esoteric Aromatherapy blending techniques
2026 Class:
September 21, 22, 23 | 10 – 5 each day
at Still Point Wellness in Asheville NC
| registration opens soon
Blending essential oils is as poetic as it is precise.
Join me for this unique Aromatherapy training where you will deepen your relationship with aromatic botanicals, hone your intuition, expand your olfactory palette, and learn to formulate beautiful and sophisticated blends for self-care and your practice.
This class is grounded in botanical anatomy and inspired by the relationship of humans and plants. You’ll learn to weave the symbolism of Seed, Flower, Root, Wood, Leaves/Needles, Resin, and Herbs into essential oil formulas.
You’ll also learn essential oil blending techniques like proper ratios, the “blending factor”, and botanical perfumery as you craft massage oils, salves, spritzers, bathing salts, and more.
So, witch scientists, poets, shamans, medicine folk, and scent-sculptors, this one’s for you.
Join me for Intuitive Aromatherapy and learn to blend from a place of intuition, sensory wisdom, and laboratory precision.
Hi, I’m Katie.
I’m the founder and content creator for river island apothecary and The Darkwood School.
I started working with essential oils in 1997 when I began my massage therapy career, blending massage oils, room diffuser blends, and beautiful aromatic sprays for my clients and treatment rooms.
I studied Aromatherapy and became certified through the Institute of Dynamic Aromatherapy in 2001, and then completed an Aromatherapy Master’s Apprentice program with the East West School of Herbal and Aromatic Studies in 2007.
Since then, I’ve taught Aromatherapy at the Asheville School of Massage & Yoga and at the Blue Ridge School for Herbal and Aromatic Studies, and at many conferences and retreats.
I began my product line, river island apothecary, in 2010.
This course is a culmination of my 29 years actively engaged in Aromatherapy and blending essential oils.
“[Intuitive Aromatherapy] is hands down the best class I have ever taken. Katie perfectly blends her skills as an aromatherapist, teacher, and mystic to create a beautiful alchemy that is hard to put into words. What she does looks effortless but is a result of years of study and practice. What I learned in a few days with Katie far surpasses the years I spent scouring the internet in an attempt to learn more about aromatherapy and blending. This class is for everything that you can’t learn online. Through this experience I learned to create therapeutic healing blends using intuition and sensory wisdom. I now have a totally different lens through which I see and experience the oils and aromas. There is now a relationship and connection with the plants that was missing before. This experience awakened so much in me, and I can’t wait to continue learning and blending. I cannot recommend this class highly enough.” -Intuitive Aromatherapy student, 2023
Course objectives:
- Learn to read 8 morphological plant structures as archetypes for blending.
- Educate your olfactory palette with a Materia Medica of essentials oils.
- Enliven your intuition as a tool for making botanical medicines.
- Learn techniques for blending elegant and effective aromatherapy preparations.
- Learn to blend for yourself and others.
Class Supplies:
Intuitive Aromatherapy workbook
beautifully printed 63-page workbook along with Mandy Aftel’s scent wheel for botanical perfumery
Take-home products
you’ll blend and take home a massage oil, salve, bathing salts, spritzer, and others
Lab materials
organic essential oils & blending materials, scent strips & beakers, and general Aromatherapy blending accoutrment for classroom use.
Class Structure
Day One:
Module 1 // Introduction to Intuitive Aromatherapy
Lab: Latin names and plant plant morphology
Module 2 // ROOTS and WOOD
Lab: massage oil
Day 2:
Module 3 // FLOWERS and RESIN
Lab: salve
Module 4 // LEAVES and FRUIT
Lab: bathing salts & salt scrubs
Day 3:
Module 5 // HERBS and SEEDS
Lab: spritzer
Module 6 // Esoteric diagnostics, blending, and self-care
Lab: formulating for others
“I went into this course with few expectations and some, but limited, experience with essential oils and product making and was blown away! Katie holds such a beautiful container. The pace of the course was a perfect blend of learning, feeling into our intuitive wisdom as we explored the different archetypes associated with plant parts and essential oils, and then time to craft and apply our learning as we made salves, bath salts, anointing and massage oils, salt scrubs and spritzers. I’m walking away from this course with a deep appreciation for our plant allies and all that they can teach us and support us with. This is definitely a relational and depth course–not for someone just wanting recipes and instructions on applications. You will deepen your relationship with plants, aromas and applications. I highly recommend this course for anyone seeking to deepen your access to your sensory wisdom and your relationship with plants and the natural world. I am leaving the course feeling deeply connected, appreciative and so inspired!” -Intuitive Aromatherapy student, 2023