Potions in Action: Lemon Rosemary Vanilla Oil Blend

Picture shamelessly stolen from Wendy and Brian Tie the Knot.

It seems that nearly everyone who has a Pinterest account has at least one Pin linking back to a “Williams-Sonoma Store Scent”, which basically just has you simmer a sliced lemon with a couple bruised rosemary sprigs and two teaspoons of vanilla extract in a half-filled small saucepan or small slow-cooker.  The only trick is really to make sure the liquid doesn’t boil away and to occasionally refresh the vanilla.  I’ve actually used this concoction myself when I feel my house getting funky or I have company coming over.  If the latter is the case, then I just make sure to start the simmer an hour before they are expected so that the scent has time to permeate through the whole house.

Well, I recently acquired an essential oil diffuser and have been experimenting with a variety of different oil blends to help perk up my mood, increase my wellness, and to generally enjoy something pleasant smelling without aggravating my lungs with incense.  A couple favorites in my rotation are my homemade Thieves blend and a commercial “Brain-Aid Synergy Blend” of bergamot, basil, lemon, and grapefruit, and straight-up vanilla.

It was as I was adding a few drops of the vanilla to my diffuser a few nights ago that it occurred to me that I also had lemon and rosemary essential oil on hand.  I knew that I liked the scent combination of the three from the famous Williams-Sonoma simmer, and realized that I had also liked the energy the simmer always brought to my house:  It sort of cleansed everything but left a bright, warm hug linger.  So I turned to my faithful Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs and refreshed my memory on the magical energies of these three plants.

As it happens, lemon and rosemary are sort of each other’s yin and yang.  Lemon has feminine, lunar, and water energies whereas rosemary has masculine, solar, and fire energies.  Both, however, are effective cleansers and purifiers, especially steeped in water for baths or cleansing fluids.  Cunningham notes that both are also effective for use in love work, and he notes that rosemary is useful in improving mental powers.  It’s also been scientifically established that citrus essential oils can be effective antidepressants, and lifting a black mood also has a beneficial on mental acuity.  With regards to vanilla, Cunningham notes that it–like lemon–is aligned with the feminine and with water, but it predominately has Venusian planetary energies.  While it does restore energy and improve the mind, it is primarily a boost to love (and lust) energies.

There you have it:  cleansing and purifying, while brightening mood and mind and inducing loving energies.  It’s hard to beat that combination.

My oils and the resulting blend.

Even better, this is also a very cost-effective blend.  Lemon oil can usually be found for somewhere between $3 and $4 for 15 ml (or 1/2 ounce.  The organic oil I purchased was slightly more expensive at $6.55 for 10 ml, but still quite cheap.  The Herb Shop sells their vanilla oil for just $4.95 for 10 ml, and conventional rosemary is $3.95 for 10 ml.What I did was to combine about 50 drops of lemon oil with about 30 of rosemary and 15 of vanilla in a 1/8 oz/3.7 mL/1 dram bottle.  As you can see, the vanilla oil is a thicker, heavier oil and it does not like to play well with the other two.  After sitting for a few minutes, it largely sinks to the bottom of the vial.  Before using it, then, you’ve got to shake the bottle pretty vigorously.

Overall, I like the scent proportion of this blend, though it may be a touch heavy on the rosemary in comparison to the stove-top simmer, which lets more lemon through.  I think the next time I make it, I will halve the rosemary and work up from there.  The vanilla plays well with the lemon, and I like the proportions used there.  I’ve also noticed that when I diffuse the blend, I get discrete stages of scent.  Rosemary floods when I first start diffusing, but then segues to a combination of lemon/rosemary.  Then as it continues diffusing, the scent gets sweeter and sweeter until it is almost all vanilla.  I rather like that.  It really is as though the lemon and rosemary rush out to clean and purify, and then the vanilla lingers to sweeten and leave loving energy in the wake of the scrub.

Using Oil Diffusing Machines

A few years ago I wrote a post on using a candle-powered oil warmer.  It wasn’t much–just a few tips and tricks for using one safely.  But to this day, that post gets a surprising amount of traffic.  Clearly there’s lots of people out there interested in learning how to get the scents of their essential oils to permeate through a room.

