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Theme Party, Sabotage

July 6, 2014 — 1 Comment

“Even pudding needs a theme.”- Winston Churchill. He could not have ben more insightful.  Americans often use freedom as a theme for national celebrations.  We repeat themes in our lives without awareness, but how would it make a difference if we embraced themes?  Leonardo da Vinci pioneered mind mapping by drawing similarities between seemingly unrelated things.  His essential belief in Connessione broadened his thinking and increased his creativity.  He took notes constantly, drew pictures and diagrams that we are lucky enough to be able to see today.  His notebooks are full of connections, discovery and contemplations.

“every part is disposed to unite with the whole, that it may thereby escape from its own incompleteness”-Leonardo da Vinci.  If we think in terms of unification, or connectedness it is obvious that no part of life exists by itself, on its own, with no assistance.  Our social connections are different from our commercial connections, and our survival connections are a different group.  We rely on systems, nature, people, and cultural beliefs to keep our lives running.  By taking a theme for a day we can start to see how connections are at least as important as single relationships.  Every relationship touches other relationships, and so it goes.  Within the personality of each person there may be dynamic tension or power struggles daily.  There are themes within those dramas too.  Pick one and observe it for a day, or a week.

Choosing to observe sabotage might reveal deep meaning.  We certainly sabotage others and are sabotaged by others.  It is also true that we sabotage ourselves and pretend others have done it.  Drawing a timeline of the history of self sabotage can be interesting, but why not look at this phenomena in real-time?  Check out daily habits that dilute health, happiness or finances.  The theme of saboteur is well-known in fiction because everyone has this common issue in real life.  If you take time to observe your inner saboteur at work notice how it is connected to those who seem to sabotage you from the outside. Are they in secret alliance?  How do they know your weaknesses so well?  Are you in cahoots?  What are the themes your inner and outer saboteurs use to stay connected to you?

Time Lines Tell the Truth

July 5, 2014 — 6 Comments

cactus blooming

cactus blooming

Our memories are not accurate.  Our self images are not well aligned with reality, and our sense of time is warped.  This is true for almost everyone.  I have embarked on some time line drawing exercises that have proven to me how far off base I am with a lot of my beliefs about my life and myself.  The course in archetypes asks that I draw a time line for each of my dominant archetypes, including first meeting and how their powers entered and left the scene.  I am surprised about the details I recall when I focus on only one aspect.  This is also true if I draw a time line that includes all my physical injuries, surgeries, and illnesses.  I have lead a healthy life, but  I do see a pattern when I study the tendencies I have had.  My doctors ask me to outline my injuries and illnesses, but I had never drawn them out on a paper with dates before.  This chart alone tells a big story about your health and your life.  There are other valuable time lines to draw for self knowledge:

  • Mental time line- included studies, hobbies, development of talents
  • Emotional time line- describes the highs and lows of living as it occurred
  • Spiritual time line- takes some concentration to detail moments of enlightenment and deep meaning to the soul
  • Global time line-the places we go during our early years especially, influence many of our cultural patterns
  • Physical time line- mastery of skills and sports, as well as the injuries and illnesses

When you have drawn these lines (all in the same scale) line up the sheets of paper under one another to see if they have any sequential patterns.  Putting them all in a row shows detail that can sort out patterns in our lives.  We tend to think of time in various delusional ways.  We believe we have always been like this (whatever this may be), for instance.  We often believe we were innocent when we were guilty, and sometimes believe just the opposite.  The time line describes turning points and events that were pivotal in our development.  If we then overlay the archetypes in our personalities, and which ones were dominant at what times the portrait becomes even clearer and more detailed.  I started with the assignment of the archetype timelines, which is the most intricate and difficult of them all.  By doing the easy ones above first we become accustomed to the focus it takes to really remember accurately.  Then we are warmed up to question who was in charge and when.  Time lines contain a great deal of power while still holding mystery in the line where it says nothing.  Obviously there were constant events, but only some can be brought to mind.  More practice brings better proficiency in stringing it all into place.

