Inside The Aromatic Mirror: Three Sessions, Ten Essential Oils, and Archetypal Mapping

The Aromatic Mirror invites participants to explore the emotional and symbolic dimensions of essential oils through experience, reflection, and archetypal work. Across three connected live sessions, the course begins with personal awareness, expands through a wider aromatic collection, and then considers how these themes may appear in therapeutic practice.

Instructor Marika Fleri guides participants through aromatic inhalation, meditation, reflective journaling, archetypal exploration, discussion, ritual, and case study analysis. The process is experiential by design. Participants work directly with aroma and use structured reflection to examine the themes that emerge within their inner and professional lives.

Session 1: Looking into the Mirror

The first session introduces three essential oils through the archetypes of the Crone, the Wounded Healer, and the Guardian. 

• Spikenard and the Crone: self-awareness, accumulated wisdom, and the patterns revealed through lived experience.
• Cistus and the Wounded Healer: personal wounds, empathy, healing, and the way we respond to others.
• Siberian Fir and the Guardian: protection, boundaries, steadiness, and the Guardian within therapeutic relationships.

Methods include aromatic inhalation, journaling, guided reflection, and discussion. The session gives participants an opportunity to recognise these themes within themselves before considering how archetypal patterns may appear in the people they support.

Session 2: The Mirror Reveals More

The second session broadens the aromatic exploration through seven additional oils: mandarin, bergamot, rose, jasmine, frankincense, myrrh, and vetiver.

Together, these aromatic experiences open an exploration of joy, self-worth, vitality, meaning, transition, and grounding. Through aromatic experiences and archetypal mapping, participants deepen their awareness of the themes that shape their inner and professional lives.

Session 3: Beyond the Mirror

The third session moves beyond personal reflection and considers how archetypal themes may present in clients and therapeutic practice.

•     Therapeutic applications
•     Oncology and palliative care case studies
•     Grief and caregiver support
•     Resilience
•     Ethics and integration

This final session brings the personal and professional aspects of the course together. Participants consider how greater awareness of their own themes can support authenticity, presence, and therapeutic awareness in their work with others.

Learning with Marika Fleri

Marika Fleri has practiced aromatherapy in Malta for more than 20 years and specializes in complementary therapy in oncology, palliative care, and support for people with life-limiting illnesses.

She coordinated Malta's National Cancer Platform, which brings together non-government organisations working in cancer care. She also staffed a one-stop-shop concept office at Sir Anthony Mamo Oncology Centre for seven years and served as the hospital's clinical aromatherapist in residence, working alongside other healthcare professionals within an integrative, holistic approach to treatment.

Marika is a VTCT Tutor, Assessor and Internal Quality Assurer, as well as a cosmetics formulator. She is also one of the lead instructors for Essence of Thyme's Aromatherapy for Palliative Care and Bereavement course.

Course details

The Aromatic Mirror is open to aromatherapists and essential oil enthusiasts, complementary and holistic therapists, healthcare professionals, life coaches, personal development enthusiasts, carers, and practitioners interested in aromatics, self-awareness, and therapeutic practice. No prerequisites are required.

Learn more at https://www.essenceofthyme.com/aromaticmirror