Spiritual bathing

While I was still bedridden and unable to take a bath I was reading and blogging about a beautiful book by Rosita Arvigo called Spiritual Bathing, which highlights the varied religious practices centered around bathing rituals, weaving in specific recipes for baths using flowers and botanicals. It made me long to be gardening and bathing in equal measure. To read that post, click here: http://iwalkinbeauty.blogspot.com/2008/12/what-im-reading.html

In Oaxacan a bathing ritual I experienced was when Elvia heated up bath water in a bucket and threw in leaves from a lemon tree to scent and soften the water. I was treated to that several times during my visit, and it made for some fragrant water....a luxurious touch to an otherwise very non-luxurious bath experience.

Since my parent's backyard is full of blooming citrus my dad and I cut some leaves for me to bring back to Portland for a lemony Oaxacan bath.

Last night I came home zonked and made myself some homemade bath salts (a mix of epsom salts, sea salt, and baking soda with lavender and rose essential oils) and threw in those lemon leaves. It was DIVINE.