Empress Irini Augusta Dukaina Dukas

July 4, 2014 — 2 Comments

Empress Irini Augusta Dukaina Dukas

Empress Irini Augusta Dukaina Dukas

Empress Irini Augusta Dukaina Dukas' seal

Empress Irini Augusta Dukaina Dukas’ seal

 

My 29th great-grandmother was married when she was 11 years old.  By this marriage she became Empress Mother of the Byzantine Empire.  Her daughter Anna recorded history, perhaps revisionist.  Empress Irini is an ancestor of Ann Dudley Bradstreet, another woman who recorded history and wrote poetry.  I have noticed that Mistress Bradstreet has the most impressive pedigree of important powerful women.  This one, like many other royals who are embroiled in political intrigue, landed in a convent under mild house arrest at the end of her life.

Irene Doukaina or Ducaena (Greek: Ειρήνη Δούκαινα, Eirēnē Doukaina) (c. 1066 – February 19, 1123 or 1133) was the wife of the Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos, and the mother of the emperor John II Komnenos and of the historian Anna Komnene.

Empress Irini Augusta Dukaina Dukas (1066 – 1133)
is my 29th great grandmother
Theodora Comnena (1096 – 1116)
daughter of Empress Irini Augusta Dukaina Dukas
Andronikos Dukas Angelos (1122 – 1185)
son of Theodora Comnena
Alexios Emperor Byzantine Empire (1153 – 1204)
son of Andronikos Dukas Angelos
Empress Anna Komnene Angelina Nicaea (1176 – 1212)
daughter of Alexios Emperor Byzantine Empire
MARIA Laskarina (1206 – 1270)
daughter of Empress Anna Komnene Angelina Nicaea
King of Hungary Stephen V (1240 – 1277)
son of MARIA Laskarina
Marie DeHungary (1257 – 1323)
daughter of King of Hungary Stephen V
Marguerite Sicily Naples (1273 – 1299)
daughter of Marie DeHungary
Jeanne DeVALOIS (1294 – 1342)
daughter of Marguerite Sicily Naples
Philippa deHainault (1311 – 1369)
daughter of Jeanne DeVALOIS
John of Gaunt – Duke of Lancaster – Plantagenet (1340 – 1399)
son of Philippa deHainault
Philippa Plantagenet (1370 – 1415)
daughter of John of Gaunt – Duke of Lancaster – Plantagenet
Beatrix DePinto (1403 – 1447)
daughter of Philippa Plantagenet
John Fettiplace (1427 – 1464)
son of Beatrix DePinto
Richard Fettiplace (1460 – 1511)
son of John Fettiplace
Anne Fettiplace (1496 – 1567)
daughter of Richard Fettiplace
Mary Purefoy (1533 – 1579)
daughter of Anne Fettiplace
Susanna Thorne (1559 – 1586)
daughter of Mary Purefoy
Gov Thomas Dudley (1576 – 1653)
son of Susanna Thorne
Anne Dudley (1612 – 1672)
daughter of Gov Thomas Dudley
John Bradstreet (1652 – 1718)
son of Anne Dudley
Mercy Bradstreet (1689 – 1725)
daughter of John Bradstreet
Caleb Hazen (1720 – 1777)
son of Mercy Bradstreet
Mercy Hazen (1747 – 1819)
daughter of Caleb Hazen
Martha Mead (1784 – 1860)
daughter of Mercy Hazen
Abner Morse (1808 – 1838)
son of Martha Mead
Daniel Rowland Morse (1838 – 1910)
son of Abner Morse
Jason A Morse (1862 – 1932)
son of Daniel Rowland Morse
Ernest Abner Morse (1890 – 1965)
son of Jason A Morse
Richard Arden Morse (1920 – 2004)
son of Ernest Abner Morse
Pamela Morse
I am the daughter of Richard Arden Morse

Succession of Alexios and Irene

Irene was born in 1066 to Andronikos Doukas and Maria of Bulgaria, granddaughter of Ivan Vladislav of Bulgaria. Andronikos was a nephew of Emperor Constantine X and a cousin of Michael VII.

