There are many wonderful aromatherapy books available. Here are some of my favorites but keep checking back as I will be adding to this list regularly. If you would like me to add one of your favorite aromatherapy books to this list please fill in contact me.
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The Complete Book of Essential Oils and Aromatherapy – Valerie Ann Worwood
This has practical and easy-to-understand instructions for over 600 original recipes for health and healing, beauty, and recipes for around the home and garden. Unlike over-the-counter products, the recipes you make yourself contain no harmful preservatives. Most basic needs can be covered with just ten essential oils.
The Complete Book of Essential Oils and Aromatherapy includes complete charts of essential oils and their uses, a resource guide, and directions for aromassage.
Includes recipes for health and healing such as athlete’s foot, burns, blisters, diarrhea, chapped lips, bruises, coughs, colds, ear infections, sinusitis, toothache, flue and headache. For beauty recipes such as deodorizing body oils, body lotions and packs, astringents, “fat attack” essential oils, anti cellulite oils, anti-wrinkle cream, face masks and toners. Also includes recipes for around the home such as air fresheners, disinfectants, furniture polish, kitchen cleaner, dishwashing liquid, insect repellent, moth repellent, bathroom cleaner, and much more.
The Fragrant Mind – Valerie Ann Worwood
The Fragrant Mind explores the emotional, psychological, and mood-changing effects of essentials oils. Encyclopedic in scope, yet written in an easy, accessible style, The Fragrant Mind presents the latest scientific research about aroma’s effects on the mind, showing how these findings are increasingly entering the mainstream.
The author introduces her Aroma Genera system of personality types and advises readers on which oils and methods can prevent stress, depression, moodiness, and insomnia, and which can promote self-esteem, confidence, and well-being – all without synthetic drugs or chemicals.
The Directory of Essential Oils – Wanda Sellar
This is a directory of essential oils. All those in popular use and many unusual ones are included. Each oil is extensively categorized, containing entries such as a description of the aroma, history, mind, body, precautions, chemical constituents, properties, effect on skin, blends, etc.
With an extensive glossary and blending chart here is a ready reckoner no aromatherapist should be without.
The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Essential Oils: The Complete Guide to the Use of Oils in Aromatherapy and Herbalism – Julia Lawless
As the title suggests, this is a complete guide to the use of essential oils in aromatherapy and herbalism. There are over 160 essential oils profiled in this encyclopedia, a quick reference for common health complaints and a guide for using aromatherapy oils at home.
Aromatherapy for Women – Maggie Tisserand
This book shows how the unique properties of specific essential oils can be used to maintain healthy hair and skin, ease minor health complaints, and assist in treating more serious problems. Explaining how essential oils can be used to support the immune system naturally, the author shares her techniques to reduce stress, enhance well-being, and increase sensual satisfaction. She also gives advice on how to use aromatherapy during pregnancy and childbirth and includes a chapter on remedies for children’s illnesses.
The Art of Aromatherapy – Robert Tisserand
In The Art of Aromatherapy Robert Tisserand recounts the history and use of oils in cosmetics and perfumes from ancient Egyptian times to the present day. His comprehensive guide shows you how to use essential oils as a gentle, harmless, yet effective method of natural healing.
In The Art of Aromatherapy, twenty-nine essences are described in detail, with a list of their properties and applications. Tables of evaporation rate and odour intensity are provided along with a complete glossary of medical terms and a therapeutic index that lists more than one hundred illnesses and the essential oils used in treating them.
Tisserand details the important uses of essential oils in Swedish, shiatsu, and nero-muscular massage and discusses the curative and rejuvenating effects of aromatherapy on emotional tension, mental strain, and skin troubles. With its wealth of easy-to-make recipes for massage and medicinal oils, facial masks, ointments, and aromatic baths, The Art of Aromatherapy unlocks the hidden strength of flowers and herbs to restore radiant beauty and health.
Essential Oil Safety: A Guide for Health Care Professionals – Robert Tisserand and Rodney Young
The safe use of essential oils is of key importance in the practice of aromatherapy. Based on up-to-date findings, this practical, comprehensive guides gives:
- detailed profiles of 95 essential oils, including constituents, hazards, dosage, toxicity data and contraindications
- brief safety profiles of 311 essential oils and 135 essential oil components
- safety guidelines for practitioners, retailers and consumers
- details essential oil absorption, metabolism and excretion
- description of essential oil toxicity with regard to skin, mucous membrane, the central nervous system, and the major organs
- essential oils which may react adversely with certain drugs
- cautions and contraindications for the therapeutic use of essential oils by all methods of administration
- cases of poisoning from essential oil ingestion
- guidelines on the safe and appropriate administration of essential oils in pregnancy, cancer, epilepsy,heart disease and many other conditions
- extensive references throughout the text in addition to a separate reference section.
