Neglected Knowledge

The Hidden History Of Essential Oil

Essential oil has been distilled since pharaohs ruled ancient Egypt, yet a great deal of its modern history - a history including provocative clinical findings - has been ignored. Like many other fascinating areas of knowledge suffering similar neglect, essential oil’s action on the human mind and body carries profound implications for our understanding of and approach to holistic health. Serious research in this area was first undertaken by a group of professional chemists and perfumers in France before the turn of the Twentieth Century. Today, few have even heard of the vanguard work undertaken by the Gattefosse Group in Saint-Remy de Provence. Named for its founder and leading light Louis Gattefosse, the Group was determined to follow up on a series of reports published by the Pasteur Institute that had documented strong antibiotic properties of essential oil.

Essential Oil As Remedy

As World War I approached, administration of the Gattafosse Group passed into the hands of Louis’ son Rene-Maurice. When during the summer of 1910 a lab explosion and fire seared his hands and arms so badly that gangrene rapidly set in, the 29-year old scientist desperately decided to put some of the Group’s findings to a critical test. He later asserted that a single wash of lavender essential oil had not only stopped the potentially lethal condition in its tracks but also allowed rapid healing of his injured limbs. During the notorious influenza outbreak of 1918, Gattafosse claimed positive results for preventative gargles and eye/nose drops compounded with essential oils. Today, most medical practitioners are quick to summarily dismiss his observations, but actual double-blind experiments addressing the validity of his results are conspicuous only by their absence in the established clinical literature.

Traditional Essential Oil

In view of the above, I can only lament our generally short-sighted approach to potentially anomalous or upsetting scientific findings. As statesman and commentator Edmund Burke ruefully noted, “Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.” Of course, we at Lucky Six Farms make no health-related claims for our wildcrafted, certified organic White Sage essential oil, hydrosol, smudge bundles, cones, or whole leaves. However, it is a fact that Native Americans have made use of this aromatic plant since ancient times. We are proud to acknowledge our intimate connection with it.

By Alan Beck

  

Aromatherapy In Three Easy Lessons

Simplicity in Intent

Although inherent in aromatherapy, simplicity often gets lost in the shuffle. Books, pamphlets, lectures, and reports needlessly complicate what should be fundamental. Stated in its most basic form, aromatherapy confirms the age-old observation that certain scents retain the capacity to generate exceptionally powerful effects on our mind-body complex. Marcel Proust, among a host of other authors, documented how a single seemingly ordinary aroma called back a veritable avalanche of emotion-laden memories and associations. We have all experienced similar encounters with evocative smells - sometimes even with fragrances that ostensibly have never been experienced in this life! Given these facts, we can employ aromatherapy without compromising the simplicity of its operation.

Simplicity in Means

Aromatherapy works because our sense of smell is more primordial than either vision or hearing, the two senses usually deemed most critical for seamless function within our ramified post-modern society. In the insect world, for example, smell reigns supreme, governing all aspects of matters as diverse as colony organization or finding a suitable mate from miles away. Thus, scent and only scent is key to aromatherapy’s success. Whether we apply gentle heat to essential oil, burn a small amount of dried herbs, spray a hydrosol, or simply work in proximity to a fresh aromatic source, we will perceive a benefit. What is important here, however, is not to mix too many scents together at once. A single, well-proven aroma is often more potent than a hastily compounded, overly eclectic mix.

Simplicity in Product

Finally, use products from a vendor that has established a solid reputation for quality, purity, and environmental concern. An excellent choice would be certified organic White Sage aromatics from Lucky Six Farms. Because White Sage has deep Native American traditional roots as a uniquely purifying aroma, it can be utilized in a wide range of aromatherapeutic contexts, both for individual and social purposes. White Sage also offers those merely curious about aromatherapy’s ultimate value to test things out for themselves.

By Alan Beck

The Truth About Anointing

The Universal Role of Essential Oils

 For thousands of years, essential oils have played crucial roles in rituals conducted worldwide for both material and spiritual elevation. Societies East and West have viewed the process of anointing or unction as forging definitive passage between mundane and celestial realms. I could cite countless examples: the Bible makes more than 180 references to essential oils, always carrying emphasis on the intrinsically precious character of such substances. The term “Christ” itself is usually translated as “the anointed one.” No European monarch would think of being crowned without undergoing visible anointing into a state of acknowledged sovereignty via essential oil.

Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain societies regard unction in a similar light. Specifically, the practice of abhisheka, the exact equivalent of anointing, has traditionally solidified the notion of transcendent empowerment. In many Asian esoteric sects, essential oil is believed to convey the very essence of initiatory power from teacher to student. Thus, the nucleus of all such rituals must include first blessing and then touching sacred oil. Newly elevated rulers and high officials also receive full cultural sanction only through formal unction.

The Special Quality of Essential Oils

When a belief retains currency through an incredibly diverse array of peoples and thought patterns, I believe more than mere coincidence is at work. This is certainly the case with ideas surrounding - and actively promulgating - the anointing process. In addition, we find each type of essential oil consistently associated with particular permissions and powers: each embodied the concentrated essence of certain energies. For example, at Lucky Six Farms we are intimately familiar with the profoundly purifying and cleansing properties of White Sage, properties that have been venerated and utilized by indigenous Tribes for longer than anyone can remember.

