Guide 1 of 5 · folklore with its feet on the ground
The dropper, the bowl and the ball. Read on while it turns.
A ritual oil is a simple thing: a base oil, a little essential oil, and a purpose. The old books gave their oils a purpose before they used them. The new books tell us how strong is too strong. The Society keeps both. Read Guide 3, Never mix these with your oils, before you start.
Everything below comes from a named source in our library, and each one is listed under its rule. Where our library is silent, we say so, and we don't guess.
Essential oils are concentrated, so they are always carried in something. That something is called a carrier oil (or base oil). Diluting essential oils is a critical safety practice, and the carrier should be as natural and unadulterated as you can get.
The Aromantic Catalogue 2009 says oils are diluted in either alcohol or vegetable oil. For an oil you will touch, choose a plain vegetable oil.
Sources: "Carrier oil", Wikipedia; Aromantic Catalogue 2009.
Some oils, such as rose or jasmine, are so concentrated that their scent overpowers, and the catalogue warns that just one drop in a pot of cream can be too much.
For its own natural perfumes, the catalogue gives a strength of 0.1% to 1% in skin, hair and body products. 1% of a 10 ml bottle is just 0.1 ml. Start at the low end.
Source: Aromantic Catalogue 2009.
The catalogue recommends a skin sensitivity test before a perfume touches your skin. Many essential oils, tea tree especially, can cause contact dermatitis: an itchy or dry, red rash, with bumps, blisters or swelling. Try a little of your finished, diluted oil on a small patch and wait before you use more.
Sources: Aromantic Catalogue 2009; "Essential oil", Wikipedia; "Contact dermatitis", Wikipedia.
All carrier oils should be kept cool and away from strong light to slow them going rancid, and rancid oils should be avoided. Use a dark glass bottle, write the date on it, and throw it away if it smells sharp or stale.
Source: "Carrier oil", Wikipedia.
Some essential oils, even at very low levels, can be a risk for people who are pregnant or breastfeeding, people with oestrogen-dependent cancers, and people with epilepsy. Oils can also be dangerous for children because of their thin skin and developing livers. If any of that is you or your home, ask a pharmacist first.
Source: "Essential oil", Wikipedia.
Drop sizes change from bottle to bottle, and our library has no sourced drops-per-millilitre figure, so we won't give you one. Measure in millilitres, keep to the low strengths above, and ask a qualified aromatherapist if you need an exact recipe.
In The Magus, Francis Barrett wrote that when oil and perfumes are consecrated, things "consonant to that purpose" should be named over them, and he pointed back to the holy anointing oil of Exodus. The Lesser Key of Solomon has the magician anoint his temples before the work.
Take the custom, not the risk: name your purpose over the bottle, use a little of the diluted oil, and keep all oils away from your eyes.
Sources: F. Barrett, The Magus, Part II; The Lesser Key of Solomon, ed. S. L. MacGregor Mathers.
The Society's five guides: 1 How to mix oils · 2 How to mix herbs · 3 Never mix these with your oils · 4 Never mix these herbs · 5 Herbs and oils together
This is folklore and general safety information from named sources. It is not medical advice. If you are pregnant, take medicines, have a health condition, or have children or animals at home, ask a pharmacist, doctor or vet before using herbs or essential oils. The Wand & The Crystal Ball Society is part of Peckham Crystals · Increatus, London.