It has, however, been some time since I pulled out the oil warmer.  Truthfully, I need something that I can pretty much ignore while I go about my business and focus my attention on reading, writing, or getting some other mental work done.  I was finding that I was neglecting the oil warmer and allowing all of the water to evaporate.  It only takes scrubbing the dickens out of polymerized oil a few times before you’d do just about anything to avoid doing it again.  So, for the past year or so, I’ve been largely relying on scented candles and incense.  Alas, I really hate scented candles and I am worried enough about smoke inhalation that I try to keep my incense-burning to special occasions only.

Well, a few weeks ago a reader turned me on to electric ultrasonic diffusers.  Use electronic frequencies to cause a small disk under the surface of a liquid (usually water) to vibrate at a very fast rate. These ultrasonic vibrations break the liquid into a vapor (usually steam).  In these diffusers, that steam then travels across a little dish holding a few drops of oil, and it carries that oil through the air.  A fairly nice video detailing the process can be seen below:

These diffusers seem like a good idea.  From my minimal research about the marketplace, it looks like the prices on them range from between $30 to $1000.  Most of the price difference just has to do with how ‘pretty’ the diffuser looks.  If plastic isn’t ringing your aesthetic bells, I’d suggest turning to eBay for some better prices.

Potions in Action: DIY Immune-Support Essential Oil Blend

In the crunchy granola world, using essential oils is a Big. Freaking. Deal.  In fact, I’d go so far as to say that oil enthusiasts might just be bigger proselytizers than any religious group I’ve met yet.  I’ve actually taken to avoiding the Lululemon-wearing yoginis at my local food cooperative lest I be subjected to yet another enthusiastic round of “OMG!  Have you heard about the miracles of doTERRA and Young Living?!”  It gets old in a hurry.

In case you’ve not yet been subjected to this particular terror, doTERRA and Young Living are both companies that promote the use of therapeutic-grade essential oils for all manner of health in your life.  There’s nothing wrong in this in itself; I just happen to feel that they both go a bit too far in their marketing and generally contribute to the problem of cult branding in our contemporary culture.  There isn’t a speck of difference between a doTERRA or Young Living lemon oil and the lemon oil I pick up from The Herb Shop except price:  $4.98 for 15 mL from The Herb Shop and $13.33 and $14.80 for the same amount from doTERRA and Young Living respectively.  I don’t know about you, but I think I know who will be getting my money.

doTERRA’s On Guard ($42.67) and Young Living’s Thieves ($44.41) oils

Now, both of these companies market a ton of special blends at even higher prices than their straight oils, and both have immune-support blends that are almost identical:  doTERRA’s On Guard® Protective Blend and Young Living’s Thieves® Essential Oil.  Both make use of a citrus (lemon for Young Living and orange for doTERRA), clove, cinnamon bark, eucalyptus, and rosemary.  They’re popular blends, and people use them for everything–adding them to soaps and various floor, window, and counter washes, adding a few drops to the dishwasher, diffusing them into the air, putting them into massage oils–you name it, I’m sure someone’s done it.  The thing, though, is that for a mere 15 mL, you’re paying a lot of money:  above $40 for each brand.  I went and priced out the composite oils at The Herb Shop, and I came up with $4.25 for 10 mL lemon oil, $4.95 for 10 mL orange, $4.95 for 10 mL rosemary, $4.95 for 10 mL eucalyptus, $9.95 for 5 mL organic cinnamon bark, and $4.95 for 10 mL organic clove.  That means that for $29.75, you can make multiple batches of this stuff for yourself.

Now, as much as some people will go on about “oh, but they’ve precisely measured the oils for optimum results!” you and I both know that’s not going to matter overmuch.  However, a great and manageable proportion for a very similar blend has already been determined by Mountain Rose Herbs, my favorite hometown organization out of Eugene, OR:

• 40 drops Clove Bud essential oil
• 35 drops Lemon essential oil
• 20 drops Cinnamon Bark essential oil
• 15 drops Eucalyptus essential oil
• 10 drops Rosemary essential oil

Mix all essential oils together in a dark glass bottle.  [Note:  at minimum, use a 1/4 oz/7.4 mL/2 dram bottle.  120 drops is about 6 mL.]

This essential oil blend is very strong and must be diluted!  The essential oil content should only account for 1 to 2% of the total formula. This means that up to 6-12 drops of essential oil can be added per 1 oz of carrier oil or other menstruum.

