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Riferimenti Storici e Riscoperta!
Per molti secoli gli oli essenziali furono usati per rituali religiosi, per il trattamento delle malattie e per altri bisogni fisici e spirituali. Probabilmente le persone dei tempi antichi avevano una migliore conoscenza degli oli essenziali rispetto a quella che abbiamo oggi.
Dati risalenti al 4500 a.C. descrivono l'uso delle sostanze balsamiche con proprietà aromatiche per rituali religiosi e applicazioni mediche.
Gli Egizi erano maestri nell’uso degli Oli Essenziali. Dati storici descrivono come uno dei fondatori della medicina “faraonica” era l’architetto Imhotep, che era il gran Visir del re Djoser (2780-2720 a.C.). Ad Imhotep vengono spesso attribuiti premi per aver inaugurato l’uso degli oli, delle erbe e delle piante aromatiche per scopi medici.
I geroglifici nei muri dei templi Egiziani raffigurano le miscele di oli e descrivono centinaia di ricette olistiche. Una stanza sarca nel Tempio di Isis nell’isola di Philae raffigura un rituale chiamato “Purificando la Carne e il Sangue delle Divinità Cattive”. Questa radura emotiva richiede tre giorni di pulizia con gli oli essenziali.
Un antico papiro trovato nel tempio di Edfu conteneva una formula medica e una ricetta per un profumo usata da alchimisti e sommi sacerdoti, una miscela di sostanze aromatiche usata per i rituali.
Gli Egizi potrebbero essere stati i primi a scoprire il potenziale della fragranza. Hanno creato varie miscele aromatiche sia per uso personale che per usocerimoniale nelle piramidi e nei templi.
Molto prima dei tempi di Cristo, gli antichi Egizi raccolsero gli oli essenziali e li misero in recipienti di alabastro. Questi recipienti erano appositamente scolpiti e modellati per contenere gli oli essenziali. Nel 1922, quando la tomba del re Tut è stata aperta, sono state scoperte 50 giare progettate per contenere 350 litri di olio. Anche se i ladri hanno rubato tutti i preziosi oli contenuti all’interno di questi recipienti, al loro interno vi erano ancora rimaste tracce di queste fantastiche sostanze. I ladri scelsero gli oli del re per venderli in cambio di oro, questo ci fa capire quanto fossero importanti per le civiltà antiche.
In 1817, the Ebers Papyrus, a medical scroll over 870 feet long, was discovered. Dating back to 1500 B.C., the scroll included over 800 different herbal prescriptions and remedies. Other scrolls described a high success rate in treating 81 different diseases. Many mixtures contained Myrrh and honey. Myrrh is still recognized for its ability to help with infections of the skin and throat and to regenerate skin tissue. Because of its effectiveness in preventing bacterial growth, Myrrh was used for embalming.
The physicians of Ionia, Attia, and Crete came to the cities of the Nile to increase their knowledge. At this time, the school of Cos was founded by Hippocrates (460 to 377 B.C.), whom the Greeks, with perhaps some exaggeration, named the “Father of Medicine”.
The Roman purified their temples and political buildings by diffusing essential oils. They also used aromatic in their steam baths to both invigorate the fresh and ward off disease.
Life Science Publishing (2016), "Essential Oils Desk Reference Special First Edition Hardcover".
Biblical References
There are over 200 references to aromatics, incense, and ointments throughout the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. Aromatics, such as Frankincense, Myrrh, Galbanum, Cinnamon, Cassia, Rosemary, Hyssop, and Spikenard were used for anointing and healing
the sick. In Exodus, the Lord gave the following recipe for Mosses for the holy anointing oil: five hundred shekels (about one gallon) of Myrrh, two hundred and fifty shekels of Cinnamon, two hundred and fifty shekels of Calamus, fife hundred shekels of Cassia and an hin (about 1 1/3 gallons) of Olive Oil.
