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This article talks about the practical uses of scents today as well as references the craft of perfumery throughout ancient cultures.
Essential Oils: Perspectives

“Essential Oils are like the blood of a person. They are not the whole plant, but are whole, organic substances in themselves. Like blood they will die (lose their life force) if they are not properly preserved. Like blood they incorporate the characteristics of the body (plant) from which they come. They are like the personality, or spirit, of the plant. The essence is the most ethereal and subtle part of the plant….”

Essential oils are the essence of the plant itself. They possess some of the properties of whole herb, but are specifically extracted for their aromatics rather than their food values, and are utilized differently. It is never recommended to ingest essential oils. Although some edible products contain essential oils, these actually only contain a minute quantity of oil along with many other ingredients. Essential oils are mainly used externally for their therapeutic benefits in perfumes, oils, cosmetics, and for massages, aromatherapy, and such.

Plants in general have a long history in the art of perfumery. Depending on what you are reading you will find accounts claiming plants were used for cosmetic purposes as far back as ten or eleven thousand years ago. Personally I think it goes farther back than that. Common sense would dictate that if you are living in the natural world, you are well aware of the resources that world can offer. I know if I lived thousands of years ago, I would have looked to nature for healing, learning, everything…just as I do now actually. So it is no surprise to me that evidence suggests a very long history in the arts beautiful. The Egyptians were renowned for their mastery of perfumery and beautification, all plant based. Even their practice of mummifying their dead was an herbal ritual. The Greeks and Romans learned from Egyptian practices and developed their own schools of thought on this subject, and in the East, in India for example, perfumery has historically been an art form as well as a highly respected trade. Plants during these ancient times were used differently than the ways we use them today and they played a larger part in society. In the modern world we have science and technology taking the leading role. We have advanced methods of extraction to release the most essence from the plant in the least amount of time. The ancients had no such processes and relied upon natural methods. Plant preparations were used in nearly every area of life during ancient times and not the least of which was cosmetic.

‘Perfume in Ancient Egypt’ What I find so intriguing about ancient practices is that it places the “healer” or “perfumer” in very close proximity to the plant itself. There was more direct handling of the plant for processing. Plants were more carefully selected for certain applications and also for whom the application was being used! In these times of old, perfumery was a revered art form. The perfumer was an alchemist, a magician; one capable of taking the lowly and exalting it, one who worked more with the spirit of a thing than its form. By contrast, today’s perfumers are chemists. Perhaps they may succeed in creating a popular scent, but there is no magic in them, no life energy. There is not the transmutation of the base into the divine, there is only another product that may or may not possess commercial appeal. This is a far cry from the more holistic approach used by ancient perfume masters.

The ancients believed all their knowledge was divinely given, their methods and recipes of divine origin. With this attitude, they qualified the selection of every herb used, understanding it not just from a “scientific” perspective, but a spiritual one also. The ancients were aware of the soul or spirit counterpart to all things and most especially in the natural world, as that is where beauty, healing, and well-being could be found. Up until recently the art of perfumery was a dying art. In fact, any direct or “old way” working with plants was considered crude in comparison to “science”. How funny that what was once a very natural part of expression became “unorthodox”! Herbal use for scents, cosmetics, healing (you name it) were reduced to the fancies of witches, medicine men, and savages. A highly uncivilized and unreliable practice compared to the “proven facts” offered by the illustrious scientific community.

Yet in this century there has been a resurgence of interest in these ways of times past. People are seeing that science is not infallible, in fact, it has in ways failed. True, science has contributed a great deal to advancement however it seems not to be for society as a whole, but a select few. Science with all its glamour has failed to do the one thing that the very term science implies, which is to have knowledge. How can science have any true knowledge of anything if it only acknowledges ONE part of it? This is how science works; it addresses only what can be ascertained by observation but does not unify the outer with the inner, address the whole.

“The word ‘knowledge’ in itself has narrowed in its meaning. It now means something you know- a fact, or a collection of facts. It does not imply any practical ability at all.”- Robert B. Tisserand

I believe that in any endeavor, the intellect which translates perception into concept and the intuition which is the sense of direct cognizance must both be employed for the act to have any practical value; for one to have real knowledge and understanding from a whole perspective. Science unfortunately seems to feel that once it has “proven” something as true by its own standard of measure, it has becomes a fact. Then a few years hence, this proclaimed truth is no longer and a new one replaces it. It is on this point where I believe the true alchemist has the advantage. True alchemists know that “truth” lies only in the moment and in that moment numerous factors are at work and infinite possibility exists. There are no constants. So it is in every area of life, and so it is in the art of perfumery which is an alchemical art to begin with. And even if you don’t distill all your own essences, your intent in making your preparations holds a lot more weight from an alchemical perspective. There are a lot of people in the world that could read a recipe for a perfume and execute it perfectly, but what about the intent? Quality ingredients in your creations may be essential, but a quality heart is even more so.

The Art of AromatherapyWith that, I would like to once again say that of all your tools and paraphernalia’s in the perfume arts, the one of greatest value will be your own intuition. On that point in regards to working with the plant essences Robert Tisserand states, “What we are really talking about here is qualities, or vibrations. How do you know if two things have the same quality, or vibration? Only by feeling, by using that sixth sense which we call intuition. The more we develop our intuition the more we will be able to see the order and perfection of the universe, and the deeper and richer our lives will become.”