Creating Flower Essences
Over view of important points to use to start recognizing about ourselves when making and using flower essences.
We …
embrace our ancient blue print
tap into our indigenous selves
read the landscape
once we understand, how to get out of our own way in how we default to the old brainwashing of early childhood, we’ll fully be embracing flower essences to their highest capacity,
One flower I like to start with to prepare flower essences, and at the same time helps us get around our defaulting perceptions is Heal-All [Prunella vulgaris, a mint family plant] also known as Self-Heal, who grows low and gentle or tall and wise in northern climate regions. But first, lets get to the basics.
What are Flower Essences?
Flower essences are infusions of flowers (just one or to a few) in water, that are potentized (made stronger) and then stabilized (in a solution of brandy and water). They the electrical - vibrational imprint of that particular flower which is then transferred and linked to each water molecule. They have no scent so should not be confused with essential oils. Flower essences are extremely dilute preparations of plants and thus are in no way like an herbal tincture / extract.
Herbal tinctures / extracts are concentrated forms (not as concentrated as essential oils though) of different plant parts and are commonly used to treat physical body symptoms. In fact, many of our modern medicines are synthetic versions of the extracts from plants.
Flower essences, on the other hand, while they may also stimulate physical healing, are used mainly to promote awareness of emotional, mental and spiritual imbalances.
In contrast with essential oils and herbal tinctures, we do not harvest or disturb the plant when making a flower essence. In most cases we use only a few wild flowers to prepare the infusion. It is stabilized with brandy and subsequently diluted to so that only minute traces of the chemical components from the original flowers remain, making then completely safe for use.
What are Flower Essences Used For?
Flower essences can help us recognize, resolve, or release different conditioned ways of perceiving the world and can help us experience greater well-being and harmony in our lives. By creating harmony within us, we often notice distinct changes in ourselves physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
Flower essences are very effective in helping us to recognize and rid ourselves of limiting or destructive patterns of behavior. The essences support us in extending our consciousness beyond its present state. They provide a language that helps us to understand our emotions and inner soul urgings.
What happens when I use flower essences?
As we use a flower essence, we begin to resonate in harmony with the qualities of the flower, and limitations and disharmonies begin to change. It is not necessary to believe in them to experience their benefic effects. They’ve been used successfully not only with adults and children, but also with animals and plants.
Flower essences do not overwhelm or force something to happen. They do, however, help us become conscious of things that are already happening with ourselves. As a result, sometimes we may have an awarenesses with which we are uncomfortable.
The essences effect a shift in consciousness, and each person may experience the effects differently. To recognize how they are working, it is necessary to observe our inner state. The more attuned we are to our inner life, the easier it is to recognize the flower essence’s effects.
A balance between self-contemplation and feedback from trusted family members and friends is helpful to show us the changes that happened. Writing in a journal about our experiences can create clarity about the essences’ effects.
If you like, you can see a professional flower essence counselor for additional help. It is very beneficial, when dealing with intense emotional processing, to seek help from an experienced practitioner. Working with a professional can help clarify processes and provide support for peeling off the layers of worldly cares that usually accompany healing processes.
How are flower essences used?
Flower essences can be used in a number of ways. The most common way is to take them orally, four drops, four times a day. Our experience shows that it is not necessary to take them internally. They can also be used by adding five to seven drops in a plant sprayer bottle and misting a room or our bodies. You can also add a few drops to the bath, spray clothes before ironing them, or spray your pillow before sleeping. What is important to remember is that they are a vibrational essence, and surrounding yourself with them, inside or outside, is the best way to experience their effects.
How long do I need to take a flower essence?
We have found that there is usually a definite cycle period in taking a flower essence. A normal cycle is usually two to four weeks. Some folks may need to take an essence for a shorter period while others may need to use an essence for several months. If you want to increase their effects, use them more often rather than more drops each time. Persons usually like to take them more frequently at first, then find themselves tapering off as they near the end of the cycle. At the end of a cycle, they may forget to take them altogether, and this is normal.
Can I use flower essences together with other healing modalities?
Flower essences can be used on their own or in conjunction with other therapies to enhance a healing process. They have been used with great success by flower essence practitioners, naturopathic doctors, massage therapists, psychologists, medical doctors, veterinarians, and other health care practitioners. The essences can be an extremely effective tool in the hands of an experienced practitioner to enhance awareness, facilitate healing and create harmony. While it is helpful to have the assistance and insight of someone of wide experience while using them, the essences can also be a great personal support for those inspired to follow their own instincts in essence selection. Since flower essences are safe and have no negative side effects, they can be used with confidence by beginners and experienced users alike. They are an excellent aid for those desiring to take responsibility for their own well-being.
What can I do if I am sensitive to alcohol?
Adding a preservative is essential to keep flower essences pure and sterile. Brandy being the most reliable and palatable. Use a few drops of the essence in a glass of water if you are sensitive to alcohol or simply rub a few drops onto your skin or a sprayer bottle filled with water and mist yourself or surroundings.
How do I choose which flower essences to use?
