Spiritual PhytoEssencing (SPE) is a continuously evolving art developed by Dr. Bruce Berkowsky, one of the world's leading masters of psycho-spiritual work with essential oils. (The word phytoessence is a synonym for essential oil.) SPE is a system intended to encourage deep, soul-level healing using essential oils. It is based upon a synthesis of certain aspects of aromatherapy, physiology, classical homeopathy, anthroposophical medicine, traditional Chinese medicine, herbal medicine and folklore, depth psychology, color therapy, gemstone healing and the Kabbalah.

Each individual's unique pattern of physical and emotional imbalance is a "snapshot" of what may be referred as the "idea" of the disease which emanates from a person's soul level and inhibits the full bonding of the spirit with the physical body. The goal in Spiritual PhytoEssencing is to identify the pattern of deep psycho-spiritual themes which have a disharmonizing impact on the soul level. Subsequently, a combination of essential oils which correlates with these themes is formulated to act as a mirror-image of this "central disturbance," and so, serves as a customized response to the bioenergetic fingerprint of a deeply-ingrained pattern of imbalance. Harmonizing the bioenergy currents of the psycho-spiritual plane facilitates an altered state characterized by heightened awareness, receptivity, flexibility, objectivity and the illumination of life-choices. True healing can proceed only in this altered state.

Essential oils are both biochemical and bioenergetic entities. Hence, their chemical properties can be used to act upon the biophysical plane and/or their bioenergetic properties can be used to directly interact on the non-material energy plane with human bioenergy. The energy fields of these oils vibrate at a frequency high enough to achieve resonance with the dynamic, or energy, body of the organism.

In Spiritual PhytoEssencing, the bioenergetic or dynamic aspect of the essential oils is given greater emphasis. In other words, the dynamic, rather than the chemical, action is emphasized. This dynamic aspect is not accessible to our ordinary intellectual consciousness. Nevertheless, it is the key determinant of the nature of the oil. In actuality, every living cell must be animated by a vital force, or "ensouled," and it's this incarnation of higher forces into living tissue that lends each organism its tangible expression.