There are many ways that you can use the blend, here are some of the most common applications:

• To sanitize and purify the air in your home or workplace, place 2-3 drops of the essential oil blend in a diffuser, nebulizer, or in a pot of simmering water on the stove.  Diffuse for approximately 20-30 minutes.  This is especially beneficial if someone in your home or workplace is sick.
• Make an antibacterial all-purpose spray for cleaning and disinfecting your home or workplace.  This is perfect for office spaces and shared areas! Fill a spray bottle with water and add the essential oil blend at a 1-2 % dilution rate.  Spray on counter tops, desks, and on other surfaces.  Make sure to shake before using as the oil and water will naturally separate.
• Use a 1-2% dilution rate of the essential oil blend in a base of water or alcohol, and spray onto insect bites, poison oak, and poison ivy rashes to help reduce inflammation, itching, and irritation.
• Mix the essential oil blend at a 1-2% dilution rate with organic Jojoba or Olive oil.  Use as a massage oil for sore muscles, the lower back, neck, and feet.  It can also be dabbed on skin throughout the day for general cold and flu prevention and immune support.
• When congested, mix a 1-2% dilution rate of the essential oil blend with organic Jojoba or Olive oil, and rub under the nose or on the chest. Or, place 1-2 drops in a bowl of hot, steaming water and inhale the vapors under a towel to relieve congestion.

I’ve been using this all winter, and I think it’s really helped with my health.  Aside from a bout with a terrible cold this December, I’ve been largely sniffle-free: practically unheard of for me.  My favorite applications for it include adding it to a room spray with water, aloe, and glycerine and spraying that frequently into the air around me whenever I or my housemates are ill.  I’ve also been known to add it to a vinegar/water blend and use it as a countertop disinfectant spray…but I prefer to use fresh ingredients and steep the vinegar over a moon cycle for that one.  My best friend, who is a great fan of oil pulling, adds a couple drops to her nightly dollup of coconut oil.  I’m also in the process of figuring out a way to incorporate it into a recipe for hand salve…but more on that later!

Day 361: Animal Spirit Oil and Incense

Aw, boo.  Just when I thought I was done with all this moderately successful incense stuff.  I don’t think I’ll make up the incense.  When it comes time to using it, I think I’ll just burn a stick of sandalwood and a stick of patchouli at the same time.

Animal Spirit Oil
Blend the following oils and herbs into 1 ounce of safflower oil, grape seed oil, or vegetable glycerin:

• 3 drops patchouli essential oil
• 1 drop cinnamon essential oil
• 1 drop eucalyptus essential oil
• 5 drops vetiver or iris essential oil
• A pinch of dried patchouli

Animal Spirit Incense

• Handful of dried, powdered sandalwood
• 2 tablespoons dried patchouli leaf
• 2 tablespoons cinnamon powder

To these dry ingredients, mix in 5 drops of vetiver or iris essential oil and 2 drops of eucalyptus essential oil.

My animal spirit oil, sitting on my ritual hearth.

Since I have oodles and oodles of elemental oil and sabbat oil where I used a whole ounce of oil, I decided we’d just stick with drams here, so my oil is much more concentrated.  I used about 3 drops of patchouli, 2 cinnamon, 3 eucalyptus, and 3 of Scotch pine.  For whatever reason, the pine was calling me as being more ‘animal’ in this application.  Also, I didn’t have any vetiver or orris root.  It has a very nice, mellow scent over all.

Day 279: “Cutting” Essential Oils

I kind of feel like we’ve already done this day in some capacity.  All “cutting” essential oils means is diluting the essential oils in a larger amount of a carrier oil.  It’s a fantastic practice.  Not only does it allow you to stretch your oil budget, but it allows you to use the oils more safely.  Many essential oils can be irritating to the skin, eyes, and nose if used full strength.  Diluting them with a carrier oil allows you to use them in a massage oil or other anointing oil very safely!  Roderick lists several types of carrier oils below:

Almond Oil: This oil has a slight scent.  Slow to become rancid, almond oil helps maintain your magical blends for long periods of time.  Almond oil can also have a magical effect of its own.  Almond imparts fertility, fecundity, and growth.  It is closely linked with the power of magic and the planet Mercury.  [My Note:  Actually, I’ve found it more Venusian…]

Apricot Oil:  This oil is odorless and good for dry skin.  It penetrates deeply.  Apricot’s magical effect is calming.  Apricot soothes and opens the mind.  Apricot oil is aligned with the planetary energies of Venus.

