Spikenard is the oil of the alabaster jar, named through the Bible and the classical world. It comes from the roots of a Himalayan plant and smells deeply earthy, musky and slightly animal. Jatamansone and its relatives are the heavy, slow-evaporating compounds that give it that weight. Isolated compounds from the plant damped inflammatory signalling in brain immune cells, more so at higher doses.^[1] Reviews cover the plant broadly rather than the distilled oil, so its calming reputation rests on tradition.^[2]