John Steele (aromatic consultant)
Encyclopedia
John J. Steele is an aromatic consultant, archaeologist, author and thinker. His work, whether with aromas or philosophy, engages questions about the nature of memory, time, consciousness and being. Among other notable thinkers, he has worked with Terence McKenna
and Paul Devereux
.
While his work is often closely related to the psychology of fragrance, in talks and writings Steele also explores Buddhism, Vedic culture, the great yugas
, geomancy
and geomantic amnesia, geobiology
, time out of balance, shamanism
, the effects of geological formations on human consciousness, cross state retention, and the importance of sacred sites and spaces.
With Paul Devereux and David Kubrin, John Steele is co-author of EARTHMIND: Communicating with the Living World of Gaia (Destiny,1992), a book which explores ways of interfacing with the earth for planetary healing. John Steele also contributed an essay, "Perfumeros and the Sacred Use of Fragrance in Amazonian Shamanism," to the book The Smell Culture Reader, an anthology edited by Jim Drobnick and published by Berg in 2006.
Together with aromatherapy
researcher Robert Tisserand, Steele has studied the effects on brain wave patterns when essential oils are inhaled or smelled. They found that calming oils have a sedative, tranquilizing effect and function by altering the brain waves into a rhythm that produces calmness, while stimulating oils work by producing a heightened energy response.
As an aromatic consultant, John Steele is reputedly a skilled distiller of essential oils. He has worked with Avraham Sand of Tiferet Aromatherapy, served on the board of the American Aromatherapy Association and consulted for the Aveda Corporation. John Steele has also lectured for the American Society of Perfumers, the Fragrance Foundation, and the Bowers Museum. Steele's fragrance company, Lifetree Aromatix, is based in Sherman Oaks, California. John Steele keeps a low profile, and while Lifetree does not have its own website, the company's products are available from several online retailers.
Terence McKenna
Terence Kemp McKenna was an Irish-American philosopher, psychonaut, researcher, teacher, lecturer and writer on many subjects, such as human consciousness, language, psychedelic drugs, the evolution of civilizations, the origin and end of the universe, alchemy, and extraterrestrial beings.-Early...
and Paul Devereux
Paul Devereux
Paul Devereux is an author, researcher, lecturer, broadcaster, artist and photographer based in the Cotswolds, England. Devereux is a Research Fellow with the International Consciousness Research Laboratories group at Princeton University....
.
While his work is often closely related to the psychology of fragrance, in talks and writings Steele also explores Buddhism, Vedic culture, the great yugas
Yuga
Yuga in Hindu philosophy is the name of an 'epoch' or 'era' within a cycle of four ages. These are the Satya Yuga, the Treta Yuga, the Dvapara Yuga, and finally the Kali Yuga. According to Hindu cosmology, life in the universe is created, destroyed once every 4.1 to 8.2 billion years, which is...
, geomancy
Geomancy
Geomancy is a method of divination that interprets markings on the ground or the patterns formed by tossed handfuls of soil, rocks, or sand...
and geomantic amnesia, geobiology
Geobiology
Broadly defined, geobiology is an interdisciplinary field of scientific research that explores interactions between the biosphere and the lithosphere and/or the atmosphere....
, time out of balance, shamanism
Shamanism
Shamanism is an anthropological term referencing a range of beliefs and practices regarding communication with the spiritual world. To quote Eliade: "A first definition of this complex phenomenon, and perhaps the least hazardous, will be: shamanism = technique of ecstasy." Shamanism encompasses the...
, the effects of geological formations on human consciousness, cross state retention, and the importance of sacred sites and spaces.
With Paul Devereux and David Kubrin, John Steele is co-author of EARTHMIND: Communicating with the Living World of Gaia (Destiny,1992), a book which explores ways of interfacing with the earth for planetary healing. John Steele also contributed an essay, "Perfumeros and the Sacred Use of Fragrance in Amazonian Shamanism," to the book The Smell Culture Reader, an anthology edited by Jim Drobnick and published by Berg in 2006.
Together with aromatherapy
Aromatherapy
Aromatherapy is a form of alternative medicine that uses volatile plant materials, known as essential oils, and other aromatic compounds for the purpose of altering a person's mind, mood, cognitive function or health....
researcher Robert Tisserand, Steele has studied the effects on brain wave patterns when essential oils are inhaled or smelled. They found that calming oils have a sedative, tranquilizing effect and function by altering the brain waves into a rhythm that produces calmness, while stimulating oils work by producing a heightened energy response.
As an aromatic consultant, John Steele is reputedly a skilled distiller of essential oils. He has worked with Avraham Sand of Tiferet Aromatherapy, served on the board of the American Aromatherapy Association and consulted for the Aveda Corporation. John Steele has also lectured for the American Society of Perfumers, the Fragrance Foundation, and the Bowers Museum. Steele's fragrance company, Lifetree Aromatix, is based in Sherman Oaks, California. John Steele keeps a low profile, and while Lifetree does not have its own website, the company's products are available from several online retailers.