Flower Essences

I will be adding the following Flower Essences to my perfume: 

Buttercup:
Positive qualities: Radiant inner light, unattached to outer recognition or fame; self-assured
Patterns of imbalance: Feelings of low self-worth, inability to acknowledge or experience one’s inner light and uniqueness; self-deprecating 

Pretty-Face:
Positive qualities: Radiant inner beauty; self-acceptance in relation to personal appearance despite handicaps or blemishes
Patterns of imbalance: Feeling ugly or rejected because of personal appearance; over-identified with physical appearance


Self-Heal:
Positive qualities: Ability to tap into health-giving forces for body and soul; lifestyle choices that lead to wellness and wholeness
Patterns of imbalance: Inability to take inner responsibility for one’s healing, lacking in spiritual motivation for wellness, overly dependent on external advice for health choices

The following is an introduction to Flower Essences by the Flower Essence Society, which is much better than anything I could write!

Flower Essence Repertory by Patricia Kaminski and Richard Katz - A Comprehensive Guide to North American and English Flower Essences for Emotional and Spiritual Well-Being

Flower essences are subtle liquid extracts, generally taken in oral form, which are used to address profound issues of emotional well-being, soul development, and mind-body health. While the use of flowers for healing has many ancient antecedents, the precise application of flower essences for specific emotions and attitudes was first developed by an English physician, Dr. Edward Bach, in the 1930’s. Today, flower essences are gaining world-wide professional recognition for their significant contribution to holistic health and wellness programs.

Flower essences are generally prepared from a sun infusion of either wildflowers or pristine garden blossoms in a bowl of water, which is further diluted and potentized, and preserved with brandy. Quality preparation requires careful attention to the purity of the environment, the vibrancy and potency of the blossoms, celestial and meteorological conditions, and sensitive study of the physical and energetic properties of the plant through its cycles of growth.

Although flower essences resemble other health remedies which come in dropper bottles, they do not work because of the chemical composition of the liquid, but because of the life forces derived from the plant and contained within the water-based matrix. Like homeopathic remedies, flower essences are vibrational in nature. They are highly dilute from a physical point of view, but have subtle power as potentized substances, embodying the specific energetic patterns of each flower. Their impact does not derive from any direct bio- chemical interaction within the physiology of the body. Rather, flower essences work through the various human energy fields, which in turn influence mental, emotional, and physical well-being.

The action of flower essences can be compared to the effects we experience from hearing a particularly moving piece of music, or seeing an inspirational work of art. The light or sound waves which reach our senses may evoke profound feelings in our soul, which indirectly affect our breathing, pulse rate, and other physical states. These patterns do not impact us by direct physical or chemical intervention in our bodies. Rather, it is the contour and arrangement of the light or sound which awakens an experience within our own soul similar to that which arose within the soul of the creator of the musical or art form. This is the phenomenon of resonance, as when a guitar string sounds when a matching note is sung. In a similar way, the specific structure and shape of the life forces conveyed by each flower essence resonate with, and awaken, particular qualities within the human soul.

Another model which may be useful in understanding the vibrational resonance of flower essences comes from holography. A holographic photograph consists of light-wave interference patterns, any portion of which contains information from the whole and can be used to re-create the original three-dimensional image. Thus, we can describe the water containing the blossoms as receiving a kind of holographic imprint of the essential qualities of the plant. Each drop of water contains the whole configuration of the plant’s archetype. As we dilute the flower essence, we attenuate the physical substance of the infusion so that it is no longer biochemically significant. However, the full etheric “message” of the plant essence remains in the few highly dilute drops we take into our bodies.

Working with flower essences requires a stretch in our thinking beyond the materialistic assumption that “more is better.” Flower essences, like other vibrational remedies, illustrate the principle that “small is beautiful.” They are part of an emerging field of non-invasive, life-enhancing subtle therapies, which promise to make a major contribution to health care in coming years.