As this is my last Newsletter of the current year I shall simply write about anything that comes to mind. Don’t I always?!

Unfounded criticism.
“It’s too long,” said the eight publishers who rejected J.K. Rowling’s first Harry Potter manuscript.  More than 113m sales later, critics’ doubts over the 143-minute length of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone look similarly unlikely to prevent it becoming the year’s biggest movie. 

Childhood memories.
Although Nigel Molesworth was no Harry Potter Ronald Searle’s inimitable How To Be Topp was in every schoolboy’s locker when I was at prep school. I remember particularly Molesworth’s comment about Christmas.....Still Xmas is a good time with all those presents and good food and I hope it will never die out or at any rate not until I am grown up and have to pay for it all.....Well I’m grown up now and probably paying for it all as well but, as Christmas approaches, memories of early childhood always flood back.

The Second World War was freshly over, and life was slowly returning to normal.  After years of attrition the sense of relief, even for an unknowing small boy, was immeasurable. Christmas 1945 was spent with my grandparents in Leicestershire: the first time that many of the family had been together since 1939. The atmosphere was ecstatic, and I was quickly dispatched to the kitchen to assist with the preparation of the Christmas goodies.

Although food-rationing was to remain a part of life for several more years yet, there was an abundance of dairy-fresh milk and butter, just-laid warm brown eggs and hearth-baked sweetmeats strewn on the vast kitchen table. In the midst of this cornucopia stood a huge mixing bowl for the Christmas pudding.  Manfully I pushed up a milking stool [which stands beside me as I write] upon which to kneel to get a better look.

My young eyes sparkled as currants, sultanas, cherries and nuts were sprinkled bounteously into the golden-yellow slurry, which my grandmother stirred with unrelenting vigour.  At last she seemed satisfied, and invited me to have a go.  Taking my small hand she placed it firmly around the handle of the spoon, and guided it unerringly clockwise (sunwise) around the bowl. I now know that to ensure luck throughout the year all members of the family must stir the pudding. However my mind was more upon the gleaming half-crown (12p.) piece which I had spied being added to the mix. When told to make a wish as I stirred, I wished and wished that the half-crown would be in my slice of pudding. To prove that wishes can come true, it was!

Wherefore Christmas Pud?
Many of the year’s festivals come with cooking rituals attached. When we make a Christmas pudding, for example, we are taking part in a pagan ritual, for our rich, fruit-stuffed dessert began life in Celtic times as a milky cornmeal gruel, stirred sunwise, and served to guests at the solstice as an edible symbol of the god of plenty, Dagda, the ‘Good God’, the ‘Great Father’, the ‘Most Learned’, and the leader of the Tuatha Dé Dannan (the ‘People of the Goddess Danu’, the divine race of Ireland).

His attributes include a magic cauldron and a mighty club towed on wheels. The cauldron satisfied all who fed from it, while the club not only killed enemies but also resurrected dead friends.  Dagda is credited with the ability to determine the weather and to control the harvest. He combines elements of a sky father, a storm god, a war god, a fertility deity and the sun itself, yet he is often portrayed as oafish and even comical.

Trick or treat?
Why this ancient tradition should be so popular around here I don’t know but, having recently endured an evening of young ghouls, goblins and witches dripping blood upon my doorstep and relieving me of countless mini-bars of chocolate and all loose change, I determined to discover the origins of this custom.

Samain marked the beginning of the winter season of cold and austerity in countries with Celtic traditions. It marked the end of one pastoral year and the beginning of the next.  This ‘new year’festival was also associated with death - decaying plants and flowers, and dwindling daylight.  It was the one period when spirits from the Otherworld became visible to men.  With the coming of Christianity this celebration became Harvest Festival.

Samain Eve became known as Hallowe’en - these days a night of ghoulish pranks, grinning pumpkin lanterns, and grotesque party food.  Not so long ago it was believed to be a genuinely eerie ‘in between worlds’ night when fairies, witches, and goblins mixed with the living.  The jack-o-lantern pumpkins and turnips would warn away ghouls and witches. Ritual games, such as bobbing or ducking for apples and love-divination by nut-cracking, still provide hilarious entertainment at our local village hall.

