PODCAST · health
Essential Aromatica
by Amy Anthony
Aromatherapy is more than essential oils—it's an invitation to connect with nature and the chemistry of the botanical world.On Essential Aromatica, certified aromatherapist, herbalist, distiller, gardener, and educator Amy Anthony explores the intricate relationship between plants, their aromatic compounds, and their profound effects on us. Essential oils are not mere fragrances; they are chemical messages influencing our emotions, physiology, and state of mind. The Latin word sentir—meaning both "to smell" and "to feel"—reminds us that aromatic molecules are deeply entwined with experience.
Episodes
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Demeter, Ritual and Aromatherapy for Early Autumn
This episode explores aromatherapy, myth, seasonality, and ritual through the lens of Demeter, the archaic goddess of grain, humus, nourishment, and the threshold between life and death. Essential Aromatica blends the art and science of aromatherapy, olfaction, and plant‑based wisdom for…
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Medusa, the "Hard No" and Destructive Distillation
This episode explores aromatherapy, myth, and aromatic extracts through the lens of Medusa: the ancient Gorgoneion, a boundary keeping feminine force that guarded thresholds and petrified danger. Essential Aromatica blends the art and science of aromatherapy, olfaction, and plant-based wisdom for...
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Civility, The Goddess Hera and Carrot Seed Essential Oil
This episode continues season five’s exploration of aromatherapy, essential oils, archetypes, and seasonality, with Episode 8 featuring Carrot Seed (Daucus carota) essential oil and the Hera goddess archetype. Essential Aromatica blends the art and science of aromatherapy, seasonal and lunar...
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Aphrodite, Zeus, and the Alchemy of Eros: Myrtle & Laurel in Seasonal Aromatherapy
Aphrodite, Zeus, Eros, Myrtle, and Laurel come together in this early summer audio essay exploring archetypes, seasonality, and the embodied intelligence of aromatic plants and aromatherapy. Season 5, Episode 7 traces Aphrodite’s primordial origins, her solar yin brilliance, and her dark, warrior...
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Apollo, the Muses, and Helichrysum: Aromatherapy, Memory, and Hubris
This episode explores Apollo, the Muses, Memory, and Helichrysum—where mythology, culture, and aromatherapy meet. As the season turns from Artemis to Apollo, I look at what happens when the young yang aspects of the psyche mature into clarity, direction, and mastery — and what collapses when that...
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Artemis, Instinct, and Violet Leaf: Seasonal Aromatherapy for the Flower Moon
In this Flower Full Moon episode, Amy Anthony (NYC aromatherapist) explores how instinct rises in May — not as chaos, but as young yang emerging. Through a mythic ecological lens, she turns to Artemis and Pan to understand this seasonal polarity shift: mature yin creating the boundary that…
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Spring Emergence: Persephone, the Pomegranate, and Life’s Mythic Axis
“Life returns because death has done its work.” In this episode of Essential Aromatica, NYC-based aromatherapist Amy Anthony explores the seasonal shift of spring emergence through the Persephone archetype. We meet Persephone not as a victim, but as the living axis between the Great Below and the...
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Myrica Gale: Thunder Beneath the Water's Edge
Thunder Beneath the Water’s Edge moves through late‑winter’s deep Yin — the dragon coil, the Worm Moon stirring, and Lilith’s refusal to remain unconscious — and grounds it all through the lens of aromatherapy. This episode traces the first subtle movement before emergence: the soil softening…
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Cedar Medicine: Protective Strength for Deep Winter
In this deep‑winter episode of Essential Aromatica, we encounter Atlas Cedar essential oil through aromatherapy, story, poetry and sound — meeting Cedar as a grounding, protective ally for the season and inner‑work. Soul work. Through Yuliana Kireyeva’s olfactory‑sonic composition, a winter fairy...
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Welcome to Essential Aromatica: An Aromatherapy Podcast
Essential Aromatica is an aromatherapy podcast exploring aromatic plants, essential oils, seasonal rhythms, and the intelligence of the natural world. I’m Amy Anthony of NYC Aromatica — aromatherapy practitioner, educator, and lifelong observer of the subtle — inviting you into a space where...
