Dear Julia:

Recently I decided to use rosehip oil on my face, neck, breasts, hands, stomach and feet, as it's highly recommended for skin problems. Last night I applied it all over and went to bed and had the strangest dream. I don't remember the details, but I felt like I had gone to a previous life or to some dimension beyond this world. When I woke up, I knew that it wasn't just a dream - I had really gone somewhere extraordinary. I woke up quite refreshed. I wish I could remember all the details, but all I can remember is standing around, speaking to people in a very pleasant atmosphere. Do you think the rosehip oil had anything to do with this?
K.

Dear K:

Essential oils are aromatic liquids extracted from the flowers, leaves, blossoms, seeds, stems, bark and roots of various plants. Since essential oils are the most concentrated, therapeutic form of the plant, they can be very potent. Most medicines are derived from plants in a similar fashion, though their active ingredients may be isolated. Many people don't realize that the ingredients in some lotions and essential oils can be absorbed into the body through the skin. (This is how the ingredients in nicotine and hormone replacement patches are delivered.) I think the first thing to consider is that in covering your whole body with rosehip oil, you may have medicated yourself into an altered state of consciousness.

Fragrant plants and oils have been used for healing purposes since ancient times. In fact, they are the oldest form of medicine known to humankind. They may be used as massage oils, to scent healing baths, taken as medicine, burned as incense in healing ceremonies, or used for other ritualistic purposes. For example, dabbing a special blend of essential oils on the sixth chakra can open the third eye and facilitate psychic perception.

None of my research indicated that rosehip oil is psychotropic, but then it's generally not used for this purpose, so that effect may not have been noted yet. On a more metaphysical level, Bach Flower remedies can be used to connect you with higher dimensions through your dreams; since each plant has a special vibration, coating yourself with oil from any plant should affect your aura and energy in some way.

Another aspect of this situation that may be important is the power of aroma, which acts directly on the brain like a drug. Rosehip oil has a very distinct smell that isn't considered particularly pleasant, so it's usually masked by the addition of another scent such as rose. (Rosehip oil does not come from rose flowers; it's derived from the seeds of the Rosa Mosqueta fruit.)

Smells directly act on the limbic system, which is part of the primal, reptilian brain. The limbic system is the seat of our emotions and greatly affects our state of mind and heart, so when we affect the limbic system via various smells, we directly impact our thoughts and feelings. I don't have room here to go into the details, but smelling is a physical process: when we inhale aromas, molecules in the air connect with odorant receptors in our bodies, which creates biological changes.

For example, research has shown that the scent of lavender increases alpha brave waves, which are associated with relaxation. By contrast, the scent of jasmine increases beta waves, which would make us feel more focused and alert. Depending on the properties of certain odors, as well as our learned associations based on our personal experiences with those odors, various aromas may cause us to feel more relaxed, stimulated, calm, focused, dreamy, hungry, satisfied, sensual, etc.

I'm betting that your rosehip oil was scented with rose perfume. The scent of rose is known to facilitate love and beauty as well as encourage psychic powers, divination, healing and protection. Rose is all about love, and love is the ultimate force of healing in the Universe, so coating yourself with rose-scented oil could certainly shift you into a higher level of spiritual healing. Of course, one way to find out if this is what happened is to keep a dream journal and note what happens when you use the rosehip oil before bed, versus the quality of your dreams when you forgo that treatment.

You say that you were treating yourself for skin problems. As we all know, physical problems have spiritual roots. When we undertake any healing process, it's natural to receive guidance from our higher selves or Spirit via our dreams. In consciously seeking healing for your skin, you may have opened up some deeper emotional or spiritual issues, and this dream may reflect that deeper healing.

By working with the energy of the plant from which the oil was derived, it's also possible that you initiated a whole new level of healing that is not directly related to your skin problems. Plants have special healing properties, so in using rosehip oil all over your body, you may have launched yourself into a whole new level of vibrational healing. For more information on the sacred use of plant energy to initiate metaphysical change, research herbology.

Since smells can alter our state of consciousness and forge direct links to the subconscious mind, a smell can also spark the sudden remembrance of a past life or draw buried past life issues to the surface even if we don't consciously know that is happening. As we ponder the complex reactions we may have to various smells, it's wise to remember that not only our past experiences in this life will come into play, but also our past experiences in other lives. Since aromatic plants and oils have been used throughout history for spiritual purposes, these scents may prove particularly powerful.

For example, in past lives we may have been anointed with special oils at birth, when sick or dying, during marriage rituals and ceremonies, and during religious initiations and services. We may have employed incense during rituals to honor the gods and ask for blessings, or used sage smoke to cleanse the atmosphere. We may have been anointed with special oils for protection whenever we traveled from home. If we had any esoteric training in past lives, we no doubt regularly used incense and oils to facilitate meditation and other spiritual practices. Most of us thus have a very long and profound history with certain natural aromas.

When we smell something that we learned to associate with spiritual states of consciousness in another time and place, we may immediately shift into an altered state. This is one reason I believe incense has such a strong psychic effect on some of us: we respond not only to the particular properties of the plants from which the scent is derived, but if we have a long history of smelling that scent during spiritual rituals, we can be transported into altered states that we regularly visited in other lifetimes.

It certainly sounds like some property of this oil (its smell, energy or chemistry) opened you up to a new dimension of dream experience. It either raised your vibration and led you to visit higher realms via your dream, or it brought back memories of a past life, which you then revisited as you slept that night. I hope you do experiment and keep a journal of your results; perhaps you've discovered a way to manifest beautiful skin and soulful dreams at the same time!

- Julia