Juniper Berry Oil for the Winter Months
For plants, the winter season is a time of rest and dormancy. Throughout this period, the processes of life and regrowth are subtle and concealed away. Bulbs and roots nurture development deep within their structures. Buds enfold young leaves, stems, and flowers, while seeds and fruits sustain the primary types of plants.
As non-hibernating, daytime animals, we human beings can grow uneasy and depressed throughout the darkness of the winter season. Aromatherapy brings us the fragrant energy of living plants through essential oils. These scents are a natural remedy to the emotionally depressing impacts of winter.
The ripe berry of the juniper tree, Juniperus Communis, produces an essential oil that is specifically well fit to this job. The essential oil is included in the resinous purple berry, which surrounds a cluster of brown seeds. The oil is extracted from the partly dried out fruits by steam purification. It is colorless or somewhat greenish yellow with a revitalizing, bracing, sweet fragrance.
Juniperus Communis grows throughout Europe and Asia, commonly occupying rocky exposed locations. Basically each one of the juniper berry crop is gathered in the wild. It takes two seasons for the berries to ripen into plump fruits about 1/4 inches wide. Northern Italy and Yugoslavia produce a few of the finest, biggest berries with high resin and sugar. The biggest Italian berries are offered at a premium as a specialized cooking product for sauces and preserves. Much of the harvest is utilized to produce gin. The fermented, used berries from this procedure are re-distilled to produce an essential oil.
Juniper berry essential oil consists of mostly pinene, myrcene, sabinene, and limonene. These constituents are likewise discovered in other winter oils consisting of pine, cypress and fir needle. Juniper oil is revitalizing, clarifying and boosting to the spirit. Its physical actions are cleaning astringent and toning.
A winter season aromatherapy mix showcasing juniper oil can be adapted for use as a stimulating massage oil or a vacation scent. This concoction will yield about 1 teaspoon of concentrated essential oil mix. The mix can be weakened in vegetable oil for a massage oil preparation or diffused for scenting the house. For a massage oil, water down 12 drops of the mix in 3 ounces of vegetable oil. To diffuse into the air, use an essential oil diffuser.
Juniper berry oil is well matched for this function – being sweet and fruity with a gently stimulating fresh evergreen tone. Fused with other winter oils like pine and fir needle, and sweetened with a fruity citrus oil like bergamot, juniper berry ends up being an important scent with healing and aesthetic applications.