Today’s featured essential oil is a good friend when a restless mind won’t let you sleep or your muscles ache.
Her warming, soothing nature is a gentle balm that helps soothe grief and release the past.
Essential Oil of Sweet Marjoram
Origanum majorana
Photo Source
Important Name Distinction: Do not confuse this Sweet Marjoram with Spanish marjoram (Thymus mastichina) which has very different properties.
Geographical Source: Oil producing countries include France, Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Bulgaria, Hungary and Germany.
Plant Part: The essential oil is extracted from the flower tops by steam distillation.
Extraction: Marjoram essential oil is extracted from the flowering tops of the herb by steam distillation.
Oil Characteristics: The oil is thin and watery with a pale yellow color.
Aroma: By itself, Marjoram doesn’t “wow” me aromatically. However, in a blend it adds a lovely warm, spicy, almost camphoraceous element, to a blend.
Chemical Families: Monoterpenes, Sesquiterpenes, Monoterpenols, Esters
Therapeutic Properties:
- Helps can hyperactivity as it is a CNS sedative (central nervous system)
- Provides pain relief
- Cephalic – remedy for the head (in this case, clears the head)
- Warming – warms area
- Support for digestive problems. Has an antispasmodic action on the colon.
Applications: (Here are some helpful blending guidelines)
-
Add a few drops in any blend designed to warm sore muscles and increase local circulation.
- Add 3 drops in bedroom diffuser to help encourage sleep
- Blend in a cream for menstrual cramps with Bergamot.
- Steam inhalation: will clear the chest and ease breathing. Use one drop.
Blends well with: Blends well with: Lavender, Sweet Orange, Bergamot, Roman Chamomile, Cypress, Cedarwood, Tea Tree and Eucalyptus.
Safety: Non-toxic, non-irritating.
Sleepytime Diffuser Blend
My favorite way to use Marjoram, aside from in the massage room, is to calm my mind when it’s overactive and I can’t sleep. If I’m feeling wound up before bed, I’ll often diffuse this blend next to my bed while reading. It doesn’t take long for my eyelids to get heavy.
Ingredients:
3 drops Sweet Marjoram
2 drops Lavender
1 drop Sweet Orange
Subtle Properties: (vibrational and energetic): According to author Joni Keim, Marjoram, helps you experience and integrate the peacefulness that comes from emotional healing, especially of grief and loss. Wow. That’s huge. We experience loss in so many ways in our lives; a divorce, subtle changes in friendships, our jobs, our youth, our children growing up, the death of someone close, even our own levels of energy as we age. Marjoram can help you move through the experience of your grief and help you reach the other side. Acceptance. Peace.
If you feel yourself drawn to Marjoram, you might want to ask if you are grieving something in your life. If so, what is it and is it time to let it go?
My Aromatic Wisdom Insight Card™ for Sweet Marjoram
- I bring in light and warmth to comfort your emotional wounds
- I settle your restless mind so you can experience inner peace.
- I help you release your loss and move on.
References:
1. Keim, Joni, Daily Aromatherapy
2. Battaglia S. The Complete Guide to Aromatherapy. 2nd edition, The International Centre of Holistic Aromatherapy, Australia, 2003
3. Keville, K. Aromatherapy, A Complete Guide to the Healing Art, The Crossing press, USA, 1995
4. Price S. Aromatherapy for Health Professionals, 2nd edition, Churchill Livingstone, 1999
Pompeii Organics Sweet Marjoram