Silent figures drift through the shadows of the night. They stealthily pick their way through the corpses. While the Black Plague robbed multitudes of their lives it also provided opportunity for four bandits. And yet the little band of robbers never lost their own lives despite their close proximity to hundreds who had died of the highly contagious plague. Aptly known as the Black Death, the plague of the early 1400's that claimed the lives of so many also provided opportunistic thieves an easy picking of others' earthly possessions. The officials at the time were dumbfounded. And rather superstitious. As the story goes - one version - on capture and facing with death sentence, the bandits explained that they were spice merchants who lost their livelihoods when the plague forced sea ports to close. Their survival during the Black Death was due to the blending and extensive use of essential oils.
In my 20's, when I began switching to healthy living I was horrified to discover how our biggest organ - our skin - is bombarded with toxins. Heavy metals, petrochemicals, formaldehyde are just some of the ingredients in commercial beauty products. As time went by I learned about the incredible healing power of essential oils. Thieves is one of my favourite combinations. And justifiably so. There are five essential oils used; each with wonderful properties in their own right. Mixing your own Thieves is very simple:
THIEVES EO:
50 drops Clove bud EO
45 drops Lemon EO
35 drops Cinnamon Bark EO
25 drops Eucalyptus EO
25 drops Rosemary EO
And then, of course, you can include the Thieves blend in any number of your own homemade natural products. A diffuser or deodorant - and my favourite - a moisturising body butter. Most of my lotions are made with emmulsified Almond Oil. It looks like the commercial petroleum based aqueous. It is NOT. To give a body butter a bit of body use various plant butters or beeswax. We care for our own bee hives. Honey and beeswax are superfoods that need their own post. Because I love shea butter and cocoa butter equally in skin care, I use one or the other. In my Thieves Body butter I use cocoa butter and beeswax.
THIEVES BODY BUTTER:
50 grams Beeswax
70 grams Cocoa Butter
250 grams Almond oil emulsified
1 tablespoon Jojoba oil
1 teaspoon Rosehip oil
30 drops Thieves EO (increase according to preference)
The most tricky part of making body butters is mixing the hot melted oils to the rest of the ingredients without lumps forming. After all these years I've mastered it - mostly. Begin with melting the cocoa butter and beeswax slowly in a double boiler.
When ready, add small quantities of the emulsified almond base at a time. Blending quickly after each tablespoon or two of the cream base added.
It will be quite runny initially and then suddenly thicken. Once you are sure there are no hardening globules of beeswax add another little bit of the cream base. Blend until smooth.
Once you are happy with the consistency then add the oils. Finally; scoop your wonderful moisturiser into sterilized jars.
You'll be surprised at how nourishing this recipe is. Which means a little goes a long way. The wonderful thing is that you can tailor make each body butter for friends and family and alternate the essential oils. Who doesn't love a pamper? These really make such special gifts. And more than that, they carry healing power that can never be stolen!
