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Bailey Flower Essences
Single Essences
Algerian Iris
£6.95 10ml
This flower helps us to distance ourselves from sexual emotions that would otherwise dull our intuitive insights. The sex drive can be very powerful, yet we need to keep control of our perceptions. Otherwise it is all too easy to become overtaken by desire to such a degree that we fail to see negative factors that could adversely affect our future. There is a saying that 'Love is Blind'. True love is never blind: it is our over-involvement with sexual desire that can blind us.
This flower helps us to take a more light-hearted view of sex and our sexuality. It helps us to be less 'besotted' (drunken) with our sex drives, easing the emotions so that we do not go into emotional overdrive.
The Algerian Iris can ease our path in life, making us less susceptible to getting sexually involved in relationships that are inherently flawed. It helps to take the sting out of our sexuality and to see it as just a part of our nature that needs to be treated with love.
£6.95 10ml
This is the flower of the inner teacher, the guide. Almond helps us to disentangle ourselves from past difficulties, and then to see our path ahead. It forms links with our soul, our very essence. Inevitably it will challenge us, because things of the past often have a strange attraction to us - even though deep down we know they are restricting our freedom. Moving onto our true path can be very challenging - indeed frightening. It will appear to be unknown territory. As old familiar identities are left behind we will feel less and less bound by our past. In extreme cases we may not even recognise ourselves. This indeed would be the stuff of bad dreams and nightmares if we were not in safe hands. On such a journey we need the comfort, support and reassurance of a guide who will urge us ever onwards towards our own ultimate blossoming and freedom. We need to establish a true sense of our own worth, to find our true self-confidence so that we can become self-programming, immune to the opposition of others who feel threatened by our changing personality. We need to learn how to rely on our own intuition. Particularly we need to learn how to discriminate between true intuition and the false images created by the ego.
Almond essence helps to liberate us from old patterns that have had us dancing to their tune. It is a gentle essence but very deep. Many of the spring essences have this same characteristic, that of gentleness. There is a certain maximum speed at which we can progress along our own path. Compassion and love dictate that we must not exceed that speed. What we are looking for is encouraging change in people, not imposing it on them. Almond helps us to ease away from old patterns, but it also enables us to see in detachment how those patterns arose. It can also help us to understand what benefits we actually gained during those restricting times in the past.
Arizona Fir
£6.95 10ml
In many religions it is assumed that any enjoyment of life is "not spiritual", that life should be hard. Indeed, any enjoyment of life is seen as a severe stumbling block on one's path. Such ascetic teachings are distortions of the Truth. Clinging to a path of suffering and mortification can be just as disastrous to one's personal growth as living the life of a hedonist. It is the clinging that is the problem, not what one is clinging to. What is needed is balance.
Many people do not enjoy their lives. For them, life is full of woe and suffering. Yet, viewed differently, it can be seen as an amazing and wonderful experience - something to be enjoyed. The essence of Arizona Fir is about celebrating life and existence. It can stimulate a sense of freedom and joy. It is only when we can really open up and rejoice that the Heart Chakra (which represents love) can be fully energised. We need to be able to love life and to love our own selves, warts and all, celebrating life as spiritual beings, whilst living on this earth. There is nothing wrong with enjoying ourselves; it is the attachment to such enjoyment that is the problem. When we can dance in celebration and we, the dancer, no longer exist, then there is only the dance. That is true celebration. In such timelessness there is no ego, just a unity with all creation. Arizona Fir softens our rigidity and opens the door to the mysteries of true celebration.
£6.95 10ml
Component of Fears and Water Deficiency
Betony is for unrecognisable and unidentifiable fears. These are the deep fears of the subconscious that hide from us yet, at times, can dominate our lives. These forces can make us feel unworthy, unloved or unwanted. In extreme cases, such fears can drive people to contemplate suicide. They cut us off from recognising our own true worth. They may appear as fear of demons, devils, "the devil within", the shadow side of our own being. They may also derive from childhood conditioning where we may have been led to believe that we are inherently evil – full of "original sin". Freud saw the subconscious as a repository of negative suppressed impulses. He did not realise that it is also the area of inner wisdom and light. We need to be able to shed light compassionately on those inner "demons" and then see them for what they are - just old thought-forms that have no real substance. Betony enables us to discover this inner truth so that we can go beyond the traps of such negative thinking. Once we become freed from old subconscious fears, then we are able to experience much more fully the glory of being alive. We then see that we have a golden opportunity to grow and develop in this amazing workshop we call Earth.
£6.95 10ml
Component of Transition and Metal Deficiency
Bistort helps those who are at a major change-point in their lives, where old ways of relating to the world are under pressure from new and more relevant ones. At times of severe personal crisis people may arrive at a point where they suffer from a "nervous breakdown". They are being mentally challenged and their old ways of being are no longer working for them. Maybe they need to be able to come up-front and assert themselves. Bistort can help to convert a possible breakdown into a "breakthrough". It also helps to awaken love and self-protection at times of major emotional upheaval. For many people, these times of personal crisis are very traumatic, often giving rise to negativity and depression. "Why should this happen to me?" is the cry that is often expressed. This negativity can be self-destructive as people progressively withdraw from sources of possible help, even becoming suicidal. Bistort helps to provide an inner scaffolding that maintains the basic structure of the personality and provides loving support during the processes of change. It is important to give positive encouragement to people undergoing traumatic changes in their lives. These times are like the pain of giving birth - in this case it is the possible birth of a new and more positive way of living. This essence can be very empowering, helping people to develop the internal resolve and power needed to rise above their difficulties
Black Locust
£6.95 10ml
Component of Protection and Clearing
In the spring, this tree with the rather strange name has beautiful fragrant flowers from which the essence is made. This is the essence of choice when we feel vulnerable to the attacks, or undesired attentions, of other people. These can be quite varied, depending on circumstances.
It may be that we feel we are the victims of psychic attack, that, for whatever reason, someone wants to get back at us and we are being affected at the psychic level. It can be due to jealousy or anger or some other powerful emotion. Often the people responsible are not even aware that their thoughts can affect others from a distance.
It may be that we feel smothered or angered by the attentions of someone else. Again, their emotional reactions can have exactly the same effect - that of generating feelings of being attacked, of being vulnerable. Victims of stalkers often fall into this category. It matters not whether we, either as the recipient or the perpetrator, believe or disbelieve in the possibility of psychic attack. My experience is that it can happen even when neither person believes in the possibility! James Neil, a policeman (author of Ju-Ju in my Life), went out to work in Ghana disbelieving in the power of witch-doctors. He discovered to his cost that disbelief did not prevent him from becoming a victim.
So if ever one feels seriously depleted with no obvious cause, or when some form of psychic interference is suspected, this is the essence to use. As well as its fragrant blossoms, the tree has large protective thorns! The essence mirrors these characteristics, broadcasting healing energies to others, as well as ourselves, whilst protecting us from undesired attentions.
£6.95 10ml
Component of Depression & Despair and Metal Deficient
Blackthorn is for the ultimate state of despair. Here we feel to be in a deep dark pit with no way out. All seems lost; neither life nor death has any meaning. Sometimes we may feel that we are travelling through the Valley of the Shadow of Death. This is the ultimate point of the self-destruct mechanism of the personality. It is the point where all our illusions have been shattered by the force of outside circumstances. Blackthorn mirrors this feeling with its sharp black thorns. Yet from these depths a completely new growth into a much lighter way of living is possible, leaving the old destructive ways behind. There is a dawn beyond the darkest night; it is only our fears that prevent us from seeing the light. The black pit may well have been generated by a strong ego finding itself in conflict with the force of outside circumstances. It is the conflict between strongly held personal opinions and Truth (as it is experienced in our lives) that can finally precipitate this collapse into despair. The ego can be so powerful that, rather than accept that strongly held beliefs were wrong, it will produce despairing or even suicidal thoughts. There is, however, always a way out of this despair if we accept the challenge and acknowledge that a different way of living is possible. Blackthorn can help to ease the trauma of this change, and illuminate the way forward. In its white blossoms there are immense healing properties, helping us to open up to a new and totally transformed way of living.
Bladder Senna
£6.95 10ml
Component of Water Deficient and Earth Excess.
This is a very attractive bush that is covered with either yellow or tan flowers for most of the summer. Its name comes from the fact that its seed pods look like small inflated bladders. Children love to pop the immature pods. The collapsed seed pods look very much like senna pods. It is the tan-coloured flowers that are used to make the essence. This essence helps us to become free of guilt about our past. Everyone has episodes in their life that they feel ashamed about, things that they wish they had never done. The difficulty is that we look back with the wisdom of the present, something we did not have at the time that is now disturbing us. Guilt is a very destructive emotion which takes us away from the present and produces endless worries. We need to find a way of letting go of the feeling that we ought to have handled things differently, of escaping from the tyranny of severe self-judgement, and of seeing that as human beings we inevitably get things wrong from time to time, that none of us is infallible. Indeed, that is the true meaning of the word that is translated as "sin" in the Bible - to make an error, to miss the mark - as in archery. Bladder Senna helps us to get rid of the old emotional responses, to ease out of the old learned patterns of excessively harsh self-judgement. It is the flower of self-compassion and self-understanding.
Life seems to offer bizarre twists. Those who would do well to look carefully at their past behaviour rarely seem to do so. Those who do look at their past behaviour can become trapped by guilt feelings about what they did! Bladder Senna is concerned with catharsis - getting rid of things that are hindering our progress. In that, it is like our own bladder which helps us to get rid of what we no longer need. Senna pods can likewise help us get rid of waste that has been around too long for our own good! If we feel guilty, we need to get rid of the false unworthy feelings generated by an overly judgemental ego. It is here that the Bladder Senna excels, gently helping us to expel old attitudes and beliefs that have long outlived any usefulness that they may once have had for us. The Bladder Senna is a wonderful cleanser of the mind.