Irene married Alexios in 1078, when she was still eleven years old. For this reason the Doukas family supported Alexios in 1081, when a struggle for the throne erupted after the abdication of Nikephoros III Botaneiates. Alexios’ mother, Anna Dalassene, a lifelong enemy of the Doukas family, pressured her son to divorce the young Irene and marry Maria of Alania, the former wife of both Michael VII and Nikephoros III. Irene was in fact barred from the coronation ceremony, but the Doukas family convinced the Patriarch of Constantinople, Kosmas I, to crown her as well, which he did one week later. Anna Dalassene consented to this but forced Kosmas to resign immediately afterwards; he was succeeded by Eustratios Garidas.

Alexios’ mother Anna continued to live in the imperial palace and to meddle in in her son’s affairs until her death 20 years later; Maria of Alania may have also lived in the palace, and there were rumours that Alexios carried on an affair with her. Anna Komnene vociferously denied this, although she herself was not born until December 1, 1083, two years later.

Character
Anna may have been whitewashing her family history; she has nothing but praise for both of her parents. She describes her mother in great detail:

“She stood upright like some young sapling, erect and evergreen, all her limbs and the other parts of her body absolutely symmetrical and in harmony one with another. With her lovely appearance and charming voice she never ceased to fascinate all who saw and heard her. Her face shone with the soft light of the moon; it was not the completely round face of an Assyrian woman, nor long, like the face of a Scyth, but just slightly oval in shape. There were rose blossoms on her cheeks, visible a long way off. Her light-blue eyes were both gay and stern: their charm and beauty attracted, but the fear they caused so dazzled the bystander that he could neither look nor turn away…Generally she accompanied her words with graceful gestures, her hands bare to the wrists, and you would say it was ivory turned by some craftsman into the form of fingers and hand. The pupils of her eyes, with the brilliant blue of deep waves, recalled a calm, still sea, while the white surrounding them shone by contrast, so that the whole eye acquired a peculiar lustre and a charm which was inexpressible.”

It “would not have been so very inappropriate,” Anna writes, to say that Irene was “Athena made manifest to the human race, or that she had descended suddenly from the sky in some heavenly glory and unapproachable splendour.”

Irene was shy and preferred not to appear in public, although she was forceful and severe when acting officially as empress (basileia). She preferred to perform her household duties, and enjoyed reading hagiographic literature and making charitable donations to monks and beggars. Although Alexios may have had Maria as a mistress early in his reign, during the later part of his reign he and Irene were genuinely in love (at least according to their daughter Anna). Irene often accompanied him on his expeditions, including the expedition against Prince Bohemund I of Antioch in 1107 and to the Chersonese in 1112. On these campaigns she acted as a nurse for her husband when he was afflicted with gout in his feet. According to Anna she also acted as a sort of guard, as there were constant conspiracies against Alexios. Alexios’ insistence that Irene accompany him on campaigns may suggest that he did not fully trust her enough to leave her in the capital. When she did remain behind in Constantinople, she acted as regent, together with Nikephoros Bryennios, Anna’s husband, as a counselor.

Death of Alexios
Irene frequently suggested that Alexios name Nikephoros and Anna as his heirs, over their own younger son John. According to Niketas Choniates, who depicts her more as a nagging shrew than a loving wife, she “…threw her full influence on the side of her daughter Anna and lost no opportunity to calumniate their son John… mocking him as rash, pleasure-loving, and weak in character.” Alexios, preferring to create a stable dynasty through his own son, either ignored her, pretended to be busy with other matters, or, at last, lost his temper and chastized her for suggesting such things.

Irene nursed Alexios on his deathbed on 1118, while at the same time still scheming to have Nikephoros and Anna succeed him. Alexios had already promised the throne to John, and when John took his father’s signet ring Irene accused him of treachery and theft. When Alexios finally died, she felt genuine grief, and wore the mourning clothes of her daughter Eudokia, whose own husband had died previously. However, she soon conspired with Anna against John, but their plots were unsuccessful and both Irene and Anna were then forced into exile at the monastery of Kecharitomene, which Irene had founded a few years previously. It was not a harsh exile, and Irene lived there in peace, distributing food to the poor and educating young orphan girls. Irene may have inspired the history written by her son-in-law Nikephoros Bryennios and corresponded with or patronized several important literary figures, including Theophylact of Ohrid and Michael Italikos.

