Did you know that you can use the fragrant essential oils of plants to cure diseases? The spicy aroma of fresh basil, the sweet fragrance of a rose, the savory smell of oregano, and thousands of other volatile oils from plants are not just pleasant to smell, but are powerful medicines. Many plants can help us heal, but those which contain aromatic oils occupy a special place in natural medicine. Here is some basic information that will help you select and use the healing essential oils.
Dr. David Stewart, Ph.D., D.N.M. Integrated Aromatic Science Practitioner, indicates that there are approximately 500,000 plant species on planet earth, but only 18,000 (3.6%) have the means to produce essential oils. He describes the function of these fragrant essential oils in his book, The Chemistry of Essential Oils Made Simple: God’s Love Manifest in Molecules.
Dr. Stewart describes the role of essential oils, their regulation of bodily functions, and how they create homeostasis in plants and in humans:
Essential oils have been called “the life blood of a plant.” They circulate through plant tissues and pass through cell walls, carrying nutrition into cells and carrying waste products out. [Page 59]
When essential oils are applied to people, they do the same thing, carrying oxygen into cells and carrying waste products out. In fact, essential oils are one of nature’s best body cleansers. They can cleanse our cellular receptor sites of pharmaceutical drugs, petrochemicals, and other disruptors of intercellular communication. They can also chelate heavy metals and other toxins, helping to remove and flush them through the liver, colon, sweat, lungs, and kidneys. They can also increase our ability to absorb vitamins and other nutrients. [Page 59]
Essential Oils are Regulators of Many Functions
Essential oils act as plant hormones, regulating plant functions and orchestrating the production of vitamins and enzymes. They act as messengers and supervisors within the plant that help coordinate and initiate vital plant activities. Essential oils can also do the same when applied to humans. They can act as neurotransmitters, peptides, steroids, hormones, enzymes, vitamins, and other message-carrying molecules (called ligands) which intelligently assist our bodily functions and help to restore or maintain wellness. [Page 59]
Essential Oils Possess Homeostatic Intelligence
Homeostasis is that state where every vital biological process within a living organism is functioning as it should. It is a state of perfect wellness. Essential oils always work toward restoring and maintaining balance and homeostasis, first in the plants who create them, and then in the humans who apply them. [59]
To say that an essential oil works toward balance and homeostasis means that the same oil can work in different directions depending on the needs of the plant or person. Oregano oil (Origanum vulgare) will kill hostile microbes while nurturing those that are friendly. Angelica oil (Angelica archangelica) can stimulate a uterus to contract or to relax depending on the need. Myrtle oil (Myrtus communis) is an adaptigen that can stimulate an increase or a decrease in thyroid activity depending on a person’s condition. [Pharmaceutical] drugs are incapable of such intelligent discriminations and act only in preprogrammed directions. [Pages 59-60]
What exactly is an Essential Oil?
Dr. Stewart answers this question:
An essential oil is the volatile lipid (oil) soluble portion of the fluids of a plant containing odiferous compounds produced by steam distillation of vegetable plant matter. Plant matter can be any part of a botanical species including stems, branches, fruits, flowers, seeds, roots, bark, needles, leaves, etc. During the distillation process, the vapors are condensed, collected, and separated from the condensation water. The residual water, containing traces of oil constituents, is called a “floral water” or “hydrosol,” and has therapeutic applications of its own. [Page 51]
Essential oils are mixtures of hundreds of compounds. For example, it has been found that orange oil (Citrus sinensis) contains 34 alcohols, 30 esters, 20 aldehydes, 14 ketones, 10 carboxylic acids, and 36 varieties of terpenes, including mono-, sesqui- , di- and tetraterpenes. And this is not a complete analysis. In fact, no essential oil has ever been completely analyzed to reveal its every constituent. [Page 51]
Essential oils are so complex, it may never be possible to discover everything that is in even one of them. [Page 52]
Only High Quality Essential Oils can Heal
Only the highest quality essential oils have the capacity to promote healing. The plants that are used as the raw material for essential oils must be healthy and clean. The processing methods must preserve the natural qualities of the essential oil. The essential oil that results must be 100% natural and 100% pure. Nothing should be added and nothing should be removed from the essential oil after it is processed.
Quality of Plant Materials
First, the quality of the plant material that is used to produce the essential oil is critical. Plant sources should be either certified organic or wild. Wild plant sources should be from a clean environment, and plants should not have been exposed to chemical fertilizers, herbicides, or pesticides. Chemicals applied to conventionally grown plant materials can end up in the essential oil and be part of the final product that is sold to consumers. This should always be avoided.
Quality of Processing
The process that is used to extract the essential oil from the plant material is critical. High quality essential oils are processed using a low temperature distillation method. When low temperature distillation is used, the temperature of the volatile elements in the plant material will be kept below its boiling point, which prevents decomposition of the essential oil. This means that the characteristics of the essential oil molecules that result from distillation will be very similar to those that were in the plant. A few essential oils, such as citrus oils are mechanically pressed from the peel of the fruit.
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