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Lavender: The Purple Peace Giver

© Elizabeth Peddy

I was taking a walk with my niece the other day and we were talking about lavender. It seemed to be growing all around us. I told her I was thinking of writing a bit about the purple peace giver. She then asked me what was it that made lavender good? You see, her school was having a Renaissance Faire and one of the booths would be selling lavender eye pillows, knowing it was something that was done in that period. She didn't quite know why they used lavender. Well, this one's for you, my dear niece!

Lavender has been around for ages since it was first seen growing on the hillsides of ancient Greece. A lot of literature talks about its use in bath water and for scenting laundry. It's long been used in fragrances, soaps, and potpourri. There's even some that say that certain woman used to use it to "advertise" the particular profession they were in. We're not going to go there though.

Folk legend has a abundance of tales that tell of it's use in varies superstitions and beliefs. One such belief is that if you take some lavender, put it under your pillow and make a wish. When you go off to sleep if you dream about your wish in some form your wish should come true. Of course if you don't dream about your wish you're out of luck.

Stepping away from its colorful history - let's move on to some of it's other qualities.

Lavender in recent studies has been shown to relieve stress, sleeplessness and headaches. People are starting to find that its fragrant aroma has an amazing calming effect. A few drops of the oil, or if your willing, sprinkling some of the flowers into your tub while bathing really seems to wash a lot of the day away. The fragrance seems to linger as well so you are constantly reminded of the peacefulness even when it comes time to sleep. You can even benefit from simple bouquet of the flower by your bedside or even a candle infused with lavender oil. It's also being used to combat stress related headaches. Aside from just breathing in the aroma you can take a bit of the oil and rub it into your temples. The act of massaging along with the aroma helps relieve the tension that can settle in.

In tea form it can have some of the stress and headache relieving effects. Some people even find that it assists in combating congestion and coughs. The dried flower of the plant is what's used for the tea. You can grow your own lavender for this purpose (it's a beautiful ground cover) or you can purchase it in health food stores.

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