Blue Pimpernell
£6.95 10ml
This intensely blue Pimpernel grows in the Mediterranean area. The depth of colour mirrors the deep levels of insight that this flower can stimulate. The essence relates to our ultimate goal - that of rediscovering our spiritual nature after growing up within a material world. It is inevitable that we have difficulties as we grow up. As children we are heavily influenced by everything around us, particularly the opinions and beliefs of those close to us. It is usually only after puberty that we really begin to question what we have been taught. The present "New Age" is very much about questioning the teachings and dogmas of authorities. However, there is the ever-present danger of throwing out the baby with the bath-water. We need to be able to disentangle the true teachings of the spiritual masters from the dogmas and distortions added by those who followed afterwards. Blue Pimpernel helps us to rediscover our true roots without being dominated, and therefore restricted, by the views of any particular religion. Blue Pimpernel is the flower of spiritual truth. It helps us to discover for ourselves the true nature of our being. Because this is self-revelation, we are not enslaved by it; rather, it empowers us so that we are no longer afraid to "go out on a limb" if necessary.
Bog Asphodel
£6.95 10ml
Component of Earth Deficient.
Bog Asphodel is for the willing servants or slaves whose driving ambition is to help other people whilst ignoring their own needs. What is not understood is that help for others can only come from a natural overflowing of their own strengths and wisdom. Enthusiasm and powerful opinions are no substitute for this, and may indeed hinder rather than help. The Bog Asphodel person often finds it difficult to see that sometimes people who are suffering may need to work out their own salvation. Imposed "help" can block the true healing process, especially where the helper is influenced by their own prejudices and beliefs. Bog Asphodel people tend to be trapped by their emotional reactions to the suffering of others. They need to spend more time gently looking to their own personal growth and developing a sense of humour. A lightness of touch and a slightly whimsical approach are essential to all "healers" if they are to help others fully and not become trapped by their work. Bog Asphodel encourages people to take their missions in life more lightly and to avoid entanglements with the suffering of others. The irony is that many of the people whom they try to help may well be suffering from the same problem - that of living their lives at too great an intensity!
This is the essence of choice for all those who help others. It helps us to take life more easily and find a more relaxed (and efficient) way of working.
Bracken (Alcoholic Extract)
£6.95 10ml
Component of Childhood and Metal Deficient
Bracken Alc. is for those who habitually play the child role in adult life. Perhaps through parental or other domination, they were not encouraged to take increasing responsibility for their lives when they were growing up. Because of this lack of self-empowerment, they may try to assert themselves by acting the child role, being submissive yet often subversive. (Subversion is how many children get back at dominant parents.) However, playing the subservient role inevitably causes deep resentments, which, when they are not expressed openly, can lead to feelings of frustration, depression and toxic dejection. Such people are like a volcano that never erupts. Because of their inability to handle their own Fire energy, even as adults they may fill with tears when spoken to harshly. The alcoholic extract of Bracken helps to dissolve the influence of these old childish states and allow a quiet resolve to develop. The person then begins to realise that they have much more power than they had thought they had and they do not therefore need to throw their weight around to be able to assert themselves. As such people often have low self-esteem, Butterbur or the Self-Esteem composite may be very helpful when given at the same time.
Bracken (Aqueous Extract)
£6.95 10ml
Component of Metal Excess.
This essence relates to the blocking of psychic sensitivity in childhood. This particular difficulty is not covered by the Childhood composite. Children are naturally psychically aware from the moment of birth. However, their sensitivity often becomes blocked by others (usually adults). They may call it "childish imagination" and say that it is something that needs to be grown out of. Having imaginary playmates is just such psychic sensitivity in action. If this sensitivity is blocked by the attitudes of others, it can lead to a deep-rooted fear of the intuitive mind. It may show as a feeling that there is something wrong or unreliable about intuition. The fear of coming up-front and accepting these suppressed abilities causes problems. If the conditioning has gone very deep, then such a person can react violently against any suggestion that these faculties even exist. Their denial may be extremely vehement, even leading to accusations that such faculties are generated by the devil. Bracken people usually appear to be very "left-brain" or logical-mind-dominated, yet in fact they have great sensitivity that is well hidden. Often there is a tendency to put higher values on things than on people. Things, being predictable, fit much more comfortably into their adopted logical view of the world. Attempts to fit people into this logical view however, can cause many problems, as people inconveniently refuse to fit into a steady predictable pattern. Bracken gently helps to unblock the intuitive mind. Communication can then take place at levels other than the logical, resulting in great joy. Being involved in artistic pursuits may well help a suppressed intuitive and creative side to awaken. This in turn will encourage the left and right hemispheres of the brain to "talk to each other", promoting increased personal harmony and ease. The Yang composite essence may also be helpful in maintaining stability in the logical side, whilst forging links with the intuitive.
£6.95 10ml
Component of Insecurity and Self Esteem
The Butterbur essence relates to self-esteem and personal power. Many people who are working on their own personal growth can suddenly block off at some point. This usually happens when they get a glimpse of the awesome power that is beginning to open up within themselves. If they have always shied away from power - refusing to accept their rightful place in the world - then they may be very fearful that their power will become destructive as it develops. Butterbur personalities fail to recognise their own innate goodness - the Kingdom of God within. Instead, they have the feeling that, if they go on developing their powers, they could inflict damage on other people. Lack of self-esteem and trust in themselves lies behind such difficulties. Perhaps there are childhood memories of being labelled "wicked" or "naughty". Perhaps they were not truly loved as children and so lack the self-confidence that such love brings. Perhaps they believed that they were "born in sin" or that they were "miserable sinners" (both corrupt interpretations of the original biblical texts). All of these can have a very negative effect on self-esteem. Butterbur helps to dissolve these feelings of self-distrust, revealing our innate power and spiritual birthright. Opening up to a much greater vision of the world, and one's rightful place in it, is the message of this essence.
£6.95 10ml
Component of Fire Deficient.
This is for those who need to open up and let the sunshine into their lives. Often they have a sunny nature that has been suppressed. Because of their experiences, however, they may well have developed a negative, jaundiced view of the world. Indeed, they might have become habitual cynics, always ascribing negative motives to any good deed performed by others. These are people who have been badly treated in the past and their confidence in others has been severely shaken. Perhaps they had put their trust in someone and then had it betrayed. This flower can therefore be very helpful for the sceptic or cynic, the person who looks for ulterior motives (real or imaginary) in the actions of other people. Signs of this tendency sometimes show in such things as telling jokes that have a hidden cutting edge to them. Buttercup is for people who have lost trust in others and who need to let more light and warmth into their life. From that point of ease they can then open up to others without prejudice. The lovely Buttercup is the flower that puts us in touch with the flame of loving-kindness that lies within each of us. We can then see people as they really are, warts and all, but with love and compassion and without judgement. It is one of the flowers for the heart centre of the body.
£6.95 10ml
Component of Childhood and Metal Deficient
Growing up can be very difficult for many of us. The transition from childhood lack of responsibility to responsible adult can be very traumatic. For some it may seem easier to stay locked in the state of childhood. Like Peter Pan, they do not want to grow up. They want to live in a world of make-believe where everything is good and everything is predictable. Their naïve and trusting approach makes them prime targets for the world's con men. They need to leave behind their attachment to childish ways, but without losing the openness of the child-like way of approaching anything new. Here the essence of Charlock can be very helpful. It reveals clearly what is really going on in the world around us, rather than what we would like to believe. It helps to strip away the childhood delusions and opens up our awareness at a gentle pace. It shows us that an adult approach to life can be infinitely more rewarding than the disempowered restrictions of childhood. Charlock opens the door to being a confident, competent, joyful adult with the knowledge that accepting responsibility does not automatically imply being heavy-handed and humourless.
Compact Rush
£6.95 10ml
Component of Sadness & Loneliness and Water Deficient.
Compact Rush is the remedy for sadness, for those who feel that life is passing them by. As people grow older they often become sad as they begin to dwell on what might have been: they feel that somehow they have missed out on life, that they have not been and are not being fulfilled. They begin to dwell on wasted opportunities, or opportunities that were denied them. This sadness is suppressed anger, anger that things were not different. Yet there now seems to be little that can be done. They feel disempowered and resentful. They may resent the actions of others in the past, or they may blame themselves.
Compact Rush is about new beginnings, fresh starts, about wiping the slate clean. It helps us to look on the past with compassion: that things were as they were because of the circumstances at the time, and thus it takes the sting from those past memories. Looking back is then like watching ourselves in an old movie. Neither the old emotional ties nor the emotions themselves are now there. What lies ahead is then seen as a great variety of new possibilities, possibilities that are no longer inhibited by the old resentments. Compact Rush helps us to break free of the past and so embrace the present moment with new energies and insights.
Conifer Mazegill
£6.95 10ml
This essence is made from a beautiful bracket fungus that lives on dead conifer wood. It is for sudden, abrupt and irrevocable changes in life caused by personal traumas such as bereavement or divorce, or major natural disasters such as earthquakes, when the old has to die and be replaced by something new. The properties of the Conifer Mazegill essence mirror those of the fungus itself, converting the dead wood of the past into new growth of a different form. It is deeper-acting than the Shock & Trauma composite.
At such traumatic times the best form of treatment would be to start taking the Grief composite and Shock & Trauma as well as Conifer Mazegill. After the initial sting has been taken out of the situation, Conifer Mazegill should then be taken on a continuing basis, perhaps for several months. This will help to ensure that the energies of positive change are being continually activated and that we do not become trapped by old energies and memories.
Cymbidium Orchid
£6.95 10ml
Component of Metal Excess. This is a lunar essence, made at the time of the full moon in our meditation room.
This essence relates to the hidden side of our nature. Its associations are with the Yin aspect of both men and women. It is particularly concerned with the negativities that so often hide just beneath the surface of the conscious. In this area of the subconscious, close to the interface with the conscious, old resentments, anger and repression may lie hidden. Repressed feelings of any sort usually lurk close to consciousness and Cymbidium Orchid helps to bring these tensions to the surface. Once they are seen for what they really are, old shadows from the past, they lose their power over us.
