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Easter in Crete

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About the author

Ildiko Berecz is an intuitive mentor, coach and holistic therapist who is passionate about sharing her inspiring personal stories from behind the mountains of Crete island, while being on the road, searching and experiencing, capturing, collecting, distilling, making herbal preparations, blending botanical perfume and more. She offers her insights of authentic approach and humble practices for better understanding and appreciation of nature, herbal remedies and awareness of trustworthy natural applications in our self-development and everyday life practices. More about Ildiko’s extensive life-changing work at ildikoberecz.com

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Yarrow – A Journey Home
Extractions and Distractions – A Survival Guide For Aromatic Living in Lockdown – Part 2
Extractions and Distractions – A Survival Guide For Aromatic Living in Lockdown – Part 1
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Stand By Me With Your Aromas

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Photography & text ©️ Ildiko Berecz of Essential Reflections, unless stated otherwise. Please do not use the pictures without prior written permission. If you wish to republish any of my reflections, get in touch, and/or link back respectfully to the original post. Content on this website is based on personal experience and provided for informational or educational purposes only, and is not intended as a substitute for advice from a physician or healthcare professional.

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Happy Thanksgiving to my friends who celebrate! Al

Happy Thanksgiving to my friends who celebrate! Also: Happy New Moon and new beginnings! 🙏 Today as I was looking at an upcoming memory... well, just like 5 years ago... I am amazed what I have done in 2022, all the blessings and each and every one of the 25 distillations this year, and it's not finished as yet! Since this was a strong stage of renewal, with it came several new aromatic plants new to my alembic. Some of them have been on the wait list for years, others came unplanned and spontaneously from the lands of abundant Crete. Locally grown Damask Rose from my amazing man Yiannis Psillos was totally 'Out of the Blue' (remember the blend I had co-distilled at the end of last year?) and beyond imagination. And then there are plants that, chances are, I am (now better to say 'we are') the first to distill at this age of time.

There is so much to share, and I will, I promise. I have also learnt (better to say keep learning, again, as with every new life stage) to use my time differently... and that is quite hard for my mystic-artistic freedom, but great for other things. So, I think the Cretan distillation journeys are nearing 40 different aromatic plants for me now, and for this I am truly grateful, yet another life as a true Alchemist. It seems I still have a lot of work to do, some unfinished businesses that the Universe contracted me with, and a huge thank you to everyone by my side near and far for co-creating this reality! 💗

I am preparing to take off to Hungary for a week to celebrate with family. 🇭🇺🇬🇷 On my return, sharing should continue, and part of it Discovery Packs will be available from my aromatic hydrosol distillations. Stay tuned! Walk with beauty in the palm of Nature! 🌿 Yours truly: Ildiko
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#essentialreflections #crete #lifechanging #unknown #holistic #aromatherapy #artisandistillery #alchemist #lifetransformation #awakening #awareness #perfume #love #intuition #citrus #bergamot #plantmedicine #plants #herbal #fieldtrips #mentorship

A super happy note that we've just released the 20

A super happy note that we've just released the 2022 Perfume Special edition of @aromatika_magazin which is now available in the shop. Out of ordinary, and beyond our regular issues, this most unique themed e-journal explores the infinite nature of scent - for all that treasure and pleasure of a fragrant life! 🌹

I am/we are most grateful for the dedication of our splendid contributors who supported us in delivering their excellent work to educate our readers, please our senses, and help shift our consciousness of the many ways scents play out in our lives.

Please check out the lovely content and get your copies. We hope you find this Perfume Special edition as enjoyable, fascinating and inspiring as it felt for us in the making. Thanking you all for your continued support. 💝 And please feel to share this to support our work!

Download link to the shop:
https://www.aromatikamagazine.com/shop-1

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#essentialreflections #crete #lifechanging #unknown #holistic #aromatherapy #artisandistillery #alchemist #lifetransformation #awakening #awareness #perfume #botanicalperfume #intuition #jasmine #aromatika #plantmedicine #plants #herbal #fieldtrips #mentorship

Here we go... sneak preview... First of all, after

Here we go... sneak preview... First of all, after a year of pose on writing my transformative visual essays on the Aromatic adventures of Crete, I am finally back with a next chapter! Inspired by botanical perfumery which beautifully runs through the past many years, and almost feels like a parallel life. Also, with my reflections and visions in that last major article 'Yarrow – A Journey Home', the old and the new somewhat connects where I had arrived a year ago and how it manifested in my life since. What is also super exciting, that this new aromatic story will take its place in a very special edition of @aromatika_magazin

