Although our sense of smell affects us in fundamental ways, it often thwarts our efforts to describe it. Scent can conjure feelings that stir the depths of the soul. But because this ability is invisible, it seems both obscure and all the more powerful.

Scent can delight and repel, attract and repulse. It can evoke happy or melancholy memories, induce buying behavior, and signal sexual readiness. More recently, researchers are discovering that essential oils—the concentrated liquid essences of plants— can not only affect mood, but stimulate physical reactions as well. In other words, scent heals. How delightful to discover that something so luxurious for the soul also benefits the body.

Other than olfactory adventure—a superb reason in itself—why should you want to make your own perfume and aromatherapy products? There are several reasons. When you buy a commercial perfume, you pay for high advertising budgets and executive salaries. When you see how much a blend of alcohol, water, and the merest smidge of actual essential oils costs, you’ll understand that those dollars can purchase a lot more satisfaction when you blend your own fragrances.

In addition, scent preference is an extremely personal matter. Some people cannot tolerate the scent of rose or lavender, but may adore the smells of tea tree and thyme. There is no accounting for taste. Only you will ever know what scents you like best, and which ones inspire, relax, or invigorate you. And when you make your own scents, you can choose which elements to combine.

Perhaps the most compelling reason to make your own natural perfumes is to connect to nature, to be reminded of a world full of life-force, to be aflame with a desire to experience pleasure. Natural perfumes connect us at a soul level to the earth and to our own spirituality. They are a link between us and the greater cosmos. They tell us we are part of a greater whole, and still one with the flowers.

Adapted from Natural Perfumes by Mindy Green. Copyright ©1999, Mindy Green. Reprinted with permission of Interweave Press.

Aromatherapy Defined

Aromatherapy is the art of using essential oils for phy­sical and emotional healing. Essential oils are a very specific type of chemical—the concentrated, active com­ponents of plants, usually created by distilling particular plant parts. Essential oils don’t always smell the way the plants smell—in fact, sometimes these oils don’t smell very good at all by themselves.