It also works at much deeper levels of our subconscious. Many of us are very fearful of what we might find if we ventured into the deepest recesses of our minds. Cymbidium helps to activate the intuition (which means inner-tuition) so that we can see for ourselves that our fears have been groundless. Angels and demons are our interpretations of our visions of spirit beings. Fears of demonic forces can be very strong - as indeed can the desire to encounter angelic beings. This essence helps us to realise that these forces are merely the Yang and Yin of this dimension. Both are needed for our growth. Without the testings of Lucifer (the light-bringer) we will never know our own strengths and vulnerabilities. In the spiritual realms we are still in the area of duality, so counterbalancing forces are inevitable. Cymbidium brings insight and wisdom into our intuition so that we can see for ourselves the true nature of the spiritual dimensions of our being.
Cyprus Rock Rose
£6.95 10ml
Component of Water Deficient
This is for deep terrors and fears that are difficult to expose and resolve. It is more powerful and deeper-acting than the common Rock Rose used in the Bach remedies.
This yellow flower, which grows in Cyprus is for the deep terrors that we often feel unable to look at, terrors that may well disturb our dreams This essence allows us to distance ourselves from whatever is producing those terrors. We can then look at what is disturbing our lives without getting emotionally entangled with the energies involved. It is rather like letting the genie out of the bottle whilst making sure that we do not suffer as a consequence. It is very appropriate for those who are feeling suicidal, who are facing the abyss and feel that jumping into it is the only way out of their difficulties. It is for people terrified of their inner demons, those hidden forces that may dominate our lives from time to time.
It is as if this flower says, "Stop - detach yourself from all your terrors and fears and spend a little time gathering together all you have learned in this life, all your wisdom and all the positive aspects of yourself. In that insight you will discover that your hidden aspects are only fearful because they have been in the dark." The shining sunlight of the Cyprus Rock Rose brings illumination to all the dark places that have held us in states of fear or terror. This flower helps us to pause and gently take stock of our present situation. Into that pause, the energies of the flower start to create a protected environment for us restart our lives in a much more positive way.
Into that protected space come whispering voices from angelic beings with messages of love, support, learning and insight. It is rather like the story of Dick Whittington when he heard the voices saying, "Turn again Whittington - Lord Mayor of London." However deep our fears or terror, this flower can help us, even when all seems lost. At such times we may look longingly at the jump into oblivion. Yet such a view is a delusion. The human spirit does not die – it cannot die – that is an image created by our time-bound ego.
This flower dissolves the precipices of the mind, and shows instead a gentle slope leading down and forwards into a beautiful landscape covered with bright yellow flowers. Yes, we leave the past behind irrevocably, but it is to a golden future that is real, rather than an imagined cessation of all consciousness. This flower can lead us to breakthrough and a total transformation.
Deep Red Peony
£6.95 10ml
This is a very powerful essence that searches deep into our innermost being. It can bring to light aspects of our path in life that might otherwise stay unidentified.
We live in a time of great change in the world. It is a time of cleansing and renewal. The resulting chaos is causing many people to re-evaluate what they are doing and how they see the world.
This waking-up can be a very unnerving experience. Seeing behind the facade of human attitudes, beliefs and opinions can be deeply disturbing.
In addition, there are an increasing number of children being born with symptoms that are sometimes interpreted as Aspergers, Attention Deficit Disorder and Hyperactivity Syndrome, etc. In many ways these children often see this world as a frightening place, feeling disempowered and alone. Frequently they are very intelligent and frustrated by boredom. In school they can cause problems by their insights. After all, why should you take an interest in things that are either boringly obvious or untrue?
Those who need the energies of this flower need to be able to harness their own energies so that they neither burn out, nor withdraw from the world. They have much to offer with their innate understandings and insights. They may well feel that they want to be the torchbearers, leading people forward into a new and better way of living.
These people have the ability to see clearly how mankind has to change, to grow up and leave behind the addictions of greed for power, wealth, or sex. Yet if their latent powers of energy and wisdom cannot be released, they will not easily break out of feeling alienated and alone.
This flower, then, is the essence for growing up as a spiritual being whilst living in a material universe. It brings out latent potential, yet at a pace that can be accommodated with relative ease. Discovering that you are not who you thought you were can only be assimilated at a gentle pace!
£6.95 10ml
Component of Yin and Yin/Yang Balancer
Delphinium is a flower that can help us to increase our powers and widen our insights. Many people who start to develop insight can get bogged down in limited perceptions, feeling that all they see is all that there is to see. It is rather like the problems faced by a Pink Purslane personality, but this time in the region of insight, rather than at the mundane level.
Selective insight can have serious repercussions, both for ourselves and for those who are using their insight to advise others. For safety we need to be able to see as wide a picture as possible. This may not be comfortable for the ego, but it is a necessary part of our personal progress.
Delphinium gently encourages us to widen our horizons, to see that there are many levels of insight and perception. It helps us to gain the courage to go beyond our previous apparently safe boundaries into (for us) uncharted regions.
On old maps they used to mark uncharted areas with such statements as "Here be Dragons", indicating their fear of what might be there. Delphinium helps us to enter the "Here be Dragons" areas of our minds without fear, knowing that all we will discover will be for our benefit.
This essence is included in the "Yin" composite because this is typically a difficulty with the Yin aspect of our nature.
Dog Rose
£6.95 10ml
Component of Grief, Sadness & Loneliness and Earth Excess.
The wild Dog Rose is one of the most beautiful flowers of the countryside. Its pale pink colour mirrors its properties of love and compassion - those of the Heart protector meridian in shiatsu and acupuncture. This is the flower that is known as Wild Rose in the Bach remedies, but ours is a sun essence which produces quite different properties from those of Bach's boiling method.
Dog Rose can help us when times are difficult, when we need loving comfort and support and when, however sympathetic our human friends may be, they cannot really help us. Often our hurt and need may have gone deep, as in bereavement, and we need something that can bring us solace and support without dulling our senses.
Dog Rose helps us by taking the sting out of hurtful situations, but at the same time its thorn may help us to remember that it also provides us with a protecting influence. Shakespeare mentioned the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune - that is how our life can feel at times when everything seems to be ranged against us. Here Dog Rose comes into its own, comforting, supporting and protecting us.
This flower acts in two quite distinct ways. First it gives immediate relief but it also helps us to develop our own loving and compassionate nature, and protects us from negative influences, both internal and external.
Dog Rose is for loving comfort and support. It is like having a close friend with whom we can share our difficulties and our despair. It helps us to open up to the depths of our grief and then brings the love, comfort and support that enable us to continue.
Double Snowdrop
£6.95 10ml
Component of Stuck in a Rut
Double Snowdrop is for those who need to have more flexibility in their lives, who may have become frozen in their attitudes. Sometimes it is as if they have been left behind, clinging to patterns of behaviour that really belong to times past. They may have become experts in some area where nothing new is allowed to challenge their established views. Luckily most Double Snowdrop people are not so extreme; they are much more likely to have become stuck in a rut and feel unable to get out of it. Feeling old before one's time is a classic symptom of this. They need the insight to see that everything is constantly changing and that change, however uncomfortable it may feel at times, is a fact of life. It is fear of change that is the main Double Snowdrop characteristic. Often this fear results in heavy, serious feelings. This essence encourages a lightness of touch and a rejoicing in the newness of life. They can not only see then that nothing is the same from moment to moment, but they can rejoice that it is so. Double Snowdrop helps to break up the crusts of rigid attitudes that are keeping out joy and freedom, and to build trust and a sense of security through the period of transformation.
Dwarf Purple Vetch
£6.95 10ml
Component of Water Excess.
This flower comes from the mountains of Cyprus and grows in very rocky conditions on the mountains. The essence is for very old patterns established in childhood, particularly where relationships and sexual attitudes are concerned. It works at a deeper level than Tufted Vetch and is more suitable for intransigent problems, especially for those that arise in puberty.
At puberty changing power and sexual roles often produce anguish and uncertainty, of impotence in handling the sexual games that are played out by both boys and girls. Understanding of the opposite sex is often blocked, yet a desire to relate to them is often stifled by the fear of being ridiculed. This can open relationships with the opposite sex impossible, the idea of having a heterosexual sexual relationship even revolting.
The Dwarf Purple Vetch helps to free us from the intimidating ghosts of the past that "have us in their thrall". It enables us to understand how we became enslaved in the first place and offers us the key to the door of true personal and sexual freedom - freedom from guilt.
Early Purple Orchid
£6.95 10ml
Component of Grounding Essence and Energy Liberator.
This essence is concerned with helping us to get in touch with our true nature. It can be particularly helpful when old patterns are falling away and the new ways of being have not become firmly established. At these times we can feel weakened by a loss of personal identity. It is then that we are vulnerable and can easily fall back into the negativity of outmoded ways, just because they are familiar. Often we may prefer to polish the bars of our cage rather than fly away through the open cage door! Early Purple Orchid begins to dissolve the blocks which are impeding our progress, whilst bringing harmony to the mind-body-spirit. It helps to open the channels of communication within us, including blocked chakras. Because these blocked areas distort our main energy flows, they can and do affect our lives. Often we may be quite unaware of these patterns asserting themselves. Sometimes this essence can greatly assist the action of another, more specific, essence. For example, Milk Thistle, for a blocked-off ability to love, is enhanced by Early Purple Orchid. Similarly, it can be very helpful to use it with the Transition composite, when someone is having difficulty in allowing new energies into their life.