In Literature
The great modern Greek poet Constantine Cavafy includes a reference to Irene Doukaina in his poem “A Byzantine Nobleman in Exile Composing Verses”, which refers to Doukaina “that viper Irini Doukaina” and that as the cause of the titular nobleman’s exile, “may she be cursed”. It is a clear reference to her reputation as a plotter.

Children
Irene died on February 19, in either 1123 or 1133, most likely the latter. With Alexios I Komnenos she had nine children:

Anna Komnene (1083–1153)
Maria Komnene
John II Komnenos (1087–1143)
Andronikos Komnenos
Isaac Komnenos
Eudokia Komnene
Theodora Komnene, who married Constantine Angelos. Among their children were John Doukas (who took his grandmother’s surname) and Andronikos Angelos, father of the emperors Alexios III Angelos and Isaac II Angelos.
Manuel Komnenos
Zoe Komnene

Sources
The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, Oxford University Press, 1991.
Anna Comnena, The Alexiad, trans. E.R.A. Sewter. Penguin Books, 1969.
Nicetas Choniates, O City of Byzantium: Annals of Niketas Choniates, trans. Harry J. Magoulias. Wayne State University Press, 1984.
Georgina Buckler, Anna Comnena: A Study. Oxford University Press, 1929.
Thalia Goumia-Peterson, “Gender and Power: Passages to the Maternal in Anna Komnene’s Alexiad “, in Anna Komnene and Her Times, ed. Thalia Goumia-Peterson. Garland Publishing, 2000.
Warren Treadgold, A History of the Byzantine State and Society. Stanford University Press, 1997.

Royal titles

Preceded by

Maria of Alania
Byzantine Empress consort
1081–1118
Succeed ed by
Piroska of Hungary

Empress-Mother of the Byzantine Empire
1118–February 19, 1133
Shared title with Piroska of Hungary from 1122 until 1133.

Flying Leap Vineyards Tasting Room

July 4, 2014 — 3 Comments

 

I had just learned about the #TucsonEatsLocal challenge from the Food Conspiracy when I ran into Cindy as she was about to open the Flying Leap Vineyards tasting room. I decided to step in and taste 6 Arizona wines. The quality has improved over the years, but I have been waiting for Arizona wines to really get good. There is excellent news….they have!! I enjoyed spending time focused on these very well balanced and delicious wines. I tasted:

  • 2012 Verdelho- a white crisp and floral wine produced from Portuguese grapes
  • 2013 Grenache Rose- a rose with more body and complexity than usual fruity, yet dry
  • 2011 Monsoon Red-an alchemical accidental miracle meritage created when they bought a winery, including wines in progress
  • 2009 Sangiovese- aged in oak to create a light and figgy flavor
  • 2011 Head over Heels- a complex meritage with a wide range of high notes and low notes- big vertical drop in flavor
  • 2010 Cabernet Savignon- a smooth and velvety version of this varietal classic
  • 2011 Tempranillo- a rich bright taste profile

All of the wines pleased me in their own way.  The reds, which are really my favorite, had unusually broad flavors.  They could all be drunk by themselves for enjoyment, but would bring out extra pleasure and flavor if enjoyed with food.  I like the idea that our local wineries produce a wide variety of superb wines.  The Flying Leapers will soon break ground in Elgin on a distillery.  That is the new frontier in Arizona, distilled spirits.  We are returning to our roots, and in a very tasty way.  If you are in Tucson and want to sample wine from Arizona I encourage you to drop by the Flying Leap and take a leap into flavor town.