Avocado Oil:  This odorless oil mixes well with other carrier oils.  Avocado’s magical power is its ability to link the wearer with the mother aspect of the triple goddess.  Avocado oil aligns with the planetary influences of Earth and the Moon.

Grapeseed Oil:  This is a light, clear carrier oil.  It does not imbalance oily skin conditions.  Grapeseed oil brings renewal, insight, and rebirth.  This oil is linked with the mysteries of Dionysus, of death to the old (an old pattern, relationship, way of living, etc.) and birth to something new.  Grapeseed oil aligns with the planetary influences of Mercury.

Jojoba Oil:  This oil is well known because it nourishes skin and has a softening effect.  Good for love, peace, and meditation oils/blends.  Jojoba aligns with the planetary influences of Jupiter.  [My note:  Jojoba is definitely my favorite for skin contact, and I think it makes a stellar hair oil.  A couple of drops in my ends works wonders.]

Vegetable Glycerine:  This is not an oil at all.  It is a colorless, odorless substance that can be cut with water.  It is an excellent carrier for essential oils and will not become rancid.  Vegetable glycerine has no magical association; it is able to take on the qualities of the essential oils that it carries.  [My note:  I strongly dislike it.  I find it sticky when it starts to dry and it just makes me want to immediately take a bath.]

As with the previous collection of days, Roderick asks us to dwell on the final collection of herbs in his list of herbs and their magical properties and devise a spell.  Today we’re looking at rosemary to woodruff, but I’m feeling remarkably uninspired.  Six of the herbs already have their own discreet magical uses, which just leaves rosemary’s “protection, memory, and healing” properties.  I guess maybe it could be a good idea to make up a little protective sachet for pets by sewing a bit a rosemary and toadflax in a packet and hanging that from a familiar’s collar…but, knowing pets, that would be a short lived little packet.  Roderick already recently had us do a rosemary protection spell…so I think I’m going to call this one good on the spell craft front.

Day 259: Magical Essential Oils

Below is Roderick’s listing of essential oils and his magical correspondences for them.  We use essential oils quite a bit in magic, but there’s no reason to spend several hundred dollars acquiring them.  I would highly suggest going to a reputable oil dealer online and comparing the prices for many different oils.  Take note of the cheapest, then look up their magical correspondences.  Chances are you’ll end up with a very comprehensive kit of at least 10-20 oils for under $100.

Some ideas for using these oils are choosing one that represents your goal and anointing yourself with it daily until the goal is obtained.  They can also be put in bathwater.  We can also put a few drops of the oil in water and sprinkle it about our homes (or put more drops with water it into a mister and use it as a room spray).  A very popular use is to mix some essential oils with a neutral carrier oil and use it to anoint candles for ritual or candle magic.  We can also mix oils into an herbal mixture, or use them to anoint a stone or talisman.  Many people use different oils to help open or clear their various chakra points.

Roderick’s correspondences for essential oils

I did delete ‘apple’ from this list as there is truly no such thing as an apple essential oil.  There were a few others on this list that I thought I would also have to delete, but I did come across the oil dealer Victorie, Inc. They have a tremendous amount of oils you just cannot find anywhere else.  They’ve been able to find dealers, for example, that have extracted oils from honey and pomegranate, olive leaf and saffron.  They even have a rare oils section with things I thought I’d never see–clover, gardenia, honeysuckle, lilac, lily of the valley…it’s really very remarkable.  If these rare ones are too expensive (and boy, are they ever!), they also offer enflurage pomades and macerations.  If you want something to smell like the blooming flower, these pomades are really the better thing to purchase.

Day 193: Earth, Incense and Oil

Happy Samhain!  The grove will be doing something tonight, so I’ll have the review up tomorrow.

Earth Incense

• One handful of powdered sandalwood
• 1/4 handful of dried patchouli
• 2 teaspoons mandrake
• 2 teaspoons storax
• 6 drops lilac essential oil
• 4 drops patchouli essential oil
• Vegetable glycerin

Place your powdered sandalwood in a medium-sized bowl.  Stir in about 2 tablespoons of glycerin one at a time and then mix with a metal whisk or a fork.  As you have already learned, create a soft, fluffy compound.  Do not add the second tablespoon of glycerin if it feels like it would be too much, causing the incense to be too moist.

