Practical Potions 2. The Advanced Aromatic Adventure
Introduction:
The following chapter is a course review, plus a new formula to get you back into ship shape for the advanced journey. Jo Anna, your animated guide, will give you an overview of the page. Please take a minute to listen to her instructions.
Then, head over to the constantly transforming Ship’s Library. Grab a beverage and notebook. Say hi to some of your shipmates on our FACEBOOK PAGE. Take your time to read and review this chapter and listen to the video outlining your new program.
As usual, the downloads are at the bottom of the page. The Advanced Glossary has many new, valuable terms and suggestions, some explained only in that document.
By the way, Welcome Back to Practical Potions, Apprentice Ship Adventure. You are now an Advanced student and will know many of the Ship’s Routines and Protocols. We are thrilled to have you back again!
Video Overview of Advanced Aromatherapy
Welcome back to the Aromatic World.
Use essential oils safely and create Practical Potions to transform your daily routines into a “scentsational experience.”
The world of aromatherapy is vast and fascinating. Practical Potions Advanced is the second part of a two-part aromatherapy program taught by Robert Rogers and Laurie Szott-Rogers via The Northern Star College of Mystical Studies.
This review of some aromatic concepts will help you regain your sea legs. Also, could you look at your notes from Introductory Aromatherapy to help your memory if any initial concepts are foggy?
How to Use this Course:
Thoroughly read the notes before and after each session. Watch the videos. When you are able, fill out the Scent Impressions Sheets. You can go back and listen to the videos or study the notes at any time to deepen your understanding and expertise.
Ensure you download the journal, a handy recipe book at the end of the units, to document your experiences and answer the questions. Create the suggested products and recipes, revising and tweaking them for your taste.
Could you do the exercises, projects, and assignments? The hands-on learning will anchor the new knowledge and help you transform many aspects of your life, from how you wash your face to the body lotion you use. So, create the products, chat about the essential oils, and involve your friends and family in the preparation.
Take part in the Practical Potions Facebook Group to share your ideas and experiences.
What Are Essential Oils and Absolutes? (Review)
Essential oils are potent extractions of plants obtained worldwide. Many plants are wild-crafted, while some are grown in orchards or plantations.
By steam distillation, growers extract potent oils from specific plant parts—bark, leaf, root, berry, or flowers. A still is set up and filled with plant material. Water is heated, and steam passes through the plant material.
Volatile parts of the plant turn to vapour. As the vapour moves through a condensing coil, it cools and turns back into a liquid. The oils that emerge from this process are called essential oils. They are highly concentrated. Different plants yield varying amounts of essential oil, and the price range of oils reflects this. Fruit peels like lemon, orange, lime, and grapefruit are usually cold-pressed. These ‘expressed’ fruit peels are plentiful, and the quantity of oil from the pressing is more abundant than steam distillation. This makes the price of fruit peel oils reasonably priced.
Enfleurage involves a method of scent extraction used mainly for flowers. The flowers are placed on fat or oil, on an absorbable substance, like a cloth. The blossoms are replaced daily with fresh flowers until the fabric becomes saturated. The cloth is squeezed or pressed to collect the oil. A solvent is then used to extract the oil from the concrete, a solid mixture containing waxes, resins, and essential oils.
Jasmine, gardenia, and narcissus are flowers that give up their scent in an alcohol or solvent preparation. The resulting extracts are called absolutes.
An oleoresin is a semi-solid mixture of wax, resin, and essential oil that forms gums and resins after injury to the bark.
Benzoin gum is often made in this manner.
Methods of Using Essential Oils: (review)
All that is necessary is to breathe in the diffused oils to influence moods and psychological states. How we respond to various oils depends partly on individual tastes and memories. If we associate lavender with an older aunt we loved, we may have a more positive association with that oil than someone with a different memory. The oils have specific chemical properties, allowing them to calm, excite, or balance. Although relaxing in small quantities, an oil like lavender can stimulate at a higher dose.
Making an Aromatic Spray: (review)
Another way to use essential oils is to drop them into a spray glass bottle of 70-75%-distilled water, 25% alcohol, such as ever clear, and 1- 5% essential oil. You may also use water, a commercial solubilizer and essential oil.
This recipe varies according to the use. If I were to use the spray to enhance the scent of the bathroom or kitchen, where there is a higher level of odour to dissipate, I would opt for a higher ratio of essential oil. Use less essential oil and alcohol to spray the face or body. Use even less around sensitive people and pets. Use more if cleaning a room or eliminating odours.
If you make a cleaning spray, use vinegar and essential oil. Essential oils for cleaning need to be selected. Some oils, such as mints (peppermint and spearmint), have a powerful scent, while others, like orange, have a less potent smell.
Remember to shake the bottle well before using it. This is important, as oils will often float to the top of a bottle and be used in one spray. Do not spray the mix on anyone; the oils may irritate the skin. Do not spray too close to your walls; you may notice an oil build-up over time. Good essential oils to create a room spray are orange to balance or spearmint to invigorate. Any single oil or mixture can be used. Could you determine your preferences, the purpose of the oil and, of course, the cost when making your choice? Always label your bottles, as essential oils can be dangerous if misused. Avoid using with babies, infants, people with allergies to the products, and animals.
Make A Room Perfume – (New Video)
Beauty Products:
Essential oils also make great beauty enhancers for hair, skin, and baths. You can make an array of products with essential oils.
