True Essential Oils'?

[Guest guest]

Hey Sara,

 

> Hello AT folks, I'm onna fast forward learning curve, having recently

> rediscovered the wonderfullnesses of these amazing EO plant gifts.

> Right now I'm reading Gabriel Moray's _Aromatherapy for Healing the Spirit.

> He's speaking about the different ways that oils are created, & sez that

> products cannot be considered true eo's, unless they're made thru distilling

> or cold expression.

 

That's Gabriel Mojay's opinion but he is not an authority for making the

determination of what is or isn't an essential oil .. fact is, I don't

know who is. We have many opinions from many smart folks in the cottage

industry of AT .. some are scientists but they are not the authority

either. So again .. its Mojay's opinion and I think he is half right.

Or better stated .. I agree with half of what he says. ;-)

 

I don't consider an aromatic oil as an essential oil unless it is steam

distilled, hydrodistilled or hydrodiffused. I'm not going to consider a

cold pressed or expeller pressed oil as an essential oil until some

universal authority is established in the industry and folks must speak

the same language or be contrary to the authority and the norm of the

industry. There are no norms now .. its all opinion and in some cases

semantics.

 

> & that absolutes from solvent processes are not suitable for therapeutic

> purposes, cause they have small amts of toxic residue. I'm paraphrasing him

there.

 

I think you might have left out some of his thoughts. I don't agree

with Mojay on some things but I am certain he knows better than this.

And I'm surprised that he or anyone else would say such a thing. There

are a few reasons for this .. first, the fact that an Absolute has a bit

of solvent remaining in it might bother folks for a lotta reasons .. but

until its proven that an absolute has no therapeutic value because of

the solvent .. then its just another unproven opinion.

 

And .. Mojay knows that there are many levels of therapeutic gain to be

had from the molecules of an aromatic oil .. all are not physiological.

We must not loose sight of the reasons folks love essential oils. Even

if there were tests showing that solvents at x parts per million caused

an oil to have no therapeutic value from a physiological standpoint ..

that would not mean it was not therapeutic from a psychological and/or

emotional standpoint. We know that the smell of coffee brewing and

horse manure in the field can be therapeutic in that regard.

 

> I notice that a variety of folks say a variety of different 'truths' --

> not just in AT, but in many of life's arenas.

 

There are some truths .. some are scientific and some are empirical ..

others are marketing hype. ;-) True it is that this industry has more

opinions than some others .. but in scientific or regulated industries

or trades and such we must all follow the SOP and use the same truths

and the same language or be weird. Aromatherapy is none of the above.

 

> So I'm looking for some opinions here, as to what different ones of you

> experienced AT'rs might consider to be true therapeutic quality essential

oils?

 

It is LIKELY that even an adulterated essential oil has some therapeutic

value from a physiological standpoint .. and it is CERTAIN that it has

value from a psychological or emotional standpoint. If this were not

the case then all the folks who have been screaming about adulterated

oils in the industry would not have gained a thing from their use. We

can't have it both ways .. either they work or not and either there are

or there are not adulterated oils in the industry. For a fact there are

and some folks are using them .. and I believe folks who continue to use

EOs are getting benefits from them or they probably wouldn't continue to

buy them.

 

As for therapeutic grade or quality .. there exists no such grade in

this industry unless one wants to use the terms to fit their own needs

or desires .. as is the case with Young Living. I think the grades of

oils are Pure and Adulterated .. and amongst pure there is high quality

down to low quality .. quality being determined by whether or not the

profile of chemical constituents fits within the expected range.

 

I can't prove that my statement is true .. but it is logical. And

nobody can prove that my statement is not true. ;-)

 

> Are there some folks who won't use oils if they come from solvent processed

absolutes?

 

I'll give an opinion here but not reply much to the rest because I don't

do cosmetics nor do I use preservatives .. even in my hydrosols. As far

as hexane is concerned .. its very volatile and rarely do we find more

than 12-14 parts per million .. and its also used to make some of the

cooking oils folks use in the kitchen. And hexane is only used in the

first part of the process .. to produce the Concrete. Then the Concrete

is extracted using Ethanol (generally) and we might find anywhere from

2-5% ethanol remaining in the final product .. the Absolute.

 

Ethanol is good .. I drink it all the time .. its grain alcohol. ;-)

 

One comment on cosmetics and such .. there exists NO natural and SAFE

preservative. There just are none.

 

> Curious & learnin... Sara

 

Y'all keep smiling. :-) Butch http://www.AV-AT.com