The Art of Aromatherapy in Magick: A Review

I’ll be honest in admitting that I’ve never quite understood the appeal of essential oils. I mean, what was the point of collecting little vials of nice smelling liquids when you could just grab a scented candle, or light a stick of incense instead? There were so many products available to make your space smell nice already. What could these little vials do that other products couldn’t? For the longest time, I thought essential oils were these obsolete items people liked to collect for the sake of collecting, kind of like how some people collect figurines or music on vinyl. Sure, having them could bring the owner joy, but what real purpose did they serve? The only reason I could see someone really needing them for was candle making, or similar crafting. So, I put all thoughts of them aside, and figured that would be the end of it.

Then one day, I began my walk down the path of witchcraft, and suddenly essential oils became a peripheral entity in my life. Books would mention oils to use, or blends to create for your craft. Local witches and magical mentors would suggest oils for anointing candles or adding an extra layer to black salt. Still, I found myself avoiding oils, continuing my belief from childhood that oils were a gimmick. Between my mother’s allergies to scents and all the jokes about fanatical essential oil lovers making bold claims about their powers, I found it hard to take them seriously. And yet, it seemed everywhere I looked, people were using oils regularly in their craft. Some casually, some in ritual, and some incapable of casting a spell without using them. I knew I could dabble without committing to making them a staple of my craft, but still found myself hesitating, avoiding spells that called for them or neglecting that step of the process. Maybe it was in consideration for people like my mom, who might be sensitive to smell. Maybe it was because I didn’t want to be perceived the same way my child self perceived essential oils users. Or maybe it was just the absolutely ridiculous price some bottles cost ($138 for 2ml, are you freaking kidding me?) Whatever the reason, I still stubbornly refused to try oils.

So, why am I talking about essential oils? What has all of this preamble been leading to? Well, it turns out I really like scent, and I’ve been using oils this whole time without acknowledging them. I enjoy their benefits through candles and incense primarily, but I also love them in cleaning products, perfumes, etc. With this realization came the desire to drop my stubbornness, as it wasn’t benefitting anyone, least of all me. I also felt like I was missing out on my craft by not using oils in rituals and spells. I didn’t want to potentially restrain myself over a view point I couldn’t even remember the origin of. However, the main thing that pushed me out of that mentality was my desire to learn. I like to widen my horizons by learning about things that I don’t necessarily think I’ll like. I figure I’ll either be pleasantly surprised, or have some independently formed opinions next time that topic come up in conversation. After all, my mother-in-law is an avid essential oil user, and we’d discussed her large collection of oils on multiple occasions. At the very least, opening myself up to the idea of oils would allow the two of us to grow closer and give me the chance to contribute to these conversations more. It's for this, and the fact that many practitioners include oils in their craft, that I decided to make a bundle centered around essential oils.

The Art of Aromatherapy in Magick by Dree Amandi Pike

The Art of Aromatherapy in Magick by Dree Amandi Pike is a small format book packed full of information. The book starts off by offering a brief history of how essential oils are created, examines the environmental impact of the creation process, and presents strategies for choosing a quality oil. It continues on with crucial information and safety tips to help the reader experiment without harming themselves as they read. From there, it brings us to meat of the book: learning about the oils, ways you can use them, and how to craft your own blends. The further you explore the pages, the more they blossom with scientific fact, intuitive insights, and arcane knowledge. To wrap it all up, Dree presents the reader with recipes and rituals to inspire and get you starting.

You can expect…

• An honest conversation about what essential oils are, where they come from, and why you may or may not want to use them

• Resources to help you pick and buy oils

• Detailed exercises with explanations as to why you’re doing each step

• A thorough list of different oils, their associations, and their scent profiles

• Recipes for blends, and ratio tables to help you curate your own

The Review

As I opened the book for the very first time, I decided to embrace the theme right away by lighting a nice scented candle to enhance my reading experience (you can’t go wrong with some of the holiday scents from Bath & Body Works). I figured why not fully invest in the process? With my candle lit, and my handy dandy notebook in hand, I settled in to start reading. When I prepare to do these reviews and create bundles, I do my best to read as much of the books as I possibly can: dedications, forewords, introductions, conclusions, special thanks, appendixes… While I don’t think these sections are necessarily vital to read in order to understand the book, I like to make sure I’m not missing any intention or connection points the author likes to make. For example, such as in Dree Amandi Pike’s book, an author may present a bold claim as to what their book will accomplish. Pike’s claim: that her book would challenge common beliefs about essential oils. As an outsider looking in, and as someone with a fair bit of assumptions towards essential oils going into this book, I felt she made good on her claim.