Grapefruit Magic

July 3, 2014 — 3 Comments

Citrus pardisii

Citrus pardisii

My grapefruit tree is healthy and bears very well for months each winter. We enjoy fresh juice daily from January until about the end of March.  The intoxicating aroma of the blossoms fills the air for about a month in March.  The plant is ruled by the sun, like all citrus fruits. It has zingy, cooling and cleansing properties that are prized by health lovers.  The fruit and the juice are delightful, but the essential oil of grapefruit has very useful qualities.  Buy pure unadulterated oil and store it in the dark because it oxidizes quickly, therefore has  short shelf life.  Using it with a carrier oil, like jojoba, it can be very helpful to warm up and boost circulation.  The benefits of using grapefruit in a massage oil include:

  • ease join pain by stimulating muscles and joints
  • treat congested skin disorders like clogged pores and oily skin
  • diminish water retention and cellulite in specific areas

To use the oil for aromatherapy delivered by inhalation you can use a diffuser or use a few drops straight up on a handkerchief.  The subtle and immediate effects of the inhalation include:

  • headache relief
  • calm nervous tension and stress
  • uplifts the mood in depressing situations

I never get tired of the smell and the flavor of grapefruit.  It makes me happy and nourishes me.  Cocktails made with grapefruit juice are very high on my favorites list as well.  What is your favorite way to experience grapefruit?

Body Image and Wellness

July 2, 2014 — 1 Comment

Being Blonde

Being Blonde

Our bodies serve us as the vehicle with which and for which we live our lives.  If we are strong, flexible, ambidextrous, and well coordinated we are likely to feel good and be healthy.  Improving diet and exercise habits can bring about changes in attitude and vice versa.  The key to being the best body you can be for your whole life is unconditional gratitude for the body you have now.  You may train to become more graceful, more balanced, or more relaxed, but you must work with what you have.  Start by loving your skin and everything inside of it.  An understanding of basic anatomy is helpful in cultivating well-being.  Learning about customs of folk medicine, healing techniques, or diets of foreign cultures can expand the options for self care.  Knowledge and understanding are not the key ingredients in radiant health.  Acceptance and love for all the ways your body serves you are the foundation on which strong healthy lives are created.  What are the different aspects of our physical realm?

  • Thinking me and all the thoughts that I think
  • Feeling me and all the emotions I feel
  • Remembering me and all the memories I recall
  • Sensory me and all the sensations I experience

The body contains all these different ways of sensing life.  Poise, grace, and fitness result from practice.  Practice requires focus of  mind and body to achieve results.  To refine our movements as well as our thoughts we need training.  Staying fit and flexible may be the best way to avoid injury.  Feeling healthy does uplift the emotions and add to self confidence.  Self image is a strong determining factor in the way health is pursued.  To clean up and clear up some possible issues from the past answer for yourself these questions:

  • What message did my mother give me about my body?
  • What message did my father give me abut my body?
  • How did my friends and schoolmates form my body image?
  • What does my lover tell or show me about my body?
  • How do publications and popular culture influence my feelings about my body?
  • Do I compare myself to others in terms of physical beauty?
  • What physical ideal do I wish to have without making any effort ?
  • How delusional are my thoughts and feelings about my body?

If you reflect well on these questions and your honest answers to them you may reach some enlightenment.  Your thinking, feeling, remembering, and sensing selves can invest in better habits when they are grounded in a healthy self image.  First do no harm to your own idea of your body.  From there it is possible to heal misguided thoughts about wellness and self care.  We deserve the best we can give our bodies for as long as we are in them.  Clearing away false judgements from the past makes way for positive changes.

Plants, Planets, and Medicine

July 1, 2014 — 1 Comment

Planting by the moon is a simple way to increase your luck at growing anything.  By planting annuals bearing fruit above the ground during the waxing phase of the moon ( new to full), and sewing plants that bear under the ground during the waning moon ( full to new) we follow ancient traditions of horticulture.  To easily determine in what phase of the moon you find yourself, remember this rule:  Crescent moon makes the shape of the letter C when the moon is on the wane.  The moon has the shape of a capital D when it is on the rise.  Think DOC–first D– then full moon–then C to remember the sequence.

Medicine was tightly constrained by local botany in history, limited to plants available and known.    The natures of the plants were studied and knowledge of remedies was shared.   However, before transport of goods became easy people used local plants as medicine because they had both access and some empirical evidence of the medicinal qualities.  Astrology was part of pharmacology and medicine. Gardens and buildings were designed with healing and astrology in mind. Today there are ways to incorporate the heavens into garden design.  The medicine wheel is one way to express the seasons and the heavenly connections.  At Plimouth Plantation in Plymouth, MA a humoural garden is planted to display the relationship the Pilgrims had with plants and healing.  They considered the relationship of the plants to the humors of the body.  They had to rely on the plants they brought with them and those that the native people showed them.