£6.95 10ml
Component of Anger & Frustration and Fire Excess
Firethorn is the essence for helping us to balance our energies. Many people with unstable energies have problems arising from suppressed emotions. A typical Firethorn pattern is where suppressed emotions (often caused by old conditionings) build up and stay hidden until they finally explode. After this violent release of energy has taken place, people often panic and retreat within themselves. This can lead to an alternating energy pattern of blowing hot and cold, making life very difficult for others. Firethorn people may also be over-emotionally involved in what they do: they may become very possessive about their work or expect everyone else to live up to excessively high standards. The energy needs to be appropriate for the matter in hand, not too little and not too much. Firethorn helps to bring balance and a more mature attitude to handling life so that the energies can ebb and flow as they are needed. The result is greater tranquillity and ease. Once the energies have stabilised, the underlying cause or causes of the instability can usually be seen. From here it is much easier to see how to deal with them, though in many cases we find that they have already been resolved!
Flame Azalea
£6.95 10ml
Powerful evocative flower of early Spring. The colour of the blossom mirrors the energy of renewal, of a powerful reawakening. It is as if the flower reminds the woods that a new time is dawning, a time for new visions and new horizons. The beautiful perfume reminds us that our life is to be freely shared with others in just the way that the azalea perfume is freely given for the delight of others. This flower reminds us that to work with others, in whatever way feels the most suitable for us, is a major part of what this life is all about. Man is a social animal and although everyone needs times of solitude, equally we fail to reach our full development if we isolate ourselves from others. On the windswept Isle of Gigha the flame azalea blossoms spectacularly because it is protected by surrounding woods. It also flowers just after the bracket fungus Conifer Mazegill reaches its peak. The message of this flower is that of renewal with radiant energy and power. Whenever we face an uncertain future and doubt our ability to cope with what life is bringing to us, this is the essence of choice. It helps us to regain our vital life force and to cooperate lovingly with others bringing with it a sense of loving purpose.
Flame Azalea is particularly suitable for use when someone has had a major irrevocable change in their life, bereavement, disaster, whatever. It can, with advantage, be given with Conifer Mazegill, helping the person to energise their new and totally changed life direction.
Flowering Currant
£6.95 10ml
Component of Depression & Despair and Water Excess
Flowering Currant is for those who feel that they are facing inevitable defeat in some part of their life. They have largely lost heart but they still have the energy and courage to keep on going. The emotional pressure will have made them feel twisted and collapsed, yet they still try to protect the spark that keeps them going. Indeed, their physical bodies may have twisted in response to the mental pressures. The real problem with people in this state is that they do not recognise their own strength and the power of their insight. They find it difficult to look directly at what opposes them. Often they are so frightened or intimidated that, like children, they try to hide their faces, hoping it will all go away. Flowering Currant helps with the discovery of personal power, thereby bringing the confidence to face up to opposition. It is only by fearlessly looking directly at opposing forces that we can see how to deflect or overcome them. Even when things are not so extreme, Flowering Currant can be very helpful. It encourages us to let go of fears and to open up to the reality of our present situation.
£6.95 10ml
Component of Unification
Forsythia allows us open up to our spiritual nature, bringing joy and a sense of freedom in that realisation. Forsythia essence is complex as it covers a set of inter related properties.
First of all it helps us to get rid of old outgrown ideas and concepts that would otherwise get in the way of our further development. It is as if it squeezes us through a narrow tube, expelling anything that we no longer need. Such an experience is not at all pleasant, yet it may be necessary for our further growth and development.
Second it encourages us to open up to the spiritual reality which our logical left brain may have been steadily opposing. Our logical nature likes to be in control, and in the realm of the spiritual it has to take a back seat to our intuitive side. This obviously generates fears and anxieties that Forsythia can reduce.
Finally we learn to appreciate that there are many different realities in the spiritual dimension. This prevents us from developing a narrow dogmatic viewpoint where once again the logical mind tries to take over and so become a self-styled "expert" in spiritual matters. Through Forsythia we can keep an open and non-dogmatic mind.
£6.95 10ml
Component of Confusion
Foxglove is the essence for people who have lost their bearings and their sense of direction. They can become very despondent and lose all their drive. They know that somewhere there is a way out of their difficulties, but somehow they just cannot find it. They try to push through ways that are blocked to them, with all the consequent frustration. Often there is a clear way out of their difficulties but they are too emotionally blocked to see it. People who are continually seeking new therapies for their ailments may well fall into this category. They are often too intellectual about their difficulties - trying to think their way out of their problems. The resulting mental exertion makes things even more confused and woolly.
Foxglove reduces our emotional entanglement with difficulties, thereby creating distance from the "problems". With the resulting quieter mind, new ways of looking at things will emerge, the confusion and bewilderment naturally receding. The answers that are needed will then reveal themselves with such clarity that there will be little doubt as to their accuracy.
Fuji Cherry
£6.95 10ml
Component of Tranquillity and Water Excess
Fuji Cherry is the key essence for developing a calm and quiet mind.
There is a close link between mind and body tensions. A tense mind creates a tense body and the resulting pattern of body tensions will reinforce this tense attitude. We need something that will help the mind to quieten whilst preventing the body tensions from pushing us back into the tense mind situation.
Fuji Cherry encourages the mind to relax, bringing in a sense of calm and detachment to replace previous worries and difficulties. As the emotional temperature is reduced, so are the stresses on the body, in turn reducing the reinforcing stresses on the mind. This enables us to see the problems that have stressed us in a calmer and more detached light which allows us to see how to adjust our life so that we are no longer dominated by the situations around us.
Fuji Cherry is invaluable in helping us to detach from the rat race of the mind, and if necessary may also help us to detach ourselves from the physical rat races that might be causing us so much distress. This is the key essence for developing a quiet reflective mind.
Giant Bellflower
£6.95 10ml
Component of Cellular Memory.
This flower possesses energies that act as a catalyst for people wanting to change their life. It is particularly pertinent in empowering these changes whether in direction or in the need to clear out clutter. Rather like celebrations at New Year, it helps to activate "Ring out the Old and Ring in the New". The difficulty in changing things in our life is that whereas we may look forward to the New, the Old has a nasty habit of holding on and not wanting to just become a part of our past experience. Old attitudes and patterns do not always bow out gracefully, they can seem to have developed a life of their own. Indeed it can feel rather like a battleground between conflicting ideas and emotions.
The Giant Bellflower helps to smooth our path when change is necessary, and indeed inevitable and also to acknowledge what we have gained from our past without wanting to cling on to it. It helps to take the trauma out of major changes in our life and it helps to activate those changes when we may otherwise tend to keep putting off making much-needed decisions.
It is a flower that is not easily ignored as it rises above all other vegetation. In just the same way, the essence of the Bellflower is beautiful but not to be ignored when it sounds its clarion call.
Greater Celandine
£6.95 10ml
Component of Fears
Greater Celandine is for those who fear their spiritual nature.
Many of us have put up, however unwittingly, a mental block between ourselves and the source of our existence. Often this is because the logical mind, once more, does not want to accept dimensions of reality that it cannot understand, and over which it has no control. This fear of the non-physical can produce many different problems. There may be a deep-rooted fear of death, or fears of anything to do with the psychic dimensions of life. Fears of this sort may reveal themselves in the form of tangled, tortured personalities. These people may be bitter and self-hating, or they may feel that they have a mission in life to preach the philosophy of materialism. Perhaps they see themselves as enlightened persons who expose as fraud, those people, however genuine, who have conflicting views.
This essence has the property of gradually dissolving the inner barriers that have been erected between the left and right hemispheres of the brain. As these dissolve, the intuitive mind can take its rightful place as part of a composite whole. Then there will be nothing to oppose the establishment of a way of life that will support all aspects of body and mind. It is from this secure base that inner illumination will grow, bringing about a new and total realignment of the body-mind-spirit unity.
Hairy Sedge
£6.95 10ml
Component of Earth Excess.
This essence is for those who find difficulty in living in the present and who tend to dwell either in the past or in possible futures. This lack of present-moment awareness often causes difficulty with short-term memory. Such people can be brought into the present moment, perhaps by something that has an impact on their personal well-being, or something that brings them pleasure, which will normally be remembered. However, things that seem less important will most likely be forgotten as their attention is not wholly engaged by what is happening around them. sometimes poor memory can be due to fear. There may be a reluctance to see what is really there because of the threat that such awareness could bring to their beliefs. This causes memory to be selective, reinforcing personal attitudes and opinions. Anything which would be threatening to those beliefs will then be ignored and forgotten.
If people are too entrenched in their beliefs, it might be better to start with the Stuck in a Rut composite. Alternatively, both essences could be given together. How much progress can be made with such clients will largely depend upon their willingness to take part in the whole healing process.
£6.95 10ml
Component of Depression & Despair
Hawkweed is for the type of despair caused by a lack of self-confidence. This is not the Blackthorn pit, but more a feeling of having lost touch with one's original roots. There may be a feeling of being lost in a hellish alien world. Those with some religious beliefs could well feel that they have been damned and are now beyond redemption. In this state there is a sense of being a victim. Such pressures can cause a split in the psyche and an abrupt personality change. Hawkweed helps us to ease out of these depressive emotional states, allowing us to feel more at home in the world in which we live. In many ways it invites us to be reborn, with a greater sense of balance and wisdom.
Heath Bedstraw
£6.95 10ml
Component of Tranquillity and Fire Deficient
Heath Bedstraw supports us as we let go of our tensions and find new and better ways of living. Personal change is usually challenging as many of our concepts and beliefs are put to the test and often found to be wanting. Needless to say, the stresses so caused may be enough to make us want to go back to our previous way of living - stressful though it may have been. This is a problem that many people who embark on a spiritual path find difficulty with - how to change their way of being without feeling overwhelmed by it.
Heath Bedstraw, as its name suggests, grows on moors and fells and similar wild places. The essence made from the tiny white flower helps to underpin and support us as we change. We are used to our habitual tensions with their consequent anxieties. As we embark on a new path in life we can feel very vulnerable as our circumstances change. Strangely enough, this can be due to either new stresses or a reduction in stress. Either way we can feel threatened and disoriented. Heath Bedstraw helps us to relax and supports us in such times of major change in our life. It is often very helpful when given as a support to other essences that are actively promoting change.