Valerie Ann Worwood in her timeless Fragrant Pharmacy suggests that they can be supplemented with a show of drama and magic. Get a piece of charcoal, place it in a heat-resistant dish, light it, and when it has begun to burn put two or three drops of essential oil on to it.  Billows of aromatic smoke will issue forth, impressing even the most blasé of little witches or warlocks. Use a heavy oil like patchouli or benzoin or one of the woods, such as cedarwood.  Whatever you do, she urges not to use rue or myrtle - after all, you do want that knock at the door to be a pretend witch, don’t you?!

In fact I am not sure that she is entirely correct because, in the Middle Ages and later, rue (Ruta graveolens L.) was considered a powerful defence against witches, and was used in many spells. It was also thought to bestow second sight.

Fragrant witches’brooms can be made by tying twigs into bundles. Soak the twigs first in a strong woody fragrance such as pine or cypress, or a rooty one like vetiver, diluted in water. These make good souvenir presents for the guests - good and bad alike. I’ve started bundling twigs together for next year! Thanks Valerie Ann, always a source of inspiration.

In Celtic mythology significant events frequently occur at festival times consistent with the themes of transformation, renewal, death and rebirth.  In the Book of Invasions (an Irish text compiled in the twelfth century CE, but with its origins in earlier attempts by monastic scholars of the sixth and seventh centuries to construct a history of Ireland.  In effect it is an Irish creation myth which follows a succession of legendary invasions of the country from the Flood to the coming of the Gaels, or Celts), the great Battle of Mag Tuiread, between the Tuatha Dé Dannan, who are said to have retreated underground when the Gaels conquered Ireland, and the demonic Fomorians, happened at Samain. Also at Samain Cuchulainn (pronounced ‘Koo Hoolin’), the superhuman warrior who champions the Ulster cause, met his death and Gawain left Arthur’s court to seek the Green Knight.

Oh!  The origin of trick or treat? I almost forgot! It probably comes from All Souls Eve, when young children would go from house to house begging for small spiced buns known as ‘soul cakes’.

Whatever next?!
Prominently displayed on the front cover of this morning’s Financial Times is an advertisement for BT, featuring an aromatherapy candle burner....Mansfield Motors wanted to invigorate their business....BT enabled them to sell parts online....Due to new demand, Mansfield doubled its staff....*No ‘Invigorating essential oils’ were used!!!   

To while away the winter days.
Whilst browsing through Jane Newdick’s handy household reference Sloe Gin and Beeswax for a recipe for ‘Bird Cakes’, to provide instant energy and sufficient fuel for my garden birds during the short daylight foraging hours and long cold nights, I stumbled across a recipe for Rosemary Hair Rinse.

Mid-winter may not seem the best time of year to make fragrant lotions and herbal rinses and yet in many ways it is just the kind of satisfying and gentle activity that one might feel like doing, surrounded by aromas redolent of summer to banish the season outside. After all essential oils are available all year round and they can be the starting point for perfumes and colognes, either for oneself or to bottle up as gifts.  Also some herbs are evergreen and as abundant in the winter as in summer months and although they may not be as pungent, they are still fine for recipes such as rosemary hair rinse.

Rosemary has always been the herb connected with hair and the head.  It is supposed to strengthen and stimulate the hair and scalp and also add richness to dark brown or black hair. Add to this the fact that oil of rosemary is believed to stimulate the brain and also to lift fatigue, aid the digestion and cure headaches, there seems little reason not to use an infusion of rosemary as a final hair rinse after washing. It leaves the hair feeling and smelling good and the slightly acid balance of the liquid counteracts any residue of alkali from the shampoo. Ideal! I wandered out to the garden with my secateurs.

Having snipped off a dozen flourishing stems I put them in a large bowl, and boiled up about four litres of water.  I then poured the boiling water over the rosemary, and left it for four hours.  After straining the liquid, I added 150ml of cider vinegar and six drops of rosemary essential oil.  Stir very well, and bottle up.  It seems to work, and makes a most pleasant change from my normal tea tree preparation. Were I blonde, I should probably substitute a couple of cups of dried chamomile flowers for the rosemary stems and use lemon essential oil rather than rosemary.  All herb-growing hairdressers should give it a go.  Bon chance!

