Lavender oil was used in Roman Baths. Soaking in lavender oil in a relaxing bath is still a very wonderful thing. Lavender has been used as an aide to sleep, worn in pockets during Medieval and Renaissance times and is a very pleasing scent.
This photos is from lavender fields in the Cotswolds in the England countryside. It is one off the most viewed of MotherPie's flickr pics (and looks much better viewed there). It is relaxing and calming just to look at the photo.
Smells can pattern our memories and make our thinking pleasantly malleable.
Dried stems of lavender provide decoration and scents and the purple
dried buds make wonderful sachets for drawers or just put loose in a
bowl. I travelled there to be with my child who had to have an emergency appendectomy.
The thing that healed her after surgery: eating red currents in the garden, all afternoon, and picking lavender and drying it beside her bed. The pleasant smells became associated with healing.
What seemed to be so scary turned into a lovely remembrance. The lavender -- in photos and in the dried bunches I hand-carried home and the bath oils and sachets I've used since are why.
It's all tickety-boo, sweet and wonderful. Cheers!
MMMmmm yes. I was surprised to find that my husband loved this scent on me (I had acquired a small lotion by Healing Garden from a friend who didn't want it.) Traditionally an element in men's scents, its properties are being appreciated once more as a sleep aid from baby baths to aromatherapy. I really do love the smell of lavender, even if my classmates think I'm wearing men's cologne!!
It seems to work well in staving the migraines....Not so with the heavier, sweeter perfumes.
Posted by: Laundry Woman | July 14, 2006 at 10:14 AM