In India the jasmine plant is called “queen of the night” or ~moonshine in the garden.” This plant with blossoms the color of moonlight generously emits, especially at night, a magical fragrance. Like the waters of a sweet river, this fragrance penetrates the deepest layers of our soul, opening the doors to our emotions.

The essential oil of jasmine influences the emotional part of us. The fragrance penetrates and diminishes fear. No other essential oil is quite as capable of changing our mood so intensely. Jasmine oil does not simply lighten our mood, it brings euphoria to darkness. Jasmine is helpful for recapturing self-confidence and defeating pessimism. Jasmine offers little choice other than optimism.
jasmine is especially helpful for emotional dilemmas, particularly when they involve relationships and sex. Existing problems seem easier to solve, because they usually result from seemingly irresolvable emotional blocks. Psychological tension, coldness, fear, and paranoia all may be reduced with jasmine, a powerful, inspirational fragrance. And jasmine’s effectiveness is quite different from, say, lemon verbena, hyssop, or cypress. To adequately describe its magic would require poetry.
In a secret way queen of the night excites sensuality. As if touched by a silvery wand, men and women under its influence open up to sensual love.

Natural sensuality grows from a state of wholeness, which requires that we trust ourselves and others. Jasmine helps set the stage for experiencing warm love, total abandon, trust, and relaxed physical awareness. It envelops people with a mantle of mystery and magic.

In India people have known about the power of the jasmine plant for centuries. Many portrayals of lovers bathed in moonlight near a garden or lake include the jasmine plant, which mirrors the mysterious moonlight in its blossoms.
Jasmine seems to increase the attractiveness of the person wearing it. Perfumes containing jasmine have always sold well. The essential oil increases intuitive powers like its counterpart among precious stones, the moonstone. On a higher plane, jasmine represents intuitive wisdom. Undiluted with its dark, mahogany color, the oil is almost too strong; it possesses strong yang energies. The more diluted the oil, the more the female yin energy is brought out. The gentler the fragrance, the more effective this essential oil will be.

Jasmine oil is particularly beneficial for treating women’s health problems. This uterus tonic helps support childbirth; it also aids in milk production and menstruation. A highly diluted oil—i to 3 drops with a 3½ fluid ounces base oil—is wonderful for massages during pregnancy. It helps relieve backache; simply massage the painful area. It reduces muscle cramps and joint pain—helping women feel warm and relaxed.

Jasmine oil is an important ingredient in cosmetic products used to treat dry, aggravated skin. It is also used to treat dermatitis and eczema. It is especially valuable for psychosomatic disorders. The skin, which mirrors feelings, often reveals unresolved psychological problems. Essential jasmine oil affects the whole body and mind—when the oil is applied directly to the skin, the body’s surface, or when inhaled, the fragrance reaches the emotional center of the brain. Jasmine may redirect feelings of fear, sadness, and pessimism that often precede illness. A fragrance like jasmine that creates euphoria stimulates the brain which releases the neurotransmitter encephaline, a substance that acts as an analgesic and generates feelings of pleasure and euphoria.

Jasmine oil, very close in chemical structure to human perspiration, is unique in its ability to be absorbed by the skin. It is, therefore, a wonderful fragrance for creating individualized perfumes as well as other cosmetics. Jasmine makes bath oils and body lotions special. The essential oil ofjasmine should only be used externally, due to the way it is extracted. Jasmine is very stubborn—its fragrance will not be released by steam distillation. In the past, enfleurage—an extraction method using pork fat—was used. Glass panes were covered with pork fat and a tool combed the surface. The blossoms were carefully spread over created peaks and valleys and slowly yielded their essential oil to the fat. After two days, the blossoms were removed, and new ones added, until the pork fat could not absorb more essential oil. The oil was then separated from the fat with alcohol. The fragrance of the oil produced this way is unequaled. But this expensive method is used only for demonstration purposes today.

Today, jasmine oil is generally produced by extraction that involves the use of a solvent, like hexane or a petro-ether, or even chlorinated hydrocarbon or tetrachlormethane. These solvents are subsequently evaporated, but the minute quantities that do remain are very toxic. That’s why a distributor of essential oils should investigate the solvent residues that may remain in the oil, to guarantee a clean oil. Differences in the quality of oils vary greatly from those with many residues to oils that are virtually pure. The so-called jasmine concrete (solid)—the substance filtered out after extraction with solvents—is dark with a waxy consistency. This product may be further treated with alcohol to yield 50 percent jasmine absolute (liquid). Aromatherapy recommends this liquid for external use only.

Jasmine is a very expensive essential oil, which is understandable, since many blossoms are necessary for making a tiny amount of oil. For 1 pound of essential jasmine oil about 1,000 pounds or 3.6 million fresh, handpicked blossoms are needed. A very experienced collector in Morocco can harvest from 10,000 to 15,000 blossoms in a day. But these blossoms are very sensitive. They must be collected before sunrise; otherwise, much of the fragrance will have evaporated.

Furthermore, the quality of blossoms is compromised if they have been squashed. Also, the plant needs much care. It will refuse to bloom if unwatered for prolonged periods or when frost arrives. Jasmine was imported from Persia to Europe in the 16th century. Grasse, a town in the South of France, became the principal supplier of jasmine oil, but that region can no longer meet the high demand. Today, huge plantations can be found in Morocco, Algeria, China, and India. By far the largest is in Morocco. The cumbersome production process explains the high cost of the oil. Depending on the quality, 1 pound of essential jasmine oil can cost from $1,200 to $4,500. Of course, the synthetic oil may be obtained for as little as $3.50 a pound.
Much of what is sold as jasmine oil is fake or has been stretched with other ingredients. When buying it, one should be sure to choose a reputable producer or dealer. Detecting a fake jasmine oil is not difficult, since it usually has a powerfully sweet, cheap smell.

A few years ago a friend of mine returned from Tunisia with a small bottle of jasmine oil as a gift. He described in detail the man who sold him this precious substance at an open market. The vendor, an old farmer, told him, to inspire confidence, that this oil had come from his own farm. The farmer claimed that he didn’t simply grow the plant, but distilled the oil himself as well. He assured my friend that the oil was 100 percent pure. How could this farmer find synthetic oil in the first place, my friend reasoned. Only years later did I confide that my friend had been duped. According to a chemical analysis, this jasmine oil supposedly from the Tunisian hinterland turned out to be a synthetic imitation.