Geranium — The Oil of Love and Trust and the Qualities of the Sweet Mother

As May opens, the oil of the sweet mother offers a quiet remembering — how to be kind to ourselves and how to receive.

There is a particular light that arrives in May. Earlier in the mornings. Longer in the evenings. Warmer on the skin. As the world opens, something in us begins to open too.

This is a threshold time — the slow turning between spring and summer. There is more to take in, more to feel, more to do. Underneath all that movement, there are ways we can care for, attend to, and support this natural process — supporting our own capacity to come away from what many of us have felt forced to keep doing, doing, doing, and to settle into a more receptive place.

Geranium is the key oil that reminds us to pause and remember the importance of reciprocity — the art of receiving as well as giving.

Last month in this column, we met Bergamot — the oil of self-acceptance — who really supports us to accept where we are, no matter what challenges we are facing.

This month on our Aromatic Soul Journey, we meet Geranium.

The Oil of Love and Trust — with the Nature and Qualities of the Sweet Mother

If Rose is the oil of the beloved, Geranium is the oil of the sweet mother, also known as the oil of love and trust.

As the sweet mother, she is the one who turns towards you when you are tired. The one who says: come, sit here, you do not have to do anything – you can just be yourself. Geranium has a way of reminding us how to give ourselves permission and time — to care and tend to ourselves — and to be that soft, sweet inner mother to ourselves — the soft inner one — the part of us that knows how to be gentle and kind to ourselves.

Most of us are not very practised in being this mother to ourselves — sadly, more practised in the inner voice that criticises and corrects, the one that pushes through, in the small daily refusals to rest. Geranium softens that voice and reminds the heart that no matter what, we are loved, lovable and loving at the level of our true natural nature — and in remembering this, we can trust ourselves to take care of ourselves in all the ways we need and that with this kind support, we can feel safe and open to life.

This is what love and trust really mean here. Not an abstract feeling. The small steady recognition that we can turn towards ourselves with warmth, especially on the days when current challenges can feel quite overwhelming.

A Precise Way of Working

I would like to share a little bit about this beautiful way of working with pure essential oils that goes beyond diffusing and putting oils in the bath. It marries two old wisdoms — the plant’s soul nature and the meridian system of Chinese medicine, used for centuries in acupressure and acupuncture. A technique that you can simply do yourself to bring a shift in how you feel.

When we understand how an oil moves us (the biodynamics of fragrance) — Geranium softens, holds, nurtures, nourishes (the inner soul nature) — and when we know the precise acupoints where to place a single drop, something happens that neither would do alone.

This is the heart of what I call the practice of Biodynamic AromaPoints — where we work precisely with ready-diluted pure essential oils on specific acupoints on the body to bring the resonance and rememberings of these qualities of the plants into our bodies — bringing a shift in how we feel in an instant and changing how we feel over time.

The Place of Receiving

For Geranium, the most tender point is CV8 at the navel — known in Chinese medicine as Spirit Gateway. This is where you were first nourished. Before effort. Before identity. Before any sense of having to earn.

There was simply receiving.

A drop of Geranium here, beneath a warm hand, is a quiet doorway home.

A Small Practice

You can try this now, with or without the oil.

Sit somewhere quietly. Place one hand, palm wide, over your belly button. Let it be warm and steady. Breathe, slowly, three or four times.

And gently allow this thought: There is nothing I need to do — I am enough exactly as I am.

Stay for a minute. Stay for five.

For a longer guided version — a few quiet minutes with Geranium and a simple pause, recorded for you — listen here: 

Continue the Experience

For those ready to meet Geranium more directly, our Live Geranium Aromatic Experience — as part of the Aromatic Soul Journey — takes place online on Thursday 21 May.

Geranium can be joined as a single-oil experience within the Aromatic Soul Journey — including the live session, all PDF resources, a series of short practice videos, and a ready-to-use high-quality oil and illustrated cards sent on sign-up — for £35.

More details and to book here:  https://ayurvedawellbeing.corinnakitchen.com/geranium-aromapoints-experience

If you would like to keep in the loop and learn more about Biodynamic Medicine and Ayurveda, I invite you to join me in the Ayurveda Wellbeing Sanctuary — our free online space.

Inside, you will be invited to our free Live monthly gathering — an opportunity to discover more about Ayurveda. Each month I share what is happening in nature, what may be happening in the body and the simple practices — food, rhythm, meditation, essential oils — that help us to restore – from an ayurvedic perspective.

All are welcome, and it’s free to join in.

I hope you have gained something from this article and look forward to welcoming you if you would like to discover and experience more for yourself.

Words: Corinna Kitchen

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General info  https://ayurvedawellbeing.corinnakitchen.com/

Corinna Kitchen — Biodynamic Psychotherapist · Ayurvedic Lifestyle Consultant · Biodynamic AromaPoints Practitioner. Director of the Institute of Biodynamic Medicine.