30 drops lavender essential oil

25 drops bergamot essential oil

10 drops geranium essential oil

Warm the shea butter in a small saucepan or double boiler very low heat, until it is just melted. Remove from the heat. Add the lavender, bergamot, and geranium essential oils directly into your storage container, then slowly pour in the liquefied shea butter. Gently stir the balm to blend. Cap and label the container and set aside until the balm has thickened.

Unlike beeswax, shea butter takes a long time to completely thicken, and this formula may need up o 24 hours, depending on the temperature in your kitchen. Whit it is ready, it will be very thick, semi-hard, and white or creamy yellow.

To use:

A pea-sized amount is all you need. Using more might cause light-headedness or grogginess. Massage into your temples, under your nose, on your throat, on e nape of your neck, on your chest, or on your pulse points - wrists, inside of elbows, back of knees, and just under the earlobes. To use the balm as a relaxing inhalant, breathe deeply from the jar for 10-15 breaths. Use within one year.

Healing Hot Pepper and Ginger Liniment

This formula is quite heating and is recommended for treating arthritic joints with poor circulation that are cool to the touch while being quite stiff and painful. Both cayenne and ginger rank at the top of the herbal "heat list" and help break up stagnation in the joints and surrounding tissues, stimulating blood flow and circulation. This is a non-greasy formulation. The herbal properties will remain on the skin after application, but the alcohol will evaporate.

1 cup heavy fresh ginger, finely

chopped, sliced, or grated

1 teaspoon cayenne

1 teaspoon vegetable glycerin

2 1/2 cups unflavored vodka

Place the ginger, cayenne, and glycerin in a 1-quart canning jar and pour the vodka over them. Place a piece of plastic wrap over the mouth of the jar, then screw on the lid. Shake the jar for about 30 seconds to blend the contents thoroughly.

Store the jar in a cool, dark place for 4 weeks so that the vodka can extract the valuable chemical components from the herbs. Shake the jar for 15-30 seconds each day.

At the end of the 4-weeks, strain the herbs through a fine-mesh strainer lined with a coffee filter or cheesecloth. Strain again if necessary to remove all herb debris. Be sure to remove all of the pepper particles. Press or squeeze the herbs to release all the valuable herbal extract. Discard the herbs. Pour the liquid into storage containers. Cap, label, and store in a cool dark cabinet.

To use:

Briskly massage a small amount of the liniment into any area that is cool to the touch and affected by arthritic stiffness and pain. Do not apply to abraded, cut, punctured, or recently shaved skin, as it will sting like crazy! A tingling or warming feeling is to be expected, but if an uncomfortable reaction such as a red, stinging rash or a burning sensation occurs, wash the area with soap and water immediately and discontinue use.

French Lavender Drops: Serious Blemish Treatment

I occasionally use lavender essential oil "neat: or undiluted to ward off infection, ease a tension headache, or dry up blemishes, cystic acne, or cold sores. I can almost guarantee that applying this essential oil blend directly to a blemish will reduce the blemish in size by at least 50 percent within 24 hours. The blend fights bacterial proliferation, eases inflammation and redness, and aids in skin cell regeneration.

I recommend using these herbal drops to treat hormonal or adult acne that tends to develop after age 35, especially along the jawline. Adult acne is notorious for leaving red "stains" or hyperpigmentation marks on the skin that can take up to 6 months to fade. With the application of these concentrated herbal drops at the first sign of a blemish breakout, the resultant stains are a thing of the past, or at least greatly minimized. Remember - don't pick your blemishes!

2 drops rosemary (chemotype verbenon) essential oil

2 drops tea tree or niaouli essential oil

2 drops thyme (chemotype linalool) essential oil

1 drop German chamomile essential oil

1 tablespoon lavender essential oil

Add the rosemary, tea tree, thyme, and German chamomile essential oils drop by drop directly into a storage bottle. Add the lavender essential oil. Screw the top on the bottle and shake vigorously for 2 minutes to blend. Label the bottle and place in a cool, dark location for 24 ours so that the oils can synergize.

To use:

Shake well. In the morning and evening, after cleansing he affected blemish or blemished area, apply the appropriate toner, astringent, or herbal hydrosol to your skin. Pat dry. Apply 1 drop to each blemish and gently tap it into the skin and surrounding area.

This is a highly potent herbal medicine with a gentle touch. Apply it by the drop to cuts, scrapes, punctures, burns, bug bites and stings, boils, bedsores and skin ulcers, blisters, ingrown toenails and ingrown hairs.

Turn on the tap full blast and pour the soda and the salt into the tub. When the tub is full, add the essential oil and swish the water with your hands to mix. No refrigeration is required if you make an extra batch or two, but store salts in a dry, airtight container, and for maximum freshness and potency, please use within 6 months. Soak for 20 to 30 minutes.

Surround Me in Comfort: Warming Bath Oil

Feeling all stuffed up? Got the chills, aches, pains, and general misery of a cold or flu? Then a detoxifying sweat session with this bath oil is just the thing you need to ease your symptoms, open your sinuses, warm your core, and relax your entire body so that you can sleep soundly and get the healing rest you so desperately need. Ginger, thyme, lavender, palmarosa, d pine essential oils deliver antiseptic and antiviral properties, stimulate sluggish circulation, induce perspiration, relieve muscle tension and aching joints, and even relieve headaches due to congestion. 

Do not use this therapy if you are running a fever, sweating, or are extremely weak and debilitated, as it will exacerbate your symptoms.