Alchemical Diary: Tea Tree
An alchemical diary is an introspective practice that invites us to deeply connect with plants and their essences, exploring how they interact with our emotions, sensations, intuitions, and memories. Through this practice, we can uncover the transformative and healing potential that plants offer, documenting these experiences in a rich and detailed manner.
1) Free Expression / Artistic Creation
Drawing, painting, photography, prose, poetry, music, video, collage.
In the mud, we hide our wounds, Pachamama, fresh like a spring morning breeze, Come, come listen to us, heal us, embrace us. Swallow me, earth, swallow me and nourish me, nourish me and heal me.
("Swallow me, earth" is a Spanish saying that usually doesn't have a "positive" connotation. The tea tree reminded me of this saying because it relates to the earth, but instead of wanting to escape the situation, it absorbs the situation and grows with it and what it teaches us.)
2) Emotion
What emotion do you feel when you inhale the essential oil? Identify primary archetypal emotions: fear / anger / joy / sadness. And also list derived emotions, e.g., anxiety, passion, peace, hatred, longing, laziness, anguish, euphoria, melancholy, etc.
Fear, it reminds me of a dark place, melancholy. When I woke up after sleeping with it, anger, I woke up pissed off, bothered, wanting to organize, wanting to be productive, to make things happen.
3) Sensation
What sensation does this essential oil bring to your body? Identify: cold / hot / dry / moist. And also variations: shiver, lightness, relaxed, tense, breeze, chill, tension, hardness, fluidity, etc.
Moist, cold, herbal, earthy, breeze. Strength, Earth, breathing, healing, fluidity.
4) Intuition
What free associations come when you come into contact with this essential oil? Archetypes, words, music, movies, books, myths, images, places, etc.
I feel it in my throat, its smell and taste, opening the fifth chakra, letting everything pass. Breeze, chill, fluid. I did an oil massage after a bath and felt like I was in a spa, reminded me of a Temazcal. I put it in my underwear too, feeling a freshness, good. And in the armpits, used as a deodorant for a few days, I felt fresh and clean throughout the day.
Energy, temazcal, portal, healing, herbalism, Mexico. It makes me think of flowers that grow on cacti. The beauty that comes from pain? From thorns? Very funny, because in my collage, the watercolor image in the bottom right corner looks a bit like this, and I drew it on the first day I related to tea tree, intuitively, without thinking much about what it was or what it represented, letting the colors come (green/brown/gold).
5) Dreams and Memories
What did you dream while relating to this essential oil? And, did it remind you of any memory - stories, people, places - already lived?
6) Conclusion
I have been in a relationship with tea tree for years, practically every day. I clean the house with it, I use it on pimples, on nails, and on the skin. It's present in the oil blend I use at night.
It is my faithful companion, when it comes to detoxify, to do a detox. It cleans, opens paths, in a "comforting" way, without corroding.
I confess that when I saw I had picked tea tree, I didn't like it much, I thought I knew it well because it had been with me for a while. It reminded me that I need to appreciate what we already have, the people around us, what we have already achieved. It brought me many memories from my childhood too, good memories of growth periods, where there is pain, but there is healing with comfort.
7) Bibliographical References
"The most prominent characteristic of tea tree oil is its extraordinary efficacy against the three main infectious groups: fungi, bacteria, and viruses. It is potent for treating cold sores and other herpes... and other yeast or fungal infections..." "The germicidal, antiparasitic, antifungal, and antimicrobial properties of tea tree oil make it an immensely potent household disinfectant. Despite being practically an "anti-anything infectious", tea tree oil is also practically non-toxic and hypoallergenic. It can be used freely in baths, saunas, gargles, and mouth rinses. It can be inhaled through vaporization or diffusion and is beneficial in both massages and cosmetics. It is excellent for skin and scalp disorders that involve infection or infestation or that require healing." Properties: Fungicide, antimicrobial, parasiticide - Character: invigorating, balsamic - Uses: disinfectant, skin and scalp care, oral hygiene - Methods: bath, diffuser, massage - Aromatherapy Aroma and Psyche, Peter and Kate Damian.
The Great Aromatherapy Manual by Dominique Baudoux:
Terpene alcohols (30%-50%) Terpenes (30%) Sesquiterpenes (5%) Terpene oxides (5%-10%)
Therapeutic Properties:
Broad-spectrum anti-infective ++++
Immunomodulator +++
Analgesic ++
Anti-inflammatory ++
Radioprotector ++++
Therapeutic Indications:
Oral and dental conditions: canker sores, gingivitis, stomatitis, periodontitis, dental abscess, various oral infections.
ENT infections: otitis, sinusitis, pharyngitis, tonsillitis.
Gynecological infections: vaginitis, vulvitis, genital herpes, cervical dysplasia, condylomas.
Deep fatigue, general exhaustion.
Radiotherapy burn prevention.
Teeth whitening.
Intestinal and skin parasitoses.
Lyme disease (prevention and treatment).
There are no contraindications for physiological and therapeutic doses of tea tree oil, but sensitive skin should not use it pure, as it may cause irritation.