Seasons of Aromatherapy: Hundreds of Restorative Recipes and Sensory Suggestions

There are plenty of guides to aromatherapy, but their encyclopedic scope can be intimidating. Seasons of Aromatherapy teaches the secrets of scent the easy way by focusing on just 12 essential oils. Lively descriptions, humorous anecdotes, and recipes let readers put them to use immediately. This guide to 12 essential aromatherapy oils provides recipes for a year's worth of health, well-being, and fun.

While there are numerous aromatherapy handbooks detailing how to use every essential oil known to humankind, Seasons of Aromatherapy breaks from the pack, offering friendly advice instead of encyclopedic information. The authors, Judith Fitzsimmons, a certified aromatherapist, and Paula Bousquet, a herb wholesaler, make incorporating aromatherapy into daily life easy, fun, and even inexpensive. Each chapter (there are 12, one for every month) focuses on one essential oil and gives dozens of original ideas to help readers deal with seasonal challenges and increase daily enjoyment of life. The beautifully illustrated guide contains hundreds of restorative recipes and sensory suggestions to manage everything from blemishes and the blues to sunburn, bad breath, and headaches. There's a chamomile/geranium recipe for stress relief, a bedtime-room spray for the kids, and even a cedar/rosemary remedy for Fido.

The detailed introduction gives all the basics, including a list of oils you'll need to get started. A resource guide provides dozens of outlets to purchase aromatherapy products and essential oils so you can start experiencing the physical and emotional benefits of this ancient healing art right away. --Ellen Albertson