The PERFUME Special is coming out soon before the regular Winter edition, and incorporates decades of experience of outstanding contemporary natural perfumers. What is truly exciting to me are the messages and values our fabulous contributors bring along with their life stories and work of art through story-telling and making the most beautiful and exquisite fragrant creations. Cultivating our very own passions with editor-in-chief Gergely Hollodi @aromabotanica to connect the fragrant world of East and West, and many other parts of the this wonderful green planet, to teach and learn more about smell and olfactory journeys that influence us all in our everyday life. With gratitude in my heart 🙏 - stay tuned! 💝 Check out our previous issues at https://www.aromatikamagazine.com/
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#essentialreflections #crete #lifechanging #unknown #holistic #aromatherapy #artisandistillery #alchemist #lifetransformation #awakening #awareness #perfume #botanicalperfume #intuition #jasmine #aromatika #plantmedicine #plants #herbal #fieldtrips #mentorship

To kick off the day... I was peeling these bergamo

To kick off the day... I was peeling these bergamots the other night. A gift from @houseofhealingcrete as she helped me finding these rather rare fruits here on Crete several times. The few trees they keep would likely be used for making spoon sweets from the fruits (i.e. cooked up with loads of sugar... although I must say it is delicious with some Greek yoghurt!)

When I first distilled bergamots two years ago, I did not realize that as opposed to its essential oil, it was not typically known and available as a hydrosol. It' is lovely, refreshingly green, yet slightly floral, and as I smell them again now it has a layer of sweetness competing with the bitter notes. And from my experience, it seems to me that bergamot has a much longer shelf life compared to lemon or orange hydrosol, which were loosing their vitality sooner.

Anyhow, these bergamots are part of a bigger plan... :-) That's for another day!
I am out to the fields soon... Have a happy Friday dissolved into a refreshing weekend! 🌿 And remember, it's 11:11 - another day for magic! 🌿
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#essentialreflections #crete #lifechanging #unknown #holistic #aromatherapy #artisandistillery #alchemist #lifetransformation #awakening #awareness #perfume #love #intuition #citrus #bergamot #plantmedicine #plants #herbal #fieldtrips #mentorship

Happy Full Moon everyone! I have made a co-distill

Happy Full Moon everyone! I have made a co-distillation today, using some magic 8, specially selected botanicals for the day. As always, lots of beauty and surprises. For now, still under the magic spell... La Luna above the sea near us on East Crete 💝
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#essentialreflections #crete #lifechanging #unknown #holistic #aromatherapy #artisandistillery #alchemist #lifetransformation #awakening #awareness #perfume #love #intuition #fullmoon #plantmedicine #plants #herbal #fieldtrips #mentorship

In the mood for perfume and blending, and that als

In the mood for perfume and blending, and that also carries the meaning that a new publication from @aromatika_magazin will emerge soon. That also means blending seasons, roles, capacities and distilling new essences. Completing some important missions, and re-kindle to complete abandoned ones.

To connect with Source is easiest when I am connected with plants and their empowering qualities. And so with blending that already happens there in nature! As this spontaneous composition that gently occurred the other day, a type of Marigold evoking colours of Day of the Dead in Mexico, masquerade and loud celebrations of the silent ones. With it comes a fresh pick of Mimosa and her encouraging smell so unique and unmistakable that turns shivering fears into loosening tears. And Jasmine flowers that are labelled to offer sweet intoxicating fire, and indeed even at this time of chilling November. How can I even narrow down the potentials of those powerful white petals? Yet, it demonstrates the layers of sweetness that show up as I lay them all on a bed of Cistus leaves on their extraordinary resinous nature coming from the heat of summer! So different personalities, yet they share some purpose and mission to support us by deep soul healing through their charming attractive nature by sweetness, colour and story-telling odour!