Battle of the boot cupboard.
Although I am not unduly clothes conscious, except perhaps on high days and holidays, I do cherish good leather shoes, expecting them to last me at least twenty years.  Therefore I was horrified recently to discover that the local rodent population shares my taste, albeit from a somewhat different perspective. My favourite pair of ancient brogues lay in tatters, denuded of their bespoke stitching.  I like furry, little creatures as much as anyone, but this is war!

I appreciate that it is getting cold outside, and the warm confines of my boot cupboard must seem most inviting, but come on fellows it’s just not on. If I cripple my big toe on another peanut hidden in my shoes I shall go barmy, and stop shredding my shoelaces!

Mungu the ridgeback shows not the slightest interest in protecting my footwear, and the neighbourhood moggy seems more preoccupied with the contents of my dustbin.  There seems no alternative: I reach again for Fragrant Pharmacy.

To discourage any rodent from entering your house, use spearmint or peppermint - fresh or dried plant, or essential oil to water and alcohol. Perfume is the strongest formulation and should comprise 15 to 30% essential oil. Placed strategically around the house and roof it should discourage any mice from turning your residence into theirs.

Where does Valerie Ann get these ideas from? It works!

“Individualized prescription”.
A purpose of authentic aromatherapy is to maintain or restore healthy, natural olfactory and psychological responses and to promote genuine, enduring self-improvement through the use of essential oils. Whole, pure essential oils, like whole foods, are better received by the human organism; they are more psycho-physiologically nourishing, carrying complete, intelligent information to the human being.  Their effects are not superficially stimulating but are safely therapeutic and capable of engendering real and profound changes. The subtle subjectivity of individualized smell and the complexity of essential oils may be too inconvenient or complicated for the consideration or objectives of medical establishment and fragrance industry practices, but they remain as necessarily vital to aromatherapy as they are personally important to the individual human being. Socialized environmental fragrancing is not aromatherapy. Mass aromatherapy of any kind, by practice or production, contradicts holistic individualized treatment and personal self-improvement - the purpose of aromatherapy’s “individualized prescription” as declared by Marguerite Maury. [Peter & Kate Damian. 1995. Aromatherapy: Scent and Psyche.]     

I  must admit that I agree totally with this philosophy and, therefore, tend to become a little concerned when I read....Recently in Asia we have a multi-level marketing company selling an aromatherapy unit from France....This unit vaporizes 5% essential oils in a base of (90++%) of Isopropanol....It claims that the product will create free oxygen, anti-bacterial, etc....It is now selling like hot cakes and more and more are abandoning the traditional ways of vaporizing essential oils....Does anyone have any opinions to share?....As far as I know Isopropanol can be toxic in high doses. Another writes....This burner is widely promoted in Singapore, and is claimed to be effective for stress relief....Will Isopropanol cause damage to our body system?....My neighbour has a unit....The oil (big bottle about 1000ml) that they use to vaporize smell awful! Glory be!

Ruth Winter, in her handy Consumer’s Dictionary of Cosmetic Ingredients, mentions that Isopropanol is an antibacterial, solvent, and denaturant.  It is used in hair colour rinses, body rubs, hand lotions, after-shave lotions, and many other cosmetics.  It is prepared from propylene, which is obtained in the cracking of petroleum.  It is also used in antifreeze compositions and as a solvent of gums, shellac, and essential oils. Ingestion or inhalation of large quantities of the vapour may cause flushing, headache, dizziness, mental depression, nausea, vomiting, narcosis, anaesthesia, and coma.  The fatal ingested dose is around one fluid ounce.

Frankly I am horrified.  Isopropanol is considered to be more toxic than ethyl alcohol, and the symptoms of intoxication seem to be similar, except that isopropanol has no initial euphoric action and gastritis, haemorrhage, pain, nausea, and vomiting are more prominent. The lethal oral dose is reported to be about 250ml; however, toxic symptoms may be produced by as little as 20ml.  Ketoacidosis and ketonuria commonly occur due to the major metabolite, acetone, in the circulation.  

Inhalation of isopropanol has been reported to produce coma. The vapour may be absorbed through the lungs.  Isopropanol is metabolised more slowly than ethyl alcohol and about 15% of an ingested dose is metabolised to acetone.

Although many have reported using this product for sinus and asthma relief I personally think them ill-advised.

Sustaining Nature’s Pharmacy.
A couple of months ago I was kindly invited by the International Holistic Aromatherapy Foundation (IHAF) to pop over to Cheltenham to say a few words about The Search for Sustainability. 

