When people first encounter aromatherapy, they often find themselves wondering how to use the oils they adore so much. It’s one thing to smell rose absolute from the container, but we don’t buy essential oils to let them sit in their beautiful cobalt bottles. We want to use them! And as anyone who has fallen in love with an essential oil knows, we want them around us all of the time. One way to achieve this is to venture into making your own aromatherapy sprays. It’s easy, inexpensive and can be a way for the whole family to enjoy the therapeutic effects of essential oils.

How many times have you encountered a commercial room spray that made your head spin? Often, the fragrances used in these products are synthetic and leave us feeling overwhelmed rather than refreshed. Therapeutic-grade essential oils are all plant-derived, and if we find oils we like, our experience of a room spray changes dramatically. Instead of simply acting as a mask for unpleasant odors, an aromatherapy spray changes the atmosphere of a room, providing us with immediate physical and psychological benefits.

Aromatherapy sprays are a combination of pure essential oil and water, and in some instances, witch hazel. For supplies all you’ll need are spray bottles, spring water and essential oils. Because essential oils don’t like to be exposed to too much light, it’s best to pick cobalt blue, amber or some other dark-colored glass bottle for storage. When filling with water, try to use purified water to reduce the possibility of chemical contaminants, which might taint the scent of your spray or diminish the medicinal qualities of the oils. Finally, if you intend to keep your sprays for longer than two months, consider putting a small amount of witch hazel in the mix. Witch hazel is an extract from the North American shrub Hamamelis virginiana, and it is an excellent natural preservative when used with essential oils. Finally, you’re on to the fun part – the essential oils!

With so many aromatic oils to choose from, you can create an endless variety of sprays for your home, office or car. When considering which oils to buy, always seek the highest quality you can find. You will need to use less oil, and the healing benefits of the oil will increase exponentially if you choose a superior oil. Therapeutic-grade oils satisfy our senses in ways inferior oils simply cannot. Excellent oils make the mind feel bright and provide instantaneous changes in the body. This is because the body/mind connection is immediately felt with aromatic oils. That’s why we want to make the most of the oils we have and choose the best we can afford.

Any essential oil can be turned into a spray, but some are even better than others. The citrus oils, like mandarin, grapefruit, lemon, lime and tangerine, make great misters. Citrus oils give your environment an instant facelift, turning a tired room into a bright sanctuary. These pleasing oils can be mixed with sharp-smelling oils like eucalyptus, rosemary verbenone, myrtle or peppermint for a balanced blend. Just remember, citrus oils can cause skin reactions if they are exposed to sun, so keep these blends indoors.

Another popular group of oils for room sprays is the coniferous plants and trees. Juniper berry, balsam fir, spruce, black spruce, cedar and sandalwood are excellent choices for infusing a space with grounding aromas. These essential oils are simultaneously calming and uplifting, and they are especially pleasant during the winter months, when access to the outdoors is limited. Unlike fruit and flower scents, pines and woods imbue our environments with a subtle scent that, like incense, warms the space without overpowering our senses.

Next, blending. First, fill your bottle most of the way with water. If witch hazel is needed, blend it in a 4 to 1 ratio. For one ounce of liquid, put in 4 to 16 drops of oil. Since the water and oil won’t naturally blend, you must shake the mixture whenever you use it. All essential oils can be made into misters, yet some oils are denser that others (like vetiver) and need to be shaken vigorously prior to spraying.

When blending your own scents, start with a few drops and increase in number to make sure you like the mix. Just remember that strong oils, like peppermint, black pepper or cinnamon, are more intense once atomized. Only use a few drops of oil, and you should run no risk of irritating your nose, eyes or throat. Also, it’s usually a good idea to avoid essential oils that have been mixed with carrier oils. These mixtures may clog your spray bottle, as carrier oils do not evaporate the way volatile oils do.

Blending aromatherapy room sprays is an easy, enjoyable way to introduce children to the benefits of plant medicine as well. There are, however, a few guidelines to remember when creating sprays for children. For example, always go for less oil in a spray intended for children than you would for an adult. Soft oils like sandalwood, lavender, rose and Roman chamomile are nice for children, as are rosalina, lemon tea tree and vanilla. In fact, vanilla is one of the most calming oils in aromatherapy. If a peaceful night’s sleep is what your child needs (or what you need, for that matter!) 2 drops of Roman chamomile and 2 drops of lavender in one ounce of carrier water will help. Just spray this in the child’s room. Only remember, essential oils should NEVER be misted in a child’s face.

Don’t forget that these sprays can also be adapted for use as natural perfume or deodorant. Simply choose oils that are non-irritating to the skin and mix in the same way you would a room spray. A few beautiful oils to consider: jasmine, rose, sandalwood, vetiver or neroli all make wonderful personal sprays. Just avoid spraying near the eyes or face. Also, any oil you’re using for healing purposes can be diluted in a water/witch hazel mixture and applied as needed throughout the day. If you want your scents on the go, pocket- and purse-size misters are a great way to freshen up, calm down or revive in the middle of the day.

