Olive Oil

The Benefits of Liquid Gold

We have featured articles on castor oil and peanut oil; however, another frequently mentioned oil is olive oil, occurring in nearly 1,400 readings. Like both castor and peanut oil, olive oil also has many beneficial effects and multiple uses, some of which may surprise you. Aside from its common usage as a dressing for salads or as a lubricant for massages, the oil, in some instances, was also recommended for a flannel cloth pack, plus an ingredient in an enema and a fume for a steam bath.

A prime component of the Mediterranean Diet, olive oil is a natural juice and the only vegetable oil that can be consumed as is, freshly pressed from the fruit. The olive tree, which has been cultivated for centuries for its oil-bearing fruit, is a small evergreen native to the Mediterranean area (except for Egypt). It has lance-shaped leaves and is mentioned a number of times in the Bible; an olive branch is considered a symbol of peace. The oil can be applied both internally and externally.

INTERNAL APPLICATIONS

LAXATIVE

In the Cayce readings, olive oil taken orally, is a laxative from which anyone may benefit. Application directions are described in this typical excerpt, which emphasizes the readings’ principle of consistency:

“Be well for everybody to take olive oil…taken occasionally, that is consistently two or three days, and then leave it off. Don’t take it one day with only one dose and then be three or four days before taking another dose! Take it every two or three hours, the small quantities, for two or three days, then leave it off altogether for two or three days!” (Cayce)

Small amounts (ranging from a few drops or sips to one-fourth, one-third, or one half a teaspoon up to two teaspoons), taken often (every few hours or four to five times a day), are more effective than one large dose (one or two tablespoons or half a teacup) taken at once. A possible explanation for this advice? “Not sufficient that this becomes rancid in the system, see, but that acts as a lubricant and as a food for the digestive system…” (Cayce) As a laxative, it was to be taken no more or less than what one’s body could assimilate. Belching or feeling nauseous would indicate that too much has been consumed; in that case, reduce the quantity. Usually the person was told to continue the small doses “until there is good evacuation from the alimentary canal.” (Cayce)

Numerous other references in the readings mention the use of olive oil as a food, its easily assimilated quality,
and its helpfulness “to any intestinal disturbance.” (Cayce) As a cathartic (a medicine to stimulate or increase the frequency of bowel evacuation; a purgative or laxative), it was considered the least irritating and most effective remedy in improving one’s eliminations, as noted in this reading:

“For, as we have oft indicated, the Olive Oil is a real food value for the whole of the digestive system, as well
as an assistant to the better eliminations or activities of the peristaltic movement of the bowels themselves.” (Cayce) The peristaltic movement refers to the wavelike motions, alternating between muscular contraction and relaxation, by which the food content is moved throughout the alimentary canal. Olive oil, taken periodically then in small quantities, assists this process and is good “medicine” for improving eliminations.

WITH CASTOR OIL PACKS

Anyone doing a series of castor oil packs is usually advised to ingest a one-time dose of olive oil after the final pack of the series. (Only a few readings mention taking it on the same days as the packs.) The purpose of the oil is “to purify or to drain the colon, as well as the gall duct.” (Cayce) Other readings note that it will “cleanse the alimentary canal” (Cayce), “make for the coordinating of that produced by the absorption of the Castor Oil” (Cayce), and “eliminate the poisons and accumulations.” (Cayce)

While amounts of the oil ranged from one or two teaspoons, several tablespoons, or one-fourth to one-half a
teacup, it was generally a portion that one could absorb comfortably. Those with a history of gallbladder or liver trouble, according to Dr. Harold Reilly, are advised to ingest the minimum amount.

AFTER THE APPLE DIET

On the last day of the three-day apple diet (eating only raw apples and drinking lots of water), that evening, at bedtime, one was to drink a “big dose of Olive Oil” (Cayce) or “half a cup (teacup) of Pure Olive Oil.” (Cayce)

Three days of raw apples followed by the olive oil “will cleanse all toxic forces from any system!” (Cayce)

ON SALADS

“(Q) How much olive oil on a salad at a meal? (A) Teaspoonful.” (Cayce) The olive oil seasoning on a salad
“is a food, and not a fat” (Cayce) and gives “proper toning of the digestive system.” (Cayce)

AS AN ENEMA

Enemas administered with an olive oil base, for one individual, would relieve pressure and irritation from the kidneys and bladder (Cayce). Another was advised to have a gentle enema, placing olive oil (about half a pint) in the first enema “so that there may be the relaxing.” (Cayce) One reading states: “We would also give enemas of olive oil to relieve the distress as is seen in the muscular forces in the descending colon.” (Cayce)

