adjustments to achieve specific fragrances and attributes. She worked
with a pad and pen so she could record every step as she took it. The
oils were much more expensive than the tinctures; it was devastating
when she had to throw out a batch because she couldn’t remember
whether she’d added the spruce. She made an oil for migraines and an
oil for menstrual cramps, one for sore muscles and one for heart
palpitations. In the coming years she would invent dozens more.
To create her formulas, Mother took up something called “muscle
testing,” which she explained to me as “asking the body what it needs
and letting it answer.” Mother would say to herself, aloud, “I have a
migraine. What will make it better?” Then she would pick up a bottle of
oil, press it to her chest and, with her eyes closed, say, “Do I need
this?” If her body swayed forward it meant yes, the oil would help her
headache. If her body swayed backward it meant no, and she would
test something else.
As she became more skilled, Mother went from using her whole body
to only her fingers. She would cross her middle and index fingers, then
flex slightly to try to uncross them, asking herself a question. If the
fingers remained entwined that meant yes; if they parted it was no. The
sound produced by this method was faint but unmistakable: each time
the pad of her middle finger slipped across the nail of her index, there
was a fleshy click.
Mother used muscle testing to experiment with other methods of
healing. Diagrams of chakras and pressure points appeared around the
house, and she began charging clients for something called “energy
work.” I didn’t know what that meant until one afternoon when
Mother called me and Richard into the back room. A woman named
Susan was there. Mother’s eyes were closed and her left hand was
resting on Susan’s. The fingers on her other hand were crossed, and
she was whispering questions to herself. After a few she turned to the
woman and said, “Your relationship with your father is damaging your
kidneys. Think of him while we adjust the chakra.” Mother explained
that energy work is most effective when several people are present. “So
we can draw from everyone’s energy,” she said. Mother pointed to my
forehead and told me to tap the center, between my eyebrows, while
with my other hand I was to grab Susan’s arm. Richard was to tap a
pressure point on his chest while reaching out to me with his other
hand, and Mother was to hold a point in her palm while touching
Richard with her foot. “That’s it,” she said as Richard took my arm. We