I’m a Spiritual Aromatherapist. When I tell people that, of course the usual reply is, “Interesting. What’s that?” One friend even asked me if that means I make oils for churches. No – but hey, fun idea! After all, Mary Magdalene is considered the mother of aromatherapy 🙂

Let me start out by clarifying what I’m not.

A Clinical Aromatherapist is someone who uses essential oils in a scientific way. They have studied and understand the chemical properties of different essential oils and learned which oils will be most beneficial for different physical – and to some extent – psychological issues. Most are also trained as licensed massage therapists. For example, you may see a clinical aromatherapist to help you with aches and pains or arthritis, clearing out a bad head cold, or even treating insomnia. Clinical Aromatherapists generally train for 1-2 years and often pair their training with nursing or massage as a complimentary therapy to traditional medicine.

Spiritual Aromatherapists study to some extent the documented properties of essential oils (such as which oils are stimulating, calming, anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, anti-aging etc). I also have a passion for using oils for natural cleaning and skin care – so I personally did extended study on those two areas. I also consider it crucial for anyone studying any form of aromatherapy to make sure they understand the safety issues as well.

Where I majorly differ from a Clinical Aromatherapist, is that my study and main focus is how different essential oils can impact emotional and spiritual health.

What this means is – if you are struggling with wanting to be more open to receiving love in your life, looking for support in healing emotional pain, or wanting to find tools to help you more deeply develop and pursue your spiritual path – then these are some of the areas as a Spiritual Aromatherapist I can help you with.

How, you ask? Well, here’s where it gets pretty interesting. I am certified as a Spiritual Aromatherapist – meaning I did a course of study which included research and information on the emotional, physical and vibratory qualities of the different oils, case studies and more. However – as I discovered, my particular gifts allow me to energetically connect with plants and essential oils and communicate with them.

Yep – you heard me – I talk to plants 🙂

When I work with an essential oil, I connect my energy to the energetic essence of the plant or oil and I am able to hear clearly within my own energetic field the voice of the energetic essence – which will then relay to me how that plant or oil works with the energetic and emotional bodies of animals and people. It’s not that the physical bottle of oil starts talking to me, though that would be kind of fun (lol)…it’s that by using my clairvoyant abilities, I am able to energetically connect with the essence and “converse”. It doesn’t matter which bottle of, for example Rose Otto oil, I pick up – the overall energetic essence of Rose Otto oil is all the same. Of course – different batches come from different plants which have variations. So oils made from roses grown wild in Bulgaria may have a different frequency from oil made from roses grown in a greenhouse in Wisconsin. As such – the different bottles of oil may have varying characteristics. HOWEVER – the energetic essence of all Rose Otto oil works to promote the opening of the heart centre and help support individuals in their process of giving and receiving unconditional love.

Next question I am asked is, “Wow! How did you discover this about yourself?”. Another fun story 🙂 Not long after I started my Spiritual Aromatherapy course – I was doing an exercise where the students were asked to sit with a bottle of oil, smell the aroma and meditate with it. We were asked to try to feel into its energy and vibration, and write down any impressions that we got. When I started this exercise, I wasn’t really sure what to think… I’d completed my training to be a Reiki master at this point, and so I knew that all things have a vibration – but applying this to plants and their oils was a new concept to me.

I sat at my desk with a bottle of clove oil, inhaled the aroma, put the cap back on and just sat with it. I opened my energetic field and asked to connect with the energetic essence of clove. The next thing I heard was literally, “Greetings”.

Not an audible voice, but an internal voice – which is part of my ability as a clairvoyant. Quite startled, I held my breath for a moment and then tentatively replied, “…ah, hello?”

What happened next was a rapid-fire exchange of information, where I asked the clove oil what it does, how it works with people vibrationally and to give me some examples.

Here are my original notes from the exercise:

Clove Bud – the energetic colours of this oil are dark green and deep brown with some rusty reds. It is both sweet and bitter at the same time. It is mentally stimulating – touching more the parts of the mental body than the emotional body. It is helpful for when one needs to focus on detailed tasks, or projects that require concentrated attention. It also has a warmth to it and encourages the inner fire of creativity- just in a very focused way as opposed to a more free-flowing way. Once the inspiration has come to the surface, this oil gives the focus to then complete the creative task.

And so it went on like this. With every bottle that I picked up, I would connect with the energetic essence of the plant and/or oil and these dialogues would ensue. Being the experimenter that I am – I immediately got busy testing out many different oils on myself and seeing whether or not I felt changes in me based on what the oil had told me it could teach me or work with me on.

I absolutely did.

I was going through a major transition at that time in my life and a variety of oils helped me enormously with the process. Frankincense helped me with accepting and working with my spiritual gifts, rose and jasmine with learning to release my pent-up grief and expand my heart despite the fear and ego. Neroli helped me connect with and heal my inner child. Pine helped me feel more grounded and protected – and so on and so on.

It was at this point that I also realised that the energetic essences of plants and oils have their own type of intelligence. For example, if someone is grieving over the loss of a relationship, there are always underlying causes for that grief that have nothing to do with the relationship itself. Perhaps old wounds around self-worth or feeling that the world is not a friendly place. Jasmine oil will work with a person to help them feel comforted when they have a broken heart – but it will ALSO gently go under the surface of the situation and bring forth the original negative beliefs the person holds about themselves for healing. How amazing!

I soon found that I could use the oils in the same way that I was working on healing myself during healing sessions with clients. I would just ask the oils questions like, “my client is struggling with doubts about her ability to make choices for herself. Which one of you can help?”

I would then “hear” the different oils who would said “I will”, and then if I asked for clarity – they would tell me how. I would then be able to make up custom products for my clients on the spot – using the oils that would be most healing or helpful for them in that particular moment. This is also how I developed the Aromagenics technique.

In my book, “Simply Clean” – I highlight the top essential oils that are best for cleaning based on my study of their anti-bacterial, anti-fungal etc properties. But I ALSO include information on how each of those oils can contribute to our lives spiritually. For example, Sweet Thyme is not only a powerful cleaner – it also works with people who have a fear of germs to understand where those fears come from and have more trust. Tea Tree oil is a fabulous mould-killer and all-around heavy lifter in the cleaning department – but it also works with people who generally find the task of cleaning irritating learn how to slow down and be present in each moment. As my friend Sara Joy recently said, “It’s like cleaning and having an aromatherapy session all at once!”.

I will be posting much more about this topic of spiritual aromatherapy. If you would like to receive inside information and tips on how you too can explore this ability in yourself, please sign up for my insiders mailing list HERE. Info will be shared with my insider subscribers that will not be posted on the blog – so if Spiritual Aromatherapy interests you – be sure to join!

-Lauren