The Complete Book of Essential Oils and Aromatherapy by Valerie Ann Worwood (1991, Paperback)

If you are going to invest in one book on Essential Oils & Aromatherapy, this should be it. It covers alomost every area of use & application many in great detail, as well as telling you how to distill your own oils, make floral waters and infuse oils for use in making final products.
It is my bible and I make notes on recipies, adjustments and blends right in my book as I am working. A "worth it's weight in gold" investment if you work with essential oils.
Chapters cover the following:
1.Medicines of the Earth - 2. Basic Care Kit - 3. Basic Travel Kit - 4. Occupational Oils for working man & woman - 5. Assertive Oils for Sports, Dance and work outs - 6. The Fragrant way to Beauty - 7. The Body Beautiful - 8.Essential care for Your Hair 9. Gentle Touch for Babies & Childen - 10. A Woman's natural Choice - 11. The Natural Choice for Men - 12. Essential Help in the Maturing Years - 13. Fragrant Care for your Home - 14. The Still Room - 15. Sweet Scented Celebrations - 16. Cooking with Essential Oils - 17. Natural Health for Domestic Animals - 18. Gardens of the Future
In addition the book has the following Apendix: Essentail Oils Charts, Aromassage. Highly Reccomend - you won't be dissapointed

The Complete Book of Essential Oils and Aromatherapy by Valerie Ann Worwood truly IS an essential book for creating a fragrant and beautiful home environment. A FIVE STAR RECOMMEND!


The subtitle says it all "Over 600 Natural, Non-toxic & Fragrant Recipes to Create Health * Beauty* A Safe Home Environment"

Worwood's extensive book covers the basics of aromatherapy and the use of essentials in home and body products. Using seven (7) essential oils that have been used and tested for toxicity throughout the ages she shares the recipies for salves for scrapes, perfumes and bath products for cleansing, relaxation and body harmony, sachets to make your clothing sweet as sunshine, hair care, body oils and such, home products like rug deodorizers and musty smell free and so much more you can make your world a bit more lovely every day in a non toxic and fairly inexpensive way!

Many aromatherapy books require an extensive supply of oils. Worwood's 7 essentials are not difficult to obtain and since you use only 7 for MOST of the recipes, the initial outlay will not break the bank! You can start to create wonderful things right away and eventually add more essentials to expand your fragrant horizons a bit! This is very very family friendly. From small children to the elderly, there are products listed for use by everyone.


Elizabeth Ross-McKee AKA Maeve to most of the Known Universe
Betty's Bodacious Beads and Gifts/sagegarden on ebay

This book ROCKS! What it lacks in detailed descriptions of oils it makes up for with just about everything ELSE imaginable that essential oils can be use to do. Not only does it contain hundreds of recipes for oil mixes to treat various health and beauty related maladies (for humans and animals), it also has food recipes. And it doesn't just deal with the usual insect bites or headache remedies. No sir, it has obscure but real life possible circumstances such as which oils can help save your life if your lovely ocean beach adventure turns horribly wrong after you get stun by the deadly man-of-war. Or what you need to do if you are arranging wood in your wood pile and suddenly feel the sting of a black widow bite (PLENTY of those nasty spiders here in Colorado along with other highly poisonous relatives!). Quick action and application of some basic essential oils will buy you the time needed to get to the hospital. I was astounded by the medical issues covered.

But that STILL doesn't cover everything! There's a section for the home organic farmer. It explains how to combat garden pests and insects. There are charts showing which plants, vegetables, or flowers play nice-nice together and which are mortal enemies. It includes the oils you'd put around them to make everyone happy.

And last but not least, you'll find the usual items expected in an aromatherapy book-how to create perfume scents and oils for massage and diffusing. However, you get background and all sorts of additional information that anyone serious about aromatherapy and essential oils really should know. A beginner would make a wise investment in purchasing this excellent volume of knowledge as a first book.

The one shortcoming I found relates to the description of individual essential oils, as I mentioned at the beginning of this review. Except for the carrier oils, essential oils are listed in the back in a chart with very basic information. With ALL the awesome chapters that preceded it, I thought the oils chart a little anti-climatic. Yet, the chart still covers 14 pages. The rest of the information I've mentioned is contained in the remaining 400+ pages.

Anyone who's developed a passion for aromatherapy and essential oils should definitely add this encyclopedic tome to their library. I don't think there is one book that can be the end all/be all for the subject but this one certainly comes close. Nobody said you can only get one. Just make sure THIS is one you do get! I'm sure it's pages will quickly become dog-eared from over use. There are several wonderful books that contain the specific oil information this one lacks but trust me, you won't find near the quantity or quality of the other information.

Am I gushing too much??? This one blew me away...I love it! You will too.

Ms. Worwoods style and knowledge about essential oils makes using them enjoyable and easy. I've owned this book since it came out and I've purchased one recently for my married daughter. We both find it invaluable in making "recipes" and have so much fun in our own home laboratories. The health benefits are really amazing, there is so much power in essential oils, a great way to improve your health and also your own home/work environment.

This essential oils desk reference is excellent. It gives many suggestions for self healing using essential oils. Also explains the essential oils/blends, how they are made and what to look for in a quality oil. Also other self healing techniques. The book is very extensive at a very reasonable price. Would highly recommend it.