In bygone days, leisure class ladies after a tiring afternoon of "at homes", teas and ladies' aide meetings, could resort to a bout with the vapors on their fainting couches or a soothing nap on their scented pillows.

The vapors and fainting couches are indeed things of the past, but fortunately for us modern day ladies, scented herbal pillows are enjoying a revival.  After a day of work at the office or in our home, we can again enjoy that Victorian pleasure of a scented pillow to help ease our weariness.

The following herbs are believed to be effective in soothing headaches and inducing sleep:

HEADACHE SOOTHERS

Borage, Lavender, Lemon Balm, Marigold, Mints, Pennyroiyal, Rosemary, Thyme, Valerian Root

SLEEP INDUCERS

Boarge, Catnip, Chamomile Flower, Lemon Balm, Mints, Pennyroyal, Rosemary, Roses, Sage, Violets, Valerian Root, Witch Hazel (leaves)

Choose the combination of herbs you wish for your pillow, dry them, add a fixative such as orris root (1 tablespoon orris root to a pint of dried ingredients) and a few drops of essential oil.  (The essential oil should match one of the scents you've chosen for your herbal combination.  For example, if your headache mixture contains lavender, pennyroyal and rosemary, you could use lavender oil).

Now make a cloth packet as follows:  cut two pieces of cloth four or five inches square, join pieces by sewing on three sides.  Fill packet with herbal mixture and sew remaining side.

Slip this packet inside the zipper of your pillow.  If your pillow has no zipper, carefully rip out a few stitches along a seam, insert the herbal packet and resew seam.  Work especially carefully if you have a feather pillow.

If you are creative, you may want to design special pillow covers for your herb pillow.  This is a good way to use up scraps of fabrics and trims, and these pillows are great for gifts.