IMPORTANT NOTE: The information in this newsletter is not meant to diagnose, prescribe, or substitute for professional medical assistance. It is provided as information only for your better understanding of holistic health. In case of medical need, please consult an appropriate licensed professional.

In some cases, a person can react to a perfectly pure therapeutic grade essential oil as if it were an allergen or a toxin, but in reality the response is neither an allergy nor a detox. It is something else.

Another kind of sensitivity to essential oils has to do with emotions. Such as, in cases of extreme unresolved grief, which can be due to the loss of a loved one or other circumstances, one can become sensitive to anything, even the most harmless of things. In extreme cases, people can become universal responders, reacting to almost everything in what appears to be an allergic reaction. This malady is sometimes referred to as "Extreme Chemical Sensitivity" (ECS) or "Environmental Illness" (EI). In such cases, some people have been known to react in an allergy-like fashion to even the purest of essential oils. However, healing from such an illness does not come by treating it as an allergy, because it is not an allergy in the classical sense.

The basis of our immune system is in the marrow of the bones where the T-cells and other white corpuscles are formed. Allergies and other environmental or chemical sensitivities are due to malfunctions of the immune system at the level of the white corpuscles (leucocytes). Hence, this Bible verse is could be paraphrased or compared to a negative autoimmune response originating in the bones caused by an individual's rejection of the world around them stemming from something like extreme grief or a broken heart.

The solution to this spiritually rooted illness is to recognize the source of the grief, accept it, and deal with it. When that is done, the sensitivities disappear, usually within a few days and sometimes overnight. Inhalation of selected essential oils for emotional purposes can assist in revealing and releasing the buried feelings that underlie such a malady.

There is one other source of sensitivity that may be blamed on essential oils and that has to do with perfume and food grade oils. 

 Since only a few of these compounds contribute significantly to aroma and/or taste, when essential oils are used for fragrances or flavors, the only compounds that matter to commercial users are the ones that have smell or taste. In some cases, this involves only 2 or 3 compounds in an oil, and the manufacturers and users don't care if these compounds are natural or synthetic so long as the smell and taste are there and the cost is cheap.

Hence, fragrance and food grade oils are always incomplete in their composition, containing only part of the chemical profile of a complete therapeutic grade oil. Furthermore, they are usually adulterated with synthetic compounds or diluted with petrochemicals to increase their volume and profitability. One can have reactions to such oils, but these are not reactions to true essential oils. Such reactions are due to the adulterants in the oil. They are not caused by the natural essential oil components of the oil.

So there you have it. As to what you should do in a given situation where sensitivities are encountered, you will have to decide. If you want a more detailed discussion on essential oils, reactions to them, and allergies, please refer to the book written by Dr David Stewart: THE CHEMISTRY OF ESSENTIAL OILS MADE SIMPLE.

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A boy and his dog make a glorious pair:

No better friendship is found anywhere,

For they talk and they walk and they run and they play,

And they have their deep secrets for many a day;

And that boy has a comrade who thinks and who feels,

Who walks down the road with a dog at his heels.

He may go where he will and his dog will be there,

May revel in mud and his dog will not care;

Faithful he'll stay for the slightest command

And bark with delight at the touch of his hand;

Oh, he owns a treasure which nobody steals,

Who walks down the road with a dog at his heels.

No other can lure him away from his side;

He's proof against riches and station and pride;

Fine dress does not charm him, and flattery's breath

Is lost on the dog, for he's faithful to death;

He sees the great soul which the body conceals—

Oh, it's great to be young with a dog at your heels!

Edgar Guest

There are currently no workshops scheduled at the Lavender House for this summer. I would love to hear from you if have a request for a workshop for the next time availability opens up to have one!