Himalayan Blue Poppy
£6.95 10ml
This essence is to help us recognise the talents that we brought with us into the world and then to develop them for our personal fulfilment. We are not blank slates that the world then writes upon. Each of us comes with different characteristics, many of which could be genetic or from previous lifetimes. These characteristics are our spiritual heritage and for some may well be related to a lineage in a particular form of spiritual training. If we are to fulfil our potential in this lifetime, then it will be important that we build on strengths gained in the past. This does not mean that we will become Zen monks if that was our pattern for a previous life. Rather we will need to build on the experiences gained during those times.
This essence relates to our spiritual quest and enables us to have a much wider perspective on the multi-dimensional world that we find ourselves in. For anyone wishing to develop their insight and psychic skills, this is the essence of choice. It also enables us to communicate with other kingdoms, plant, animal or mineral, by stimulating our intuition.
This is the essence for the spiritual warrior, the person dedicated to being "valiant for Truth". The more we can understand about this wonderful universe and about our own purpose in life, the more fulfilled we will become and the more we will be able to help others.
Holly Leaf
£6.95 10ml
Component of Anger & Frustration and Earth Deficient
Holly Leaf is the key remedy for anger and resentment - it mirrors our difficulties in its sharp defensive prickles.
There are two different forms of anger. The first is a natural, healthy reaction to unreasonable provocation. In this case, after the initial flash of anger, we are able to deal skilfully with the situation that caused the emotion. However, if for any reason we are unable to deal with the anger as it arises, it will be held within the mind and body and emerge as resentment. It is this retained anger that causes our difficulties.
Holly Leaf essence acts in several ways. First, it acts as a protection so that we do not rise to the bait so readily. This helps us not to react instantaneously to provocation. It empowers us by giving a breathing space before we act on the situation that made us angry. Second, it takes the sting out of the situation by deflecting any intended desire to hurt us. Like the watery shine on the holly leaf which prevents things sticking to it, the essence enables us to be less sensitive to the antagonism of others. In addition, the sharp spines of the Holly can remind us that the essence of Holly Leaf can act as a protection, showing others that it is not wise to provoke us as they may well be hurt themselves.
£6.95 10ml
Component of Yin and Yin/Yang Balancer
This is for a lack of openness and receptivity. This can occur when the Yin (right brain) aspect of a person is active, but in a negative way. If the assertive Yang side has been suppressed, perhaps because of a dominant parent, then that person may use the feminine Yin side of their nature in an attempt to assert themselves. The difficulty is that the Yin aspect of the personality cannot be used to mimic the Yang. The result is that the person then attempts to control situations by subversion. This "negative female" is typically secretive, not telling the whole story about things, and thus maintaining a hold on the situation. This characteristic is due to a failure to grow up - maintaining the "deceitful child" who resorts to deceit because that is the only way they can assert themselves. Honesty helps us to overcome the need for these subterfuges. Reducing emotional dependency on negative female ways encourages openness and honesty. At the same time a calm Yang "masculine" energy will develop to protect the otherwise vulnerable new state of being.
£6.95 10ml
Component of Sadness & Loneliness
The wild yellow Honeysuckle growing in our hedgerows possesses very strong healing properties. It has an exquisite scent which is strongest in the late evening. This essence is included in the Sadness composite to encourage us to make our fragrance known to others. Sadness and loneliness isolate us from other people. We turn inwards and become increasingly closed to the positive aspects of the world around us. Honeysuckle encourages change at a subtle level, so we become more approachable to others. The barriers to the outside world that we erect during periods of sadness and loneliness are natural, but unfortunately are often very counter-productive. All too often we fail to appreciate just how withdrawn we may appear to other people. Honeysuckle helps ease the pain in the heart, enabling us to open up to the world around us. Through this opening up, loving help will often flow in our direction because we then appear far less defensive.
Honeysuckle has three properties in particular that make it a key part of the Sadness remedy. First, it brings ease and comfort to our heart, reinforcing the action of Dog Rose. Second, it helps us to pull down over-protective barriers that we may have erected between ourselves and the world around us. Finally, like the fragrant Honeysuckle, our own fragrance will be carried out into the world and those positive qualities will attract love and healing towards us.
Indian Balsam
£6.95 10ml
Component of Obsession and Metal Deficient
Indian Balsam brings quietness and healing to minds that are disturbed, helping us to distance ourselves from thoughts that are causing distress.
There can be little more distressing than a mind caught up in endless mind-loops that just will not stop. Under such circumstances there can be no peace because, as soon as the mind starts to quieten, new looping thoughts arise.
Indian Balsam prevents such thoughts from reinforcing themselves by reducing the emotional tensions in the mind. We take our thoughts less seriously and do not pay them so much attention. It helps the mind to steady down to a point where we can once more take charge of our thinking, rather than feeling that we have got on a strange merry-go-round that just will not stop.
Indian Balsam likes to grow by rivers and it may help us, when taking the essence, to feel that we are once more sitting on a quiet river bank, just watching the wildlife and the ripples on the water. This essence helps us to just be, quietly observing the world around us. It can be very helpful to take the composite essence of Tranquillity at the same time.
£6.95 10ml
Component of Grounding Essence, Shock & Trauma and Earth Deficient
This essence is to help ground us in situations where shock or similar circumstances might otherwise tend to make us lose the will to live.
There are times in everyone's life when life can feel to be just not worth living. It may be the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune when everything we touch seems to crumble to disaster. It may be a bad accident where the shock has made us lose touch with reality. Either way the desire to keep on living can desert us and all we want is a cessation of our troubles. In such circumstances we need an essence that will help root us back in the physical world, an essence that will help us feel secure and loved, an essence that will encourage us to put down our own roots once more. This is where Ivy can help.
Ivy mirrors the properties that we are looking for in such circumstances. It can awaken in us its powers of toughness, resilience and power. Ivy is a survivor! If we embrace its powers, then there is no way that it will willingly let us escape into death.
When all may seem lost, when we are distressed or shocked, this is the essence of choice. It was for this reason it was included in our Shock and Trauma composite. Once the shock has lessened, there is a risk of the person becoming detached from reality: he or she may experience a light, floating feeling, of being spaced out, and not wanting to return to ordinary physical existence. Ivy is therefore included for its strong rooted earth quality. It counteracts the airy, detached aspect of the Star of Bethlehem, helping us to root tenaciously into the world whilst remaining detached from the trauma. It brings vital stability to the mind-body system, giving it time to rebalance and adjust to the new situation.
£6.95 10ml
Component of Wood Excess
This is the essence for those who are awakening to their true selves, whether consciously or not. They may feel that they are living on a knife-edge and indeed may begin to believe that they are going mad. Such feelings can be very distressing. Yet they can be a very positive sign, indicating the beginning of a way through the veils of conditioned thought. The negative aspect of the Leopardsbane characteristic is that it can lead to serious depression and even to suicidal thoughts. Because of the powerful emotions generated in such states, there is often a real problem with addiction to the feelings of negativity. Leopardsbane is useful in two ways: first, in lessening the attachment to emotional extremes; second, in allowing the perceptions to broaden. The people who suffer in this way are often very perceptive and may be seeing something of the nature of the madness of mankind - the madness of clinging to beliefs or situations that can only cause pain and suffering. They need to see beyond that pain and suffering. They may then reach a point where they can understand that this madness is an inevitable part of life, at least until people begin to awaken and change. Leopardsbane helps them to see their own sufferings, as well as those of others, with understanding and compassion.
Lesser Stitchwort
£6.95 10ml
Component of Liberation
Lesser Stitchwort is the essence for those who need to escape from the thought patterns and influences that possess them. The things that possess us can be many and various: they may be attitudes and opinions that we have come to believe in; or someone may be trying to dominate us; or perhaps we have become so involved with our own possessions that in reality they now possess us, as we endeavour to hold on to them. We need to reduce our dependency on things and relationships. When that happens, what we truly need will naturally stay with us and the rest will fall away. Lesser Stitchwort works in two ways. First, it helps to dissolve our emotional entanglement with objects, events and people. These greatly restrict our freedom of action. Second, it acts, like a guiding star, to illuminate the path ahead. It also give us the insight and encouragement to follow that path as it opens up before us.
£6.95 10ml
Component of Protection & Clearing and Earth Excess
Lichens are strange plants composed of two different species living together in an interlocked relationship. The essence of Lichen mirrors this but in a rather different manner. We are part of the universe and the universe is a part of us, but when that relationship becomes strained, when we feel alienated from the source of our being, life can be very difficult and unrewarding. Indeed, in extreme circumstances we may feel that there is just no point in going on living.
Lichen enables us to bond firmly once more with the universe and all that it contains, not only at the material level of physical earth, but also at the psychic and spiritual levels - all part of our birthright.
This is not always an easy essence to take, as it may be uncomfortable for us to realise just how much we are a part of everything. Love is not always an easy thing so far as our ego is concerned, yet it is vital for our well-being and development. It is broad-reaching love that is carried in the messages of Lichen.
Lily of the Valley
£6.95 10ml
Component of Wood Deficient
This is the essence for yearning, for those who desire things that are unattainable. Perhaps they are in love with someone and those feelings are not returned. Perhaps they yearn to experience contact with the "spiritual" planes and the search has proved fruitless. It is like searching for the Holy Grail and never finding it, however hard we try. Behind the yearning there is a sense of desperation and of being incomplete until the object of desire is achieved. It is like a heart burn that will not go away. The answer lies in giving up the search! Things will then begin to resolve themselves. Emotional searching only blocks the process. In effect, things have been seen back-to-front. It has been likened to playing hide-and-seek with Truth. Lily of the Valley helps to create "the empty cup" so that what we truly need can find the space within us and enter in. It is about learning to trust the forces that created us in the first place.
£6.95 10ml
Component of Fire Excess
This Magnolia essence is concerned with our heart centre. It is associated with the double-edged sword of love and compassion.
