Time Out | Heaven Scent Bliss

When I arrive at Heaven Scent Bliss for my ‘Time Out’ Aromatherapy Massage, the back door is wide open, and no amount of knocking brings any sign of life. I return to my car to give Annie a ring. Maybe I just can’t make her hear me. At that moment, Annie’s Vauxhall Corsa pulls into the drive. She doesn’t see me and bustles down the path and into the house before I can attract her attention. A few seconds later, she is greeting me on the doorstep as though she has been at home all the time.

“You left your door open!” I say.
“I went to the post office,” she laughs. “I left it open for you.”
“But aren’t you afraid of being burgled?”
“I ask Archangel Michael to watch over the house while I’m gone,” she explains. “I’ve done it for the last 17 years – and I’ve never been burgled!”

With that thought I don’t bother taking my handbag upstairs with me like I usually do, but instead leave it in Archangel Michael’s care in the kitchen.
The treatment room is warm, and sun is streaming in through the window. Although it is only January, the day has a feel of summer about it. I start to wonder what type of massage I’ve booked in for. A back massage, I think. Head and back, at the most……
“Full body!” Annie announces.

Oh dear. Sounds like I might have to take my clothes off.
I strip down to my bare essentials while Annie goes downstairs to mix my particular blend of oils. I’m going to London later today, so I want something uplifting and revitalising.
I’m lying on the bed under two large towels when Annie returns with a bottle containing the organic essential oils of lime, may chang, sweet orange and lemongrass – all blended in a grape seed carrier oil.

Annie begins the massage on my neck and head and then moves on to my back. The aroma from the oil is subtly citrus.
I love having my back massaged. When I was in Florida last year I bought myself an electric back massager that kneads my back fairly effectively. But now I’m here, I remember how good a real back massage feels, and I know that my plug-in machine doesn’t quite hit the mark.
I’m enjoying this so much that I am slightly disappointed when Annie moves on to my legs. But not for long; her hands are warm and soothing, especially when she reaches my ‘always cold’ feet. Annie tells me it was as a little girl that she first noticed warmth flood into her hands on contact with other people.
“It’s the healing energy flowing through them,” she explains.

I turn over, and Annie continues to massage my face, shoulders, stomach, legs and feet, while I gaze at the ceiling. All the time we chat, and I am reminded that, despite Annie’s affinity with all things spiritual, she really is very down-to-earth and experiences the same highs and lows of everyday life as the rest of us – well, obviously with a little help from the angels!

At one point during the treatment, Annie tells me that a rainbow of light (from a crystal prism hanging in the window) is shining on my heart chakra. I’m secretly pleased. In the days after my dad passed away last year, I saw a lot of rainbows; many of them double. I’m not sure whether it is my dad saying ‘hello’, but I like to think it is.
By now I am very relaxed, and I’m delighted when Annie tells me I am to take home my own bottle of today’s aromatherapy oil blend! She also gives me information on ways in which I can use it.

I drink a glass of water at the end of the treatment, and Annie advises me to continue drinking water throughout the day. I feel refreshed and ready for anything – which is good considering I’ll be catching a train to Euston in a couple of hours.

As we head back downstairs, I am lost in thought.
“These angels,” I say. “Would they protect anyone?” It might be possible Annie has some special arrangement with the Heavens.
“Of course they would!” she replies.