Essential Aromatica

Smudging with Sage, burning Frankincense in a censer, lighting incense to visualize and symbolize your thoughts rising to the heavens through smoke. These are only some of the botanicals and ways aromatics help us connect with the divine. What is the divine, the sacred? There may be debate about that, but I think we can all agree it is something that is bigger than us that also includes us. Incorporating aromatic botanicals--not synthetic fragrances--such as essential oils, hydrosols and raw plant material help us connect and commune with the present and sacred time.

This episode shares thoughts on why and how essential oils are powerful chemo-sensorial connectors. Amy touches on distillation, quintessence, the multivalent qualities of essential oils and how they connect mind-body-spirit-soul via the unseen (i.e., tiny, volatile lipid loving molecules). Further into the episode, explore how aromatic botanicals span and connect continents, cultures, ancestors and time. Even deeper is the sacredness of sex and its connection to scent reception and communication through DNA.

Aromatics are molecules of communication. As I’m writing this it occurred how they are also yin and yang at play: penetration and reception. The airborne scent molecules float around until they dock on nerve endings and receptor sites. Smell, scent molecules, help attune with deep knowing. Aromatic botanicals are keys to help us connect with the divine.

I hope you enjoy the episode. Stay in-touch with comments and questions: [email protected].

This episode features Thunder moontime, when the hot and humid days of summer are often visited by thunder, lightning and rain. This is a time, like most times, to contemplate change. But this time is different. Lighting and thunder are sudden and drastic. They are poignant symbols of change and transmutation. Think of something in your life that weighs on you, that you are looking to change, to shift. Thunder moontime, lightning time, can metaphorically assist along with the powerful essential oils featured in this episode.

Categorically, I feel, essential oils assist in change. They are agents of change: whether a temporary shift in mood and mind states or helping bridge the false mind-body-spirt gap, assist with grief or usher in new beginnings and adopting new habits in exchange for old ones (to name a few states-of-being). Are you ready? Get your Rosemary, Laurel and Sage (common, clary and white) essential oils or plants to sit with during this episode's Guided Aromatic Encounter. The Three Sages also spur a contemplation on the Triple Goddess, something you don't want to miss. The episode winds down with a poem that has made my heart sing since I came upon it a few years ago: "The Other Women" by Twyla M. Hansen. Who might the Other Woman be? Tune in to find out.

Below are links to relevant articles and videos mentioned during the episode:

Ciao, for now!

Welcome to Strawberry Moontime! As we near the Summer Solstice it is time to prepare for and embrace the warmest times of the year by turning to cooling and hydrating botanicals such as cooling fruits! This episode is packed with juicy ponderings: from spirit and transformation, the poem "Meditation on a Grapefruit" by Craig Arnold and "What is it we want when we can't stop wanting?" But more on that once you get into the episode...

Look forward to themes about sharing abundance and life's riches (e.g., strawberries!) & turning to cooling botanicals such as members of the Rose and Citrus families. Particularly Lime, a cooling aromatic botanical that is indicated for "restless heat." We also look to the Rose family for its fixed seed oils to help sooth & nourish our skin; and its fruit (e.g., strawberry, raspberry) to bring us hydration. There is so much to share!!!

Below are links to articles, videos and classes mentioned during the episode:

This Spotlight on Aromatherapy episode features Amy Galper; a published author and expert in clean beauty, formulation, aromatherapy and essential oils. She is the founder of the former New York Institute of Aromatherapy, the first in-person aromatherapy school in New York (where I earned my certifications)!

This episode tackles some big topics that Amy is immersed in every day, from the dynamically expanding market of clean beauty, differentiating a business, sustainability, aromatherapy, formulating and providing coaching and educational know-how on entrepreneurial ventures on the aforementioned topics. There’s a lot to learn from Amy; tune in to join us!

Look forward delving into the following topics during our conversation:

Learn more about Amy and her offerings at amygalper.com and on Instagram as amygalper. Listen to the episode to learn how to get in-touch with Amy G!

Flowers are blooming, frogs are croaking, and it is time to engage your sense of PLAY! This episode celebrates Flower moontime and all that comes with it, including when "all plants display their spirit sides for all the world to see." More on that in the episode!

How can we be serious when there are baby animals frolicking about, insects buzzing around and plants to interact with? This episode celebrates Flower moontime: by shedding seriousness and supporting what it takes to be ourselves and connecting with the world around us through aromatic plants. Go ahead, set some time aside to bask in the springtime playfulness of German Chamomile; a plant that I feel allows us to open up, let go and partake in a sense of play that may be hiding within us. How so? Connecting with the solar plexus through German Chamomile just might do the trick.

Read more about German Chamomile & it's essential oil and join me in the garden for Plant Talk video sessions on NYCAROMATICA.com @ Plant Talk Video Series - NYC Aromatica or on my new YouTube Channel: NYC Aromatica - YouTube.

Ciao for now!

