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