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Juniper Berry Medicine: Aromatherapy for Grief and Transformation
Aromatherapy and attentive observation of nature’s rhythms can support us through times of loss and transition. In this cold month of January, Fox wisdom and Juniper Berry have helped me sit with change, loss, and the quiet work of letting go. This episode is dedicated to Nikki, the beloved Shiba...
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Evergreen Allies: Aromatherapy for the Winter Solstice
Rooted in storytelling, aromatherapy, and the essential oil of Scots Pine, this final episode of Season 4 explores seasonal wellness through themes of ancestors, darkness, the will to live, and wisdom of our conifer friends to celebrate the winter solstice. Join me as we reflect on winter as a…
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Myrrh & Kairos Time
Goodbye, Chronos. Hello Kairos. Enter qualitative time — the unhurried, opportune space where presence deepens and the habitual clutch of stories and roles loosens. Another way to describe this time is ancestral-eternal time, a place where myths and archetypes dwell. Kairos time is where we can...
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Patchouli: Earthy, Sensual, Sovereign (featuring @olfactorysounds)
Welcome. Patchouli invites you into your body—earthy, sensual, sovereign. It’s time to celebrate Patchouli—one of my great loves and haloed essential oils in aromatherapy’s pantheon, alongside other jewels such as Lavender and Frankincense. We begin by sinking into Yuliana Kireyeva’s synesthetic...
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Golden Nourishment: Aromatherapy for Late Summer
This episode is a pause—a breath between cycles, a moment to harvest what’s been growing and begin the slow descent inward. Late summer, often called the “fifth season,” invites us to nourish, digest, and integrate. Governed by the Earth element, this time of year asks us to slow down, savor...
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Clary Sage, Feminine Wholeness and Lunar Wisdom (Featuring @olfactorysounds)
Clary Sage and its powerful essential oil supports euphoria, sensuality, womanhood and cyclical wisdom. How’s that for a bold statement about an essential oil? A different title for this episode could be: "Exploring Clary Sage through molecules, music, and the slow fire of feminine truth." This...
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German Chamomile: Aromatic Sound and the Art of Not Doing
This episode explores Chamomile’s personality through aromatic molecules, sound, and the wisdom of not doing. How do we come to know German Chamomile—not just as a calming aromatic, but as a companion with personality, rhythm, and message? In this episode, we explore the quiet intelligence of...
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Lavender's Qualities featuring Olfactory Sounds
How can we meet an aromatic plant and its essential oil on a deeper level beyond chemical constituents, reading reference books and a “this is good for that” viewpoint? This episode, and new series, considers the qualitative appreciation of aromatic plants and their essential oils. For instance,...
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Essential Aromatica: A Moment to Reflect & Reconnect
Welcome back to another episode of Essential Aromatica! This episode is a bit different—I’m taking a moment to say hello again, reconnect with you, and reflect on why I started this podcast in the first place. From gaps created by the pandemic to a deep desire to share knowledge and cultivate...
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Aromatherapy, Sensuality and Sexuality: A Whole Perspective
What is the interplay between aromatherapy, sensuality, and sexuality? This query started back in 2017, when I was curious why some essential oils are considered “aphrodisiacs” and how some are considered “hormone balancing”—realizing many essential oils influence both aspects. This episode goes...
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Aromatherapy for Detoxing the Mind and Soul Protection (Yarrow!)
What feeds the soul? What is it we want when we can’t stop wanting? How can we “detox” the brain to feed the soul and support holistic well-being? That’s what this episode is about, featuring a common, potent aromatic herb to explore working with essential oils on a transcendent dimension. Yes…
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On Palo Santo and Scented Candles
What do Palo Santo, scented candles, Lavender and Hecate have to do with each other? Let's find out how this is all woven together... This episode questions the authenticity and health benefits of products such as scented candles with labels like “Palo Santo”. Pondering the use of synthetic...
