Oil of Neroli

Like several other citrus fruits, the bitter orange has seen a rich cultural and commercial history from its very origins in Southwest China (Yunnan) and North Vietnam. This is reflected in its Arabic name Naranj, which derives from the Sanskrit Nagranja. When Arab traders in their fast dhows finally made the first successful sailing trip to Guangzhou in 807, they returned to Siran or Basra laden with tree cuttings and its fruit, along with silk, spices and chinaware. With the expansion of their territories, they moved the bitter orange overland to Syria, Palestine, Egypt and westward to North African Mediterranean countries. In 1002 the bitter orange tree was noted in Sicily, gracing the first European botanical garden in Palermo long before the arrival of the sweet or Portugal orange. In the 10th century Arab settlers then developed the first lemon and orange plantations in Mediterranean Tunisia, Sicily, Malta, Calabria and Al Andalus; these were laid out with excellent irrigation systems, some of which survive to this day. By the 13th century, the prized fruit was enjoyed at courts from Andalusian Seville to Italian Padua and Venice for its beautiful colour and versatile culinary uses. Moreover, the tree was also widely cultivated in Italy for its brilliant white flowers, which were also distilled both at court and in private homes for their refreshing floral water. Today, the bitter orange is still widely cultivated in Tunisia, Sicily and Morocco, where the essential oil and floral waters are also distilled and exported.

Oil of Neroli Spreads Through Europe

The essential oil of the bitter orange flowers, called Neroli today, was only produced by apothecaries in the early 1500s in the South of France. Along with rose oil, jasmine and many other aromatics, it was routinely used by the gantiers-parfumeurs in Grasse for fragrancing fine leather gloves. However, it took a French princess, Anne Marie de La Tremoille, who married into the Italian Nerola family near Rome, to make a real fashion statement of this oil with her aromatic gloves. Lavishly, extravagantly dousing her gloves and other garments with the heady, floral notes of bitter-orange oil, she set an unstoppable trend in the 1680s that lasted well into the heady 1780s. In the process, the oil itself was renamed ‘oil of Neroli’. The patronage of Madame de Pompadour in the late 1740s in turn supported the production of Neroli-scented gloves. As the king’s leading mistress possessing ‘exquisite and unerring taste’, she delighted in promoting the revival of many small arts and crafts. This notably included perfumery; her patronage stimulated the development of French natural perfumery to new heights of sophistication before its collapse with the Revolution.

The Unique Chemistry of Oil of Neroli

Although first described by Della Porta in 1563, the pharmacognosy of Neroli oil was first investigated by French researchers Bonastre in 1825 and Von Boullay in 1828. With a very complex and balanced chemistry that is polarized between monoterpenols and monoterpenes, the oil has the potential to both relax and restore the whole system – with the net result of an excellent regulating effect on the autonomic nervous system. Although in French medicine Neroli is often compared to Petitgrain bigarade (the twig and leaf oil of the bitter orange), their emphasis is somewhat different. While Petitgrain with its prominence of esters and monoterpenols is more relaxant than restorative, Neroli with dominant monoterpenols and monoterpenes is more restorative than relaxant, as well as somewhat stimulant.

Indications

Neroli’s essential indication for both symptom relief and as a terrain oil is chronic weak and tense conditions involving the cardiac, vascular and digestive systems. The oil exerts a strong trophorestorative effect on the brain and whole nervous system, making nervous exhaustion, chronic depression and chronic fatigue important indications. As an inhibitor of sympathetic nervous activity, Neroli is also a good spasmolytic and analgesic for virtually any acute or chronic cardiovascular event, especially with emotional trauma present in the case history. Because of its superb regulating effect on the autonomic nervous system, Neroli is one of the best aromatics for autonomic dysregulation and stronger than Petitgrain in this respect. It should again be considered when either cardiac or emotional pathology is involved. Less used but equally useful are Neroli’s stimulant action on all the organs of upper digestion, including the pancreas and gallbladder. Its sesquiterpenols nerolidol and farnesol have been found to possess anticancer properties (Bowles 2003).

European Favorite

It is no accident that Neroli oil, like the floral water, became a perennial favourite of women at Italian and French courts from the Renaissance onwards. The pure white orange flowers with their intoxicating indolic fragrance have always been linked to one or other aspect of woman, of the feminine principle. Although in the West the flowers are a traditional emblem of female purity, chastity and even virginity (similarly to the lily), they also imply the presence of female passion. Their scent manages to be at once uplifting and divine, and an aphrodisiac. In the South of France there is an interesting tradition of using orange blossoms as bridal decoration – in the bridal wreath, for instance. The significance here is purity of both physical and spiritual love mingled with heartfelt joy. In short, Neroli is an emblem of heartfelt feminine love and passion as an integrated, non-dual expression.

Refined Profile

With its refined, uplifting sweet-floral fragrance, Neroli as an aromatic remedy also represents refinement and purification. It evokes the theme of elevating physical love into spiritual love, redeeming sexual desire by a longing for true intimacy, and transforming pathological emotions into pure feelings. Certainly, practitioners often value Neroli for helping resolve distressed emotions such as anger, bitterness, jealousy and resentment; it is also one of the key oils for treating unresolved sexual trauma and its sticky residue of shame. Here Neroli’s well-established euphoric, mood-elevating effect creates a true enlightening effect, lightening the emotional darkness and intensity, and promoting hope and true optimism.

Integrating & Harmonizing

However, as a result of supporting this process of transformation, Oil of Neroli ends up being truly integrating and harmonizing at all levels. Integrating body and soul, Neroli expresses the potential for a refined sensuality and a unified, non-dual love; and for the lyrical yet embodied expression of emotion. No less than other sweet, citrusy oils, Oil of Neroli is highly effective for re - establishing emotional balance and stability, regardless of the types of conflict present and the original causes of imbalance. The oil’s physiological action on the heart as the supreme regulating organ – restoring, regulating and calming, as needed – is a physical expression of this harmonizing effect.

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