We recently went for a walk on Kythnos in the Cyclades in Greece and realised a beautiful scent on the relatively barren hill. On closer inspection we found that in between all the prickly bushes where little shrubs of wild thyme. The aroma was just beautiful. I picked a little bit to use in our cooking and looked it up online when we came back just to make sure I am not going to poison us. It turns out Greece is known for its wild thyme and thyme honey. I made pizza wheels the next day with wild Greek thyme sprinkled through the dough. I just love to utilize plants and their healing & nourishing properties and even better if I can just pick a bit on my walks from the wild.
Back at home in New Zealand I always had a couple of varieties of thyme in the garden. I love to add it to soups, sauces and teas. It has so many culinary uses and a long history as healing herb. Now that we are on our boat and when I don’t happen to have free wild thyme I can also use my essential oils to infuse dishes. I personally would only use doTERRA oils for ingestion / cooking, as lots of other essential oil brands are man made and very low quality.
I looked Thyme up in my books. It turns out the Egyptians used Thyme for embalming and in Greece it has been traditionally used to treat infectious disease.
Thyme has properties to support the respiratory system, the digestive system, the urinary system and the musculoskeletal system. It nourishes skin and hair as well.
Its quite a potent essential oil, so needs to be well diluted, especially for kids. Its best avoided in pregnancy and when having high blood pressure or epilepsy.
Thyme is highly antibacterial, anti fungal, antimicrobial, a great antioxidant, antiviral and antiseptic. Thyme can aid concentration, support you when experiencing Fatique to energize you and has uplifting effects.
I love using plant remedies for emotional support as well. My book Essential Emotions says this about Thyme: Its the oil of releasing and forgiving. Is a powerful emotional cleanser , especially for addressing trapped emotions and unresolved negativity. It addresses emotions, that close our hearts, like anger, hate, resentment and rage. It helps us to open our hearts and let go.
After finding the wild thyme I was so taken in by the smell I made myself a body oil with Thyme, Patchouli and Green Mandarin (just a couple of drops each) with almond and apricot kernel oil as the base oil. They are all not oils that I usually in my body oils, I intuitively choose the combination. Every now and then its nice to experiment with something different.
The next day I felt a lot of anger and wondering what caused those feelings I looked up the emotional properties of Thyme and sure enough it deals to anger… I used the body oil again the next day and had a very vivid dream about a traumatic experience with someone I was in love with a long time ago. I will use it for a few more days to see what else comes up. As with any other natural remedies, try not to get to obsessed with one of them. You should always alternate the use of oils. Thyme is a strong oil, so try it for a few days and then give it a break.
Its amazing how often we are intuitively guided towards the plants that help us to peel back the layers and create more well-being within our selves.
How do you use the plant or essential oil Thyme – curious to hear of your experiences.