Aromatherapy for Aphrodisiacs

Aromatic Aphrodisiacs

Lets be quite clear about this. There are no secret essential oils with magic qualities. There is nothing in the aroma shop which can be slipped into the lovers wine, sprinkled on sleeping eyelids or burned to perfume a boudoir, which will have the same level of effect as the princess kiss on the frog. Cures for unrequited love are not in the catalog. Physical impossibilities cannot be rendered possible. Youthful performance, if long gone, cannot be conjured up. However, if there is potential, we might be able to do something.

Experts agree that only one of the essential oils is an aphrodisiac, and that is ylang ylang. Some of the other oils are commended, if not unanimously juniper berry, rosemary and sandalwood, for example and others have romantic attributes which can be employed as part of a multi-tactic strategy.

Several of the other oils can be regarded in a similarly positive light to ylang ylang, for instance clary sage, ginger, and lemon. Others with general stimulant or soothing properties can be helpful in the right context.

Two oils with very firm reputations as encourager of romantic feelings are prohibitively expensive. The rich may be able to afford rose and jasmine, but the rest of us have ylang ylang at our disposal, and fortunately there is little difference as far as results are concerned.

If you must have rose, you can make the sacrifice seem less by buying it diluted and ready for use in a carrier oil. Alternatively, you can simulate the aroma if not the qualities of rose with a mixture of ylang ylang and clary sage.

Recipes for romantic blending are given below. Of course, you can create your own blends, and you can alter the balance of the blends given according to special circumstances.

Check on the other qualities of the oils as given below before you experiment too wildly.

Oils to drop hints with: a little subterfuge can go a long way, such as a drop of oil carefully placed where the desired one will surely find it. Give him or her a present, but make sure theres a scrap of cotton or tissue in the packing on which you have `accidentally tipped a minute quantity of oil.

Next time its the birthday of the object of desire, or Valentines Day, dont forget the aromatic clue inside the greetings card. Considering the price of cards, you might not want to use jasmine or rose, but geranium or ylang ylang should do the job just as well.

Oils for the right atmosphere: whether its just a drink or two in the sitting room or a lovingly prepared six-course meal, romantic inclinations can be identified and developed by a subtle atmosphere containing the most suitable aromas. A couple of bowls of potpourri might be inkling enough, or you might want to intimate rather more emphatically with a burner.

In either case, the oils to use include benzoin, patchouli and ylang ylang. Add one of the citrus oils such as grapefruit if some waking up needs to be done, or add sandalwood for a relaxing note.

Males with amorous intentions might add clary sage or black pepper. Females could try chamomile and palmarosa.

Should you be past the drinks and dinner stage and wanting simply to make sure that the bedroom is not only for sleeping, a good blend for the bedside potpourri uses palmarosa as the base say 10 drops with a couple of drops each of ylang ylang and clary sage. If you can get them, you might also add a similar amount of nutmeg and lime.

If you are exhausted by all this secret aromatic activity, feeling full after the six courses or tired and emotional after too many glasses of wine, you could consider a nice warm bath to get you back into the mood. Grapefruit, palmarosa and, again, ylang ylang suggest themselves.

Oils for close encounters: one school of thought says that it is the massage that has the effect. Romantic conclusions would, they say, inevitably follow the stroking and squeezing, even if you used a blend of virgin olive and tea tree. Such people are cynical in the extreme and do not deserve magic moments.

Massage, of course, is all part and parcel, but it is far, far better to use a blend of oils designed for the purpose. As with all massage, the right essential oils with it increase the effect beyond simple addition.

Make a blend of equal amounts of lemon and palmarosa, five drops each, plus a drop or two of ylang ylang. Alternatively, use tangerine as the base, with black pepper added to it.

Oils to fuel the drives: if the idea is not so much to catch and kiss, but to make the already-caught want to kiss again, the classic sex drive oils are clary sage, geranium and ylang ylang, or even rose otto, if you deem it worth the expense. How you use them is up to you.