The Modern Use of Flower Essences

Flower essences work on basically the same principle as Bach Flower Remedies. This means that they are designed to combat emotional or spiritual difficulties, such as stress, depression, fear, anxiety, anger or confusion. The idea behind the flower essences is simple: emotions change thoughts, thoughts change behavior, and behavior changes lives. The flower essences target emotional difficulties, the first step in this change.

How Are Flower Essences Made?

Like many other forms of natural medicine, including Bach Flower Remedies, flower essences are preferably prepared using the sun-infusion method. This involves allowing the plant to soak the flowers in spring water, making sure that the water and plant are in direct sunlight, allowing the sun to pass through them. This is typically done over the course of at least an entire day.

If there is insufficient natural sunlight, it is permissible to boil the flowers for several minutes. Do not heat the flowers dry (without water) on the stove, as this could cause a fire.

Even better than both methods would be to collect the morning dew off the particular flower, but this is impractical. Instead of attempting this, both the sun-infusion and boiling methods are perfectly acceptable. These essences are then consumed in small quantities, usually two to three drops, up to four times per day.

How Flower Essences Can Be Beneficial

Anyone and everyone can benefit from the use of flower essences. Male or female, young or old, flower essences can help to reduce stress and ease emotional loads. Flower essences can provide many of the following benefits and more:

• relief from emotional stress
• feelings of clarity and peace
• insight
• inspiring confidence
• dealing with change
• enhance self-image
• relieve fear or anxiety
• increase motivation

Effects of Individual Flower Essences

The following list is far from comprehensive. It does, however, give a brief overview of the most common of the flower essences in use today, and their general effects.

• bilberry — calms and brings peace and clarity
• camphor — removes toxicities, allowing other remedies to work more effectively; activates meridians
• chamomile — emotional balance and easing emotional tension; mental clarity
• columbine — inspiration; enhances healing and integration; activates higher chakras
• daffodil — align to Higher Self; useful during deep meditation; helps in the passing of information to the conscious mind
• daisy — clear focus and intuitive understanding, especially spiritual understanding
• dandelion — increased energy; relieves tension; good for high-strung individuals
• forget-me-not — awareness of spiritual connections; increases reaction time
• gooseberry — sense of ease and relaxation; improves attitude; increases the desire to be a part of the world
• honesty — personal clarity; acceptance of changes and increased flexibility; clears negative emotions
• lavender — spiritual sensitivity and awareness; eases nervousness; spiritual cleanses
• nettle — eases stress associated with a broken home; helps with sibling relationships; very calming
• oriental hellebore — reduces tension and over-excitability; increases self-assuredness, while decreasing shyness; helps in establishing goals; motivation, poise, clarity, balance
• passionflower — increases spiritual focus; easier access to higher states of consciousness
• rue — energizes and stabilizes emotions; acceptance of oneself; self-expression
• sage — wisdom, perspective; aligns mental and spiritual bodies; psychic abilities
• snapdragon — dynamic energy and a healthy libido; improves verbal communication
• snowdrop — confidence, especially spiritual confidence; clear direction in life; energizes the thought process; brings insight
• snowflake — clarity of purpose; calming energy; protect from unwanted thoughts
• St. John’s Wort — eases psychic and physical vulnerability; eases fear, helps with disturbed dreaming; increases the ability to separate thought from emotion
• wild violet — acceptance and understanding; courage and personal fulfillment; self-expression and clarity; encouragement of true potential

The flower essences described here are not to be used to treat physical ailments. That is more the realm of herbology, and not within the scope of this article. Rather, flower essences are to assist in dealing with emotional and spiritual difficulties, from stress to fear, and many emotions in between.