External application is also employed in both the healing and the magical facets of aromatherapy. There is sometimes a preference in the specific area of the body to which an essential oil is applied. In chakra work, it may seem advantageous to pointedly include or exclude certain traditional chakra centers, depending on the condition to be remedied. This can be true whether it is a magickal or healing endeavor that is being undertaken.
In treating certain ailments of the body, topical dressings may be employed in only the affected areas. Again, this may depend on the nature of the specific problem being addressed. Like the use of fragrance in inhalation, there is more than one method of applying a remedy externally. This may be accomplished through the use of perfumed oils and waters, through fragrant baths, in combination with massage therapy or, in magickal use, the aromatic substance may be applied to a separate object that is representative of the individual on whose condition the change is to be enacted.
Though there have been a significant number of advances in how fragrances may be administered to effect change, the basic methods remain as they have for centuries. Though we use the improvements of modern science and manufacturing, we have not altered the facilities employed by the ancient ancestors of the modern aromatherapists. We have only developed some alternatives in how we might deliver the virtue of fragrance for the betterment of the human condition.