With a second try at a class on sachets, I got a much better turnout. Before we started to make our sachets, we went for a walk in the daffodil garden, where nearly 4,000 daffodils are planted. As we walked into the area a few clients commented on the sweet smell as we walked up the stairs to the trail. “Around the walkway we planted fragrant daffodils so you would have both sight and smell stimulated as you started to explore the area.”
The group of us just stood in the garden, quiet, appreciating the day that nature had given us. After a few minutes we made our way to the art room and started to make spring sachets. My clients had 15 different herbs, flowers and spices as well as a dozen different fragrant and essential oils to choose from. “When you do aromatherapy you always use essential oils, which come directly from the plant. Fragrant oils are chemically distilled and much less expensive. For instance, this rose oil I have costs only $5 as a fragrant oil; its essential counterpart is priced at over $200.”
Everyone was a bit shocked at the price difference but understood the reasons why after I explained how oils are distilled from the plant. As I had them smell some of the different oils I asked if any had strong feelings about scents. One client spoke of cinnamon breads her father used to make around Easter and that cinnamon always triggered that memory. But along with the pleasant comes the unpleasant. Skunk was a universal bad smell for the clients. They all knew and remembered the pungent and fetid aroma of skunks as well as dead animals on the side of the road.
The first part of the therapy was to decorate the sachet bag. One client was a little recalcitrant. “I’m not an artist. This won’t be good.” I assured her that whatever she drew would be fine and that it should be something that will make her happy. She shrugged and drew a delicate little flower.
The next stage, mixing the herbs and oils, was a little more complex as a few complained that I gave them too many choices. I told them to pick their favorite smell and build their sachet around that. Lavender was a favorite with over half my clients, but a few went a tad overboard in their use of oils.
“This is a really funky smell,” said one. “Is this right?” I put my nose into her mixture of five different herbs and was hit with a very sultry scent dominated by lavender with a hint of lemon. “How much oil did you put in your mix?” I asked.
“Oh about 3 or 4 or 5 drops. . .maybe 6,” she replied. I smiled.
“Ladies, one of the things you need to be careful about is your use of the oils. They are very powerful. Put one or two drops in. Mix everything up and then stick your nose into the mix. Then decide if you need more or have enough. If you do that, you will get a good idea of how your mix smells. All of the scents are powerful and you should add small, incremental amounts.
“As for you,” I said to my lavender client, “ Just leave your sachet out for a while rather than put it in a plastic bag. The lavender scent will dissipate and get to an intensity that you are comfortable with. As it fades, other scents will reveal themselves.”
She thanked me and took another whiff. “Perhaps I’ll just add another drop of two,” she mused acting like a cat enveloped in catnip. Others, even after my suggestion, leaned heavy on the oil dropper overwhelming their sachet with their scent of choice. Yet when everyone was done and passed around their crafts, all loved the smells created by their classmates.
The next day, I met the woman who had squirted lots of lavender into her sachet. “I just wanted to let you know that the sachet made my room smell wonderful. Everything smelled like lavender and it was very relaxing,” she said with a big smile on her face. “It was fantastic.”
