Origins of Aromatherapy: A History of Scent, Ritual, and Medicine

From the wisps of smoke curling in a Neolithic cave to the elegant perfume counters of today, aromatherapy has traversed millennia—always holding its place at the crossroads of healing, ritual, and beauty. At Delune, we don’t see essential oils as trends. We see them as tradition. As frequency. As history held in scent. And that story begins long, long ago.

Ancient Smoke: Where It All Began

Imagine the early humans of China, huddled near the mouth of a cave, burning unknown resins in a fire. The pungent smoke was no accident. Whether to cover the stench of decay or communicate with the gods, one thing was certain: the ancients understood that scent had power.

The earliest fossilized resins, charred and used in ceremonial fires, predate written history. Later Chinese records from 2000 BCE list sacred recipes containing cassia, cinnamon, styrax, and sandalwood. These weren’t perfumes. They were portals—ways to honor ancestors, heal the body, and ward off illness and spirits alike.

The Nile’s Secrets: Egypt’s Golden Oils

Egypt elevated scent to an artform. Oils weren’t just fragrant—they were spiritual, medicinal, and political. Frankincense and myrrh played central roles in death rites and embalming. When Carter’s team opened Tutankhamen’s tomb, they found intact jars containing over 450g of resin-soaked oils—still sealed, still fragrant after thousands of years.

Perfume in Egypt was sacred chemistry. Ingredients like terebinth resin and rose petals were blended with care and intention, often preserved in unguent cones worn atop the head to melt and perfume the skin with the day’s heat. Scent was not vanity. It was identity, ritual, and healing. Cleopatra herself was said to spend 40 denarii on unguents—a small fortune, proof that luxury skincare is nothing new.

The Greeks and Romans: Physicians of Fragrance

Greek and Roman doctors didn’t separate scent from science. Dioscorides listed oil preparations for over 200 conditions in his Materia Medica. Pliny the Elder described rose oil distillation in detailed instructions, blending rose, honey, alkanet and more into therapeutic concoctions. Their approach was empirical, meticulous, and deeply intertwined with botanical wisdom.

Galen, the famed Roman surgeon, was the first to identify that blood from veins was darker than from arteries—centuries before modern medicine caught up. He, too, turned to aromatic plants not only for healing, but for understanding the body’s systems. Herbs weren’t add-ons. They were essential tools of medicine and insight.

The Middle East: Distillation & Devotion

While the Western world slipped into the Dark Ages, the Middle East kept the fire of botanical science burning. Avicenna, the Persian polymath, pioneered distillation techniques, likely being the first to extract essential oils from rose petals. He wrote prolifically on medicine, the soul, and scent—laying the groundwork for what we now know as aromatherapy.

The Crusaders & The Trade of Scent

By the 12th century, Crusaders returning from the Holy Lands brought back more than tales of war—they carried oils, spices, and herbal recipes. The spice trade exploded, and distillation knowledge passed from East to West, from alchemists to apothecaries. From Ein Gedi’s balm groves to French perfumeries, the world had caught the scent.

Renaissance to Enlightenment: Oils vs. Pills

Fast forward to the 17th and 18th centuries. Science took a harder, reductionist turn. Medicine split into two camps: orthodox pharmacology and plant-based therapy. Chemists isolated "active" compounds and tried to replicate their effects in synthetic drugs. But something got lost in the process—the synergy of the whole plant, the soul of the oil.

The Rebirth of Aromatherapy

The modern aromatherapy movement reignited in the early 20th century. A turning point came in 1926, when French chemist René-Maurice Gattefossé burned his hand and instinctively plunged it into a vat of lavender oil. The healing was rapid, the scarring minimal, and the result—a rediscovery of plant medicine’s potency.

Jean Valnet, a military doctor, further legitimized the field by applying aromatherapy clinically and publishing data on its effects. Meanwhile, Marcel Bernadet coined “La Phyto-aromathérapie”, and André Passebecq helped frame aromatherapy as both holistic science and spiritual art. From here, the practice spread across Europe and beyond.

The Sixties to Now: From Fringe to Mainstream

The flower children of the 1960s brought their own psychedelic twist to plant medicine. But buried beneath the bell-bottoms and mushrooms was a genuine exploration of the mind-body-soul connection. Aromatherapy evolved once again—this time as a tool for emotional and spiritual healing, not just physical ailments.

Today, essential oils are no longer confined to ancient tombs or dusty monasteries. They live in our homes, on our skin, and in our rituals. Whether for sleep, focus, energy, or abundance, they offer modern souls the same ancient invitation: to reconnect, to align, to feel.

The Legal Evolution: From Fringe to Framework

While the roots of aromatherapy lie deep in ancient ritual, the last 50 years have seen a different kind of transformation—one shaped not by priests or perfumers, but by policymakers.

In the 1980s, the UK saw the birth of structured aromatherapy bodies. The International Federation of Aromatherapy and later the International Society of Professional Aromatherapists established codes of conduct, practice standards, and ethics. This wasn’t just hobbyist territory anymore—aromatherapy was stepping into the world of professional healthcare.

But recognition came with scrutiny. As more people turned to essential oils for wellness, the need for regulation grew. In 1995, Robert Tisserand published Essential Oil Safety: A Guide for Health Care Professionals, setting a new benchmark for clinical-level safety standards. His detailed research helped bridge the gap between ancient wisdom and modern pharmacology. (We at Delune still reference his work often.)

In the United States, a landmark moment arrived on June 5th, 2013, when Colorado passed the Natural Health Consumer Protection Act (SB 13-215). This bill legally protected access to natural medicine—including aromatherapy—so long as practitioners stayed within non-invasive boundaries (no surgery, no needle work, no diagnosing). It gave alternative healers space to work, and recognized the public’s growing desire for holistic options.

These changes mirrored a larger cultural shift. By the early 2000s, the wellness industry had exploded. But with that boom came the need for clarity. Regulations from bodies like the UK’s Medicine’s Control Board and the Federal Drugs Agency began to clamp down on marketing language. “Eczema cream” and “depression oil” became legally off-limits—unless you had clinical data to back it up. Aromatherapy could soothe, uplift, balance—but it could not promise to cure.

This was not a setback. It was a coming-of-age moment. Aromatherapy had moved beyond patchouli-scented clichés. It had earned its place in mainstream healthcare—on its own terms, with safety, structure, and soul.

A New Chapter: Aromatherapy Now

Today, essential oils are more than accessible—they’re respected. There are tens of thousands of qualified practitioners globally. The industry is supported by decades of clinical data, biochemical analysis, and botanical research. And yet… the heart of aromatherapy remains unchanged.

At Delune, we honour this rich legacy in every bottle. Our Pure Essential Oils are tested with our proprietary PristiQuant system—ensuring purity worthy of the gods. Our Organic Wellness Grade oils are monitored from seed to seal with ethical transparency. And our signature scent blends are crafted as modern-day rituals—designed to transform your space and spirit alike.

It’s still about scent. Still about connection. Still about choosing a bottle not just for what it does, but for how it makes you feel.

And the story of aromatherapy is far from over. In fact, it’s only just beginning—again.