A most friendly and welcoming group, I thoroughly enjoyed myself.  Their workshop manual on the Clinical Application of Base/Carrier Oils by Brenda Coverdale is as useful as anything that I have read on the subject.  It deserves a wider audience.

I have written before about the prejudice in many parts of the world against plants which are not gathered from the wild [apropos essential oils, herbal remedies, pharmaceutical drugs, etc.], because they are seen as less potent.  But with some species the choice may soon become having cultivated stock or having none at all. Nevertheless, despite this, amazingly 90% of all herbs used in herbal medicine are still not farmed but gathered from the wild, driving some plants to the verge of extinction. Goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis), for example, is now listed by CITES (Convention on Trade in Endangered Species) as the fifth most endangered species on the planet. However, although it is now illegal to harvest from the wild, this has not stopped people from collecting it, and populations continue to decrease. Do people not understand what they are doing?

I read in a most recent aromatherapy publication....Wild-crafting is an art of sensitivity, care, and knowledge older than “agriculture”....When we take from the land, it must be gently and reasonably; then we must give back, so the land can regenerate for future generations of life....To “take generously” we must be guided by our common sense and not greed....For example, if we find a plot of ginseng or goldenseal and know it takes three to ten years to grow roots of harvestable size, then reason tells us at the very most, if the plot seems healthy and productive, we may take as much as one in  three or as little as one in ten plants per year, depending on the rate of regeneration.  So much for the fifth most endangered plant on the planet! This truly concerns me.

The use of medicinal plants from the wild, inevitably heterogeneous [diverse in character] and often of limited availability, must be abandoned or limited as far as possible.  In their place, cultivated plants must be used.

In ecological terms, the continued and indiscriminate use of wild collected plants may cause incalculable damage to the environment, fauna included.  This is always true: the danger is still more serious when parts of medicinal plants such as roots, seeds and flowers - which are essential to the survival of the plant itself - are used.

In terms of quality, wild plants are often heterogeneous in terms of age, zone and period of picking, drying methods and, consequently, active constituent content.   

With cultivated plants, on the other hand, cultivation can be carried out under homogeneous [uniform] climatic and soil conditions.  The age of the plants and exact information on their active constituent content, and therefore on their period of harvesting, are readily available. The plants can be picked “at the right time” and quickly. They can be dried under controlled conditions of time and temperature. We must never forget that a homogeneous and correct drying often represents the most delicate and essential step in the manufacturing process.

However, when all is said and done, I wonder how many know where their herbal products and essential oils come from - let alone whether their production is sustainable.  Perhaps this question is as important as whether they work at all!

Manuka set to move ahead?
It has long surprised me why manuka (Leptospermum scoparium Forster & Forster) has not made greater headway in the U.K. Perhaps it is because tea tree (Melaleuca alternifolia Cheel) is much cheaper and better known.  However, further research may result in more information that educates consumers on the specific benefits and applications of manuka so that informed choices of oil type and use are made on proven benefits and values. Meanwhile my old friend, and fellow old car buff, research scientist Dr. Noel Porter makes some good points in the current edition of HerbalGram.

Although the plants are physically very similar and frequently grow together, manuka and kanuka (Kunzea ericoides J. Thompson) are very different in their chemical composition, aroma and biological activity. Kanuka oil lacks beta-triketones, has only low levels of sesquiterpenes, and has little or no measurable antibacterial activity [Harkenthal M, et al. Comparative study on the in vitro antibacterial activity of Australian tea tree oil, cajuput oil, niaouli oil, manuka oil, kanuka oil and eucalyptus oil. Pharmazie. 1999; 54: 460].  Kanuka oil varies little throughout New Zealand.

Manuka, on the other hand, can vary in both physical and chemical senses between different geographical sites and even between individual plants at a single site [Porter NG, et al. Variability in essential oil chemistry and plant morphology within a Leptospermum scoparium population. New Zealand Journal of Botany. 1998; 36: 125]. When walking through a stand of manuka, one can see considerable and obvious variation of physical characteristics such as leaf size and shape, flower and leaf colour, branching habit and foliage density. The differences in oil chemistry and aroma are also made obvious by crushing and sniffing the foliage. While the basic oil composition is determined genetically, it may change in individual plants within and between seasons.

