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 plants, cycles, and our inner and outer worlds meet.

This podcast isn’t about “an oil for that.” It’s about perceiving. Attuning. Remembering that our nervous system and emotions are the meeting point between mind‑body‑spirit and the wider world — and that aromatherapy can support that relationship.

Episodes explore aromatic plants, story, ecology, and lunar and seasonal themes. We sit with plants like Myrrh, Juniper, Lavender, and Scots Pine not as tools, but as allies and teachers. We tap into folklore, archetypes, and the liminal places where transformation becomes possible.

You’ll also hear from practitioners, distillers, and aromatic thinkers who share their lived relationships with plants and practice.

Whether you’re an aromatherapy practitioner, a curious seeker, or someone drawn to deepening your relationship with the natural world, Essential Aromatica offers a place to slow down, breathe, and connect — with me and the essential oils as your guides.

Learn more at nycaromatica.com.

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 Inu who was a beloved companion and family member for nearly sixteen years. Her passing brought forward themes of non‑attachment and sitting with grief — threads that intersect with Fox magic and the Juniper tree.

Fox magic teaches the art of moving through the world with alert curiosity and sovereign clarity: staying connected without clinging, canvasing the edges and observing, and taking action or being involved when needed.

Juniper and Juniper Berry essential oil bring lessons of protection, transformation and boundary keeping. I explore these qualities through sound and story, showcasing Yuliana Kireyeva’s olfactory sound composition of Juniper berry essential oil and the folktale “The Juniper Tree” to meet Juniper as sanctuary, truth‑teller, and threshold guide.

Read more about Juniper Berry essential oil: https://nycaromatica.com/plant-talk-juniper-berry-essential-oil/

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 time to rest, conserve energy, nourish the waters within, and honor lineage and continuity. The aromatic medicine of noble green beings—the conifers—is both symbolic and practical, supporting immunity, respiration, clarity, and our connection to the cycles of the year.

A key feature of this episode is the Seneca story “How the Conifers Flaunt the Promise of Spring,” a reminder of resilience, the will to live and endure. Join me to slow down and participate in the turning of the year, as generations have before us.

Sources: Storytelling + Research = LoiS: Parker - How the Conifers Flaunt the Promise of Spring - Keeping the Public in Public Domain

Article on Scots Pine: Plant Talk: Scots Pine Essential Oil - NYC Aromatica

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 dwell in “identity‑free space”. With Myrrh as our guide, a gap opens to release over‑identification with names, titles, and the ego’s stories so we can meet what’s true beneath them.

You will be guided through a guided aromatherapy meditation set to Bach’s Cello Suite No. 5 in C minor, BWV 1011 — Sarabande (Netherlands Bach Society / Suzuki recording) (minute 8:30). The episode includes my original poem “Last Night I Dreamt of Myrrh” (minute 17:15), followed by an exploration of Myrrh (minute 18:30): its ecology and etymology; the aromatic personality of its resin and essential oil; and clinical and ritual therapeutics for nervous system regulation, respiratory support, vulnerary and skin uses, and spiritual practice.

To balance the somberness, we close with an uplifting musical respite: Così fan tutte — “Soave sia il vento” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (minute 29:15).

If you feel the pressure of the year‑end rush — the urgency to buy, perform, and over‑do between Thanksgiving and New Year’s — Myrrh offers a counterweight: gravitas, steadiness, and a practice for making room rather than filling it. Join your host, Amy Anthony, for aromatic-somatic cues, ritual language, and practical aromatherapy guidance you can use to slow the impulse to consume, meet grief or clutter of the heart (and lungs), and enter a Kairos infused holiday season.

Here's the Myrrh article mentioned in the episode: https://nycaromatica.com/plant-talk-myrrh/

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 composition, an auditory translation of Patchouli’s aromatic chemistry, before sauntering into Lola Ridge’s poem “Potpourri,” a sultry, aromatic remembrance of New Orleans [~ minute 8:00].

With your whole being steeped in Patchouli—body, breath, memory, and energy—I guide you through a “Boundary of Sovereign Light” visualization [~ minute 9:00], a ritual to awaken your luminous boundary, reclaim energetic clarity, and embody your sovereign radiance.

Then words from the photographer Minor White unexpectedly resurfaced while I was recording the episode [~ minute 16:00].

But wait, of course there’s a seasonal theme to explore! Late summer into early autumn is Patchouli’s season: the harvest time of boundaries, reflection, and the thinning veil between worlds. Rooted in humus-rich soil and shaded from the high-heat sun, Patchouli mirrors this liminal space—earthy, sensual, quietly abundant—and supports us in releasing tension, sinking into our bodies, and resting in our own stillness.