Unconditional love is not necessarily pleasant; it has nothing of the sentimental aspects that so often pass for love. Indeed, it can be very disturbing to be on the receiving end of its attentions! It will not let us go, however much we try to avoid it. The Magnolia essence mirrors that love: like a bird it soars, knowing no boundaries, only vast open spaces with infinite possibilities. It relates to deep meditation states where the ego self no longer exists. The power and possibilities of such love are awe-inspiring.
The message of Magnolia is simple. Surrender to love. Surrender to your own inner wisdom which knows no limits. Accept that battles will result from the rearguard action of old beliefs, but remember that these battles are for your own personal freedom. Magnolia shows that true love does, indeed, conquer all. It allows us to let go of our shadow existence and grasp the nettle of reality. Magnolia helps us to go forward into those expanded realms with courage and fortitude. It mirrors man's deep desire for new and superior ways of living. It presents us with challenges, but also with the ways of meeting those challenges.
£6.95 10ml
Component of Fears
Mahonia helps to free us from the fear of our negative potential. Many people feel that deep within themselves they are basically "evil", often because they were told they were naughty or disobedient when they were children. Or because some religions maintain that mankind is inherently evil - quoting Genesis or the concept of original sin. Freud built on these fears, adding sexuality to them for good measure! This is not my experience of life. I now accept that our problems stem from such acquired characteristics as greed, rather than from an inherently fatally flawed nature.
Mahonia can help us by bringing the fragrance of the divine into our lives, enabling us to see that it is our fears that inhibit our spiritual progression - not a supposed "evil" within us. It shows us that our fears are largely fictitious, products of conditioning and imagination. When the burden of fear lifts, there is a great release of the energy which has been trapped by the negative thoughts. That energy will then activate unconditional love within the Heart Chakra, love that has been blocked by the fears of the past. This is a very uplifting essence that can be a great help to all those who feel that they are inadequate, that there is a hidden "dead hand" that holds them back from discovering the beauty that lies hidden within them.
Marsh Thistle
£6.95 10ml
Component of Stuck in a Rut
Marsh Thistle is for those who have become locked in the past – a common experience. The familiar and routine are relied upon for support and anything very new is met with fear and suspicion. When this attitude becomes chronic, it can be a difficult one to change. Marsh Thistle helps the fear of newness to fade but allows the change to take place gently. Unless the approach is gentle, when the views are entrenched, either the old fears could re-assert themselves or the opposite could happen. In this case everything new is welcomed, however inappropriate it may be. Once the fixed viewpoints have disappeared, then what was previously seen as a haven from the threats of the world will be seen as it really was - a cage, a prison whose door was locked. Marsh Thistle is the remedy for all those who are trapped in routine attitudes and situations. It is about being open to newness and change and welcoming those changes as they occur.
Meadow Rue
£6.95 10ml
The Chinese Lesser Meadow Rue is the essence for discernment, showing us what will be to our detriment and what will be to our benefit. It is a tall plant but very fine and graceful. Its leaves are similar to those of the maidenhair fern. The flowers are small but incredibly beautiful, the petals a violet-purple with striking creamy-white anthers and stamens. This is the flower of service to others. Yet this is not the message of self-sacrifice - far from it. The message of Meadow Rue is to put aside greed and self-seeking because those are the weapons that not only destroy us personally, but that could ultimately destroy mankind. It was perhaps not without reason that this flower came to my attention after some notable corporate scandals. They showed all too clearly how greed can have a catastrophic effect on others. Whether corporate or personal greed, the end result is the same.
Meadow Rue shows us how to discriminate between the desires that are healthy for us and those which carry the seeds of destruction within them. It is the flower of equanimity - of balance. It enables us to live with grace, poise and ease in a difficult world. Discernment carries with it the message of service to others, the realisation that no man is an island and that we all need to co-operate for the general good. Meadow Rue co-operates well with the Bladder Senna in helping those who feel guilty. Bladder Senna helps old negative feelings to fall away, while Lesser Meadow Rue brings in discernment, so that we can choose well what direction to take with the newly released energies.
Mediterranean Sage
£6.95 10ml
Component of Earth Excess
This essence represents all that is powerful within the element of Earth. It mirrors the energy and wisdom of the Earth Mother. It helps us to become firmly rooted in the material world. Such "earthing" is vital if we are to raise our consciousness to other levels of perception.
Mediterranean Sage has deep roots and it brings to us that same quality of steadfastness and dependability. It manages to grow where there seems to be little to nourish it. It thus has very close links with the earth and its inner wisdom. Sage has always been linked with wisdom, but the flower essence made from plants growing in wild mountainous areas has additional qualities. This essence brings warmth and comfort as well as quiet wisdom.
Wisdom arises from an interaction between insight and experience. Experience is vital: without it, insight is just information that may or may not be correct. True wisdom is that which has been proved (i.e. tested) in the "furnace of adversity" of life. Deep within us there is a legacy of this wisdom which can be awakened. Sage can catalyse and speed up this process. The insights it brings can awaken deep inner strengths so that we can remain unmoved and at peace, even through major traumas.
Sage essence also reflects the quality of stillness. The Earth element is very still, acting as a firm base for the other elements. Sage can help us to mirror this stillness within our own beings, so that we can safely venture into other realms of reality. It acts as a stable yet shimmering interface between different levels of consciousness.
Milk Thistle
£6.95 10ml
Component of Earth Deficient.
This essence relates to the chest area of the body - in Eastern terms the heart centre (Heart Chakra). For many people this is a vulnerable place because it is where they experience fear as well as love. In many ways love and fear are opposites. Fear can suppress love, yet love can overcome fear. Difficulties in this part of the body are often due to blocked-off love of the self and of other people. Typical physical symptoms are a "caved-in" look where the shoulders are pulled forwards and downwards and the breathing is restricted by a pinched-in chest. In such cases it can be very helpful to work with suitable exercises, designed to ease the shoulders back and help the chest-box to expand forwards, outwards and upwards. The "defeated" posture is a fairly sure sign of people who have a poor opinion of themselves - self-love and self-esteem are at a very low level. The patterns may well have been established in early childhood when there has been a perceived lack of close love from the mother. Milk Thistle encourages people to open up to love and let go of the fears that are restricting them. In opening at this level, there may be temporary feelings of pain or increased vulnerability. This is due to positive change taking place. Reassurance and loving help may be needed until sufficient courage has been gained to look the world straight in the face. They will then begin to understand that the world itself is, in reality, a loving environment. A very useful and powerful essence, Milk Thistle is about helping people to bring more light and love into their lives. Early Purple Orchid assists the process when given at the same time.
£6.95 10ml
Component of Energy Liberator.
This is for long-standing difficulties, the roots of which lie in the past - very often in childhood. Such chronic difficulties show that problems have been carried forward rather than being resolved at the time when they originally occurred. Very often Monk's Hood people have not updated their views of the world, and have retained their old attitudes and beliefs. In childhood they could well have been heavily indoctrinated with the ideals and dogmas of religion, politics or nationalism. As a result they are often dogmatic in areas of belief. They need to be able to understand just how they were indoctrinated in those early years. Monk's Hood gently helps them to see things of the past as they really were - with all the old attitudes and emotions stripped away and with the wisdom of the present but also with compassionate understanding. Through seeing parents and other dominant influences in far less black and white terms, they are freed from the past.
£6.95 10ml
Component of Insecurity and Self Esteem
Moss is the essence for those who fear the dark spaces within themselves. As with the childhood fears of darkness, many people fear the uncharted areas within their own beings. For some, these fears may have been instilled in childhood by such teachings as the inherently sinful nature of humanity. For others it may be the feeling of having dark murky secrets hidden within the subconscious mind. There are many people who struggle on, dogged by these deep fears. Sometimes they feel compelled to help others in a desperate attempt to atone for the "evil" that they feel within themselves. Moss helps to show that fears about the subconscious are only paper tigers - shadows that disappear when light is shed on them. It is fear that prevents the light of insight from entering the mind, and fear is therefore responsible for the dark spaces. Moss lessens these addictive fears and loosens up the constrictions. The dark spaces are then transformed into places of light and illumination.
£6.95 10ml
Component of Yang, Yin/Yang Balancer and Wood Excess
This is for those who know that they need to make changes in their life. They may wish to do so, yet they feel unable to make the first move to start the change process. Somehow there always seems to be something that prevents them from getting started. There are two factors needed for the change process to start and Nasturtium helps with both of them. The first is that of having sufficient energy to initiate the change. The second is a recognition of the need to let go of the attitudes and fears that will otherwise inhibit the change process. In fact it is usually this latter factor that is the key problem. For some people, guilt feelings or fears about the changes in personal status will almost certainly occur. For others there will be fears of having to come up-front and accept a more responsible role in life. Nasturtium helps us to accept different future roles in life. It helps us to accept the challenge of change and to view such change with lightness and positivity rather than fear or dread. Nasturtium encourages change, growth and a whole new future.
Norway Maple
£6.95 10ml
Component of Unification
Norway Maple helps us to understand more about our true nature by freeing up our minds so that we can more easily enter other levels of consciousness.
We are all multi-dimensional beings - much more complex that we are normally prepared to admit. Many people just stay with their consciousness firmly in the Earth plane. This is ultimately unsatisfactory: not only do they fear the apparent end caused by death, but they also fail to discover the riches revealed by exploring other dimensions.
Norway Maple works to free up our consciousness so that we no longer put blocks on what we are prepared to accept when we enter states of meditation and insight. This reluctance is not so much caused by fear in this case, but rather the feeling that we are content with the extent of our explorations.
Norway Maple entices us to develop our inquisitive characteristics so that we are no longer satisfied with where we have got to in our explorations. It encourages us to go further and deeper in just the same way that a good meditation teacher will stretch us so that we do not settle into a lethargic state of insight. Norway Maple facilitates movement between different levels of consciousness so that whenever we need information it can be made available to us with ease and accuracy.
£6.95 10ml
Component of Confusion, Unification and Wood Deficient
This is of great help where there is confusion, an over-active mind, or a lack of inner strength.
