Vitex Berry Essential Oil (Agnus Castus)

Our wild-crafted Corsican Vitex Berry Essential Oil is praised as a powerful balancer of hormones within the body and has been used since ancient times for its reputed ability to regulate female hormones in particular.

Also known as the chaste tree, the vitex tree was thought to purify bodies and spirits. Periodically, the women of Athens would leave their husbands and meet together to partake in the power of this potent berry, which was said to make them pure and chaste.

Native to Mediterranean climates, the vital vitex shrub is written in the works of Pliny the Elder, Dioscorides, in Homer's The Iliad, and recommended by Hippocrates to balance women's cycles. Traditionally, Vitex Essential Oil has been used in aromatherapy to harmonise the body throughout all moon phases.

Botanical Name: Vitex agnus-castus
Botanical Family: Lamiaceae
Extraction Method: Steam distilled
Part of Plant Distilled: Berries and Seeds

Country of Origin: Corsica
Cultivation Method: Wild
Composition: 100% Vitex agnus-castus
Consistency: Thin
Scent Description: herbaceous with hints of minty-fruity thyme
Blends well with: Rose, Lavender, Frankincense, Cypress, Juniper, Geranium, and Grapefruit.

Size: 5ml

Uses: Used to balance the body; use sparingly, one drop at a time on wrists, tummy, or in the bath. Re-equilibrate of moon-time phases. Lovely combined with geranium and marjoram. Balancing in baths.

Contraindications: Pregnancy and women on BCP, IUD, or HRT.

Traditional Uses:

"Vitex is now available as an essential oil, either from the leaf or the seed (stronger activity). It can be used externally, but start out slowly as women report differing results of activity levels." Keville and Green, Aromatherapy: A Complete Guide to the Art

“Unlike any other oil, it actually improves progesterone levels, or more correctly it creates proper estrogen-progesterone balance in the second half of the monthly cycle and therefore eases or eliminates PMS. In fact, it alleviates PMS more effectively than all the other commonly suggested oils that mimic estrogen but do nothing to rectify the crucial balance between progesterone and estrogen.”
~ Kurt Schnaubelt, Medical Aromatherapy: Healing with Essential oils

“Essential oil of Vitex agnus castus is today used by many in the aromatherapy community as a highly effective and safe agent to equilibrate progesterone and estrogen levels, easing PMS and menopausal complaints.”
~ Kurt Schnaubelt, The Healing Intelligence of Essential Oils