Mixing Essential Oils for Magic: Aromatic Alchemy for Personal Blends

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Mixing Essential Oils for Magic

Publication date: Nov. 2013

Price: $19.99 U.S.; $22.95 CAN

Pages: 360

Trim size: 7.5" x 9.125"

ISBN: 978-0-7387-3654-9

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Llewellyn Publications

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M I X I N G

Essential Oils

for Magic

About the Author

Sandra Kynes is an explorer of Celtic history, myth, and magic, and a member of the Bards, Ovates, and Druids. Her curiosity has taken her to live in New York City, Europe, England, and New England. Sandra’s inquisitiveness has led her to investigate the roots of her beliefs and to integrate her spiritual path with everyday life. She likes developing creative ways to explore the world, which serves as the basis for her books. In addition to writing, Sandra is a yoga instructor and Reiki practitioner in coastal Maine and loves connecting with the natural world through gardening, hiking, and ocean kayaking. Please visit her website at www.kynes.net.

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M I X I N G

Essential Oils

for Magic

Aromatic Alchemy for Personal Blends

Sandra Kynes

Llewellyn Publications

Woodbury, Minnesota

Mixing Essential Oils for Magic: Aromatic Alchemy for Personal Blends
© 2013 by Sandra Kynes. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever, including Internet usage, without written permission from Llewellyn Publications, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

First Edition

First Printing, 2013

Cover art : Calligraphic design: iStockphoto.com/kandserg

Essential oils: Garo/Phanie/SuperStock

Cover design by Adrienne Zimiga

Interior art: Calligraphic design: iStockphoto.com/kandserg

Llewellyn Publications is a registered trademark of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

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ISBN: 978-0-7387-3654-9

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Llewellyn Publications

A Division of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

2143 Wooddale Drive

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Printed in the United States of America

Other Books by Sandra Kynes

Gemstone Feng Shui

A Year of Ritual

Whispers from the Woods

Your Altar

Sea Magic

Change at Hand

Llewellyn’s Complete Book of Correspondences

Introduction . . . 1

Aromatic Alchemy 1

Alchemy Instead of Therapy 7

Section One: Background and Blending

Chapter 1: Scent in History and Modern Magic . . . 11

Historical Background 11

Modern Magical Uses of Essential Oils 15

Chapter 2: Getting Started . . . 21

About Essential Oils and Their Extraction Processes 21

Let the Blending Begin 27

Safety Guidelines 32

Chapter 3: Blending by Botanical Family . . . 37

Botanical Families and Names 37

Getting Started with Botanical Family Blending 40

Chapter 4: Blending by Scent Group . . . 47

Fragrance Classifications 47

Three Ways to Blend by Scent Group 48

Chapter 5: Blending by Perfume Note . . . 63

Scents and Musical Notes 63

Blending with Notes 64

Chapter 6: As Above, So Below . . . 77

The So Below Oils 80

The As Above Oils 90

x Contents

Chapter 7: Carrier Oils for Magic . . . 101

Background to the Carrier Oils 101

Now for the Magic 104

Extending Botanical Family Selection to Carrier Oils 107

Extending the As Above, So Below Selection to Carrier Oils 108

Summary . . . 111

Section Two: Oil Profiles

Chapter 8: Essential Oil Profiles . . . 119

Chapter 9: Carrier Oil Profiles . . . 235

Appendices

Appendix A: Cross-Reference by Magical Intent 257

Appendix B: Cross-Reference by the Elements 279

Appendix C: Cross-Reference by Zodiac Signs 281

Appendix D: Cross-Reference by Planets/Solar System 285

Appendix E: Cross-Reference by Sabbats 287

Glossary . . . 289

Bibliography . . . 293

Index . . . 301

Scents can stimulate, inspire, and enchant us. Because our sense of smell is so closely linked with memory and emotion, scent and the power of place go hand-in-hand. The

most vivid memories I have of early childhood are linked with my grandmother’s house.