When we feel buffeted about by the world we can easily feel confused, lacking the courage of our own convictions. Under these circumstances the quality we need is that of being rooted, yet maintaining a broad overview of what is going on. This is the quality of Wood in the Chinese Five Elements. It is therefore not surprising that it is the flowers of the English Oak that are so appropriate for treating this condition.
Oak helps us to feel at home in the world whilst maintaining a quiet overview of what is going on around us. It supports us in developing a quiet inner strength so that, like the oak tree, we will not easily be overturned by opposing forces. We become strong and resilient.
From this strong viewpoint we can then watch the world with quiet amusement, seeing, perhaps in amazement, just how seriously many people take themselves. It teaches us not to react against the world, but to act with freedom on the circumstances around us. We are then no longer imprisoned by old reaction patterns that can so often disempower us.
Oriental Poppy
£6.95 10ml
Component of Dependency
This poppy started growing in our greenhouse all on its own, a "Gift from the Gods" as it were, as it does not grow near by. It seemed as if it was not just a coincidence, but rather that it had a message, properties that needed my attention.
The poppy is incredibly beautiful, and the extracts from it can be very helpful for extreme pain. The message that came to me was that this essence can break up addictive dependance, indeed act in the opposite direction of taking too much poppy extract.
So often we can "sleep-walk" into dependant situations, whether it is with people, situations or what we take into our bodies. What seems to be stimulating or innocuous may well have deeply hidden traps for the unwary. Oriental Poppy helps us to wake up to what has been happening to us and then to ease our way out of the dependancies that have arisen. Its actions can be enhanced by giving Welsh Poppy and Red Poppy at the same time - the first to help us to wake up and the second to energise the change process.
£6.95 10ml
Component of Fire Deficient
This beautiful pure yellow flower is widespread in many parts of the world. It can be found in places as far apart as Bermuda and South Africa. Its essence is for things that "have you by the throat". When people feel to be in the clutches of something that is strangling them, holding them back, this is the essence to choose. Often the fear of feeling strangled will have caused constriction in the throat area and this constriction will have magnified the symptoms. Oxalis helps to unblock the energy in the Throat Chakra. As the throat area frees up, the nature of the threatening forces can be more readily discerned. With this information people can usually see the best way of extricating themselves from their difficulties. Oxalis can be of great help to people who have difficulties in either allowing new things to enter their lives or in relinquishing the old ones. Often the use of Milk Thistle will encourage the inhibiting fears to release their hold.
Pine Cones
£6.95 10ml
Component of Self-Esteem
The essence of Pine Cones is for those who feel trapped by the authoritarian power of others and are unable to escape.
The source of these feelings of inadequacy, and the need for the approval of others, can usually be traced back to childhood. There may be such a lack of self-confidence that the ability to express personal authority may well be nearly impossible. In adolescence, the inhibiting forces may have been so great that the normal changeover from parental authority to self-authority has not taken place. Perhaps there was a dominant parent who was over-protective, preventing the child from making its own decisions and thereby learning from its own mistakes. If the dominant authoritarian power came from a priesthood, then there may well be fears of evil, of the devil, or of losing one's soul, unless one does exactly as one is told. To those who have been heavily dominated, the world can seem to be such a frightening place, that they need to turn to others for help and reassurance.
The Pine Cones essence helps to free us from worrying about pleasing others. This automatically leads us to an understanding that "authorities" are simply people - people who indeed may well know less about the truth of things than we do! The opinions of others are then seen in their true perspective. Pine Cones helps to open us to the realisation that, in breaking free from the authoritarian control of others, all we lose are our chains.
Pink Purslane
£6.95 10ml
Component of Cellular Memory.
This essence relates to our views of reality, how we see the world and how we relate to it.
Many of us grow up with views of the world that are heavily influenced by the attitudes of our parents, teachers and peers. These may or may not be fallacious. In any case they are views inherited by others, not gained from our own experience and insight. Such knowledge can be deeply flawed, yet human nature is such that our conscious mind will readily paper over the cracks so that we remain unaware of the flaws. This is why so many people grow up accepting in the religious and political views of their parents. Pink Purslane gently allows us to evaluate our belief structures from a point of insight and compassion. It is never easy to admit that the things that we have clung to for so long may just not be true. That is why self-compassion is needed and this beautiful small pink flower radiates that energy very powerfully. Seeing ourselves and our beliefs with true insight could be a pretty frightening experience. Pink Purslane lovingly helps us to steadily loosen our grip until we finally realise that all we were clinging to were illusions that we have now outgrown. It is a flower of freedom. It helps us to find new and wider horizons and richer and more fulfilling ways of living. It is gentle yet very persistent!
£6.95 10ml
Component of Obsession and Metal Deficiency
Ragwort helps us to tackle problems at their roots. It interrupts the endless looping thoughts that otherwise tend to feed on themselves.
Obsession is caused by a feedback system that has become unstable. Our thoughts try to find answers to our difficulties, but the effort always leads back to the beginning, where we start the same process all over again. It is as if we are playing a game of snakes and ladders where all the last six squares have a snake that takes us back to the beginning!
Ragwort has two properties that can help us. First it works to remove the emotional kick that we get from obsessive thoughts. Often it is the emotion that keeps the thoughts running. Second, it is a strong tough plant. That quality of strength can support us in the change period whilst we readjust to having a much quieter mind. It may seem surprising, but a quiet mind can feel quite alien and distressing when we have become accustomed to the constant mind chatter of obsessive thoughts. We need to learn how to manage without a constant emotional stimulus and Ragwort can be very useful in enabling that change to take place with the minimum of difficulty.
Red Frangipani
£6.95 10ml
Component of Cellular Memory.
This beautiful fragrant flower has the power to reunite us with the source of our being. Believing in a God, Allah, Great Spirit, Buddha-Nature (call it what you will) is one thing. Actually experiencing such a contact is a totally different matter. The ego knows that in such experience it will inevitably begin to dissolve and disappear. This creates deep fears. It has been likened to the fear that a raindrop could feel when it falls towards a river where it knows it will merge and disappear into a greater unity.
In our heart of hearts we know that there is more to life than just physical existence. Frangipani helps to unlock this area of our being. This will inevitably generate both joy and fear as the bonds that have limited us begin to let go. Red Frangipani lessens the fears of such revelations, by helping us to recognise that the ego has been blinding us to our true destiny. We will then begin to understand our true nature. This essence is about lightness of living and clarity of vision. It brings joy and ease, true self-confidence and new levels of perception.
Feeling isolated from our source inevitably causes us distress, even though we may fail to recognise the reasons for our difficulties. It is for this reason that many people look for satisfaction in ever-increasing possessions or power. Frangipani helps us by bringing a truer sense of perspective. It brings a lightness of touch - a very necessary balm in times of trouble.
It is the essence of true awakening
Red Poppy
£6.95 10ml
Component of Anger & Frustration, Dependency and Wood Excess
The Red Poppy essence stabilises fire energy, the creative life-force that needs to be under our control at all times.
It is vital for our comfort and happiness that we harness our energies in ways that are beneficial rather than harmful. Fire energy out of control can be destructive to ourselves as well as others. It is, however, the driving force behind all that we do: too little fire and we become ineffective, too much and we become destructive. Red Poppy helps to stabilise our fire energy, preventing us from becoming excessively angry or turning our anger inwards. It assists us to grasp situations more accurately so that we can decide on the most appropriate form of action. Sometimes we may need to express our feelings openly, sometimes it may be prudent not to do so. Perhaps we are faced with a situation that appears to be intolerable, yet we may be in a position where making a hostile response could cause serious repercussions (perhaps, for instance, losing our job). Controlling our energies is a Red Poppy quality which prevents us from going into a self-destruct mode out of frustration. It will help us to acknowledge that in such cases we are powerless to change our circumstances. We can therefore channel our energies in a more positive manner, perhaps looking towards ways of changing our circumstances later on. Red Poppy is thus a very positive healing essence that can make our life much easier, and also much easier for those around us!
£6.95 10ml
Component of Stuck in a Rut
Rhododendron is for those who have not learned how to solve problems in their lives.
It may be that in childhood they became conditioned into the idea that, with sufficient application and energy, there is an answer to everything. The problem with this approach is that when things do not happen as we expect, we will try harder and harder to force a solution.
We need is a sense of proportion, the gift of being able to stand back and look carefully at the whole situation. With such a detached viewpoint we may well see that we are either attempting the impossible or using the wrong methods in trying to achieve our ends.
An example is that of the student who stays up all hours trying to cram for an examination. The harder he tries, the more his mind refuses to take in information. He may even preciptate a nervous breakdown.
The same characteristic can be seen in politicians who try to solve a problem by "throwing money at it". Understanding the nature of the problem itself is what is really needed, rather than using a simplistic made-to-measure approach.
Rhododendron helps us to see problems in a wider context and to ask questions about the situation. Maybe the problem is insoluble - considering the time and money available. Maybe we are trying to solve the wrong problem!
Problems in our life can be many and various. They may be spiritual, physical or interpersonal. Whatever our problems and difficulties the same basic skills are needed: to be able to detach ourselves from emotional entanglement with a problem and see things from a wider viewpoint. Rhododendron can greatly help us to develop this vital life skill.
Rosebay Willowherb
£6.95 10ml
Component of Confusion
Rosebay Willowherb is the essence needed when we seem to be blown about by every wind of change.
When we seem to be at the mercy of the world around us, impotent in the face of external circumstances, we can feel deeply depressed and confused. When this happens there is usually a complete lack of earthing energy. Like the down of the Willowherb in the autumn, we are blown hither and thither by the forces that surround us. We feel very unsure of ourselves and of the world around us. We find ourselves confused about where we are in life and what we should be doing. Nothing seems stable and reliable any more.
The essence of Willowherb helps us to root ourselves firmly in the world and our present situation. It gives us stability and strength. Only when we are stable and quiet can we truly evaluate the situation that we find ourselves in. Willowherb also helps us to energise our new-found stability so that we can then go out into the world with renewed confidence.