In the final segment, I share my personal love affair with Patchouli—from adolescent memories of “bad Patchouli” incense to nurturing Patchouli plants in my garden. Its personality is evoked with words such as sweaty, animalic, wet compost, and “Kundalini at rest”, before going deeper into Patchouli’s power to support self-acceptance, sensuality, sexuality and, yes, boundaries.

Earlier this season we looked at Yarrow and Clary Sage, if Yarrow is a neutral shield and Clary sage is earthy euphoria, then Patchouli is our earth-bound body at-rest, a snake master of itself, able to settle into our true selves, unapologetically wear our own skin, and help us set clear boundaries between what is ours and what is not.

Go deeper:

Patchouli Plant Talk Article and video

Yarrow Plant Talk Article and Video

Find Yuliana on Instagram: @olfactorysounds

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 sweetness, and prepare for the challenges of autumn—not with urgency, but with steadiness.

Join me to explore the energetic themes of late summer through seasonal rhythms and a special essential oil blend intended to support grounding, clarity, and digestion. A majority of this episode is devoted to a guided visualization*—an invitation to turn inward and connect with what truly nourishes us, emotionally, physically, and energetically.

From juicy sweet fruits, the golden glow of the sun to the hum of bees, from the wisdom of spiders, this episode is a love letter to the mellow yellow season of transformation. To close, I share Chopin’s Nocturne No. 17 in B Major alongside a word sequence that calls upon the Earth element’s invitation to pause, integrate and nourish.

Warm. Golden. Integrated.

*Note: The visualization starts at minute 16 & the Chopin infused word sequence starts around minute 30.

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 episode explores Clary Sage’s bold personality—earthy, euphoric, and sensual—through its aromatic molecules, story and synesthetic sound. Featuring @olfactorysounds’ musical interpretation, you’re invited to experience this aromatic beyond the textbook. What does Clary Sage feel like? What does empowered stillness sound like? What can we do, globally, to honor and respect half of the human population?

Join me in this refection on menstruation, moon days, and honoring natural cycles rather than overriding them. Clary Sage is a guide for tuning into body-time, sensual energy—an aromatic ally reminding us that womanhood is not a set of fragmented roles, but a full, embodied rhythm.

Lunar cycles are sacred. Sensuality is wise. Initiation rites matter. Lilith meets Hekate. Medusa and Athena become one. These archetypes don’t compete—they merge, whole and wild, ready to rewrite the narrative. We remember: womanhood cries out in pain when it is not respected. Supported womanhood is rhythmic, sensual and discerning. Grounded and luminous. It is something to work with, not against.

Get your bottle of Clary Sage essential oil and settle in, breathe deep, and join me. To smell is to feel—to remember, not only memories, but the body’s holistic wisdom.

Video of Clary Sage Distillation: Plant Talk Video Series - NYC Aromatica

Instagram: Yuliana@olfactorysounds & and Amy @nycaromatica

Episode Highlights:

~8:40 -- Yuliana's Olfactory Sound Composition.

~17:48 -- "Humans are human. Women are not impure, and they are not inferior to or better than men—we are different, but equal. Human to human."~20:40 -- A solution for honoring the feminine cycle.

~26:08 -- Clary Sage's personality.

~32:00 -- Direct palm inhalation and Yuliana's Olfactory Sound Composition.

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 German Chamomile through scent, sound, and reflective pause. You’re invited to meet Chamomile beyond “this is good for that,” and instead experience what Chamomile feels like—what its stillness sounds like.

Once again, we’re joined by the synesthetic soundscapes of Yuliana Kireyeva, who transforms aromatic essence into auditory impressions. Through musical-sound, storytelling, shared correspondence, and a minimalist free-verse progression, we consider what it means to not do, and how Chamomile whispers to both children and adults alike: You can let go now. Prepare your tea or essential oil, find a quiet moment, and join me for this reflective, sensory meditation. To smell is, after all, to feel and to be.

Episode Highlights:

Minute 2'20": Olfactory Sounds & Chamomile

Minute 6'20": Children, Anxiety, Aromatherapy & "Not Doing"

Minute 16': Chamomile's Virtues

Minute 22'20": Poetry & Olfactory Sounds

References & Social Media:

Article & video on German Chamomile: https://nycaromatica.com/german-chamomile-matricaria-recutita/

Instagram: Yuliana @olfactorysounds & and Amy @nycaromatica