Straight from the get go, Pike brought something up I’ve never heard discussed with essential oils: ethics and environmental impact. Before reading this book, I had no idea that essential oils created such a large carbon foot print, and could have such a large impact on ecosystems. Not only does the extraction process create a lot of pollution and use a ton of energy according to Pike, but she talks about how harmful harvesting practices can also decimate entire ecosystems and species. Now, based on the many books I’ve read that include ethical, political, and activist ideas like this, I was fully expecting this section to end with some moral high-ground speech about how it’s a witch’s sacred duty to do better and to help put an end to harmful practices such as these, all without offering any practical steps to achieve this goal. However, my expectation that Dree was going to offer her readers the same hollow call to action was entirely wrong, and I applaud what she offers her readers instead: grace and options to consider. She is one of the few authors I’ve read who acknowledge that, while there are many issues that need our attention, it’s not sustainable for an individual to fight a war on all fronts. She explores the different ways in which companies can be more sustainable, encourages the reader to choose their own ethical deal-breakers, and presents resources to research companies and products so you can make the choice that’s right for you. I’m a strong believer that there is an imbalance in how environmental responsibility is distributed. Everyone should do their part to protect our lovely planet, of course they should, but putting the pressure on individuals rather than corporations who pollute more in a day then an individual does in a lifetime… I’m sorry, but that’s not right to me. Companies with these harmful and predatory practices need to be held responsible for the actions against the environment. But I also acknowledge that there is no give without take, and that sometimes you need to find the lesser evil you can live with, a sentiment I feel Pike shares. So, Dree Amandi Pike, if you ever see this, thank you very much for educating without guilting, and for offering paths forward rather than letting the reader blindly fumble forward with good intentions but no direction.           

Before I move on completely from this section of the book, I wanted to outline some additional things I also really appreciated: I appreciate the guide to determining if an oil is a quality oil; I appreciate the instructions on how to easily and properly research companies and products; and I really appreciate the encouragement to use the products you have, even if you’ve discovered they’re not the best ones after making your purchase. In my opinion, throwing out an oil you’ve realized breaks some of your ethical bounds is more wasteful, as the corporation has already done the damage. The best course of action in my opinion is to use it up and to use your purchasing power more carefully next time. Throwing out a product you don’t intend to buy again just because you’re boycotting the company is just contributing to waste. There’s less harm in using it and vowing never to buy it again, then throwing it out and making that exact same vow.

Moving on. Something I noticed and really struggled with throughout was the language in this book. Pike uses pretty big, very scientific terms often throughout the pages. While I may understand why she wants to use proper terminology, I found myself struggling to fully grasp what she was saying at times due to all the scientific jargon. While I certainly admire the addition of appropriate research and concepts (I feel it’s a vital part of the craft to understand the physics of magic to fully understand the metaphysics), my brain is not wired to comprehend complex scientific gnosis (and yes, I understand I myself am using big, fancy words, but that comes from my love of literature and not necessarily a well-developed vocabulary.) Some chapters were really hard for me to absorb properly, and it had me wishing that it came with a little “For Dummies” section for those of us who have no clue what furanocoumarins are. I don’t mind doing a bit of googling when terms I’ve never seen pop up, but this book is saturated with them, I’d still be reading the book if I stopped to research every single word I didn’t recognize.

