12 Days of Christmas

12 Days of Christmas...the winner of the First Day of Christmas Gift was Nancy Caltagirone - who will be receiving a Week of Bliss. Tune in tomorrow to see the 2nd day winner.

"Soldiers Stories"

Tonight I received a PDF file from my friend Sylla at the United Aromatherapy Effort.

It was scans of thank you notes... hand written on legal pads... thanking us for the products we sent to our "soldier on the ground"... well, they weren't thanking us... they were thanking the UAE. But they named and wrote of using our products...and the gratitude these young (and some not so young) troops expressed has me in tears.

Blogger won't let me import a PDF file. I could save them as text files and post them here (and I might)... but the original PDF file may be viewed on our website at: http://www.naturesgift.com/PDF-Files/SolderStories.pdf Please go read their thanks for some simple basic aromatherapy products. And consider donating to the UAE to support their work.

You will need a copy of the Adobe Acrobat PDF Reader to view the file. You probably already have it on your computer. If not, you may download it here.

Well, because they are all hand written, the file refused to save as text. (The computer can't read their writing ;)

Will we be sending more? Of course we will!

Healing - on so many levels

The healing power of these oils always leaves me in awe.

Sometimes we receive an email that just brings tears to my eyes. Many of you know the story behind our Magdalene's Anoint.

This afternoon I received the email below from a first time client who ordered a week or so ago. Among the items were a bottle of Madalene's Anoint, and a package of sample vials.. Today she wrote the following:

Hi,

You see, I have this difficult sister and every time I hear from her I

tend to get lost in circular thinking for a few days. I just cannot

stop thinking about this woman. I have these ridiculous conversations

with her in my head, where I really make my point, all the while

knowing that she will never see the point. It's torture.

I heard from her the other night. So I thought I'd put your

Magdalene's Anoint to the test. I put some in one of my little

containers and just sat it by me as I went about my business. Every

time the scent would waft over to me, I would pick it up and take a

bigger whiff. I found it impossible to think about her at all. The

next day she was gone, I didn't waste any thoughts on her.

I've been trying to master this problem for years,

Thank you,

Arriba

my response?

Arriba...thank you so much for writing...

I'm sitting here with tears in my eyes....

see... I am ohsofamiliar with letting people live in my head, rent free... and I do know the conversations...and then she'll say, and I'll have to...and and and... the dialogue and the drama, and the CHAOS.

the interesting thing is... Magdalene's anoint is about SELF forgiveness, as well as forgiveness of others... more, I think, about forgiving us... letting ourselves heal...

Thank you..

What is interesting is the fact that the Magdalene anointing oil is far and away the *weakest* of our blended oils... (because it originated as a Hospice blend... before we redesigned it)... and so aromatically, because it IS so diluted, it's very mild..almost below the conscious level of perception... but the energetics of it... ah... now that is another story...

NOW... this is the question that gets difficult... it is SO important that we share experiences like this... Because *I* can say all day long that it is capable of aiding in some powerful spiritual healing... but that's ME, and folks just think it's sales hype or whatever...

I would love to be able to share your experience... perhaps in our Nature's Gift blog or ??? with your permission. I suspect you'd not want your name used ;)...

again, thank you for writing... you letter has been a true bright spot in a cold wet NASTY day ;)

and...she said yes. So here it is. I *know* the oils have an important role to play in our journeys of spiritual healing. But having this sort of feedback is.... a reminder of why we are here!

Care Packages

Some of you may remember that a month or more the United Aromatherapy Effort sent out a request for aromatherapy supplies to support troops in Afghanistan. As usual, Nature's Gift responded immediately. After seeing the conditions to be addressed, and the requests, we sent a huge box filled with our SineEase inhalers, and bottles of FreshAire and GermBeater room sprays. Last week Sylla received a thank you note that seemed to refer directly to the products we had donated... here it is:

Here is his email (with permission and name removed of course!)-just so you

all know we are serving ALL troops, not just our own from USA; Jim (The "Soldier on the Ground" who distributes the goodies) has access to NATO troops from over 50 countries besides ours.....and he is quite enjoying strolling his supplies through undiscovered parts of CampPhoenix and handing out stuff, meeting lots of soldiers he wouldn't have

met. (and this means that even if you don't live in the USA know we are

taking care of your troops too).

""Dear ladies,

By way of introduction, my name is Major *************, and I am currently

serving in support of the International Security Assistance Force in

Afghanistan with Jim. I was taken aback by your organisation's generosity

and consideration with the care package of aromatherapy goods that you have

sent to the forces.

Your aromatherapy items were received in the most positive manner here. As

you can imagine we live in quite confined living quarters with limited to no

ventilation. Now I have the pleasure of walking into my sleeping space with

a scent I feel more relaxed in and I am certainly no longer confronted with

the musty smell of Afghanistan.

I have made use of the scented air spray and germ spray consistently in my

room to rid it of bad odors and to clean my living area to remain germ free

and healthy. Along with being more relaxed the scents also generally remind

me of the normalcy of home. With the flu season now upon us I am aware that

your products have also brought some relief to my mates affected with sinus

congestion.

Jim has done a great job explaining to people about our organisation and

distributing the items in the care pack.

Just so you are aware of who your care packages are reaching, I am actually

an Australian from Darwin in the Northern Territory. I understand that you

have visited Australia Sylla, and I can only hope that you were treated with

the same friendliness that your countrymen have treated me both here and

from people like yourselves back in the States.

With my thanks, yours sincerely

********(removed)

Major

Australian Cavalry

(I was so excited to see a copy of that email, that I just had to share it. And if you are the parent or loved one of someone serving ... this is a suggestion for adding to the care packages I am sure you are sending.)