. For those interested in the history of aromatic psychology, Aromatherapy and the Mind presents a captivating cross-cultural overview beginning with Sumeria, Egypt, Greece and Rome. A central theme of the book is concerned with archaic magical-alchemical consciousness and how it was supplanted by scientific materialism, culminating in the mind/body split of the seventeenth-century scientific revolution.

Within the last 20 years we have seen the emergence of a new paradigm which has been reflected in literature and lecture theaters by a new physics, a new biology, a new botany, a new archaeology and a new aromatics. What makes each of these disciplines ‘new’ is the addition of mind and conscious awareness to their knowledge base. Not ‘mind’ in a limited sense as the mental power of logical thought, but ‘mind’ in a more expanded sense which includes spirit. Mind in this larger view animates and interacts with the physical environment, which it can either make sacred or desecrate. This knowledge is ancient and is evident in magic, meditation and early forms of religion.

Paradoxically, this new dimension of mind is also what reconnects each of these contemporary disciplines to their ancient roots before there was a division between psyche and soma. Today there is an intuition within the aromatherapy community to remember the severed links between mind, body and fragrance. This trend is part of the olfactory renaissance. Aromatherapy and the Mind puts this renaissance in historical perspective.