Now add your essential oil and whisk.  Add your other dried herbs and mix thoroughly.  Wait for at least a day for the compound to settle before you sprinkle it on hot coals.

Earth Oil

• Vegetable glycerin
• 5 drops lilac essential oil
• 3 drops patchouli essential oil
• 3 drops pine essential oil
• Pinch of dried patchouli

Fill a one-ounce bottle halfway with vegetable glycerin.  Add plain water until the bottle is three-quarters full.  Add your essential oils and dry ingredients, then close the lid and shake the bottle.  You can use this magical oil immediately.

Earth Oil: Tons of Seeds (especialy Vanilla)

Timothy Roderick:  There is no such thing as lilac essential oil.  You might be able to find a lilac CO₂ extract (which may run you $130 for a sixteenth of an ounce) or a lilac hydrosol…but that’s as good as non-synthetics will get you.

I didn’t bother with the incense, and I felt a little silly when I looked at the oil ingredients.  Pine is  a ‘fire’ plant and lilac is a ‘water’ plant,  so I scrapped Roderick’s formulation and popped down to my pantry where I put three popcorn kernels, a few grains of barley and a few oat flakes into a bottle.  I then filled the bottle about halfway through with my vanilla-infused oil (even though vanilla is a water plant, I like how it combines with the scent of patchouli, and my oil has tons of vanilla seeds, which just reinforces the ‘potential’ of the power of silence), topped it off with sweet almond oil, and added about 6 drops of patchouli oil.

The final result is a lightly-scented, very appealing oil.

Day 186: Water, Incense and Oil

Water Incense

Burn this incense any time that you want to bring about the energies of the element of water, which include:  intuition, dreams, visions, cycles, peace, compassion, understanding, spirituality, and women’s mysteries.

What You’ll Need:

• One handful of powdered sandalwood
• 4 tablespoons myrrh (preferably powdered)
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1/2 teaspoon poppyseed
• 10 drops jasmine essential oil
• Vegetable glycerin

Place your powdered sandalwood in a medium-sized bowl.  Stir in about two tablespoons of vegetable glycerin, adding one tablespoon at a time and then mixing with a metal whisk or a fork.  As you have done before, create a soft, fluffy compound.  Do not add the second tablespoon of glycerin if it feels like it would be too much, causing the incense to be too moist.

Now add your essential oil and whisk.  Add your other dried herbs and mix thoroughly.  Wait for at least a day for the compound to settle before you sprinkle it on hot coals.

Water Oil

Anoint yourself or other people with this oil to activate the magical energies of water.

What You’ll Need:

• Vegetable glycerin
• 10 drops jasmine essential oil
• 5 drops cucumber essential oil
• Pinch of dried lemon zest or willow bark

Fill a one-ounce bottle halfway with vegetable glycerin.  Add plain water until the bottle is three-quarters full.  Add your essential oils.  Add your dry ingredient, close the lid, and shake the bottle.  You can use this magical oil immediately.

Water oil, complete with fun bits.

Funny, but I briefly considered making the incense today.  And then I realized that between my usual summer credit card debt and my medical bills, I’m very broke and I probably wouldn’t be burning much of this incense anyway.  I do, however, have most of the ingredients for the oil on hand.

The one I’m lacking is–of course–the cucumber essential oil.  Why?  Because there is no such thing.  Granted, there is a cold-pressed oil called “cucumber seed oil”, but the only online vendors I can find for it are of the sketchy Indian website variety.  It’s also prohibitively expensive, and you must buy drums of the stuff.

What I did instead was add a pinch of dried lemon peel that I’ve got for culinary purposes and a pinch of poppyseed to 10 drops of jasmine oil and 3 drops of lemon oil.  (I have to admit, I was tempted to use lemongrass oil since I love that scent, but lemongrass is an air plant.)  Then I topped off my ounce bottle with a glug of Sweet Almond oil.  I find the overall scent very pleasing–very floral, obviously, but not noxiously so–and I love the appearance of all the ‘bits’ in the oil when you shake it up.

