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Aromatherapy from Two Viewpoints

© Marie A. Miczak

Here, we will be taking a look at two titles that both reflect all that Aromatherapy and Aromacology has to offer. One taking it from a light-hearted standpoint, the other from a "whole" botanical breakdown. After doing a search of Amazon.com, which claims to stock over 3 million titles, I found the number of Aromatherapy related/based titles to be astounding.

Aromatherapy in America is not only very popular among lay people but also big business to publishers who are mainly interested in sales and not so much the finished book. Germany and the UK also has a large number of titles on the subject. Due to the fact many publishers see Aromatherapy as a way to add sales revenue to their backlists, they run titles that are at times hastily written and do not contain very much usable information.

I have found that Amazon.com along with the other online booksellers such as Barnes & Noble and Borders can be used as a barometer as to the amount of quality information found in a title and what others views are of the book. There are so many titles out on the subject of Aromatherapy that many editors are no longer doing reviews of the titles anymore, which makes it hard on the consumer. I am sure we have all brought books that now sit and collect dust because the information found inside really wasn't that information or easily accessible. Two books that will not collect dust on a far away shelf are "Rituals for the Bath" by Kathy Corey and Lynne Blackman (Warner Treasures 1995) and "The Complete Medicinal Herbal" by Penelope Ody (DK 1993). These titles may not be brand new but they are still very informative and user friendly in the areas of Aromatherapy.

"Rituals for the Bath" may seem like an unworthy title to be reviewed for an Aromatherapy resource but in reality, it has very simple to understand tables and information for the beginner. One can be overwhelmed many times by the sheer number of essential oils to pick from, "Rituals of the Bath" clearly outline their uses and gives many easy to make recipes for use with essential oils. A small book of only 84 pages and around 34 recipes, it is lavishly photographed and contains 12 pages of charts for essential oils along with fragrance oils which can be very helpful for perfume blending. A very nice perfume concocted of essential oils and fragrance oils found in the book is called Moon Shadows and combines 10 drops each of Jasmine and Carnation along with 20 drops