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No Place for Plants: What’s Left When Plants are Gone? With Dr. Kelly Ablard
In this episode of Essential Aromatica, Amy converses with Dr. Kelly Ablard from the Airmid Institute about the complex interplay between ecology, the crucial role medicinal and aromatic plants play in sustaining eco-cultural-systems and what the essential oil community can do to support global…
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Illuminating Transitions with Archetypes and Protective Aromatic Plants
This episode explores turning to aromatic plants for protection, self-reflection, and navigating transitions. The overall content reflects years of musing, reading, and writing, and explores the Hekate archetype (my muse of all muses) during the "Protective spirit moontime" following November's...
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Finding Sustainability and Connection in Aromatherapy
In this season 3 finale, I am hot-off-the-bliss of attending the Alliance of International Aromatherapists recent conference titled: "Embracing and Composing Sustainable Aromatics". This afterglow continues reflection upon the importance of "less is more," olfactive aromatherapy, getting to know...
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Aromatherapy Bliss: The Heart and Soul of Essential Oils and Their Creators with Dr. Nicole BK
In this episode of Essential Aromatica, Amy spends time with Dr. Nicole Bou Khalil to talk about the profound connection between humans and plants. They explore the importance of spending time outdoors, observing plants, and understanding our interconnectedness with nature--as deeply as the...
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Disrupting the Default Mode Network with Dr. Florian Birkmayer
Which is scarier? Going offtrack or staying in a rut? What if you could disrupt the ego driven "norm" (the rut) by working with essential oils, the molecules of connectedness? In this episode, Dr. Florian Birkmayer shares the potential of working with essential oils to help us become whole by...
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Stopping Time: Finding Your Way Home with Ierias Nama
How do you “unveil the magic glow that flows right from the center of your happy heart”? This is something Kristina Siapkara, founder of Ierias Nama has explored since “cooking flowers” as a child—not knowing she was medicine-making while “cooking” those flowers. This spotlight on aromatherapy...
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Guided Aromatic Encounter: How to Smell an Essential Oil
How to smell an essential oil. Are you like, "Yeah, right. I know how to smell. Thanks, but no thanks."? That's not what this is about. It's rather about tapping into powerful messages available from one drop of an essential oil and what that one drop (or two drops) can do--if attention is paid…
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Olfactory Art and the Psychophysics of Smell with Andreas Keller
Psychophysics and scent. What’s that all about? You’re reading this text, taking in visual information while simultaneously breathing in hundreds of scent molecules. How much of your attention is on those various aromatic molecules? How would you describe those scent molecules? Could those scents...
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Spotlight on Jodi Scott: Goddess of Green Goo
When you hear the word “goo,” do you think of skincare, sustainability, and psychoneuroimmunology? If you don’t you may think differently after spending time with Jodi Scott, co-founder of Green Goo and Good Goo! In this episode, Jodi shares insights into herbalism and a need in the OTC market…
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Spotlight: Renèe Hughes on Business Wellness in the Wellness Business
Join Renèe Hughes and me in a lively conversation that spans her journey into wellness, what drove her to start the Aromaspecialists, psycho-aromatherapy, her “mood makeover method” and an overall roadmap for starting business ventures. “Begin with the end in mind and highlight your unique gift.”...
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Spotlight: Robin Kessler 'Queen of Frankincense'
Frankincense. It's more than a word, it's about a plant, several plant species called "Boswellia" that create a healing resin humankind has had a special relationship and worked with beyond biblical times. Meet Robin Kessler, CCA, MIFPA, a certified clinical aromatherapist specializing in hospice...
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Aroma: Intersection of Detection, Reception and Emotion
This episode's title could also be "how to smell an oil", but that doesn't read as good in my opinion. This episode topic has been on my mind for years, but recent correspondence with an aromatherapist and physiotherapist based in Switzerland (thank you, Katrin!) prompted me to take thought to...