EXTERNAL APPLICATIONS

SHAMPOO

An olive oil hair tonic or any olive oil-based shampoo, according to the readings, was preferable to other products
on the market. For an itchy scalp, one woman was advised to rub into her scalp some olive oil placed on the tips of her fingers (504-2). One sixty-year-old woman, who received a reading in 1931 regarding her hair tonic preparation, asked about the use of olive oil and was offered this suggestion: “Do not have too much of the olive oil, or too much of the coconut oil, or too much of any of the oils—but sufficient that they give their lustre in their proper relationships.” (Cayce)

Several more readings extracts follow:“(Q) What shampoo should be used for hair?“(A) Any that carries sufficient of the olive oils…” (Cayce)“(Q) How can I best care for my hair and keep it light, and from turning dark at the roots?
“(A) Use an Olive Oil Shampoo. This as we find would be the better way. Shampoo it at least once each week.” (Cayce)

SOAP

“For making or keeping a good complexion for the skin, the hands and arms and body as well,
we would prepare a compound to use as a massage by self, at least once or twice each week. … peanut oil, add olive oil, rose water, lanolin (NaturaRose^™). This would be used after a tepid
bath in which the body has remained for at least 15 to 20 minutes, giving the body then, during the bath, a thorough rub with any good soap, to stimulate the body forces. As we find, Sweetheart or any good Castile soap…… may be used for such.” (Cayce)

PACKS

Four instances of flannel cloth packs saturated in hot olive oil were mentioned. For one seventy-year-old woman, suffering from colitis, the cloth was to be placed “on abdomen and side” to “assist more in breaking up these attacks and give more stimulation to the walls of the intestinal tract, by increasing the circulation.” (Cayce) In an earlier reading she was told to place the pack “across the intestine and lower bowel, where these troubles show in the walls of intestine…” (Cayce)

A two-year-old girl, also suffering from colitis along with fever, received her fifth reading on June 3, 1928. It noted that whenever she had pain or “a hardening of the region about this portion where trouble occurs; that is, in the right side, in the ascending colon,” she was to “apply hot packs, or very warm packs, just so it will not burn the body…” (Cayce) The mother later reported that her daughter was much improved.

Another woman was told to mix equal amounts of olive and peanut oil and apply the heated “heavy flannel or toweling” pack to areas on her back that needed relaxation; she was advised to do this each time prior to her osteopathic adjustments (Cayce).

In the last case drops of spirits of camphor were added to the heated oil, and the pack placed “across the lower end of stomach, liver, and the right side,” changing the pack every twenty to twenty-five minutes, until a reaction is produced in the liver (Cayce). This case was an eight-year-old girl, suffering with a fever and cold, whose parents obtained this emergency physical reading; coincidentally it was obtained on June 11, just eight days after [608]’s reading mentioned above. Three days later her mother reported that [4611] was “getting along very nicely now.”

STEAM BATHS

For a forty-year-old man, suffering from toxemia and past physical problems, the reading advised a cabinet sweat bath in which a little olive oil mixed with witch hazel was added to the boiling water to create a fume for a moist heat bath. This is the only occurrence of olive oil being used in such a way.

MASSAGE

The most common suggestion for external applications of olive oil is as a lubricant for massage. One reading states succinctly: “As given, as known and held by the ancients more than the present modes of medication, olive
oil—properly prepared (hence pure olive oil should always be used)—is one of the most effective agents for stimulating muscular activity, or mucus-membrane activity, that may be applied to a body.” (Cayce)

Another reading adds: “…for few oils there be that are as much food for the tissue and muscular forces of the body as of the olive oil.” (Cayce)

Considered a “skin food” (noted in several readings), olive oil can also be combined with other substances (tincture of myrrh, castor oil, or peanut oil; equal parts) and rubbed into the body, as much as the body can absorb. Its absorption makes for greater elasticity (in the abdominal walls, when massaged into the abdomen), prevents adhesions from forming, relieves soreness, stimulates blood and lymph circulation, and is “very strengthening to the body…” (Cayce)

ADDITIONAL NOTES

Although the adjective “pure” was mentioned a little over one hundred times and“virgin” mentioned just once, it can be generally assumed that the readings meant the type of oil is to be of high quality, less refined, and the least processed. Contrary to some misconceptions, the following oils are not mentioned in the Cayce readings: almond, canola, grape seed, safflower, and sesame.

OTHER PRODUCTS FEATURING OLIVE OIL

Baar^® Products knows the incredible benefits of olive oil and has dedicated years developing formulas for wonderful skincare featuring this amazing oil. Look for all our great products from lip balms and shampoos to lotions and oils.

Such As:

Elaine Hruska

Elaine Hruska is a therapist at the A.R.E. Houston Spa and former teacher at the Cayce/Reilly* School of Massotherapy. This article is reprinted with permission by Venture Inward Newsletter, Virginia Beach, VA.

www.baar.com    Baar Products is the Official Edgar Cayce Company