Such chemical variation is reflected in the antimicrobial activity.  It is not possible to generalize about the chemistry or activity of manuka oils. Comparisons of activity have been further confused by incomplete knowledge of oil chemistry or sample origins [Lis-Balchin M. et al. Bioactivity of New Zealand medicinal plant essential oils. Acta Horticulturae 1996; 426: 13-30]. Any predictions of activity must be based on a detailed knowledge of the origins and chemical analysis of the particular oil sample, and preferably confirmed by adequate testing against the relevant microorganism.

Tea Tree oil is effective against a wide range of microorganisms, but comparatively high concentrations are required - typically 0.25-2% in current medical tests.  Manuka oils with beta-triketones are effective against a smaller range of microorganisms.  However, this selective activity is particularly strong against some dermatophytic fungi and against Gram-positive bacteria - typically 0.02-0.1%.  Beta-triketone rich oils and concentrates of the beta-triketones have been shown to be just as effective in in vitro tests against antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria as against the susceptible strains [Porter NG (Crop & Food Research), Peddie BA (Research Microbiologist, Christchurch Public Hospital), Chambers ST (Head of Infectious Diseases Department, Christchurch Public Hospital)].

The oft-confused comparisons between tea tree, kanuka and manuka, and between different manuka oils, can be clarified by understanding the results from research on the differing chemistry and activity.  Any detectable activity of tea tree, kanuka and non-beta-triketone manuka oils is most likely to be more uniform across a wide range of microorganisms.  This suggests a role as a general topical antiseptic. Beta-triketone containing manuka oil may be effective against a narrower range of microorganisms, but for those classes (e.g., the Gram-positive bacteria) its activity is more suited to these infections, since it can also control antibiotic-resistant strains, which are becoming increasingly frequent.

It might be just the time to uncork the East Cape manuka again!           

Postal disruption looms.
You will have undoubtedly noticed that last month’s Newsletter was behind schedule.  This was not our fault.

As you are probably aware, Royal Mail is still experiencing considerable disruption as a result of the false alarms caused by powders and fine grains leaking from packaging.

I am requested by Royal Mail to make sure that you are aware of the new packaging guidelines for these substances.....

All powders and fine grains should be placed inside a robust container such as a strong polythene bag and securely sealed with tape. This should then be placed inside a second container and securely sealed again. The double-wrapped item should then be packed inside a rigid corrugated box to prevent leakage or tainting of other items.

You should also be aware that Royal Mail may be forced to adopt more stringent measures on the posting of substances which resemble Anthrax in order to protect customers’mail from further disruptions.

Meanwhile, in an endeavour to comply with these guidelines and to inhibit further spillage and leakage, we are shrinkwrapping as many of our products as possible.

An omission corrected.
I suppose that I am in that [questionably!] enviable position where pregnancy does not loom large in my mind: male, happily married for more than thirty years, with a son who currently shows little interest in procreation.  Therefore I tend not to seek out aromatherapy-related pregnancy books to review.  However, realising that this is a serious omission on my part, I asked Harcourt Health Sciences for a book to get me up to speed.

First published by Baillière Tindall in 1996, I don’t know how I could have missed Denise Tiran’s comprehensive and research-based exploration of the safe, effective and appropriate administration of essential oils in pregnancy, labour and the puerperium.

It is vital that the possible dangers of essential oils are recognized.  The lack of adequate research findings in relation to pregnancy and childbearing means that both midwives and aromatherapists currently have limited knowledge on which to base their practice.  Great caution should be exercised when caring for pregnant women who wish to receive aromatherapy.   

It is not the intention of the author to dissuade practitioners from using essential oils for pregnant clients, but rather to highlight the effects that the chemistry or pharmacological actions may have upon them: this she does succinctly, and with loads of references. 

Clinical Aromatherapy for Pregnancy and Childbirth has to be essential reading, not only for those caring for pregnant and childbearing women using aromatherapy but also for any questioning the use of essential oils during pregnancy and childbirth. A definite hit!

Finally.....
On behalf of all the team, Jan, Justin, Rebecca, Jade, Karla, Tony, David, Mike and Nick, may I wish you a very happy Christmas and healthy New Year.


charles@essentiallyoils.com
 

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