What was very easy to follow though were the exercises, recipes, and rituals outlined in the book. Pike takes the reader through her own process of crafting blends and playing with oils, outlining not just the steps but the thought process behind them as well. One of the things I sometimes struggle with when looking at other people’s spells and rituals is justifying the choices made in the spell. I’ve seen cord cutting techniques sold as binding spells among other suggestions, decisions I can’t justify. If I can’t understand why certain choices are being made, I find it hard to trust the source as a whole. This is why the commentary alongside the steps was a big plus for me. I can see exactly why she’s making the choices she’s made, and I can apply her thought process once I’m ready to set out on my own. She also suggests keeping a log of your experiments in your grimoire, keeping track of not just your formulas, but the reasons why you’re crafting your blend, planetary movements, methods of application, dispersant choice and why, etc. When trying out new methods of magic, I sometimes struggle to figure out what exactly I should be looking for, what I should be taking note of. I know that “what ever feels right to you” is a valid path forward when trying out new magic, but I don’t like returning to my research and experiments and finding them missing critical information because I didn’t think to include something. I found her suggestions very helpful in that respect, and made the idea of dabbling in oils a little easier. A suggestion of hers I particularly liked was leaving smell samples in your grimoire, a bit like grabbing a perfume tester from Sephora.

After setting the scene of ethics, science, and crafting basics, we finally start to get into the heart of this book: aroma. While I knew this book was centered around fragrance, it never dawned on me that it might broach concepts of perfume making, exploring how to combine scents that compliment and support each other. I anticipated the chapter that simply outlines different oils and their properties, but I wasn’t expecting a similar list of scent profiles and descriptors for them. While some may think this takes the fun out of sampling different scents, I find it really helps for shopping either online or in stores where you can’t open up a bottle to experience it for yourself. I also found it super helpful for choosing complimentary scents (not all of us have a good nose for that kind of work). For me, this particular section of the book made the whole book worth while, as it makes for an excellent tool for reference. The books small size actually becomes an asset in this case, as you could easily fit it in a purse or even a large pocket to bring it with you while shopping for oils. It just overall made the idea of essential oils that much more approachable to me.

Another expected section that made its appearance was the compilation of different recipes, blends, and rituals to try. The Grimoire portion of the book, if you will. Pike not only suggests oil blends, but spells as well. She offers spells that use them in expected ways, such as home-made lotions and simmers pots, but also offers up unexpected ideas as well, like bubbles and inks. The best part: she doesn’t want you to just copy what she’s doing. I love that she mentions her recipes are there to help you start and gain confidence, that they’re meant to be customized and altered. She encourages the reader to not just take her recipes and experimentations at face value but to play, to try, fail, and try again until you find something that is perfect for you. She’s not selling a recipe book after all, but a guide to help you begin your own foray into the world of aromatherapy.

As the book wound to an end, I felt myself drawn into the world of essential oils a bit, even going so far are to use some oils I had picked up for candle making to craft a Sweet Dreams Oil to roll on before bed. As I finish crafting my oil, however, I realized I had no idea where to roll it on. Since it was for sleep, would the temples be a good spot? Or would some other place be better? I found myself realizing that while this book explores the oils and different methods to craft them, it doesn’t necessarily offer a guide on how best to use them. I wanted to know about oil placement on the body, what areas to avoid, what areas to focus on, and what areas might be good to support different intentions. I ended up reaching out to my mother-in-law, an avid essential oil enthusiast, for some guidance. She suggested I roll it on the back of my neck, and warned the oils might stain my pajamas, pillow, or blankets. That tip, while it may seem relatively mundane, felt really important to know. And having received it from a source outside of this book led me wish Pike delved into some of those tips a bit more. Sure, she warns of skin safety and to beware of photosensitivity when wearing oils, but what are the other issues with wearing an oil? How do you clean up a spill safely? Are there certain products you should never mix with oils? The more I considered what I had learned from the book, the more I began to contemplate what could have been added.

As someone who had no interest in essential oils going into this book, I surprised myself with how much I enjoyed it. A tell-tale sign of my enjoyment is the fact that, upon finishing the book, I actually felt inspired to try some of it out for myself and expanded my magical toolkit. Do I think this was a perfect guide to exploring essential oils? I would say no, as I struggled to comprehend some of the more scientific aspects of the book, felt there were a couple of chapters that were more reference than reading material, and felt the absence of certain knowledge this book could have benefited from. Would I recommend this book to anyone interested in essential oils? Absolutely, purely because Dree Amandi Pike offers her readers a couple of things I scarcely see in books of this nature: the breakdown of the critical thought process when exploring her rituals, as well as the clearly marked path options for her ethical call to action are its main selling points in my opinion. I also cannot discount her accepting nature and her encouragement to not rigidly follow her words as gospel. The Art of Aromatherapy in Magick is a fantastic resource I will be keeping on my shelf for years to come.