Anna Riva Products

A Smattering of Anna Riva Oils

Earlier today I was browsing the occult section at my local used bookstore–Smith Family–and I came across an intriguing slim little text, Magic with Incense and Powders that Anna Riva had published in 1985.  I flipped through it and was quickly dissapointed:  the book was just a listing of Anna Riva products and how to use them.

I suppose I was more interested in knowing just what was in some of these products.  After all, Anna Riva’s lines have been mainstays in occult stores since the mid 1970s, and all her oils, powders, and potions never list ingredients.

At this point, I think the whole line is likely something to steer clear of altogether.  The person once known as Anna Riva, Dorothy Spencer (who arrived at her pseudonym by combining her mother’s first name with that of her daughter) sold her business, International Imports of Los Angeles, to Indio Products in the late 1990s.  By 2000, the owner of Indio, Marty Meyer, had said that Spencer was suffering from Alzheimers, and this was repeated in Carolyn Long’s 2001 book Spiritual Merchants (p 126).

I don’t know how Spencer initially formulated her oils, though the fact that she called them “curios” with no magical powers implied, doesn’t really bode well–the disclaimer meant she couldn’t not be sued for fraud if, for instance, it was found that something like strawberry oil didn’t actually contain any strawberries.  Word around the contemporary occult water cooler is that the current products are definitely not kosher.  If they do contain natural essential oils, they are heavily cut with synthetic bases and fragrances, too.  Worse, the company has been suspected of using inferior ingredients and passing them off as real, such as using soybean rhizomes as ginseng.

At the end of the day, I think you’d get more bang out of your magical buck by crafting some things yourself or buy purchasing incense and such that is clearly labeled with its ingredients.

Day 176: Fire, Incense and Oil

Fire Incense

Burn fire incense any time that you want to bring about the energies of the element of fire, which include:  action, movement, passion, anger, strength, sexuality, achievement, mastery, power, and transformation.

What you’ll need:

• One handful of powdered sandalwood
• 2 tablespoons myrrh
• 2 tablespoons dried angelica leaves
• 2 tablespoons dried bay leaves
• 5 drops bay leaf essential oil
• 5 drops cinnamon essential oil
• Vegetable glycerin

In a medium-sized bowl, place your powdered sandalwood.  Stir in about two tablespoons of vegetable glycerin.  Add the glycerin, one tablespoon at a time, and then mix with a metal whisk or a fork.  You simply want to create a soft, fluffy compound.  Do not add the second tablespoon of glycerin if it feels like it would be too much, causing the incense to be too wet.

Now add your essential oils and whisk.  Add your other dried herbs and mix thoroughly.  Wait for at least one day for the compound to settle before you sprinkle it on hot coals.

Fire Oil

Anoint yourself or other people with this oil to activate the magical energies of fire.

What you’ll need:

• Vegetable Glycerin
• 5 drops cinnamon essential oil
• 5 drops clove essential oil
• 3 drops bay leaf essential oil
• Pinch of dried clove or cinnamon.

Fill a one-ounce bottle halfway with vegetable glycerin.  Add plain water until the bottle is three-quarters full.  Add your essential oils.  Add your dry ingredient.  Close the lid and shake the bottle.  You can use this magical oil immediately.

My modified Fire Oil

As per usual, I eschewed making the fire incense.  When I do the exercise tomorrow, I’ll just vaporize some cinnamon or clove oil with my oil warmer instead.

When I turned to make the fire oil, though, I had to take pause.  I didn’t have any bay oil!  It was something I totally thought I had in my oil box, so I didn’t even bat an eye when preparing my ‘shopping list’ for this batch ages ago.  So then I went to all the Eugene stores looking for some, and couldn’t find it anywhere!  What I did have in abundance, however, was bay leaves.  So I curled up one of those and dropped it into the bottle along with a whole clove.  (Which you could probably make out in the picture if you could.  The clove is floating in the top right of the bottle.)

Aside from exchanging the vegetable glycerin with my preferred Sweet Almond oil base and using the bay leaf though, I followed the oil formulary as directed.  Clearly, it smells very ‘spicy’–almost exactly like ‘Red Hots’ candies.  I tried a little on my skin earlier as both cinnamon and clove oils can be irritating, especially when undiluted, but it doesn’t appear as though the 10 drops in 1 ounce is enough of a concentration to trigger a reaction.  Score!