Using Alchemy With Essential Oils

ALCHEMY-THE METAPHYSICAL ASPECTS OF AROMATHERAPY
by Kathryn Sharp

A truly wholistic approach to aromatherapy (or any therapeutic form) must address all levels of healing, including those beyond our third dimensional physical forms. Treating physical conditions with essential oils is a large and important part of aromatherapy. Yet there is more to the whole picture of healing.

Every physical condition reflects our mental, emotional, and spiritual condition. Our thoughts and feelings influence our experience of the reality, and this applies to the physical body. When dysfunctional thought patterns, limiting beliefs, or unexpressed emotions are held long enough in the energy field, often unconsciously, they will manifest into the physical body as dis-ease.

Often when we heal a condition in the physical body, the opportunity arises for us to feel long suppressed emotions, or to become conscious of our negative beliefs and thoughts. This gives us an opportunity to make a new choice. When we make a conscious choice for change on these levels, we not only heal the condition from our physical bodies, but we also heal the pattern that caused our condition.

 

METAPHYSICAL HEALING WITH ESSENTIAL OILS

THE PROCESS OF ALCHEMY
Healing of all kinds can be greatly enhanced by using this simple, four-stage technique. It is easy to do and can be used by anyone. Alchemy helps to open a bridge between our physical symptoms and the mental and emotional awareness that will bring about permanent change.

 
STAGE ONE-”IDENTIFY”
All healing takes place in only one time: The ever-present now. It is possible to heal both past and future events or conditions. However, the actual healing takes place only now. Now is the only point of power where actual change can occur, because now is the only time where we are actually living.

Many times we have very little consciousness in our point of power-the present. We are always thinking about the past or the future. Our thoughts are electromagnetic energy. When we think about things in the past or future, we are actually energizing the past (or future). We are directing energy away from our true self (who exists only in the now). For true healing to take place, we must come into our place of power in the present moment. The first step of stage one is to:

Step 1-Become Present!
Notice your breathing. Notice how the breath feels as it moves into your body and out again. Notice everything around you. Don’t label things or think about them. Just notice them. Notice the sounds and the silence. Notice your thoughts. Notice how the mind will attempt to draw your attention into the past or the future. Continue to bring your attention back to the present moment. Just be present wherever you are and observe.


Become Present! (For Practitioners)
Before you and your client come together, make your intention to be fully present with this person. Feel your breathing, feel the inside of your body, and hold that awareness as you interact with your client. Ask your client to take some deep breaths and to become fully present with you. Make sure they are sitting with their feet planted squarely on the floor. If they have trouble being present or try to retreat into conversation, you may have them inhale a tree oil or any oil that feels right to help them focus in this time and space.

Step two-Identify
As you begin to notice the mind, you will become aware of its content. Your way of thinking will begin to reveal the exact patterns of negativity that the body is responding to. Be fully present and continue to observe your thoughts without judgment. See if you can identify the patterns of negativity, the thoughts or beliefs, that are no longer serving in order to create what you desire to experience. Decide what you would like to reprogram to create health and well being.

Sometimes it is easier to identify the feelings beneath the mind. The body’s response to the mind’s negativity is emotion. By coming into the present and focusing on your breathing, you may become aware of a feeling or sensation somewhere in your body. Where is your attention drawn? How does it feel? You may be able to identify a specific emotion, or you may not have a word for it. Either way is okay. Do not judge or resist the feeling, simply observe it with your full presence. Do not identify with it.
 

Identify (for Practitioners)
Ask your client what he or she is seeking help with. Then continue to hold a receptive space. Very often the client will begin to offer a deeper level of information, making new identifications and connections of their own just by being in the receptive space you are providing. It is important that this information surfaces through the client. It is best to avoid leading her to an outcome, even if you think you can clearly see the causal factors.

If the client needs help identifying, simply offer your observations and allow him to find the ones that are real for him. It is helpful to use a pendulum or another means of connecting to a higher guidance system so that your mind does not take over and try to control the outcome or lead the client in a direction (minds love to do that!).

Ask your client what thoughts or beliefs are connected to his condition. Listen deeply and hold a receptive space as the client notices his thoughts. Observe when the consciousness is in resistance, avoidance, or diversion, and when it connects to the core. There is a different feeling and resonance to the voice when connected to the core energy. If the client gets stuck and can not seem to make the connection, have him inhale a root or navel chakra essential oil to assist.

Sometimes it is easier to start with identification of the feelings. As the client talks about her condition, pay close attention to the feelings that are emanating from her. Even if the person is unaware of any emotional aspects, suppressed emotion will be vibrating in her field. As you attune to that person, you may feel the feelings that she is not feeling, or you may hear it in her voice. If you feel sadness inside, for example, ask her if she has had any losses or sad events in her life in the recent past. This may be enough for her to make the connection to the feeling.

