Aromythology
My book on Melissa was finalised in Dec 2021. After four years of researching the practices of the Melissae, the priestesses of the ancient Greek goddess, Demeter, I found that my interest in aromatherapy had changed. I was no longer so interested in the same debates surrounding quality and safety, I had become fascinated by the fragrant oddessy into the parts of me that make me me.
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Aromythology is a brand new modality that seeks to ressurect some of the meditations and contemplations of the Melissae, deepening them with the fragrant wisdom of essential oils. Based on the idea that the priestesses met fragances with the rapturous abandon of a bee, the work is done solely through inhalation.
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Carl Jung proposed that certain universal archetypes exist in all of us. Some have a continual pull on us, others come and go as we move through life. What's strange though, is these gods and goddesses within us create patterns of behaviour, certain predisositions towards certain illnesses and even predictable psychiatric traits.Continually pulling our strings, like invosible puppeteers, they can be powerful friends if they are brought into the light, but fickle saboteurs as they remain unseen by us in the shadows.
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Part of the practice of the Melissae priestesses was to open the sacred space between goddess and woman, forthem to commune and know each other more fully. Gradually, the Melissa explores her psyche to be able to inegrate the strengths of the goddess and to appreciate her hidden power hiding in shadow.
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Workshops are open to qualified and non-qualified aromatherapists, and to all ages and genders.
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Demeter
The Courses
Tuesdays 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd March 2022
8pm - 9.30pm GMT on Zoom.
Demeter was Goddess of The Harvest. It was she who was responsible for abundance in life and for fertility. She was, what Jung called, a vulnerable goddess, in that her daughter – the Kore (means Maiden) was snatched by Hades into the Underworld.
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The dreadful crime against her caused a dreadful depression and a desire to withdraw from the world that drove the Earth into famine.
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As an archetype, she rules the nurturing and motherly side of our personality.
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Together, over four weeks, we’ll aim to meet this archetype in our own psyches.
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How prevalent is the mothering desire in us? For some, the desire to nurture is strong, but the biology does not match, and motherhood never comes. Sometimes this can be replaced by a vocation in the caring services, or in humanitarian endeavours. For some women, growing a business takes the place of raising a child.
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But the Demeter archetype has a dark side. Rather than facing up to the fury she felt at the crimes against her, the women rarely gets angry to get even. Rage is turned inwards, and depression takes it’s place.
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The protective element can, in some cases be smothering and suffocating for her children running the threat that they will turn against her, and often raising the offspring overtakes every other part of her life.
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Perhaps, nothing of that seems problematic, until the child leaves the nest, and poor Demeter is left bereft. Her life is now empty, her connection and social life has gone and, cruelly, this is often the time when hormonal changes are rife conspiring to bring her down.
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Learn how to identify when she is stirring, through feelings in your body.
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Isolate the moments where she is pulling the strings so you can discern whether you are making good, conscious decisions.
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Befriend and harness her great nurturing skills, and take control of the reins of her chariot so you can drive your life deliberately, successfully and happily towards abundance.
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The Romans called Demeter Ceres, as in cereal. So, using seed and grass oils we’ll call on ancient Greek meditations and contemplations to bring our Demeter archetype into the light. Insulate yourself against the weaknesses and pitfall that the Demeter archetype exploits to derail women and how to harness the the power of one of the most powerful goddesses human history has ever seen.
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Some of the themes we will explore during our time together:
Our relationship with the Mother Archetype.
That comes from several angles. Those of us that are mothers, in the traditional sense, whether that be of children who have lived or are living and those who are sadly not, for whatever reason that may be. Maybe we are mothers of people who are not related to us by blood. Actually for some that might be a complex relationship with partners who we parent, for example. Or it might be how we create, give birth and manifest projects, businesses etc. We all have projects that are “Our Babies” and our relationships to that.
• Our relationship with nurturing and the manifestation of depression in our psyche.
• How we deal with anger and confrontation, and how we withdraw our power.
Towards others, and even withdraw it from ourselves.
• How we put others “Our Baby’s” needs before our own.
We’ll contemplate which parts of that seem to be healthy, which come from fear or other shadow places, and which might be outdated scripts.
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Demeter’s Roman name was Ceres. She was associated with the cereal harvest, so as we work through the course, we’ll be using oils from seeds and grasses to lead our internal questioning process.
These are going to be using are Palma Rosa, Black Pepper, Lemongrass and Coriander Seed. The nice thing about that is not only is the course very reasonably priced but the oils are nice inexpensive ones too.
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In addition, it’s useful to have a bit of Vetiver, as a kind of antidote in case you start to feel like you are flying away.
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We are bees after all.
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It’s useful to have that lovely grounding grass root.
Course fee £80
Recordings will be available for those unable to attend.
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