This Topic is explored deeply in this Advanced Aromatherapy Course.
The Applications for Aromatherapy are Endless!
THE SCENT IMPRESSIONS SHEET
Fill out your Scent Impressions Sheet with each essential oil introduced, like in Practical Potions Introductory. This will help you remember your reactions to the oils. It is also handy when blending—more on this in an upcoming section.
You can find a copy of the Scent Impressions Sheet in your accompanying journal in the download section at the bottom of this page.
CAUTIONS:
Please don’t use essential oils internally. Oils such as eucalyptus and birch are lethal if swallowed, even in small quantities. Do not let babies, children or pets near the oils to prevent accidental ingestion. Do not use essential oils on babies in any way. Until they are at least three, use hydrosols (steam-distilled plant waters, instead, but never internally). Store your oils in a safe place. Ensure your bottles have drop inserts so the oil comes out slowly. This may involve moving bulk essential oils into smaller bottles for dispensing.
Pregnant women, especially in their first trimester, should avoid essential oils. This is especially true if they have a history of miscarriage. Do not use essential oils while breastfeeding. There are many potential toxins in the environment that affect pregnant women, and oils are one of many irritants.
Essential oils should not be used with pets—do not give them oils internally or put them on their fur, which they will lick. Even diffusion of essential oils may cause problems with some pets, so practice extreme caution.
Keep essential oils out of your eyes. If they do get in, apply vegetable oil to the edge of a clean cloth and place this on the corner of your eye. This will attract the essential oil and works better than washing the eye with water.
Please don’t apply essential oils directly to the skin without dilution and patch testing on the thin areas first. This includes your wrists, inside of elbows, behind the knees, and under the ears, the same places you would apply fragrance.
If you suffer epileptic episodes, avoid any of the stimulating oils, such as sage or rosemary. This is especially true for internal use; people with epilepsy should never ingest stimulating oils. Some oils may affect asthmatics. Determine which ones these are and avoid them. If you have allergies to specific plants, be cautious about using essential oils from the same plant or plant family as your known allergen. Sometimes, the allergy is only to the pollen and will not apply to the oil- but approach slowly.
On the other hand, many people with allergies to petrochemical perfumes may find the oils surprisingly refreshing. I know I can use them, but chemical-based perfumes negatively impact me. Many of our students are charmed by the scent of essential oils and are repulsed by petrochemical-based scents. Reactions, of course, are highly personal and subjective.
Aromatherapy is an evolving field; only some things about how oils react with medicines and individual chemistry are understood. Certain essential oils interact with drugs. This is especially true if you ingest them, which we rarely advise. If you are on any medications, do not take the essential oils internally, even in small amounts. We have tried to include the newest research on this topic in the course, but more information is constantly emerging. Always be cautious and monitor your reactions.
Pay special attention and do extra research on your own if you are on medicine for diabetes or the cardiovascular system.
*Note that infants, babies, and children are all used as synonyms rather than repeated in each paragraph.
People sometimes forget to protect their pets from possible toxic reactions from oils. Pets do not react the same way as people, but they should not take the oils internally (and if they lick their coats, this would involve internal use). This could prove fatal.
Use the oils sensibly and respectfully, like any powerful healing agent. When used appropriately, they are potent healers and life-enhancing compounds.
Caveat-
Please read and understand the cautions. Everyone is different and may have unique sensitivities and reactions. Also, please know when to seek medical help for yourself and your family.
We at Northern Star College, Self Heal Distributing, and Scents of Wonder do not accept liability personally or as a company for any accidents or reactions to the essential oils or blends. Please use the products carefully and responsibly.
Review Government Regulations for Manufacturing, Labelling and Selling Products–
New government regulations regarding selling and labelling products were touched on in Practical Potions 1. But now that you are advancing to making products worthy of selling, please review these rules. Knowing these rules may help you plan your products strategically, especially those you wish to sell. https://www.northernstarcourses.com/lesson/h-canadian-cosmetic-regulations/
To Create a Blend-Proportions:
Mix .01-5% essential oils with 95-99.9% vegetable oil.
Use dilute amounts of essential oil, .02-1.0%, on the face or delicate skin.
1-5% essential oil to carrier oil is a common proportion for a more hardy mix for massaging the body of a healthy, non-allergic, nonpregnant adult.
Use the more subtle amounts for children (over three years of age) and fragile people. Thanks for patiently reviewing this material.
Online Measurement Scale from LotionCrafter – Press the link below for access.
https://lotioncrafter.com/pages/calculators
Accessing and Using Your Practical Potions Journal-Interactive Downloads:
The download button at the bottom of this page will allow you to open the exercises in PDF form for your Practical Potions Journal.
To turn these files into journal pages you can write on, click on File” (top left on the menu bar) and then on “Save As.” This will create a dialogue box that allows you to change the filename if you want to. In most cases, this will not be necessary; you only need to click “Save.” Another dialogue box may appear, warning you that this file already exists and will be overwritten. The journal pages you “Save As” will appear in your document files under the name you saved it in. You can then create a folder (if you like) where you put all the journal files.
You may also download and print the Practical Potion Journal PDFs and create a physical journal.
Don has given a full verbal description of how to access and use your Practical Potions Journal pages in Introductory Practical Potions, lesson 2-A. Please go there to review his directions if you need clarification about this process :).
Unit 1- Deep Dives and Transformations Video-
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