It was a place of wonder, full of plants and big old furniture. Most of all I remember the smells. With her potpourris, gardens, and big kitchen, Nanny’s house was a wonderland of fragrance, full of life and magic.

While my Nan was a Christian, her folkways with plants and midwifery whispered

of a more complex and multifaceted set of beliefs. Of course, as a child I didn’t realize it, but I think her way of looking at, questioning, and exploring the world was the seed of Paganism that took root in me. By the time I reached my early teens I asked far too many questions for my parents and Sunday school teachers to adequately answer. As a result, I was drawn to the notion hinted at by my grandmother that a different power existed ev-erywhere in nature, we just had to open ourselves to it.

I have been fortunate to meet people who seemed to show up at the right time to help me learn about magic and Paganism. I have practiced ritual with several loose-knit covens and led a group at a Unitarian church where as part of the lay clergy I regularly conducted several annual Pagan-based Sunday services. Although I am a member of the Order of

Bards, Ovates and Druids and have done OBOD coursework, I mostly follow a solitary,

eclectic path through the Druidic woods.

I am a perpetual student. I love learning and studying, a great deal of which I do on my own, along with the occasional class or workshop. This holds true for my spirituality as well as my other interests and sometimes the two overlap as is the case with essential 1

2 Introduction

oils. Being a fragrance freak, I was attracted to using scented oils to prepare my altar candles for rituals and magic. Combining some of the oils did not work as well as I had hoped so I went in search of information. I found lots of recipes, and while these were fun for a while, I wanted to know more and to understand what I was doing. This coincided with my interest in making potpourri, which also involves the use of essential oils. I jumped at the chance to take a Saturday afternoon potpourri workshop where I hoped to learn more about mixing essential oils. Unfortunately my thirst for a deeper understanding was not satisfied. I enjoy tinkering and learning, but I was having trouble making headway beyond doing what other people had done. I wanted to understand why certain oils work well

together and others do not. I wanted to know how to go about making intelligent choices not only because essential oils can be expensive, but also for my own satisfaction. I don’t only want to know how to do something, I want to know why what I’m doing works.

I wanted to learn how to choose oils for blending. That seemed simple enough, but it became a quest that led to frustration. I found details about different essential oils, lists of magical associations, and information on perfumery categories and notes, but I could not find a source to help me connect the dots. I couldn’t figure out what I was missing. There seemed to be such a mystique around blending essential oils and I began to think that unless I could come up with the right “abracadabra” I was doomed to be an outsider. I kept dabbling and longed to be initiated into the club.

I believe that the Goddess helps me to cross paths with certain people at particular times, and this was another one of those times. A woman I knew was looking for subjects on whom she could practice as she went through massage therapy training. I was an en-thusiastic guinea pig and as I got to know Elizabeth, she shared more of her other studies with me. As it turned out, she was also working on her certification in aromatherapy and was happy to become my guide. She helped to fill in the gaps and gave me a lot of encouragement. I was in heaven because I finally had a good foundation and understood what I was doing. Following in Elizabeth’s footsteps, I went through massage therapy training and employed oil blends in my own practice. Unfortunately, due to a wrist injury my massage work was cut short, but it didn’t dampen my pursuit of oil blending for magic work.

My curiosity also led me to explore the carrier oils, which were familiar from my massage work. As the name implies, they are generally regarded as something to hold or carry the essential oils. It is unfortunate that their powers get ignored because, they too, come from plants. I decided to investigate how their properties might provide a boost to magical practices. For several years after getting started I spent at least one weekend afternoon Introduction 3

experimenting with or studying about essential and carrier oils. Although I have not experimented with all of the oils in this book, I based my selection for inclusion on their availability, popularity, and interesting backgrounds. At the beginning of my blending experience I didn’t keep notes as well as I should have, which is why I highly recommend it.

Hindsight is so helpful. As a result, I don’t know how many blends I’ve actually created, perhaps a couple of hundred. Once I started taking detailed notes I correlated information about the oils with my other notes on correspondences as well as details found during research. This became the foundation for this book.

Like a number of things in my life there’s ebb and flow because there are so many