There are many essential oil companies out there that want to sell you their essential oil blends for fighting germs – usually with a name containing the word “shield” or “guard” – and each one is a variation on a theme: Thieves Oil.

There are several old stories about how the Thieves Oil blend came to be known – they’re also usually quite similar: during a plague, there was a band of thieves taking the valuables from the homes of dying or recently dead plague victims. The king of the land set his henchmen out to find these thieves – not because of the lucre they’d stolen, but because of the fact they’d been in close quarters with plague victims and their homes without getting sick. The merry band of thieves explained their method to the king and it was this blend that came to be known as Thieves Oil.

In looking around, there are many, many recipes out there for Thieves Oil. Yes, buying all the essential oils, then blending them is not cheap. However, in many, if not most cases it’s a heck of a lot cheaper than buying the premade blend! Not only that, but so many of them are not organic in any way. Hello! Just how much pesticide is one body capable of handling? Medicinal plants are just as susceptible to pests as any other and if the essential oil is not organic, I’m not inclined to spend my money on it.

The basic elements in Thieves Oil are as follows: Clove bud, Cinnamon bark, Eucalyptus, Rosemary, and Lemon.

Some take the lemon out and use orange instead (which probably smells good, but the lemon is a better germ killer!), others add essential oils such as Oregano (anti-bacterial, natural antibiotic, germ killing) to their blend. Some recipes call for equal amounts of each of the five essential oils.

I’m going to give you the basic, old, Thieves Oil recipe here – this is the one that I believe saved me from the flu in February when everyone else in the household was coughing and sneezing right on me (that’s right – I never caught it! woohoo). What you add to it to make it work for you is up to you.

Thieves Oil *

33 drops organic Clove Bud essential oil (33%)
30 drops organic Lemon Essential oil (30%)
17 drops organic cinnamon bark essential oil (17%)
12 drops organic eucalyptus essential oil (12%)
8 drops organic rosemary essential oil (8%)

Mix into a dark glass bottle. Other oils you may wish to add: Orange, lavender, tea tree, cedar. Start with a smaller batch and experiment – see what works best for you.

— For Encapsulation: To a ’00’ capsule, add 6 drops of Thieves Oil, press together and take up to 2 times a day.

— Antibiotic Blend Encapsulations: To a ’00’ capsule, add 8 drops of Thieves Oil, 4 drops of Oregano essential oil, 1 drop of Frankincense (if available), press the capsule together. Don’t over do this one, it’s quite strong.  If you have any reaction you’d consider adverse, don’t do it again.

*I’ve formulated this recipe at 100 drops. A 15ml (1/2 oz +/-) bottle will hold about 250 drops, a 5ml bottle will hold about 85 drops. The percentages are in parentheses so that you can figure out how much you need of each for a different sized batch. Total number of drops desired x percentage of each oil (do each calculation separately) = number of drops needed of each oil for batch size.