Читать книгу The Element Encyclopedia of 1000 Spells: A Concise Reference Book for the Magical Arts - Judika Illes - Страница 31

Essential oils are not true oils, despite their name. They are volatile liquids extracted by various methods (usually, but not always, by steam distillation) from aromatic botanicals. Modern aromatherapy is the manipulation of these essential oils for therapeutic, cosmetic, magical, and spiritual purposes. The roots of aromatherapy stretch back to ancient China, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the Middle East. If you would like to access the power of a botanical, essential oils are the most concentrated form and as such have many magical uses. Once upon a time, essential oils were also referred to as chemical oils, especially in older grimoires. This relates not to their chemical constituents, which we are only now beginning to understand, but to their previous use in alchemy, the term being a corruption of alchemical oils.

Their potential physical impact upon you is as concentrated as their magical power:

 Never take essential oils internally without expert supervision

 Even when taken externally, they are used sparingly, drop by drop. Each drop packs a lot of power. More is rarely better

 Because their power is volatile and fleeting, when creating magical baths, potions, or oils, essential oils are usually the last ingredients added so as to maximize the intensity of their power and fragrance

 In general, essential oils are not appropriate for use during pregnancy, especially early pregnancy

 Because essential oils are so concentrated (and because some are profound skin irritants) they are usually diluted in true oils (usually referred to as “carrier oils”) before using

Fragrance is an extremely important component of magic, particularly in romantic spells and spirit-summoning spells. Each spirit has a characteristic aroma, which calls them and by which they may be identified. In ancient Egypt, this was one way that true spiritual visitation was determined: the deities signaled their presence through the sudden appearance of their characteristic fragrance. Vestiges of this belief survive in folkloric Christianity, where the devil is described as appearing amid the smell of brimstone. (Signature fragrance isn’t limited to the spirit realm alone. In the 1944 Ray Milland movie, The Uninvited, the ghost signals her presence via the scent of mimosa.) Fragrance, especially as transmitted by true botanicals, is the primary and most effective magical device for communicating between realms.

The human sense of smell remains the most mysterious of our senses. The olfactory system (the part of our brain that processes scent) is near what is known as the reptilian brain, the most ancient and least-understood part of the human brain. Scent is our primal sense, the one shared most closely with the animal and spirit realms. Magic is a primordial art; to truly master it, one must access these inherent primordial talents. The sense of smell may be the most concrete, accurate way we have of identifying and accessing heka, magic power. Essential oils are frequently the most concentrated, potent, and accessible way of accessing an individual plant’s heka, even though this very power means they must be handled with care.