Abstract
This article deals with aromatherapy as a relatively new subject of research for medical anthropology and ethnomedicine. It draws attention to the fact that while Western biomedicine has the monopoly on certain medical practices and provision of medical services, it allows for coexistence of traditional and/or alternative treatments and methods.
The first part of the article focuses on defining aromatherapy as one of the natural holistic methods using essential oils as healing substances affecting the physical as well as mental aspects of the human body. Special attention is paid to analysing aromatherapy from the perspective of the patient's personal participation in the treatment, its control and creation of space for asserting values and standards influencing the quality of health and life.
The following part describes in detail essential oils, their effects and technological procedures of their manufacture. Consequently, the article discusses the methods of application of essential oils.
The last section of the article presents the history and describes various aspects of how essential oils are perceived today, their objective pharmacologic characteristics, how they influence personal experience, their cultural contexts and the formation marketing myths surrounding them. Speaking of marketing, the text elaborates on the issue of commodification of aromatherapy and essential oils, making the consumption of essential oils of primary importance.
Essential oil characteristics are now increasingly dominated more and more by the semiotic layer linked with the meaning and symbols of their use. The overall aim of the article is to present aromatherapy as a relatively new subject of anthropologic research.