Some gardens are designed to feature the four directions, or the elements.  If you had unlimited time and money to create a symbolic garden what would you plant in it?  What kind of medicine would you practice?  I am fond of all the aromatic plants, so I have a vast array  of herbs and flowers that can be used in tea, baths, cooking, and now in bitters.  The creativity you invest in a garden returns to you many times.

 

The Rebel Archetype and Trauma

June 30, 2014 — 7 Comments

Authority issues plague many of us.  I am highly suspicious of all authority.  There are a few instances that make the exception to the rule, but generally I think that power is a reason to investigate the motives of someone.  My own upbringing has a lot to do with the issues I have today, since I grew up with quite a bit of sexism and some rigid nonsensical rules.  There was violent insistence on the rules and on the concept that we were a happy family.  I don’t think my parents were very happy, and I know I wasn’t pleased with my living conditions during childhood. This social mask imposed to hide the true situation included a strong dress code and many other elements designed to display  perfection.   I always felt repressed and restrained in various ways.  When I was out of my parents’ world I never sought out any status symbols or social signs of belonging.  I preferred to be a pleasure-seeking liberated person without the need for social approval.  I respected no authority figures of any kind.  As I look at it today I see an extreme reaction to rules and regulations, as well as to many institutions.

Trauma lives on in the feelings, thoughts, senses, and memories of everyone.  It would be impossible to go through life without any shocking disruptive events.  The way we process them depends on our circumstances at the time.  If trauma is induced by  parent or someone we must depend on for survival we may disassociate from reality in order to survive.  Later the trauma continues in the body and the emotions if the appropriate anger is not found and processed for the serious betrayals of the past.  Forgiveness is a part of the healing process, but it is not healthy to forgive without recognizing the wrongs and the disrespect we endured in childhood and early adulthood.  Our personalities are mostly formed by the time we are 30, although we can have transformative events after that time also.  If you draw a timeline of your life and include all the major emotional and physical traumas you have experienced you notice how your current reactive self was formed.  We continue to react to the unresolved past, often by rebelling.  To heal the trauma and stop the need to react we need to return to the times of greatest stress and damage, acknowledge the ways we were hurt, and come to the rescue of the helpless victim in the story, ourselves.  Notice this situation may have been reconstructed a hundred different ways in life.  To clean the slate and transform that trauma into understanding we need to look at the truth and take it into our consciousness.  To stop repeating patterns that we continue out of reaction to the past we must examine the source and resolve to treat ourselves with confidence and love.  We must rebel against unfair and unjust treatment both now and in the past in order to free ourselves from the damage it does.

Lemon Verbena, Aloysia Triphylla

June 29, 2014 — 2 Comments

My favorite herb in the garden is lemon verbena. I like to make tea with it all the time, but there are many other uses for this luscious herb.  As a bath herb it brightens and refreshes the body and mind.  The fragrance is used extensively in perfumery for the lemony zest it adds.  In cooking it creates a lemon taste with no bitterness or aftertaste.  It can be added to baked goods, salad dressings, drinks, sauces, and fruit salads to brighten a dish.  Simple syrup of lemon verbena is useful for many drink and popsicle recipes with or without alcohol. Mixed with citrus fruit it becomes a big flavor enhancer.  Rice pilaf, carrot cake, gazpacho, and other dishes can benefit from a pinch of this delicious herb. Store it in a glass jar in the dark to preserve freshness.

I love herbal bathing as retreat and meditative practice.  The first one I tried about 20 years ago was rosemary bath.  I brewed a strong tea of rosemary and added it to my bath.  This method works well, as does the brewing of the tea in the tub by running hot water over a sachet, allowing it to steep, then filling the tub.  When you choose the herbs and when you enter the water you can make the entire process a mindfulness experience.  Drinking tea made with the same herbs will enhance the aromatic sensory intake.  I am planning to take some baths this week with matching beverages and bath herbs.  If you have a favorite herb you can try this at home.  If the bath is taking place at the cocktail hour I think it is suitable to include the herb in a tasty concoction from the bar that aligns with the indented purposes.

