History of Aqua Oleum
Aqua Oleum is a company with a long history, starting with Julia’s late mother Kerttu, a Finnish biochemist. Kerttu studied essential oils and had a lifelong interest in herbs, as did her mother before her. Family knowledge goes back at least three generations and our interest in essential oils pre-dates the advent of Aromatherapy in the UK by many years.
Kerttu and Julia were concerned more with research than with business - they did not train aromatherapists and chose not to engage in commercial activities, though their research left them well connected with oil suppliers.
Inevitably, however, they were asked by friends to supply essential oils for personal use and eventually were approached by local retailers. As a result Kerttu and Julia started selling oils to a shop in London in 1970, with Julia taking over the business when her mother became ill.
Since the late 1980’s the business has been based near Stroud in the Cotswolds. It remains family-run and is owned by Alec and Julia Lawless. Alec concentrates his efforts on ensuring that the oils we source are of the finest quality, 100% pure and natural essential oils.
Julia has devoted her energies to writing extensively on the subject publishing the Encyclopaedia of Essential Oils and the Complete Guide to Aromatherapy among other titles. In doing so she has gained a reputation for making this complex subject accessible and easy to understand.
Where does the name Aqua Oleum come from?
Aqua Oleum is taken from an ancient alchemical manuscript on the nature of the soul.
Aqua (water) was a favourite symbol of the alchemists and referred to the wisdom of the unconscious. The elusive nature of this wisdom was the spirit Mercurius and was also known as Oleum (oil) due to its ability to penetrate all things and its reluctance to restrict itself to any particular form.
The manuscript also discusses the problems and difficulties of mixing wordly values with those born of Aqua permanens - unchanging water. An essential oil, being the essence of a plant, can be seen as a bridge between spirit and matter. The main concern of Alchemy was the union of these opposites on a psychological level. Water is also used to extract most of the oils from their raw materials.
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