Essential oil recipes for animals are easy to find, and plenty of them look reasonable. The oils are familiar, the dilution seems low, and sometimes the recipe comes from someone who works in animal health. For a practitioner, a sensible-looking recipe is where the evaluation starts.

Amy Williams DeLong was recently sent a flea and mosquito spray for dogs. It combined water and alcohol with lemon...

More is not always better.

That can be surprisingly difficult to remember in wellness, aromatherapy, skincare, and even education. We are surrounded by recommendations to add another ingredient, try another oil, follow another routine, or look for one more solution. With so much information available, it is easy to assume that better results must come from doing more.

Discernment asks a different qu...

Ask a group what fall smells like and familiar answers will appear quickly: cinnamon, clove, pumpkin spice, apples, wood smoke, or damp leaves. Then someone else names cedar, cold air, black tea, a wool coat, a school hallway, or soil after rain, and the conversation becomes personal.

Seasonal scent is shaped by place, culture, weather, family routines, and memory. Fall in coastal British Columbi...

 As summer comes to a close, herb gardens and containers often have one last generous offering. Rosemary may still be fragrant and full, and harvesting a small amount can become an opportunity to practise one of herbalism’s most useful habits: observing the plant, choosing an appropriate preparation, and working carefully with the material you have.

Colleen shared a simple method for making a qui...

When someone asks which essential oils are safe for animals, it is tempting to answer with a list. A list feels clear and useful, but it can also leave out the questions that determine if an aromatic approach is suitable in the first place.

Which species is being considered?

What is the animal’s age and health status? 

How will exposure occur? 

Can the animal move away? 

What changes in behav...

Geranium is familiar to many aromatherapy students. Its green, rosy aroma is easy to recognize, and the common name often appears in books, blends, and product descriptions. Familiarity can make an oil feel straightforward, but the label may tell a more complicated story.

 The name Geranium essential oil can refer to aromatic materials produced from different Pelargonium species, hybrids, and cul...

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 participa...

Professional training often teaches practitioners to direct their attention toward the person seeking support. We listen, observe, ask careful questions, and consider what may be helpful. Yet the practitioner is also present in every therapeutic relationship.

We bring our histories, wounds, protective instincts, values, wisdom, and ways of understanding the world into the room. These parts of us ...

Certification adds knowledge, but that is not the only change it should create.

The deeper shift appears in the way a person responds when the situation is unfamiliar, the expected result does not appear, or something goes wrong.

A practitioner needs a process for asking better questions, reviewing the information, documenting what happened, and recognizing the limits of their role.

Scenario on...

In July, we introduced aromatic anchoring as the deliberate pairing of one scent with one repeated practice. The idea is to let the aroma become a familiar cue for that moment. The useful part is the association learned through repetition and context.

Research shows that odours can act as memory cues, but the effects are not the same for every person or every type of memory. That makes consistenc...