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Palo Santo: The Little Stick That Could

Today’s essential oil spotlight is Palo Santo (Bursera graveolens) because it is a lesser known essential oil that helps with so many things. As a resin and an essential oil, Palo Santo is a cousin to Frankincense as it is rich in the terpenes limonene and α-terpineol and has healing, calming, and cleansing properties. The essential oil is extracted from the wood and the fruit of the trees.

A Little About Palo Santo

The name Palo Santo in Spanish means Holy Wood, and the Palo Santo tree is native from the Yucatan Peninsula to Peru and Venezuela. Palo Santo sticks and a Sage bundle are shown in the image because like Sage, Palo Santo sticks are burned as a fragrant incense to ward off evil spirits and purify people’s homes. The essential oil is extracted from 4- to 10-year-old, fully matured and dead twigs and branches of the tree. The resin in the tree starts to form after two years and changes and intensifies with time. Young Living sustainably farms, harvests, and distills Palo Santo on their Finca Botanica farm in Ecuador.
From Young Living
  • Palo Santo essential oil is steam distilled from sustainably wildcrafted wood that has fallen naturally from trees and been allowed to dry for a period of months to years. The Palo Santo Forest at Young Living’s Finca Botanica Farm and Distillery in Ecuador is a fascinating place to visit to witness the newly planted trees and the old trees with dead bark lying ready to be collected and distilled.
  • Palo Santo essential oil comes from distilling old, dead wood that dies a natural death. There are many large fallen trees in the Palo Santo Forest that are connected by one root and, therefore, are still alive. These trees are left to live on.

A Testimonial

My sister had shingles so bad. We tried various combinations of carrier oils and essential oils to help her deal with the neuropathy pain, but none of them worked to totally take it away. Then she found a recipe when looking up uses for Palo Santo and adapted it a little substituting Young Living’s V-6 oil for olive oil.
The recipe below is her take on the one linked here: “A Definitive Guide to Using Palo Santo Essential Oils”.

Julie’s Palo Santo Body Butter Recipe

When Julie used the combination in the recipe below, she said the pain went away, and it took about a month for all the pain to cease. At first, the lotion application eased the neuropathy a little. With each application, the lotion continued to ease her pain more and more until the neuropathy was gone, and she was completely pain free.
Julie also gave it to her mother-in-law to help with an itchy rash on her chest, and the itching stopped immediately. The rash was totally gone in four days.
An added benefit of using this cream is Julie’s skin elasticity has improved, and it is smoother and softer. I’m going to make something similar myself because it sounds like a healthy and healing skin cream. Below is the recipe Julie used. The recipe base I will be using can be found in the article, “DIY Body Butter With Jamaican Black Castor Oil“. It uses the Tropical Isle Living brand of Jamaican Black Castor Oil, which is super emollient and the perfect moisturizer for my skin.
Materials:
  • Glass dispenser bottles
  • Sauce pan
  • Regular mixer or hand mixer
 Ingredients:
  • 1/4 cup YL’s V-6 oil (olive oil in original recipe)1
  • 1/4 cup coconut oil
  • 1/4 cup beeswax
  • 1/4 cup shea butter
  • 2 tablespoons vitamin E (she substituted V-6 because it has vitamin E oil in it, and she didn’t have vitamin E oil)
  • 20 drops frankincense essential oil
  • 10 drops myrrh essential oil
  • 10 drops palo santo essential oil
Directions:
  1. Put YL’s V-6, coconut oil, beeswax, and shea butter in a glass bowl, then place that bowl on top of a saucepan with water. Heat the stove to medium and mix ingredients together.
  2. Once mixed, refrigerator it for an hour until solid. With a regular mixer or hand mixer, beat the mixture until it’s whipped and fluffy, and then add the essential oils and vitamin E and mix.
  3. Fill the container and store in cool place.

About Body Butters

The key to a good body butter is to use organic carrier oils in combinations that work best for your skin type. The essential oils you add are relevant to what you are looking to alleviate or achieve or support in your overall wellness. I’m using the Jamaican Black Castor Oil recipe with the following essential oils for skin protection, inflammation relief, and meditative purposes. Notice they are the same as the essential oils used in Julie’s body butter.

  • Frankincense
  • Myrrh
  • Palo Santo essential oils

In addition to the essential oils, and for additional joint support, I’m adding jojoba oil infused with Frankincense resin (Boswellia Carterii) because it includes the boswellic acid, whereas the essential oil does not.

What body butter base recipes do you favor? We’d love to hear.

 

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Sheri Rose – Educator, Writer, Editor, and Essential Oils Coach – Young Living Brand Partner – Referral # 12488561 https://www.youngliving.com/us/en/referral/12488561 Sheri Rose is an avid reader and writer who enjoys spending time loving on her husband, family, friends, and her three dogs. As an educator, editor/writer, and essential oils coach, Sheri has helped others all her life. She currently studies aromatherapy at the Aromahead Institute and has completed her essential oils coaching certification with Dr. Josh Axe. Essential oils and essential oil products are not just a hobby for her, they are a part of her daily routine, and she loves sharing with others how to use them to create a healthy lifestyle. Overall, Sheri is quirky and kind and compassionate, she works daily to maintain wellness, and she truly cares about the health and wellbeing of others.

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