My sincere heartfelt thoughts go out to everyone who is currently in lockdown. Susan Arentz, in the editorial of the Winter 2021 edition of The Australian Journal of Herbal and Naturopathic Medicine explains that as health educators, we must take ownership of our role and draw on transparent and reliable sources; accurately interpreting information and provide informed healthcare to our patients’ individual health.
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I have often suggested that the reason people are drawn to aromatherapy is a desire to reconnect with nature. In my latest book, The Complete Guide to Aromatherapy, Volume III - Psyche & Subtle, I explore the relationship between scent and spirituality. I suggest that biophilia, awe, sacred space, ritual, myth and neurobiology are all pathways that contribute to the spiritual dimension of scent.
Western science has often ignored descriptions of ethereal anatomy and physiology, because their existence cannot be documented by anatomical dissection. However, we know that acupuncture meridians, chakras and nadis, the etheric body and other systems of multidimensional anatomy have long been described in traditional healing systems to describe the subtle body.
Today we explore Chapter four - the spiritual dimension of scent of my new Volume III of The Complete Guide to Aromatherapy.
Many aromatherapists acknowledge the effect of scent on our psyche. Worwood, for example describes scent as the more spiritual aspect of the plant:
Now let me tell you a little about my two most favourite chapters of Volume III. I would like to begin by stressing that in no way do I have an idealistic or romantic notion that our ancestors were far more in tune with nature than we are today. At various stages of history, the attitude towards scent changed.
In writing Volume III, it was my vision to present a different perspective on what we traditionally refer to as subtle aromatherapy practices. I have so much respect and admiration for the many authors and aromatherapists who have significantly contributed to the practice of subtle aromatherapy.
This is the most difficult message I have ever had to write. I was hoping time would heal, but sometimes it cannot. My kokoro is sad. Kokoro, by the way, is a beautiful Japanese word relating to the heart and how it connects body, mind and spirit.
Did you know the Japanese have a word for ‘a pile of unread books’? That word is tsundoku. I have finally had a chance since pre-COVID-19 to have an entire week off. I have decided to unwind at my favourite local getaway: North Stradbroke Island.