Our Commitment to Lucky Six Farms White Sage Essential Oil,

Although our White Sage essential oil has a wide variety of uses, from aromatherapy diffusion to dilution for liniments and salves, we never lose sight of its fundamentally sacred character. This is why we insist on growing every plant organically with love and respect for the remarkable energy channeled through it. Those who try our White Sage essential oil are therefore taking part in a universal earth-centered tradition whose meaning is as vital today as it was at the dawn of history.

By Alan Beck

 

Art, Nature & Sacred Sage

The Why Of Sacred Sage

Sacred sage was little thought of at the turn of the twentieth century. But the few decades that followed turned our familiar universe upside-down while highlighting conceptual vistas rarely dreamed of for centuries. During those early years of the last century the predominant Western view of how we fit into our universe underwent a sea change. A veritable avalanche of novel and surprising findings from an array of disciplines stunned the public and set even the most complacent citizens on edge. The world was no longer solid or simple; it could no longer be taken for granted or its paradigms filed away in the dusty drawer of common sense. While staid science was riven by quantum theory, relativity, and higher-dimensioned geometry, the art world took its first tentative steps into abstraction, plumbing phantasmagoric revelations from primordial archetypes. Many of the most original thinkers, like Arp, Kandinsky, and Klee became vivid articulators of society’s dawning vision. All agreed that the real processes of creation are the same in art and nature. Hitherto recondite topics like sacred sage suddenly began to acquire a new valence

New Science, New Lifestyle

So radical was this revised understanding that a century later we are still integrating it into our lifestyles. Scientific alchemy had changed our perspective. Vital components of this effort may be observed throughout the globe in ecological movements, New-Age thought, religious eclecticism, and burgeoning respect for traditional forms of Earth-centered spirituality. Both Lucky Six Farms and its land leaseholder Madre Grande Monastery have their roots in this expansive, radiant awareness.

Scents And Sensibility

The White Sage we organically cultivate is a direct product of Nature’s artistry. Taking our cue from her painstaking aesthetic, we craft our essential oils, hydrosols, smudge bundles and cones so that the original purity of the plant spirit is consistently retained and enhanced. As artists working hand-in-hand with Nature, we can confidently promulgate her energizing power even as we share her benevolent intent.

By Alan Beck

A Gentler Approach

Understanding Power

The signal characteristic of power, in whatever guise or form it may appear, is the ready acknowledgment of its presence. Powerful people, groups, and agents are almost always surrounded by protective barriers or insulating forces. From childhood, we learn it is dangerous to approach sources of power too closely. Burned fingers or reputations often result from reckless disregard of these caveats. Let's face it, Lucky Six Farms White Sage essential oil and smudging products are incredibly powerful purifying agents. As with all potent instruments of change, prudence must be employed whenever and wherever they are employed. Unless specific, expert advice is being closely followed, essential oils must be always be well-diluted and should not be used daily for protracted periods. Similarly, the thick, intense smoke generated by smudging bundles and cones is a power that must be respected, especially in confined areas where ventilation is poor.

Diminished Power, Increased Utility

There is a way, however, to frequently enjoy the cleansing, energizing effects of authentic White Sage with minimal concern. Lucky Six Farms hydrosol provides the perfect vehicle for gentler, yet highly effective, purification of people, places, and objects. Hydrosol is a safe alternative for areas where the very young, aged, and those with compromised immune systems are present. It may be used directly as a room spray, facial mist, and body toner.

Hydrosol Power

It is important to remember that the pure, genuine White Sage hydrosol we offer is not the same as cheap imitations now being sold under the same rubric. Real hydrosol is the product of a specialized and complex distillation process and contains an array of delicate plant components not found in the corresponding essential oil. There is no short-cut to the production of fine hydrosol, just as there are no cut-rate, industrial routes to the prayerful dedication that has made all of Lucky Six Farms White Sage products valued worldwide.

By Alan Beck

 

Discovering the Meaning of Tradition

By Alan Beck

Living The Organic Lifestyle

Society's recent appreciation of organic products reflects much more than faddish preoccupation. Indeed, this relatively new awareness underscores our increasing concern with issues of quality versus quantity, of abiding values versus meretricious ones. Like many others of my generation I sometimes find myself bewailing a general loss of tradition, especially the careful habit of lovingly detailed craftsmanship that characterized so many products of the past. As late as the early Twentieth Century common items such as furniture, tools, books, toys, and costume jewelry were marked by infinite attention to the finest points of both structure and functionality. In truth, the old style of heartfelt workmanship marks how organic energies translated into purely human effort. Organic is the style of Divine Intelligence intrinsically transcending everything vulgar, mundane, and pedestrian.

Organic Farming Is True To Nature And Ourselves

Interestingly, there are still a few rare places where such finely-honed focus thrives: Lucky Six Farms, for one! But how can we be so confident that this laudable tradition is not only truly authentic but also consistently maintained? The very basis of our White Sage wild-crafting and processing lies in our profound respect for the plant itself, a respect that honors the unique, eternally vibrant, living spirit underlying not only its traditional use but also our personal resonance with its life-force.

Organic Products Embrace The Real Source

Things regarded from their inception as merely material tend to be roughly stamped out, utilized thoughtlessly, and summarily tossed aside. From the beginning to the end of their lives, they are commonly regarded as nothing more than vacuous, fungible "stuff." But the array of Lucky Six Farm's White Sage products arise and have their being from a very different metaphysical basis. If the primary value of tradition derives from the intense effort, sincerity, and pure intent of the crafts-person, then we can be assured that our White Sage products embody the very same organic power venerated through hundreds of prior generations. We believe the Divine shines forth through each and every one.

You can see our products here: White Sage