The Oil of Thieves

I've been going through the many pictures we have from the trip we took to Scotland. I want to share all of them with you, but I have to be real. This one, in particular, made me think today.

The story goes that during the Black Plague in France in the early 1500s, thieves took advantage of the sick and dying. I’m sure they figured that since they were dead, they wouldn’t need those things. They were caught, and the punishment was being burned alive. However, the judge told them he wouldn’t burn them alive if they told their secret of how they never contracted the disease.  They told their secret and then were hanged.

As if that weren’t interesting enough, they were spice and perfume merchants. And, like our recent lockdowns put some out of business, they were desperate to have an income.

Their secret sauce was almost a sauce for real. It was a mixture of clove, lemon, cinnamon, rosemary and eucalyptus. They rubbed it on their hands, ears, and faces and wore masks soaked in the oils from these oils over their nose and mouths.

Their mixture was so successful that, eventually, doctors used this blend to help them. For the plague, at other times, doctors would wear the big beaked mask with rags soaked in the oils inside the beak. The big beak was designed to ward off the evil spirits, but the beak was a great place to hide the herbs that could help.

I thought of this story as I looked through my pictures, and I used this particular blend in my diffuser because I had a headache.

I think it is wonderful that something so great smelling can be so beneficial.