by Kama Lee Jackson

Take our quiz to see which essential oils can help you, then learn how to use them here! http://www.canadiangardening.com/how-to/the-healthy-gardener/quiz-which-...

Here’s how to use the essential oils (use the real stuff—artificial scents in most drugstore products won’t do the trick):

* You can use the flowers in a vase, or boughs of evergreen in wreaths or sprays around the house, and have herbs in the garden or drying in a shadowy place in the kitchen ready for a cup of herbal tea.

* Make a nice room freshener by adding essential oils to a glass spray bottle with a few tablespoons of vodka and/or witch hazel, shake it up, then add water. Then, just shake and spray!

* Diffuse essential oils very gently into a room by filling a bottle with 2/3 vegetable oil and adding about 20 drops of essential oil, then placing natural rattan reeds in the bottle and flipping these daily.

* Resins, like frankincense and myrrh, can be bought in drops and dissolved in vegetable oil by gently warming on the stove for several hours. The resulting oil can be used as a perfume oil or moisturizer. The undissolved resin can be placed in a bowl to gently fragrance a room.

* To use a candle diffuser, light a palm or vegetable wax tea light (using paraffin candles releases soot, petroleum by-products and possibly heavy metals into the air) and place one to three tablespoons of water in the upper cup with a few drops of essential oil.

Thanks to Tracey TieF for her all her know-how on essential oils. Tracey is a registered aromatherapy health practitioner and owner of Anarres Natural Health Clinic in Toronto. Her website, www.anarreshealth.ca, has lots of helpful information about essential oils and their uses.