Welcome to Amy Anthony's Spotlight on Aromatherapy series featuring Cathy Skipper whose insights on embracing your unconscious to become your true self are thought provoking, exciting and empowering.

Find yourself a quiet space for Cathy to guide you through the realms of alchemy, working with the unconscious and recognizing and reclaiming the feminine. When does a woman step into her true power? Why do we need initiation rites? Tune in to learn more.

Following are only some of the insights Cathy shares during our conversation:

Sign up here to join her free Guided Journey on June 1, 2023.

Learn more about Cathy and her work at aromagnosis.com and cathysattars.com. Watch videos on the AromaGnosis YouTube channel. Get social on Instagram by following @cathy.skipper & @the_alchemy_of_menopause. Get a copy of her book on the Alchemy of Menopause.

Happy Mid-Spring! A time of new beginnings, new growth and cleansing the mind and body of what is no longer needed. You may notice how this episode is slightly longer than other Luna Aroma musings. Why? I bookended the guided aromatic encounter with poems! The first is "Grass" by Joyce Sidman, the second is "Last Rites" by Rosa Alcalá.

This is a moontime to talk with GRASS! Grass is growing, it is a resilient plant family that is often the "first"...such as the some of the first plants to emerge as the temperatures increase, the first to show up on disturbed sites...in and of itself the family is emblematic of first, newness and renewal.

So how are grass and cleansing connected? This is where Lemongrass and Palmarosa come in. Go ahead and make a cup of Lemongrass tea, get out your essential oils of Lemongrass and Palmarosa and settle in with me for a spell to talk with the grasses. As with all Luna Aroma episodes, look forward to seasonal-moontime musings, poetry and a guided aromatic encounter.

I hope you find each Luna Aroma episode an inspiring, engaging and a different way to experience essential oils. Learn more about Aromatherapy and Essential Oils such as Palmarosa at NYC Aromatica.

Welcome to another Spotlight on Aromatherapy featuring Hana Tisserand!

Hana is the Chief of Operations and Communications at the renowned Tisserand Institute where she is also an educator, course moderator and key content creator. Hailing from Prague, Hana and brings a strong background in French and English translation and interpretation as a professional interpreter working with politicians, authors, and educators.

I reached out to Hana soon after watching a webinar she gave for the Alliance of International Aromatherapists titled "How to Talk to People About Safety - Without Controversy." We all have many beliefs and different understanding of the universe, including how we can responsibly work with essential oils. Her background as a professional interpreter provides great insight into how we can navigate the world at-large and when relating to the vast topic of essential oils: "Context is Everything!"

Episode highlights:

And much more in-between! Which are Hana and Amy's favorite essential oils? Join us for the answer!

Learn more about the Tisserand Institute on the web and on Instagram as @tisserandinstitute. Find Hana on Instagram as @tisserandhana.

Ciao for now!

Happy spring equinox~Spring is “champing at the bit”! Water, associated with intuition, is rising and running, sap is flowing in the Maple trees. Birds are coming home, and the soil slowly awakens. There may even be some eagerness in the air that goes along with “Spring Awakening”. What better way to honor Spring’s burgeoning energy than muse about sensuality and living through the senses? Get out your bottle of Ylang ylang essential oil, make a cup of Jasmine tea and spend a few minutes with me for seasonal ponderings and a guided aromatic experience: "Trust your intuition,

Each Luna Aroma episode is released the day before each new moon. Thank you for taking time out of your day to connect! I hope you find these episodes inspiring, engaging and a great excuse to experience essential oils!

What does Jasmine sound like? What about Frankincense or Vetiver? Get your essential oils, and brew up some Vetiver tea, Jasmine tea and prepare some Frankincense water and sit for a spell to discover the sounds of these aromatics with Yuliana Kireyeva, an accomplished choir conductor, classical vocalist and certified aromatherapist. Yuliana translates scents to music notes, what she calls Olfactory-Auditory Congruence. I cannot fully articulate how moved I have been by these pieces and encourage you to find a quiet place to join us for a listen. 

When I came across what Yuliana is doing, listening to essential oils and translating them to sound, I was floored and excited. I hope you are too after you listen to her compositions. Essential oils in conjunction with olfactory aromatherapy can be incredibly nuanced and, I feel, dismissed by many people who often speak of "placebo effect." The chemical messages are often dismissed and it's the aromatherapist's role (one role, that is) to highlight the nuance and PERSONALITY of each essential oil. Yuliana takes this expression of each personality to another level through music. 

Yuliana is a graduate of the State Academy of Music in Belarus where she studied choir conducting and classical vocalism. Her professional career includes choir conducting for 8 years, performing as a leading Soprano for 7 years, including performing classical, spiritual, folk and jazz music around the world. She currently resides and works in the UAE as a vocal and a piano teacher and composer-translator of olfctory sounds. 

Aromatherapy-wise? Tune it to find out about Yuliana's journey and expansion into the world of Olfactory-Auditory Congruence.