I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 🙂

I hope that everyone has a wonderful, safe, and fun Thanksgiving and Hanukkah!

In the past few months I’ve been asked several times when Earth Alkemie is reopening. Here is some information I wrote and posted on facebook that I am posting here too.

Thank you! So happy that people still remember and love Earth Alkemie products! I am not sure when exactly I will be reopening, I am aiming for early next year, if my health improves. I have chronic health issues, including a few life long ones and several others. My issues are complex—it’s taken the doctors 1 ½ years to diagnose and they are still running some tests. My dad also has life long health issues and I help take care of him, which is not easy to do considering my own health. I am just hoping to heal my body enough so that I can return to doing what I love!

I am so excited! Although I can’t attend the American Herbalists Guild’s symposium this year (it is going on right now from Nov 7-10), they are offering the notes from the Symposium speakers for free! Last year I paid for the notes. So it is totally awesome they are offering them for free this year!

Many of the most respected herbalists are speaking this year. And their lectures look awesome; I am definitely considering buying the recordings again this year if funds allow. The reason I like the symposium lectures is that during the conference they tend to go over advanced topics and topics not always found in many books. So I learn so much from listening!

Some of the topics this year: chronic fatigue, aroma-herbalism (combining aromatherapy and herbalism), irritable bowel syndrome, lyme disease, mrsa, and much more!

So if you aren’t at the symposium and can’t get the recordings of the lectures (I think they said they would be recording them and making the recordings available later this year), then get the free notes! Some of the notes are very in depth and long (some are a few pages long, some are 10 pages or so, and one of them is over a hundred slides!). There are also a few case studies too.

I am not sure how long they will be up on the website, so I suggesting downloading the notes now! 🙂

I have set Earth Alkemie’s username on facebook, so Earth Alkemie’s facebook fan page now has a simpler to remember web address! It is now https://www.facebook.com/EarthAlkemie

Please update your bookmarks and let your family and friends know that Earth Alkemie has a fan page. I post several times a week (sometimes daily, and usually don’t post more than 1-2 posts a day), on a wide range of topics ranging from natural skin care and ingredients (including many DIY recipes), eco living (such as all my eco living and DIY articles), environmental issues or nature, herbalism, aromatherapy, and more! And of course once Earth Alkemie reopens (I am shooting for early next year, depending on my health), there will be posts on the ingredients I use, products, and contests. So check out Earth Alkemie’s fan page!

Amazon is currently offering G. W. Septimus Piesse’s perfume book for free in the kindle edition. I am not sure how long it is going to be free for, but I suggest getting it!

His perfume book was written in the 1850s and was called “The Art of Perfumery And Methods Of Obtaining The Odors Of Plants”. He thought of scents in terms of music notes, and assigned scents a music note. In the book there are many recipes for the perfumes and other scented products of the time. Many modern day natural perfumers still read his work! I enjoy reading the historic classics since I learn a lot about history and crafting perfumes!

It is also on Project Gutenberg’s website too, they have many different formats available.

Wishing everyone a Happy Halloween! Hope your day is filled with all things green, natural, and sweet! 🙂

I love Halloween! Different people celebrate this time of the year in various ways. For some it is just a fun holiday with costumes and candy. And for others it has religious or spiritual significance. Many Christians observe Nov 1st as All Saints Day. And to many pagans and wiccans, October 31st is Samhain.

I often make aromatherapy blends for special events, spiritual and emotional uses, holidays, astrology, and seasons, etc. There are many natural scents that are associated with Halloween and the fall, including spices, green scents, and autumn produce. Some Halloween associated spices include clove and cinnamon. Green, woody, or earthy scents are also linked with this holiday including cypress, vetivert and patchouli. During the fall, produce like apples and pumpkins come to mind too. Sadly, apples and pumpkin aren’t available as essential oils and absolutes. But delicious foods made with fresh produce are a stable for many, such as apple crisp and pumpkin pie. These delicious foods are often made with aromatic spices! The season for many types of citrus is the fall and winter months, so adding citrus essential oils can add a bit of sparkle and brightness to your blends!

The great thing about blending is that you can make blends for scent purposes only, or you can make them with a spiritual, emotional, or another special intent in mind. For example, cypress is used for protection, and for awareness of and to remember those who have passed. Sweet orange is often used for love and happiness. Clove is for protection and to drive away negative forces.

Try blending different essential oils together (nearly all the ones I mentioned blend well together). Please note that for cinnamon, I usually don’t recommend using cinnamon leaf or bark essential oils for skin care use, since the bark oil is a sensitizer, while the leaf oil can be a dermal irritant if used at too high of a concentration. It is best to use cinnamon for diffusing, in my opinion. I personally very occasionally use the leaf oil in very, very, very low dilutions in perfume and blends—I only use one to a few drops in a whole batch (which is several ounces of carrier oil) and at a concentration well below the level of what usually causes skin irritation in humans. Some soap crafters choose to use the cinnamon essential oils in soap (since soap is a wash off product).

There are so many different combinations you can make, with just a few essential oils. A really lovely blend is using a citrus essential oil with a spice essential oil. Try 3 drops sweet orange essential oil to 1 drop of clove. Think it needs more orange or less clove? Then add another drop or two of orange. Think it needs more clove and less orange, add a drop or two more of clove. This is a nice diffuser blend, or if you don’t have a diffuser, then mix up the blend in a vial, shake well, and then place one drop of the blend on a cotton ball or sachet. Or try my recipe for an aromatherapy spray. Clove essential oil can be a dermal irritant if used at really high concentrations, so I personally don’t usually use it in skin care, but I sometimes use it very well diluted in blends and perfumes. Many soapers also use it in soap.

For other blends, if you want to scent yourself, make an aromatherapy scent blend (for the pulse points), or make an aromatherapy spray and spray your hair (hair holds scent very well) or body. Just be sure to dilute the essential oil blend in plenty of carrier oil for the scent blends, or dilute it in another base! Never apply essential oils neat/undiluted to the skin. You can also add a lot of blends to skin care (such as elixirs aka oil based serums, body oils, masks, scrubs, etc)*. Be sure to research each essential oil in depth before use.

Here is a great article I found from West Coast Institute Of Aromatherapy about spiritual and esoteric essential oil uses for Halloween.

For more Halloween tips, check out my green Halloween article at anb (all natural beauty) mall. Lots of green, natural tips on costumes, food, decorations, and more! I have also written more eco Halloween tips on my personal eco blog, Solarkat’s Eco Blog, on mineral makeup and Halloween children games.

*There are a lot of recipes listed on Solarkat’s Eco Blog, my anb (all natural beauty) mall Eco Living articles, and my Eco Living & DIY Natural Beauty Formulating articles on anb portal. Other herbalists, aromatherapists, green Indie business owners, perfumers, formulators, and skin care experts have written articles for the three anb websites (the third website is all natural beauty website).

There is a new film about the healing power of plants called Numen. Numen discusses our link to the natural world, goes over some environmental concerns, and the healing properties of plants. It is a good film; a lot of herbal pioneers have contributed to the film. It is being shown for free for two more days (until the 30th), so check it out!

I just found out that CNN will be showing a film called Blackfish tonight (Thursday). It is on killer whales in captivity, including Sea World. It will be followed by a live panel discussion. One of the speakers of the panel will be Dr Naomi Rose, the senior scientist of the Humane Society, who is also the wife of Dr Parsons (my grad school advisor/thesis committee chair). The film starts at 9 pm and will be replayed at midnight. Definitely a must see!