The Practice of Aromatherapy – Jean Valnet, Robert B. Tisserand
A classic compendium of plant medicines and their healing properties.
A medical doctor and practitioner of aromatherapy for more than 30 years, Jean Valnet is regarded as the father of essential oil therapy and one of it’s foremost authorities. In this classic manual, he provides detailed evidence for the efficacy of plant medicine – nature’s most time-honored method for treatment of illness and relief of pain.
Valnet’s thorough research, based on his long career of treating patients and observing the effects of plant essences on a wide range of conditions, bridges the gap between the ancient tradition of healing with herbs and the advances of modern medicine.
The Aromatherapy Workbook: Understanding Essential Oils from Plant to Bottle – Shirley Price
Going much further than many of the basic guides available today, this book has been written for those who wish to delve deeper into the world of aromatherapy. It includes:
- extraction methods for obtaining essential oils
- the nature of different carrier oils
- therapeutic oils versus perfume oils
- plant families and the therapeutic qualities of their essential oils
- the chemistry of essential oils
- the relationship between components of essential oils and their effects on the body
- how to use essential oils for health, pleasure and enjoyment
- safety of and contraindications for essential oils
Aromatherapy Scent and Psyche – Peter and Kate Damian
Aromatic oils have been used for thousands of years not only for their fragrance but for culinary, therapeutic, ritual, and spiritual purposes. Drawing on research, clinical studies and their own professional experiences, Peter and Kate Damian explore aromatherapy and reveal how it can be used to enhance almost every aspect of our lives from aromatic lavender massage and tea tree oil baths to the treatment of high blood pressure and depression with ylang ylang.
Making Aromatherapy Creams and Lotions: 101 Natural Formulas to Revitalize & Nourish Your Skin – Donna Maria
Create aromatherapy creams and lotions for radiant skin in five easy steps. Enter the world of aromatherapy creams and lotions and learn how easy it is to craft natural skin-care products that rival those found at the most exclusive department stores and salons. With a simple five-step method you can create personalized facial creams, body rubs, moisturizers, lip balms, and more with all-natural ingredients – including some of the world’s most exotic aromatic oils.
Free yourself from synthetic substances, experience the pleasure of homemade lotions, and preserve and protect your skin. Donna Maria reveals her secret formulas for creating light, nourishing creams that will revitalize your skin and promote a healthier, younger-looking complexion from head to toe!
Aromatherapy, recipes for your oil burner – Judy Chapman
This beautiful and practical book contains over 300 recipes for your aromatherapy oil burner, one for every mood and occasion. There is also a glossary of oils and a guide to beginning aromatherapy.
More Aromatherapy Recipes from Around the World – Judy Chapman
Another beautiful book of aromatherapy recipes inspired by different locations around the world. With stunning photographs throughout, this new book features brand-new recipes which celebrate those differences; from a Cuban hideaway to the Greek Islands, the deserts of Africa and the Australian rainforest.
Spa: Bathing Blends for Your Home – Judy Chapman
This lush and beautifully presented book comes from the author of the two Aromatherapy Recipe titles that aim to soothe the body, mind and spirit. In Spa, Chapman turns her attention to the healing powers of water and its ability to rejuvenate even the most weary and ragged soul.
Releasing Aphrodite: Aromatic Aphrodisiacs for Love and Romance – Elisabeth Millar
Filled with exciting new ways to improve relationships and keep alive the spark of love and romance, Releasing Aphrodite shows readers how to use the mood-altering fragrances of essential oils as aphrodisiacs. Sure to be enjoyed by couples everywhere!
Create Your Own Aromatherapy Perfumes: Enchanting Blends for Body and Home – Chrissie Wildwood
This book will enables you to blend essential oils imaginatively and with confidence. Chrissie Wildwood provides her own special recipes for skin perfumes, aphrodisiac blends, aftershaves and aromatic waters, and encourages you to create your own. She also gives ideas for making beautiful room scents using aromatherapy oils, so that you can create an enchanted atmosphere for a special room.
Aromatherapy in Your Diet – Danièle Ryman
Discover the therapeutic benefits of everyday foods. This book contains many recipes, menu suggestions and food ideas so you can enjoy the health benefits of aromatherapy without using essential oils.
Eating these foods delivers their unique healing and health-giving properties straight into your body where they can begin to work immediately.
Aromatherapy for Healing the Spirit – Gabriel Mojay
A fabulous book focusing on the emotional and psychological benefits of Essential Oils, giving a new dimension to Aromatherapy by linking it energetically to Oriental Medicine. Fascinating!
The Heart of Aromatherapy: An Easy-to-Use Guide for Essential Oils – Andrea Butje
This is a wonderful comprehensive essential oil guide by Andrea Butje, owner and founder of AromaHead Institute. It includes 40 in depth profiles of essential oils and is beautifully written and illustrated. This is a must for your Aromatherapy library.