The New Testament records that wise men presented the Christ child with Frankincense and Myrrh. There is another precious aromatic, Spikenard, described in the anointing of Jesus: “And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came woman having an alabaster box of ointment of Spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head” (Mark 14:3). The anointing of Jesus is also referred to in John 12:3: “Then took Mary a pound of ointment of Spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.”
The Bible also records an incident where an incense offering by Aaron stopped a plague. Numbers 16:46-50 records that Moses instructed Aaron to take a censer, add burning coals and incense, and to “go quickly into the congregation to make an atonement for them: for there is a wrath gone out from the Lord; the plague is begun.” The Bible records that Aaron stood between the dead and the living and the plague was stayed. It is significant to the biblical and Talmudic recipes for incense, three varieties of Cinnamon were involved. Cinnamon is known to be highly antimicrobial, anti-infectious, and antibacterial. The incense ingredient listed as “stacte” is believed to be a sweet, myrrh-related spice, which would make it anti-infectious and antiviral as well.
Life Science Publishing (2016), "Essential Oils Desk Reference Special First Edition Hardcover".
Other References
Napoleon is reported to have liked a cologne water made of Neroli and other ingredients so much that he ordered 162 bottles of it. After conquering Jerusalem, one of the things the Crusaders brought back to Europe was solidified essence of roses.
And the 12th century mystic, Hildegard of Bingen, used herbs and oils extensively in healing. This Benedictine nun founded her own convent and was the author of numerous works. Her book, Physica, has more than 200 chapters on plants and their uses for healing.
Life Science Publishing (2016), "Essential Oils Desk Reference Special First Edition Hardcover".
The Rediscovery
The reintroduction of essential oils into modern medicine first began during the late 19th and early 20th century.
During World War 1, the use of aromatic essences in civilian and military hospitals became widespread. One physician in France, Dr. Monciere, used essential oils extensively for
their antibacterial and wound-healing properties and developed several kinds of aromatic ointments.
Rene-Maurice Gattefosse, Ph.D.. a French cosmetic chemist, is widely regarded as the father of aromatherapy. He and a group of scientists began studying essential oils in 1907.
In his 1937 book, Aromatherapy, Dr. Gattefosse told the real story of his now-famous use of Lavender essential oil to heal a serious burn. The tale has assumed mythic proportions in essential oil literature. While the event did not start him on the road to essential oil research (he was already studying the oils), his own words about this accident are even more powerful than what has been told over the years.
Dr. Gattefosse was literally aflame – covered in burning substances – following a laboratory explosion in July, 1910. After he extinguished the flame by rolling on a grassy lawn, he wrote that “both my hands were covered with rapidly developing gas gangrene. Dr. Gattefosse said that “just one rinse with Lavender essence stopped the gasification of the tissue. This treatment was followed by profuse sweating and healing, which began the next day.”
Robert B. Tisserand, the editor of The International Journal of Aromatherapy, searched for Dr. Gattefosse book for 20 years. A copy was located and Tisserand edited the 1995 reprint. Tisserand noted that Dr. Gattefosse’s burns “must have been serve to lead to gas gangrene, a very serious infection. “
Dr. Gattefosse shared his studies with his colleague and friend, Jean Valnet, a medical doctor practising in Paris. Exhausting his supply of antibiotics as a physician in Tonkin, China, during World War !!, Dr Valnet began using therapeutic-grade essential oils on patients suffering battlefield injuries. To his surprise, they exerted a powerful effect in combating and counteracting infections. He was able to save the lives of many soldiers who might otherwise have died.
Two of Dr. Valnet’s students, Dr. Paul Belaiche and Dr. Jean Claude Lapraz, expanded his work. They clinically investigated the antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, and antiseptic properties in essential oils.
Because of the work of these doctors and scientists, the healing power of essential oils is again gaining prominence.
Life Science Publishing (2016), "Essential Oils Desk Reference Special First Edition Hardcover".