Essential oils are extremely versatile. Once you find a group of oils you love, don’t be afraid to try your hand at making your own blends or creating your own unique applications. After all, nature is a banquet of scents! Room and body sprays are an easy way to make your oils last a long time, and they can be created with any combination of oils you can imagine. The investment is low, they take virtually minutes to concoct, and you can use a different spray in every room of the house. For those of us who cannot imagine life without aromatherapy, sprays ensure we always have a mist of our beloved healing scents close by. Spray and enjoy!

Humankind has valued aromatic oils for their healing qualities since the dawn of civilization. These dense, rare substances have been a critical part of medicine and spiritual worship in many cultures across the world. Because creating essential oils necessitates having a large amount of plant material, the final product has always been extremely valuable. In no other body of work is this more visible than in the Old and New Testaments. In the Bible, aromatic oils signified devotion, wealth, medicine and humility. Whether looking at the use of cinnamon to anoint sacred objects used in worship, to the three kings offering Jesus gifts of frankincense and myrrh, oils have had a special niche in Jewish and Christian cultures for centuries.

The distillation process for essential oils is a relatively new phenomenon that requires a still and a large amount of water to steam out the essential oils. Most likely, the oils we read about in the Bible were infusions of plant material into other more common oils. This, however, does not reduce their potency or their cultural and historical significance. Frankincense, myrrh and the other oils of the Bible were held in high esteem and difficult to obtain. Regardless of their distillation process, creating an aromatic oil has always been a labor-intensive project.

We find about twelve essential oil plants listed in the Bible: juniper, myrtle, spikenard, frankincense, myrrh, galbanum, cinnamon, cedar, cedar and sandalwood, hyssop and cypress. One part of the puzzle that is unclear to modern scholars is whether all these plants were used as essential oils or if they were herbal plant remedies. Regardless, the Bible certainly makes reference to the Jews and Christians using these plants for anointing and also for medicine. There are varying interpretations of how many healing plants mentioned in the Bible were used for medicinal or sacred purposes. However, contemporary aromatherapy still recognizes these oils as important ingredients in the essential oil repertoire, and it is clear humankind has valued these plants for thousands of years.

The aromatic plants of the Bible reflect the dryness of the Middle East. These plants can survive harsh climates and little rainfall. Fortunately for humankind, this unforgiving environment has given birth to many of aromatherapy’s most well-loved plants. The oils of the Bible come from a variety of plants, most of which are hardy, desert-dwellers. Cinnamon is a bark from an aromatic tree that curls once it is removed and dried. Sandalwood, cedar, cypress and juniper are also all trees or shrubs found in the Mediterranean region. Historically, they were used for wood as well as medicine, aromatherapy and incense. Frankincense, myrrh and galbanum are resins derived from the barks of trees. They are often burned directly, also used in incense and retain their aromatic qualities for a long period of time. Modern aromatherapy often uses frankincense and myrrh for their abilities to connect us to higher planes of awareness. The frequently mentioned hyssop is an aromatic plant with purple flowers that is widely cultivated for use in cooking and herbal medicine. Myrtle, a flowering short tree or shrub, is a common aromatherapy plant as well that grows wild in these dry climates. Finally, spikenard, also called nard in the Bible, is a plant that is native to the Himalayan region of Asia. It was imported to the Middle East and used as an expensive perfume.

When searching for Biblical references to medicinal plants, the Old Testament is the place to begin. Myrrh, one of the first oils to be referenced, can be found in Exodus 30:23-29. After wandering in the desert after their escape from Egypt, the Israelites, led by Moses, were asked by God to have an anointing oil made for the ritualistic objects in the Tabernacle in the Wilderness. This portable altar was carried as the Israelites roamed for forty years in the desert. The oil, which was made from olive oil, cinnamon, cane and myrrh, was used to transform the ritual implements into sacred instruments. The process of anointing both humans and objects can be found throughout the Bible as an act of faith and worship.

Jesus’s life history has a number of instances when essential oils were conferred on him as acts of faith and appreciation. The book of Matthew tells of the kings from the East that came to offer Jesus gifts at his birth, notably frankincense and myrrh. As we already learned, these two resins are often used in modern times to assist in spiritual work. Jesus also received gifts of spikenard from two women. The first woman cracked a jar of spikenard and poured it above Jesus’s head. The second gift-giver, Mary Magdalene, used her life savings of the same plant oil to anoint his feet. Using her hair, she then massaged the oil into his skin. These acts of faith and gratitude were seen as humble sacrifices as spikenard was a particularly expensive oil to obtain.

The oils found in the Old and New Testaments are still important substances in contemporary aromatherapy. We use them to access meditative states and to heal the body of physical ailments. Because of the Biblical reverence for these beautiful plant medicines, these oils have retained their cultural value and continue to be cherished across the world. Aromatherapy is a fairly new natural science, but the medicines we revere are ancient. Through studying how these essences were used in past generations, we enhance our understanding of the intricate relationship between spirituality, human life and the natural world.

