Essential oils

The use of essential oils goes back approximately 7000 years. The ancient Egyptians used essential oils for embalming, medicine and in cosmetic purposes. Traditional Chinese medicine began to incorporate the use of aromatic herbs and essential oils into medicinal practices around 3000–2000 BCE. Documentation of this practice can be found in the Yellow Emperor’s Book of Internal Medicine which is dated back to 2697BCE.Rig Veda (circa 3000-2500 BCE) contains information about aromatic oils being used as medicine. use of aromatics and essential oils is a cornerstone of Ayurvedic medicine. Archaeological evidence of primitive distillation in the Indus Valley dating back to around 3000 BCE. In the Greek tradition of medicine both Hippocrates (c. 460–377 BC) and Dioscorides (c. 40–90 AD) used aromatic plant extracts, often considered early forms of essential oils. Dioscorides documented many aromatic remedies in his *Materia Medica*, which is a foundational text for herbal medicine. Roman culture used aromatic oils in bathing for health and beauty. The bible sites the use of frankincense, myrrh as gifts to Mary. These 2 aromatic oils were used in the birthing process at the time. During the plague in Europe aromatic oils were used. In modern times science has discovered many constituents of the plants essential oils come from. we now have a much clearer idea what plants are good for what illness and why. Arab alchemist Avicenna created a distillation apparatus that make essential oils simpler to create. 

The easiest method of making an essential oil is by steeping the plant material in jojoba oil or any other carrier oil. 

During the summer you can put the Mason jar in the window but in the winter, you may want to place it in a 

pan of warmish water to speed the process a bit. What you need is: 

1-pint sized Mason jar 

1/2 pint of carrier oil (jojoba oil) 

Muslin or cheese cloth  

Dark glass bottle with tight fitting lid. 

Plant material you want to make the essential oil from for this we will use lavender. 

Note: you need to buy quite a bit of lavender because the process is repeated 3 times.   

Instructions on To Make Essential Oils:  Pour the oil into the Mason jar then fill the rest of the jar with the lavender. 

Tightly cover it and put in the windowsill for 48 hours. Be sure to shake it every 12 hours or so to mix the stuff. 

Open the jar and place a piece of muslin or cheese cloth over the opening and let it drain into a non-reactive bowl. 

Allow the oil-soaked lavender to fall into the muslin and squeeze out as much oil as you can. Put the oil back to the 

jar and add fresh material and repeat this process 2 more times. If the weather is gray and rainy or cold place the jar 

in a hot water bath in a slow cooker on low for 10 minutes every 24 hours. It will help speed the process. 

After the final straining, you can put the oil into a dark glass bottled. Health food stores carry these. 

The shelf life for your essential oil is 6 - 12 months if kept in a dry, dark, cool place.