Essential Oils and The Psyche
By Frances Fitzgerald Cleveland
It is a challenging subject, Essential Oils and the Psyche. “Psyche” has been defined as the human soul spirit or mind, the mental psychological structure of a person. And what is the definition for an animal’s psyche? I have not personally come across such a definition. Yet, my personal view is that they do have a psyche. I have had the opportunity to work with many animals over the past fifteen years using essential oils and every one of them has their own unique personality. I have also worked with many humans using essential oils and their own unique personalities.
This is a topic one can write about in many directions. I have chosen to discuss that essential oils do work on the psyche, how humans can “psyche themselves out” of healing with essential oils and that animals tend to “go with the flow” and know what they need. For me it is impossible to write an article on specific essential oils that help with the psyche. There are so many essential oils that work in individual ways with individual psyches.
The best way for me to write about essential oils and the psyche is from my own personal experiences. I have been working with plants and essential oils for over seventeen years. It is an area where one still learns everyday. I learn from humans, animals and keeping up on the most recent studies with essential oils.
Most of my essential oil knowledge comes from human based studies and my own observations when working with animals. What is the definition of an essential oil? Essential oils are the result of distillation or expression of plants and plant parts (e.g., flower, leaf, tree bark, root, twig, seed, berry, resin and rind). All essential oils have, to varying degrees, chemical compositions with powerful healing qualities.
So how do essential oils work with the psyche? According to Peter and Kate Damian authors of “Aromatherapy Scent and Psyche” they write; “By their natural design, essential oils, more so than any other natural scents, act to heterolaterally harmonize the brain hemispheres. Synthetic perfumes, fragrances and aromas have no such ability; in fact they tend to operate in reverse causing some disarrangement of the Central Nervous System and the body’s etheric, electromagnetic field and thus contributing to regressive homolateral activity and behavior.”
I have observed how animals and humans work with essential oils and how it relates to their psyche. Let’s look at the definition again and this time we will apply it to both humans and animals. “Psyche: the soul spirit or mind, the mental psychological structure of a being.” I have noticed humans use their minds to analyze things. I view this as letting our minds get in the way of the process. My clients like to think about what is happening with the oils, why some improvement has not happened in a week and will they see some improvement in the next ten days. I always say the same thing “try not to think about it, just let the process happen.” With animals I work with the process of self-selection. I let them choose the oils they want to receive. They sniff the bottles of oils that are offered to them and indicate if they want that particular oil by deep inhalations or trying to lick the bottle and what they have chosen is then applied to them.
When an animal owner calls me to say, “I have been using these oils on my animal for four days and I have not seen any changes in their behavior – are you sure this is working?” My reply is “Try not to think about what is happening or analyze it. Just let the process happen and in four weeks or when your animal starts to refuse all the oils let us re-evaluate the situation.” I get some positive comments about “just letting the process happen” as well as ones from people who are not happy the process may take ten days, 6 months or a year.
To me the psyche is unpredictable and one cannot put a timeframe on when it will respond favorably to an essential oil. I do know that when one is consistent with working with the oils prescribed to them there will be results. It has even been proven that when a person is in psychoanalysis for period of time there is a change in the brain hemisphere. This is also true when working with essential oils for a period of time; there will be changes.
I have worked with humans, dogs, cats, horses, orangutans, gorillas and black crested macaques regarding situations with their psyche. Conditions I have worked with are unexplained fear, aggressive behavior, trauma, hyper activity and various physical issues, just to name a few.
Some of my most rewarding work has been with the orangutans and their zookeeper. I have been working with four orangutans for the past three years. Most of the work has been with behavioral situations and some physical situations. One particular situation was aggressive behavior between the two male orangutans. Within two months of working with the essential oils on a daily basis, this aggressive behavior disappeared. Some behaviors took six months to a year to change. I give credit to the zookeeper, whom I trained how to use the oils, for being consistent with working with the orangutans everyday. There is a sense of peace with these orangutans in their environment now. The work we do now with them is to just give them a choice of essential oils to have around for their well being.
The rewards I have received from this work are seeing the process of self-selection at work. The orangutans knew what they wanted and how they wanted the oils applied. For example one orangutan suffers from allergies always wanted eucalyptus and frankincense under his nose. For the one with the stomach upsets he always wanted his fennel or peppermint on his finger and then he would lick it off. When they did not want an essential oil they would turn away or push the bottle away. I felt the orangutans really knew what they wanted and that the oils would truly help them. Another interesting factor is that when we began this work, the essential oils they wanted changed over the course of three years. And, so have their psyches. They have truly been teachers about how these oils can help them.
The different types of animals I have worked with have shown me over and over again what oils they want and how they want them applied. One dog that I worked with when he showed an interest in an essential oil I would begin to apply it on his forehead, he would pull away and then paw at me. I did this three times before I realized he wanted the oil on his paw. I had a horse that would always lower her head after showing an interest in an essential oil and I would rub the oil on her forehead. I have yet to meet a cat that likes any oil applied. I never apply an essential oil to a cat. I let them sniff the diluted essential oil and if they are interested I will put the oil on a tissue and leave it in their space, this gives them a chance to get away from the aroma.
Animals have proven they know how to use their psyche by knowing what they need and because of this they are healing themselves. I do believe humans have this same capability they just need to get out of their way. Working with essential oils and the psyche is a process. A process I have seen demonstrated over and over that it is one of patience and belief. Essential oils can help with the psyche it just takes time.
© by FrogWorks, Inc. 2011