Humans have treasured essential oils for their medicinal and sensory properties for thousands of years. As concentrated, precious substances, the oils and resins from aromatic plants have played important roles in healing therapies and religious worship across the globe. The effort required to reduce large masses of plant matter into oils made these liquids extremely special commodities in early civilizations. Nowhere in literature is this more apparent than in the Bible. In both the Old and New Testaments, essential oils were prized as symbols of wealth, healing, generosity and faith. From the use of cedarwood and hyssop for physical healing in the book of Leviticus, to Mary of Bethany anointing of Jesus’s feet with her life savings of spikenard in the book of John, essential oils played, and continue to play, an important role in the spiritual lives of Jews and Christians.

Steam distilling essential oils is a modern process that necessitates sophisticated technology and access to large amounts of water, two things that were unavailable in Biblical times in the Middle East. The oils we read about in the Bible were probably herbal infusions, where an aromatic plant is soaked for a long time in a more abundant oil, such as olive oil. While the exact substances may differ between what we use today and what was available 2,000 years ago, these oils still held the same cultural importance we attribute to medicinal oils. Spikenard, cassia and the other herbs mentioned in the texts were valued because of their inherent healing qualities and because they were hard to find. No matter how these oils were created, obtaining essential oils was not an easy endeavor.

We find about twelve essential oil plants listed in the Bible: juniper, myrtle, spikenard, frankincense, myrrh, galbanum, cinnamon, cedar, cedar and sandalwood, hyssop and cypress. One part of the puzzle that is unclear to modern scholars is whether all these plants were used as essential oils or if they were herbal plant remedies. Regardless, the Bible certainly makes reference to the Jews and Christians using these plants for anointing and also for medicine. There are varying interpretations of how many healing plants mentioned in the Bible were used for medicinal or sacred purposes. However, contemporary aromatherapy still recognizes these oils as important ingredients in the essential oil repertoire, and it is clear humankind has valued these plants for thousands of years.

The plants found in the Bible thrive in a dry, desert climate with limited rainfall. This sparse landscape has provided some of our most revered essential oils. The essential oils of the Old and New Testaments are derived from a number of plants, ranging from barks to flowers and berries. Cinnamon, also known as cassia, is a pungent-smelling tree bark that rolls on itself when it is desiccated. Other trees, like cedar, juniper, cypress and aloes (sandalwood), were used for wood as well as healing and religious ritual. Another beloved aromatherapy plant that grew well in the Mediterranean was myrtle, a flowering shrub. The resins – galbanum, myrrh and frankincense- also came from trees. The sticky masses were included in incense and frequently lit directly for use in rituals. These valuable substances were prized for their heavy aromas and their ability to keep for many years. Just like in Biblical times, frankincense and myrrh are still employed in instances when heightened states of spiritual awareness are desired. At last, spikenard, sometimes seen as nard, is an herb found in Asia. Treasured for its unique scent, spikenard was brought to the Mediterranean and used in perfumery.

When searching for Biblical references to medicinal plants, the Old Testament is the place to begin. Myrrh, one of the first oils to be referenced, can be found in Exodus 30:23-29. After wandering in the desert after their escape from Egypt, the Israelites, led by Moses, were asked by God to have an anointing oil made for the ritualistic objects in the Tabernacle in the Wilderness. This portable altar was carried as the Israelites roamed for forty years in the desert. The oil, which was made from olive oil, cinnamon, cane and myrrh, was used to transform the ritual implements into sacred instruments. The process of anointing both humans and objects can be found throughout the Bible as an act of faith and worship.

Jesus’s life history has a number of instances when essential oils were conferred on him as acts of faith and appreciation. The book of Matthew tells of the kings from the East that came to offer Jesus gifts at his birth, notably frankincense and myrrh. As we already learned, these two resins are often used in modern times to assist in spiritual work. Jesus also received gifts of spikenard from two women. The first woman cracked a jar of spikenard and poured it above Jesus’s head. The second gift-giver, Mary Magdalene, used her life savings of the same plant oil to anoint his feet. Using her hair, she then massaged the oil into his skin. These acts of faith and gratitude were seen as humble sacrifices as spikenard was a particularly expensive oil to obtain.

Today, the oils of the Bible are frequently used in aromatherapy for healing physical ailments, connecting with spiritual or meditative states and even as offerings in religious contexts. Many of these oils have been used in unison, such as frankincense and myrrh, for thousands of years. Their widespread cultivation and our appreciation for their medicinal qualities have traversed the globe as Jews and Christians have continued to respect and use these rare oils. While aromatherapy as it is practiced today is a relatively new field of medicine, the use of medicinal oils is actually as old as civilization itself. By learning how these plants were used during Biblical times, we can connect to traditions that have recognized the relationship between humankind, the plant world and spiritual awakening.