Hydrosols

Nelly Grosjean

Nelly Grosjean was my first teacher on the possibilities of using aromatic waters therapeutically. her Book Aromatherapy: Essential Oils For Your Health discusses their use and methods of application as well as treatment protocols  for specific health concerns.

In her work Grosjean combines oils , hydrosols, diet, and lifestyle as well as massage. Unfortunately the English edition of the book eliminated  most of the discussion of internal use; as drinking hydrosols is one of the best ways  to use them therapeutically, it is a great shame that the original text is not more widely available.

Under |Nelly's tutelage  I undertook a period of experimentation during which I consumed most of my stock in three-week  consequences, two tablespoons of hydrosol dissolved in one liter of distilled water daily for twenty-one-days, with a week off in between. I drank liters of hydrosol, I took copious notes, and experienced a gamut of effects.

A course with Nelly followed, during which her autodidactic approach became clearer. She works with a series of twelve essential-oil synergies, one for each month of the year, one for each of the body systems, one for each sign of the zodiac. She calls the blends frictions, and in most cases they are used both internally and topically for a three-week treatment period.

Each friction works with one of several possible hydrosols that provide supporting therapy, and as part of the protocol these hydrosols are to be consumed daily diluted in water ( thirty millilitres of hydrosol per 1.5 liter of water). Depending on the health concern being treated, Grosjean includes suggestions for Raw-diets and juicing. Anyone who has heard her speak or has read her books will know her list of Ten Golden Rules by heart.

The approach made sense to me, and what coalesced in my mind is that for all we talk of using whole, authentic, unadulterated, organic, complete essential oils, if we are not using the distillation water as well, there is a portion of the plant therapeutics that is missing. it has also become abundantly clear to me, as a life long adherent of homeopathic remedies, that the hydrosols  are more akin to homeo pathics, on a number of levels, than to the essential oils.

Nelly credits a dream  with providing the recipes for her frictions and the combinations in which they are used, and she speaks frequently about the vibrational aspects of aromatherapy. It is gratifying to hear someone discuss the energetic  aspect of the waters as part of his or her rationale.

There are those who have discounted her work because of this seemingly unscientific approach, but we are in a new millennium, so perhaps we've learned better.

Reference: Hydrosols; Suzanne Catty