I first came across the Bach Flower Remedies many years ago, but over recent years, I have been making my own flower essences.
Flower essences are an energetic form of plant medicine, using an imprint of the flower’s life force on water, that works primarily on the emotional, spiritual and energetic bodies, helping us to shift emotional and spiritual blocks and effect change.
They are very simple to make. Gather mature flowers. Float them on the surface of 150 ml spring water in a bowl and leave in the sun for 3-4 hours. Remove the flowers. Pour the water into a bottle and top up with 150 ml brandy or vodka to preserve it. This is your mother essence. To make up the flower essences for use, put 7 drops from this into a 10ml dropper bottle, and top that up with brandy or vodka. The usual dose is 4 drops of this in a glass of water four times a day. When making this it is important not to handle the flowers – it is the vibrational imprint of the flowers you want to be held by the water, not your own imprint. Standard recommendations are for 4 drops from bottle 4 times per day.
Below is Dr Bach’s original list, but practitioners have added many more since.
Agrimony – mental torture behind a cheerful face
Aspen – fear of unknown things
Beech – intolerance
Centaury – the inability to say ‘no’
Cerato – lack of trust in one’s own decisions
Cherry Plum – fear of the mind giving way
Chestnut Bud – failure to learn from mistakes
Chicory – selfish, possessive love
Clematis – dreaming of the future without working in the present
Crab Apple – the cleansing remedy, also for not liking something about ourselves
Elm – overwhelmed by responsibility
Gentian – discouragement after a setback
Gorse – hopelessness and despair
Heather – talkative self-concern and being self-centred
Holly – hatred, envy and jealousy
Honeysuckle – living in the past
Hornbeam – tiredness at the thought of doing something
Impatiens – impatience
Larch – lack of confidence
Mimulus – fear of known things
Mustard – deep gloom for no reason
Oak – the plodder who keeps going past the point of exhaustion
Olive – exhaustion following mental or physical effort
Pine – guilt
Red Chestnut – over-concern for the welfare of loved ones
Rock Rose – terror and fright
Rock Water – self-denial, rigidity and self-repression
Scleranthus – inability to choose between alternatives
Star of Bethlehem – shock
Sweet Chestnut – extreme mental anguish, when everything has been tried and there is no light left
Vervain – over-enthusiasm
Vine – dominance and inflexibility
Walnut – protection from change and unwanted influences
Water Violet – quiet self-reliance leading to isolation
White Chestnut – unwanted thoughts and mental arguments
Wild Oat – uncertainty over one’s direction in life
Wild Rose – drifting, resignation, apathy
Willow – self-pity and resentment