 
STAGE TWO-”ACTIVATE”

Step one-Set Intention
Whatever you have identified as being no longer desired or effective, whether it is a feeling, a belief, a behavior, a judgment, or a way of thinking, it must be transmuted into something new. It is best to replace the old with something simple, one that creates a feeling in your body rather than a complex mental concept.
 

Set Intention (for Practitioners)
Help your client to understand that whenever something is leaving the human energy field, such as letting go of a negative thought pattern or suppressed emotion that has been there for a long time, it is necessary to chose something to replace it. The process of alchemy is the process of transmutation, changing one form of energy into another. Since energy doesn’t die, it can only be transmuted into a new form. If we simply “remove” the old from our field without providing the new form, we create an empty space in our fields. The universe hates a vacuum, so that space must be filled with something. We may even attract the same pattern back again.

For this reason it is an essential practice to make a conscious choice of what energy or form to replace it with. This can be very different from person to person. It is best to keep the new form simple and positive, such as “truth”, “new choices in communication”, “acceptance”, etc. It is important that the words reflect an energy that the person desires to integrate, and that they “feel right”.

Step two-Activation
By taking action in the physical world to support the intention that has been set, we begin to make the transmutation real. Nothing can manifest into the physical world without activation. Select the essential oils that will support the change you are desiring to create with your new intention. These oils will enhance the new frequencies in your body and energy field as you realize the new form. Each time you apply or ingest the formula, remember the intention you have set. Remind yourself also of the other forms of support you have, including friends and family, health care providers and treatments, and spiritual assistance.

Activation (for Practitioners)
The client, with your help, has identified thought patterns and/or emotions that are not serving, as well as the change he wishes to integrate. Decide on the selection of oils, and where they are to be placed on the body. Remind him to be conscious of his intention every time he applies the oil. The essential oils will be anchoring the higher frequencies of change directly into the physical body through the nervous system. It is best to apply the formula at least two times daily while holding the conscious connection to the new reality he is choosing to bring in. A meditation or visualization may be helpful at the same time, especially if he is a highly visual person. By focusing his consciousness on this action and repeating it daily, he is empowering his chosen transmutation and creating a new reality. When the person is truly willing and committed to the necessary repetition, there is no condition that can not be healed and transformed through this process.

 

STAGE THREE-”INTEGRATE”
Stage three is the stage where people become impatient with the process. During stage three, we have already set our intention and activated it. We may have experienced a temporary feeling of change or success with the process.

But in order to make the change completely real, we must integrate the new form into our bodies. On the surface, it may feel as if nothing is happening. We may experience our doubt or self judgment, we may feel as if our case is hopeless or that it is impossible for us to change. We may feel as though it would be easier to give up and go back to the old reality. This is the time when our doubt and resistance is being made conscious in order to transmute the desired change.

During this part of the process, it is important to keep taking the remedy or using the oil, to keep taking the actions in the physical world even through our doubt and resistance. Focus on the new intention whenever you think of it, no matter what you are doing. When you observe the mind going off into the old pattern, come back to the present as soon as you see it. Waste no time on self judgment or negativity. Just return to the point of power-the now. Affirm your intention for change and feel the change integrating into your body.

Be glad to see the doubt and resistance as it comes into your awareness, for this is the way it is transmuted. As long as you were not conscious of the feelings, there was no possibility for change.

STAGE FOUR-”COMPLETION”
When we reach the completion stage, we are no longer feeling the need to use our remedies or essential oils. We begin to feel and see the changes integrating into our lives.

During this stage, it is important to observe and acknowledge the times when you see yourself expressing the change you have activated earlier. As the new reality becomes more and more integrated into your life, feel and express gratitude for the change.

Gratitude creates an energy in your field that actually speeds the integration of new patterns and frequencies. By consistently expressing gratitude for the change, we set up a positive energy field that attracts more positive experiences into our lives. It is true that whatever we choose to empower with our attention grows!

Integration and Completion (for Practitioners)
Practitioners can assist their clients during the third and fourth stages by helping them to observe change and expressing their gratitude to the people, beings, and treatments that have been supporting the transmutation.

Remind your client to express gratitude for even the smallest movement toward change and the new reality. By expressing gratitude in advance for that which we desire, we focus our attention on it in a positive way, without supporting the energy of lack or need (since we are acknowledging that which is already coming to us). This empowers our intention in a whole new way, enabling us to create and experience the new reality.

This final stage of acknowledgment is perhaps the most important stage of all, for without it, there is no completion. Our spirits must know we are complete before we can fully move on to something else. It is wise and fun to mark this stage with an event, a party, a dinner, a ceremony, something special that serves to honor the completion of our process of alchemy.