  • To energize- bath of lemon verbena and roses-lemon verbena lemonade to sip in the tub
  • For abundance- bath of basil and mint-apricot shrub, fizzy water with mint to drink
  • For grounding and memory-bath of bay leaves, rue and rosemary-watermelon/rosemary water

These are ideas for you to design your very own aroma world to enliven your senses and change your mood.  There is an art to choosing herbs for the desired mood, but there are very few side effects that inhibit experimentation.  If you like an herb you can research it fully or simply determine that it is not toxic, then try it in a bath.  The effectiveness may surprise you.  When all the pores of your skin are soaking in the active ingredients the results are swift. Bringing to the mind’s eye the results you want to see is the strongest link that brings this practice into the meditational realm.  By creating sensory stimulation and awareness at once we step out of our normal situation and into synesthsia of our own design.  We use the aroma as an anchor for our meditation.  At the least you can enjoy smelling and feeling bit better from the herbal bath.  At the most it can be a rebirth and transformation.

Aroma in History

June 28, 2014 — 3 Comments

Basil Basil

There is a long history of perfumes and incense used in ceremony and in popular culture. The Ancient Egyptians used many fragrant oils in the embalming process. It is said that when King Tut’s tomb was opened 3000 years after it had been sealed the urns still gave off the fragrance of frankincense and other spices.  Ancient Greeks called all the aromatic products they used aromata.  Athletes were anointed with scented oils before competing, and bay leaves were burned at Delphi to induce trance in the priestesses who foretold the future.  The Romans raised the popularity and awareness of aromatherapy to new heights.  Scented oil massage was the ritual ending at the communal baths in Julius Caesar’s time.  Many Roman holidays involved great quantities of scented materials. Rose petals were strewn before men of stature as they walked, and perfume was sprayed on spectators at games.  In China the herbal tradition is rich and deep, and it includes the use of oils extracted from plants.  They believed that the extraction of the oil liberated the soul of the plant.

Artemisia vulgaris is used in Chinese medicine for moxibustion.  In ancient China some people could afford a special room for childbirth. It was called the Artemisia room because the plant was burned during labor to attract kind spirits to the mother and child.  The first uses of romantic plants in Chinese healing practices date back to about 2000 BC in The Yellow Emperor’s Book of Chinese Medicine.  In Japan  incense and the formal art of burning it is taken seriously and used in religion.  Special schools, still in existence today, teach the art of Kodo, or perfumery.

Druids burned incense for ceremonial rites, and the Celtic people continued the use.  Juniper was used frequently to banish spirits for healing or magic.   In Britain monasteries grew medicinal herbs and shared knowledge of plants with other monks.  The Crusades brought new plants and remedies traveling back from the Holy Land with the Knights Templar and others.  The plague was a time when aromatic plants were used in amulets and strewn to deter fleas, the carriers of the dread disease.  The Renaissance brought even wider use of  perfumery and aromatic oils in healing.

Today we have many products and options available to us.  The availability of pure essential oils is much more widely enjoyed than it was 10 years ago.  Products for skin and hair that contain pure oils also abound.  Bath sachets, herbal teas, and hair rinses are easy water based ways to absorb botanicals through the skin.  Using oils can be simple too.  Simply place a few drops on a cotton ball or piece of cloth and take a whiff.  Here are a couple of common and inexpensive oils to try:

  • Basil (Ocimum basilicum)  is uplifting and reviving.  It has antidepressant and antiseptic qualities.  Use when you need to focus, or to relive headache or flu symptoms. It is contraindicated for continual use, as it can then sometimes act as a depressant.  For occasional nervous tension or digestive problems basil has been shown effective.
  • Peppermint (Mentha peperita) is popular and easy to find.  It has antiseptic and cooling properties that make it perfect for using on the feet.  The oil is effective in treating a number of digestive problems, and when used in a steam inhaler can ease asthma and bronchial issues.  Travel sickness can sometimes be relieved with a few drops on a hanky used as an inhaler.  It is a stimulant so it wakes up the brain enhancing alertness and ability to concentrate.