I wouldn’t necessarily have thought of natural hiba – a darker, deeper, smokier hinoki – as working with cinnamon, but this bifocal oil blend – medicinal, haunting, sacred smelling – really does. Along with some Kochi-origined ginger oil (zingy, piquant) I am going to make a homemade arthritic joint ointment (‘jointment’?) later using vaseline. Ordinarily I would I use the trademarked vaseline with a capital V, but the drugstore didn’t have any. Instead, the domestic homebrand, more expensive – when I opened it, looks just like a concentrically swirling zen stone garden in Kyoto
I love hiba, and wouldn’t have thought of combining it with cinnamon either. Hope the ointment is effective or at least feels good to use!
Thanks – it does smell lovely and does seem to ease the joints a bit.
I agree that hiba and nikki seem anti-intuitive but I prefer them together here than separately. Sometimes hiba feels too rough, and I have always hated cinnamon leaf essential oil – so brash and harsh ! But there is a mysterious synergy in this very clever blending that makes the whole more than the sum of its parts – a new smell. The cinnamon becomes devoid of all patisserie connotations – not noticeably a ‘spice’ and very low octave, and the hiba has its forestiness transmuted. The ‘Night Song’ name is very apt – it feels very depths of mellow darkness
We used to carry a frankincense and myrrh blend for arthritis at the pharmacy. Turmeric is very anti inflammatory, I wonder if turmeric oil would help?
I use it in chai etc but have never come across the oil.
Funnily enough I bought a really nice frankincense oil yesterday – it’s such magical stuff