Flower essences can be selected in a number of ways. Usually, a flower essence practitioner uses one or a combination of the following methods to select flower essences: detailed interview with the client, intuitive impression of the client’s concerns, muscle testing, dowsing with a pendulum, a cross-reference of the flower essences, or other methods. Since flower essences do not have negative side effects, it is completely safe to select the essences yourself. If you use an essence that you don’t need, nothing will happen. When reading about the flower essences we often recognize our attitudes in the descriptions of many of the flowers.
To select flower essences: ask What issues are most important to you?
Just 2 or 3 things that you would like to change or issues with which you want resolution. Next, ask yourself: What are my underlying issues? What is at the root or core of this situation? I like to use Louise Hayes workbook, Annie McIntyre, Green Hope Farm or David Daltons books to help me along with this. Or a combination of the two. Holding questions in your awareness and scan a list of essences to see who sticks out for you. You can use essences together, separate or you may choose to use just one at a time.
How many flower essences can I use at the same time?
If you want to select essences for yourself, it is advisable to focus on using just a few at a time. While there are no hard-fast rules to preclude your using more essences, you might want to limit the number of essences you use together to no more than four or five.
EMOTIONALLY & ENERGETICALLY PREPARING FOR ESSENCE MAKING
There are a variety of ways to prepare to make your own flower essences. Experiment to find your own way or adopt someone else’s for the time being. I suggest coming to the series of “Developing Cognitive Agility with our Plant & Tree Allies Series” workshops to tap into the language that lays quietly in our bellies and start remembering to listening to the voice of Nature.
DOCTRINE OF SIGNATURES
When we work with flower essences, and we are outdoors searching for a flower, (if the plant has not already called us to them first) we work with the Doctrine of Signatures, which says a plant is for us if …
a plant looks like a form, shape, color, texture, scent, taste that is part of our issue
how they respond to you (Plant Neuro Biology)
if they grow near you
who they grow with
what their environment is like
how they grow / blossom into
do they grow close to your home or far away
have they suddenly arrived in your garden and particularly where in your garden
if they’re mushrooms, do they grow on a tree, the ground, on another mushroom
what are their shape and color of and size of their spores?
And much much more.
1. Preparing a Mother Essence
Sit with the plant to get an imprint as to its purpose for you. When you know, go out in the early morning hours, or early evening on a Full Moon (affecting change and bringing to fruition) or early evening on a New Moon (holding space for considering a situation or thinking), harvest one flower and let it fall untouched by anything into clean (unchlorinated / unflourinated) water into a cut glass bowl and set it out in the sun or moon ligth for at least 4 hours to 6 hrs.
Next, get a 1 oz Boston Round Brown bottle with a dropper stopper. Fill half way with the Mother Essence (not the flower though, compost the flower next to the plant), then fill the remaining of the bottle with Brandy (shelf-life is 10 years) or Apple Cider Vinegar (shelf-life is 1 year), place dropper on bottle and shake well hitting the palm of your hand or better yet, a layered towel on a table top, 100 to 200 times hard. This helps break the Hydrogen bonds in water to accept the electric potential from the plants flower.
You’ve now energized the mother bottle which makes many many many bottles of stock essences. Keep in a dark place out of heat or sunlight or room light and don’t lay it down because it can take on the flavor of the rubber dropper.
2. Preparing - Stock Bottle
Get a 1 oz Boston Round Brown bottle with a dropper stopper. Fill bottle half with Brandy or Apple Cider Vinegar, half with distilled water, and then 4 to 7 drops of the Mother Flower Essence. Shake this one too the same way by hitting the palm of your hand or a toweled tabletop 100 to 200 times. You’ve now developed this bottle and is ready for use for making the Dosage bottle. Keep this too in a dark place without light or heat. This too lasts for 10 years.
The dosage: you can use this bottle as a dosage bottle but it won’t be as potent and may work more slowly; 1 to 6 drops in water, juice, tea, or on the skin, on ones chakra points, on your feet or palms, in face creams if you make them, in a spray bottle, etc.
3. Preparing - Dose Bottle
Get a ½ oz Boston Round Brown bottle and fill with pure spring water and 2 to 4 drops of the Stock Flower Essence bottle. Shake this one too the same way by hitting the palm of your hand 100 to 200 times. You’ve now developed this dosage bottle and is ready for everyday use. Use 1 to 4 drops, 3 x a day, but … remember, it expires after 30 days. This bottle is a little more potent and faster acting. Less is more in the flower essence realm as is homeopathy. Add to water, juice, tea, or on the skin, on one’s Chakra points, on your feet or palms, in face creams if you make them, in a spray bottle, etc. Use up by 20 to 30 days, otherwise recycle and make more.
RESOURCES FOR MORE ON ESSENCES:
Green Hope Farm Flower Essences Guide – green.hope.farm@valley.net
Perelandra Essences Guide – www.perelandra-ltd.com
The Language of Plants – Julia Graves
Stars of the Meadow, Medicinal Herbs as Flower Essences – David Dalton
Flower Power by Anne McIntyre