Hurricanes, Earthquakes and Oils
By David Stewart, PH.D., R.A.

Originally Posted August/September 2005

Someone recently asked me about essential oils and earthquake preparation. They did not know how appropriate it was to address such a question to me. Before I was a Methodist Pastor, and before I became a full-time teacher and advocate of aromatherapy, I was an earthquake seismologist.

I was a professor and director of Seismological Observatories and Centers for Earthquake Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for seven years and at Southeast Missouri State University at Cape Girardeau for five years. During those times I taught courses in environmental hazards, including floods, hurricanes, tornados, tsunamis, and earthquakes. During 1988, I was also the Executive Director of a government organization under the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) whose mission is to prepare the Midwest for a major earthquake.

I taught courses for FEMA on earthquake preparation for schools, hospitals, public utilities, law enforcement, firemen, and emergency management personnel, as well as seismic building design for engineers. Between 1990 and 1995 I published five books on earthquakes. 

Four of them are still available:

Besides Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Illinois, Indiana, and MIssissippi which are within the zone most threatened by the New Madrid Fault, the states considered most at risk from major earthquakes are California, Washington, Alaska, New York, and South Carolina. Except for British Columbia, Southern Ontario, and Southern Quebec, the rest of Canada is relatively free of significant earthquake risk.

So what does all of the above have to do with hurricanes and oils?

Preparation for earthquakes is similar to preparation for any major natural disaster, be they floods, hurricanes, tornados, tsunamis, and temblors. Although there are different things one would do to prepare and mitigate the potential effects from each of these types of hazards, when it comes to dealing with environmental disruptions, emotional trauma, injuries, and health issues following such events, it is pretty much all the same.

Major natural disasters disrupt normal infrastructure, which can be for extended periods of time. This includes our supplies of water, electricity, natural gas, and fuels such as gasoline. They also disrupt or destroy sanitation facilities and proper disposal of garbage and sewage, posing biohazards. Meanwhile, they can also temporarily interrupt one’s access to hospitals and health care facilities while destroying our homes and dwellings, leaving us exposed to the elements and no place to live. Hazardous and toxic fluids and fumes can also be released during such events. Besides threats from nature, today we have additional threats in the form of terrorism, which can strike anywhere, any time.

As for oils, with these thoughts in mind, I keep the following on hand and ready to use. It is a good idea to keep them in a little Emergency Oils Kit set aside for such purposes:

• Purification for disinfecting cuts and bites
• Lemon for purifying water
• Lavender for burns and abrasions
• Frankincense for healing wounds
• Helichrysm to stop bleeding
• Peppermint for headaches and fatigue
• Panaway for bruises
• Wintergreen for sprains and cracked bones
• Lemongrass for sprains and twisted joints
• RC for the lungs in case toxic fumes were inhaled
• Sandalwood to help get a good night’s sleep
• Peace and Calming for panic
• Valor for overcoming fear with courage
• Trauma Life for post-traumatic stress syndrome
• Along with Gratitude and Joy for surviving the disaster and still being alive and intact

There are many other oils you could add to this list. You will have your own ideas. Hope this helps.

Why Don’t we Shower After a Raindrop?
by David Stewart, PhD, DNM

When we teach or do raindrop technique we normally advise receivers not to shower till the next day in order for the oils to continue their work. The question has been asked as to why we do this since essential oil molecules are readily absorbed through the skin. Hence, it would seem that within a short time, they would all have been internalized and no longer on the skin surface. If they are no longer on the skin surface, then why would it matter if one showered or bathed or not? That is a very good question, and a thoughtful one, too.

The truth is that when one receives raindrop, not all of the oils applied are aromatic or essential. There are a variety of vegetable and nut oils also applied which are not aromatic and not entirely absorbed. Among the fatty oils used in raindrop are those contained in Valor, Ortho Ease, and V-6.

The oil blend of Valor is composed principally of the essential oils of spruce, rosewood, blue tansy, and frankincense, but also contains the fatty oil of almond.

Ortho Ease contains a variety of essential oils, which are absorbed through the skin, but its principal constituents are fatty oils of coconut, grape, almond, and wheat germ.

Another YLEO oil often applied during raindrop is V-6, which is composed completely of fatty oils.

When fatty oils are combined with or layered over essential oils, the rate of absorption of the aromatic oils is considerably slowed down. Hence, it may take 12 hours or more for all of the oil molecules to find their way into the body. This is the main reason for recommending that clients wait over-night before showering.

There is another reason for waiting to shower. Only part of the magic of raindrop has to do the absorption of therapeutically active molecules through the skin. The other part is inhaling them. Inhalation allows healing molecules to enter the blood stream through the lungs and to pass directly through the olfactory organs across the blood-brain barrier. Thus, raindrop addresses all of the systems of our bodies via several routes.

Due to the layering and mixing of fatty oils with the aromatic ones during raindrop, the fragrances linger for a good 12 hours or more, which continue to administer healing to the receiver via the nostrils throughout this time, as well as through the skin. You don’t want to wash this off until it has all of the tiny therapeutic molecules have been absorbed. To bathe too soon will wash away and reduce some of the therapeutic benefit and potential effectiveness of the raindrop received.

Now you know why we don’t wash after a raindrop.