Wishing a beautiful weekend to everyone, with scented love from Crete! 🌿💝
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#essentialreflections
#crete #aromaticplants #artisan #spiritualguidance #mentoring #alchemist #aromaticstudies #aromatherapy #aromaticjourneys #plantmessages #botany #herbalism #cistus #mimosa #jasmine

That tall lady with me is a Cretan Jasmine that we

That tall lady with me is a Cretan Jasmine that we heard calling our names in a local nursery. Some of the nurseries are great, however, some others feel like an orphanage to me. The plants are taken care of, food and shelter is provided, yet loving care is not always given in an appropriate manner. 🌿

Fair enough, however as a result, these young children are struggling to find their place once out in real nature. What we experience often is that the plants we give life to through our own cuttings with deep love and utmost care are doing much better than the ones taken out from the nursery. Anyway, this lovely Jasmine needed a lot of care, and being cut back almost until the bottom - for a fresh new start. And of course, she needed some other aromatic friends around! 💗

I think most of you would love smelling these Jasmines! I share some of the autumn flowers here. I am a Leo, and certainly have a strong affinity with this fragrant plant. I have a couple of Jasmine articles on my blog, including a magical chapter of my aromatic adventures series on Crete written some years ago with the title "Distill Your True Self with Jasmine" - if you missed that one, just follow the link here, and I hope you find some inspirations there! 💚
https://essentialreflections.com/distill-your-true-self-with-jasmine/

Yours truly: Ildiko 🌿💝
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#essentialreflections #crete #lifechanging #unknown #holistic #aromatherapy #artisandistillery #alchemist #lifetransformation #awakening #awareness #perfume #love #intuition #jasmine #queenofthenight #plantmedicine #plants #herbal #fieldtrips #mentorship

When you approach plants with an open heart, curio

When you approach plants with an open heart, curiosity and the best intentions, yet their way may not be yours. Whether you have green hands or not, sometimes it's trial and error to go along and find common ground. While there has been an admiration for the Lemon verbena (Aloysia citrodora syn. Lippia citriodora) when I first tried to grow it in my garden some years ago, I simply failed. When I carefully planted a new plant, trying another spot in the same garden, it was so successful that when I was on the move this summer, the beauty came with me surviving the transit and happily settled in a faraway land! She had some company there on the rose fields, and some other relatives from the same species. 🌿

So one fine day during the last full Moon it was time to harvest Verbena for a distillation. Another first in my alchemist alembic! There has been no expectations at all, yet the hydrosol came out beyond any! So vibrant, alive, refreshing, rounded - lemony and green (perhaps reminiscent of the green lemons I once distilled). And to my greatest surprise, with this lovely aromatic water there came a little oil of about 2-3 ml. In case you didn't know, the essential oil yield of Lemon verbena is very very low... I like the way hydrosol authority Suzanne Catty explains this: "It appears that much of the plant's life force remains in the water-soluble components like a hologram, and if the water is combined with vibrational healing techniques, the effects can be extraordinary." 🌿

What would be the key words to list the properties? Definitely a strong anti-inflammatory, stimulating, purifying, tonifying. Certainly soothing, has an affinity with the nervous and digestive system, but also almost anything in-between. A balancer in many ways and may be a wonderful companion in blending vertically (with other types of substances) as well as horizontally (blending with other hydrolats). We will have some to share in the Aromatic Discovery sets again! 🌿🙏
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#essentialreflections #crete #lifechanging #unknown #holistic #aromatherapy #artisandistillery #alchemist #lifetransformation #awakening #awareness #rose #love #intuition #hydrosol #verbena #louisa #plantmedicine

The thought came up: one of best ways to describe

The thought came up: one of best ways to describe my current status is living the ordinary unordinary life. In spite of the desire to share and continue to inspire and teach about the choices of both the truly lived and the imaginary realities, I make some hard and strict decisions. And I keep my hand-break pulled in, and remain in the background for a while. Periodically, it is a highly important stage. Often, only time will give you the answers, or the confidence to trust your inner voice. As the noise out there is too loud.

This extraordinary reality I have created to live has now equipped me with such gifts as an extraordinary life partner, the extras of growing into motherhood without giving birth to one, a new stage of aromatic life where we are planting seeds literally every day. That's not all, but already a lot in its entirety. Means planting more of my dream garden in order to sow the seeds of passion, knowledge and experience of medicinal plants. To sow the seeds, and bring the blossoms onto the path of the ones who are open to listen, and here to walk the talk of a truly holistic approach of life.

I will also do my best to tell some of the stories of the amazing plants I had a chance to extend into with my transformative plant works on Crete. This small discovery gift set from our fresh collection of the finest artisan hydrosols of our fields and landscape on the island... is now in the hands of someone who appreciates them truly. As we do 🙏🫶

Yours truly: Ildiko 🌿💝
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#essentialreflections #crete #lifechanging #unknown #holistic #aromatherapy #artisandistillery #alchemist #lifetransformation #awakening #awareness #seafennel #love #intuition #juniper #verbena #fennel #plantmedicine #plants #herbal #fieldtrips #mentorship

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