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Spotlight: Bekki Fishelson Kuber on Keeping Essential oils Special
This Spotlight on Aromatherapy episode features my friend and co-host of the former Irreverent Aromatherapy podcast: Bekki Fishelson Kuber, founder of Blue Marble Botanicals. Get ready for a lot of laughter, irreverence and getting into hot- topics such as "this is good for that" and aromatherapy...
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Luna Aroma: Solstice Cold Moon with Frankincense Essential Oil
Greetings, friends of Luna Aroma! A place and space where aromatherapy meet the moon! This 12th & final Luna Aroma session still finds us in the throes of Little Spirit time, thrust into Cold moon time for many of us in the Northern Hemisphere. This is often a time of personal darkness…
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Luna Aroma: Little Spirit Moon with Eastern Red Cedar Essential Oil
This eleventh episode of the Luna Aroma series finds us in Little Spirit moontime. A time still near the “thin veil” and for giving thanks and focusing on spiritual growth. I feel that Eastern Red Cedar and its essential oil support us this time of year, with its personality of quiet, protection,...
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Luna Aroma: Autumnal Liminality and Vetiver
Welcome to Luna Aroma, where Aromatherapy meets the Moon. This 10th episode of Luna Aroma invites you to settle in and descend to the realm of liminal spaces, darkness and crossroads. Places and spaces where Persephone and Hecate among other archetypes may guide us. This is an invitation to revel...
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Luna Aroma: Late-Summer Moontime & Goldenrod Essential Oil
Welcome to the 9th Luna Aroma Session! There is so much to share and love about this time of year, including Goldenrod and Asters. Things start to slow down this time of year, simmer and humm. The days are still warm and the sun still intense, but there's a different quality, one that Goldenrod...
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Luna Aroma: Mid-Summer Moontime & Carrot Seed Essential Oil
Welcome to the 8th Luna Aroma Session! This time of year, mid-summer, has a lot going on; a bittersweetness as days grow shorter. There's still an abundance of growth, but things are slowing down, simmering. They aren't as urgent as they were only a few weeks ago. We're entering a time of…
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Connecting with the Sacred Through Aromatic Botanicals
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...
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Luna Aroma: Thunder Moontime with Laurel, Rosemary & the Sages
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...
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Luna Aroma: Strawberry Moontime with Lime
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...
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Spotlight: Amy Galper on Clean Beauty, Entrepreneurship and Essential Oils
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...
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Luna Aroma: Flower Moontime & German Chamomile
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...
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Spotlight: Cathy Skipper on Alchemical Transformation
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…
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Luna Aroma: Grass Moontime with Lemongrass and Palmarosa
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…
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Spotlight: Hana Tisserand on Interpretation and Essential Oils
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...
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Luna Aroma: Worm Moontime & Ylang ylang
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…
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Spotlight: Olfactory Sounds by Yuliana Kireyeva
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...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Aromatherapy is more than essential oils—it's an invitation to connect with nature and the chemistry of the botanical world.On Essential Aromatica, certified aromatherapist, herbalist, distiller, gardener, and educator Amy Anthony explores the intricate relationship between plants, their aromatic compounds, and their profound effects on us. Essential oils are not mere fragrances; they are chemical messages influencing our emotions, physiology, and state of mind. The Latin word sentir—meaning both "to smell" and "to feel"—reminds us that aromatic molecules are deeply entwined with experience.
HOSTED BY
Amy Anthony
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Essential Aromatica have?
Essential Aromatica currently has 82 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Essential Aromatica about?
Aromatherapy is more than essential oils—it's an invitation to connect with nature and the chemistry of the botanical world.On Essential Aromatica, certified aromatherapist, herbalist, distiller, gardener, and educator Amy Anthony explores the intricate relationship between plants, their aromatic...
How often does Essential Aromatica release new episodes?
Essential Aromatica has 82 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Essential Aromatica?
You can listen to Essential Aromatica on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Essential Aromatica?
Essential Aromatica is created and hosted by Amy Anthony.
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