SPIKENARD - Exceptional Nard / Jatamansi pure oil from the Himalayas

 Artisan distillation of sustainably harvested central Himalayan wild spikenard.

This artisa oil is made following traditional methods, only the rhizome is used for making essential oils. Going one step further, only the thicker rhizomes are selected, richer in essential oils, and, importantly much richer in calarene (the main sedative / relaxing compound in spikenard) than plain raw material.

The lower grade rhizome is used for incense, the higher grade for medicine and high quality slow distillation.

The Scentient experience

Inner warmth, calming, grounding, spiritual, enwrapping, comforting, supportive, inwardly invigorating, centering.

Foster stability in demanding settings (or just another day at the office), cognitive flexibility and emotional relaxation, 

Ideal as a meditative facilitator: Spikenard naturally and effortlessly helps to turn attention inward, providing contemplative inner space and connection to spirit.

Entry into cultural history:

Nard is flowering plant in the honeysuckle family which grows in the Himalayas of Nepal, China, and India. Though it is a flowering plant, like with the case of orris, it is the rhizome that is actually used. It has been used over millennia as a perfume, a traditional medicine, or in religious ceremonies across a wide territory throughout Asia and Europe. It is an important plant of Ayurveda and herbal Chines Medicine, also used in traditional Arabic / Islamic Medicine.

It's oil is a noble ingredient of high perfumery since antiquity, from the Himalayas to Judea, Alexandria and Rome.

Already prized by the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans for both medicine and perfumery, but also to... spike fragrant wines and other drinks, spikenard also features in important biblical episodes full of deep mysticism: acts of selfless love, and sacred ointments before the great sacrifice.

Of course, like with many classical plants of the antiquity, there are different candidates as per the exact kind of Nard(s) referred to. Pliny, in his  Naturalis historia (CE - 77-79) already listed several species used under the umbrella name. 

The ingredient I propose, "Indian Nard"(Nardostachys jatamansi / spikenard) from the central Himalayas, was already known and traded since before biblical name. It is considered the "original" and most important of the historical species called Nard, and the one with the longest history in medicine and perfumery.