Sandalwood

[Guest guest]

Hello everyone

 

<The tree is not normally ready for felling until it is over 30 years old!!!>

 

Yes - all sandalwood trees in India are under the control of the government.

When I

was there last year, there was a case reported in the local newspapers about

poachers who were caught cutting trees. It seems sandalwood is poached in India

just as rhinos are in Africa!

What is also interesting is that the state of Mysore in south-western India has

been

incorporated (along with a couple of other very small states) into one, called

Karnataka. So now you should see sandalwood (the real stuff, that is) labelled

'Karnataka' rather than Mysore. The city of Mysore still exists though.

I think that Mysore (or I should now say, Karnataka) sandalwood is the very

best;

that from Australia is of a different species, and that from the West Indies,

which

I once bought in a fit of miserliness, is only fit to pour down the drain, it

smells

so awful.

In Ayurvedic medicine it is used primarily for genito-urinary tract infections,

where it is injected straight into the blood stream (by doctors, not

aromatherapists!).

One thing I would take issue with is that it improves with age. As sandalwood

is

made up of 90% santalol, which is a sesquiterpene alcohol, I would argue that it

is

easily oxidised unless kept airtight and in very strict conditions. I really

don't

believe that any essential oil improves with age, but that they should be used

within a year, or two at the most if they're kept correctly.

I find it useful for both dry and oily skin (note its use in very expensive

cosmetic

ranges like Clarins' 'Santal' oil - lavender and sandalwood); a good diuretic;

for

cystitis; and for throat infections. On an emotional level, it is a good

relaxant,

but in cases of depression it should be used sparingly - too much takes you down

even further. It relates to the sacral chakra - sexual and water centre. Good

too

for meditation, hence all those sandalwood incense sticks I brought back from

Mysore!

Oh, and it also relates to the Bach Flower Remedy Walnut, acting in the same way

to

'cut the ties that bind'.

Helen in Cape Town