Nickie’s Nook: Oils and Books

It’s St. Patrick’s Day which means that whereever you look if you’re sighted, you’ll see green. As a blind person, I can, of course, wear green but I don’t otherwise get into the aesthetic appreciation of the holiday. It wasn’t something I really thought about, it just is what it is. That’s changed this year because I was able to make a Braille shamrock this week in training. Basically, I brailled symbols and letters in a pattern that feels like a shamrock when I feel it with my palm. That got me thinking about how else I might appreciate the holiday with my non-visual senses.

The most obvious way to get into the creative Still. Patrick’s Day spirit with my other senses is to use my essential oils. I started thinking about which oils might go together well and have either emotional aspects along the lines of luck or fit into the theme of green. There are many options, but here are the options I came up with.

The Green Scent of Pine

I used to be able to easily see bright colors and when I went into the forest, it looked like the light was green. Whenever I smell pine, I picture the green light. One great blend of pine oils is Doterra’s Shinrin-Yoku™ Forest Bathing blend, but there are also Siberian Fir and Douglas Fir. Shinrin-Yoku™ is available in both a 15ml blend which can be diffused or diluted and applied topically or a 10ml roll-on. The Siberian and Douglas firs are only available in the straight oils.

Mints

We all know that mints are green. Any mint smell reminds me of green things. Doterra has several options for mint oils. My favorite is Spearmint because it’s very gentle and not too cooling or irritating to my pain. Moving up the scale of how cooling an oil is, we have Peppermint and at the top, most intensely cooling, we have Supermint. These yummy oils can be added to any blend to add a cooling sensation that makes the blend smell delicious.

Basil

Basil is an Herbaceous oil that reminds me of walking through a garden and having a friend or family member hand me a leaf and say “Smell this!”. It’s a very green smell and also a bit cooling when I smell it. It reminds me of being in the shade.

Citrus Oils: Wild Orange, Green Mandarin and Lime

You might think of orange when you think of mandarin and wild orange and I can definitely relate. However, there are a few reasons why I’ve included them in this list of oils. First, Wild Orange is known as the oil of abundance. It’s like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Green Mandarin is in this list because it includes the word green and is the oil of pure potential. It’s from the unripened mandarin fruit and is overall a festive and cheerful smell.

Lime is a green fruit which is why I’ve included it here. Like the others, it has a festive smell.

My current blend for St. Patrick’s Day

As is often the case, I didn’t count drops, so choose them as you see fit. My blend included spearmint, a bit of basil and any of the citrus oils. You could also choose to do a combo of the citrus oils or add one of the pine oils to the blend.

Happy blending and happy St. Patrick’s day!