The essence of Mediterranean Sage may well be helpful if taken at the same time.
Round Headed Leek
£6.95 10ml
For unknown difficulties stemming from childhood, particularly when other essences have been ineffective.
Sacred Lotus
£6.95 10ml
Component of Fire Deficient.
This beautiful flower encourages the blossoming of personal growth. It helps to open the heart to the love of the Universe and the Divine.
Many people seek knowledge of the divine, the force that lies behind everything in the universe. To try to understand it they have called it by names such as God, Allah, Nirvana, The Great Spirit, etc. The trouble with all such names is that people then try to interpret the name in ways that they can understand.
The Sacred Lotus is well named. It helps to open our heart to the ultimate reality, by whatever name you might wish to call it. This is a powerful essence yet it will not do the bidding of the ego. It allows us to develop at a safe pace. If we try to open up to higher levels of consciousness too rapidly, we may well become distressed and confused. There is a saying in the East, Softly softly catchee monkey. We need to remember this and not be too impatient in our spiritual development. All flowers take time to grow and our blossoming comes from living in the physical earth. Like the Lotus we first need to be rooted firmly in the Earth plane before we can safely start growing towards the light.
Like all flower essences, the intelligence within the essence knows what we need at any particular time. We cannot force progress. This essence encourages the flowering of our personal growth. It opens us up to the love of the infinite and at the same time helps us to re-radiate that love to the world around us.
£6.95 10ml
Component of Shock & Trauma
Scabious initiates the healing process after serious shock or trauma. It helps us to accept what has happened to us and brings comfort and ease to the healing process.
When we have been subjected to serious upset, particularly when there has been injury to the mind or body, then the natural healing processes can be severely disrupted. A shocked mind can easily inhibit the healing that would otherwise naturally take place.
Scabious gently helps us to accept what has happened, whatever the apparent consequences, so that our distress does not block the natural healing.
In addition Scabious brings its own unique healing energies into play, opening our consciousness to love and compassion. Whatever has happened, there is no point in having regrets. We can only go on into the future as well as we can. Scabious also helps us to see that even serious problems may have very positive outcomes that we cannot possibly envisage at the time. It enables us to keep going even when the going is very rough.
Scarlet Pimpernel
£6.95 10ml
Component of Liberation, Protection & Clearing and Wood Excess
Scarlet Pimpernel is a useful essence for someone emotionally entangled with another person.
There are two states the flower deals with - either being obsessed or being "possessed" by someone else. In either case they are unable to break free, even though they may realise that the relationship is unsatisfactory and probably very bad for them. There may well be strong psychic bonds originating from the dominant person. These can be difficult to break as this person usually has a lot to gain from the possessive relationship. Often there is a deep-rooted fear in the victim of breaking free from this connection in case it leaves them void and desolate. In addition, they know that they will have to face the anger of the other person. Domination by others saps our will-power and subverts our energies. The process frequently starts when someone seems to offer us something that we want or feel we need - for example, love, sex, money or spiritual growth. We fail to see that sometimes the person offering us these things is, in some way, a predator, and that we may well become a victim if we fall under their spell.
Scarlet Pimpernel works at a hidden level, enabling us to disconnect the ties that bind us and to gain sufficient power to break free.
Early Purple Orchid may well be helpful if taken at the same time. This will help to open up the energy channels to the changes that are taking place.
Sea Campion
£6.95 10ml
Component of Insecurity and Fire Excess.
This essence is for those who suffered separation early on in their lives. Whilst this is most frequently due to a separation from the mother, a separation from the protective male energy of the father can also cause trauma. All human babies, and many animal ones, need a close bond with their mothers during the early stages of life. This builds up a sense of security and of being cared for and loved. That in turn gives a strong firm base for the infant to grow up from, feeling secure in the world in which it finds itself. As well as the loving maternal background, babies also need the feeling of firm protective energy around them. Ideally this comes from the father, but can be provided by some equally supportive Yang energy.
If a loving stable background is weak or missing, then children feel insecure and fearful. This can lead to nightmares and bed-wetting in childhood. When they are older, they may have deep-rooted feelings of insecurity and be dogged by fears. Such fears can greatly disempower them, preventing them from expressing themselves properly in the world.
Sea Campion is a flower that relates to the Earth element. If we are properly "earthed", then we will be in harmony with nature. We will then have strong roots that enable us to withstand "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune", as Shakespeare put it. The element Earth is to do with nurturing, with being at home in situations, with belonging to this Earth that is our present home.
Sea Campion is therefore a flower that helps us return to our roots, to find contentment and peace in the world. It grows on bleak windswept cliffs that are battered by the winter storms, yet it still blossoms in the spring. Sea Campion is a "Return to Earth" flower, helping to bring ease to the insecure heart.
Sheeps Sorrel
£6.95 10ml
Component of Grief
Sheep's Sorrel is for bitterness, the type of bitterness that arises when we feel that life is unfair. It is for the anguished cry of "Why should this have happened to me?"
Life has a nasty habit of upsetting our plans and expectations: we often have a feeling that it should be fair, forgetting that "fairness" is a human concept.
In this life everything changes ceaselessly. A period of calm will never last indefinitely, nor will times of difficulty. Accepting the endless ebb and flow of life can be difficult for us as we all look for stability. When something very traumatic happens, such as a bereavement or separation, we can so easily feel bitter about what has happened. Such bitterness can hang on, poisoning our life. Sheep's Sorrel helps us to accept what has happened and to understand that what now matters is the life ahead of us, even though it inevitably be different from what we had expected. It encourages us to let go of bitterness and to move forward into a new and changed future.
Siberian Spruce
£6.95 10ml
Component of Yang and Yin/Yang Balancer
This is for those whose Yang "male" energy is low. It is the essence to choose for a lack of assertiveness. Many people prefer to take a low profile rather than come up-front and accept personal responsibility for their actions. Sensitive people, whose Yin "feminine" aspect is dominant, often have difficulties in dealing with the Yang side of their nature. It is the opposite of the Red Clover personality. They are equally unbalanced but in opposite directions. Here it is a fear of being exposed to the hard light of reality that is the problem. Often there is an exaggerated emotional response to life. What is needed is a firm unshakeable grounding energy, and Siberian Spruce points the way to this. Many people have the mistaken belief that the Rambos of this world represent the true male aspect, whereas in fact they represent the negative aspects of the male. The positive male aspects of uprightness, openness and outgoingness are the qualities encouraged by this essence. Siberian Spruce helps to lift the Yang energies up to balance those of the Yin.
Single Snowdrop
£6.95 10ml
Component of Transition
Single Snowdrop is for those who are experiencing difficulties in breaking through to new levels of consciousness and awareness. It is the essence for those who seem to have encountered a barrier or block on their path towards personal freedom. It may well be that old habitual patterns of behaviour feel under threat and so they react negatively in an attempt to remove that threat. The net result is that efforts to change positively are continually being subverted. There can also be reactions against increasing insight. Seeing things more clearly can, at first, give the impression that the world is a bleak place (rather like the world which the snowdrop sees as it emerges in the late winter). Single Snowdrop helps to reveal the joyful potential of a true and wider vision. Old negative set ways can then be seen for what they really are - apparently comfortable strait jackets!
The transition of accepting one's spiritual nature, whilst remaining firmly rooted in the world, is not easy. Because Single Snowdrop mirrors the struggle of our spiritual nature to emerge and blossom, we chose this flower to be our logo.
Solomon's Seal
£6.95 10ml
This is the essence for the "busy" person who has things that need doing but who somehow cannot get round to completing them. All too often we get bogged down with trivia, unable to settle to the more essential jobs in a clear and competent manner. We do not see that it is the act of being busy that is the real problem. By becoming quiet and apparently doing less, we actually become much more efficient, spending far less time and energy doing things in an inappropriate way. Indeed, we should question the need for doing some things at all! This busy-ness is often exploited by other people who see us as a soft touch, using us to do what they want, irrespective of our own needs. As we quieten, we increasingly discover what we need to be doing for our own fulfilment. Less and less will we automatically agree to the requests of others.
This essence can also be very helpful to those who practise meditation but who have problems with a constantly chattering mind, a very common complaint. Our minds should be our servants, not our masters. Solomon's Seal helps us to reassert control over our wayward minds. It is rather like training an unruly dog, so it may take an appreciable time. However, the end result is well worth the time taken.
Spotted Orchid
£6.95 10ml
This small pyramidal orchid grows in damp places, flowering in similar habitats to Bog Asphodel. Indeed, in some locations they can be seen flowering together.
Personal growth and evolution are rather like finding our way through a large maze. There are dead ends, loops back along the path, and dangers as well. Not really for the faint-hearted! That is why we all need help and encouragement from time to time. We are, after all, human, with very real needs. Yet the rewards of following a personal quest are incalculable.
Spotted Orchid can provide support and guidance, sometimes pointing us to another part of our personal maze that we need to explore. It is not necessarily an easy essence to work with. It can make us afraid if it prompts us to "go out on a limb" and we have to accept responsibility for it. Yet it also supports us in our quest for our own personal "holy grail". Above all it empowers us, helping us to have the courage of our convictions and to converse more easily with our own soul essence.
Spotted Orchid can be seen as rather like an emissary of the Truth, mirroring our Soul Desire and Divine Will. It can guide us, encourage and support us, but we have to do all the hard work!
Spring Squill
£6.95 10ml
Component of Transition and Wood Deficient
For those who are breaking through to new freedoms - the "Jonathan Livingstone Seagulls" of this world. These are the ones who are finding joy in realising that they really can be free, where previously they had been limited by old ideas and concepts. Sometimes this transition is difficult. There may be pressure from family, peer groups, friends, etc. who find the new ways very threatening and who may try nearly anything to prevent or reverse the change. Those breaking through into new freedoms often need support for their vulnerable self-confidence. It can seem quite lonely, flying in freedom, apparently alone. Spring Squill, relating as it does to the Crown Chakra, can assist in this. From the viewpoint of freedom, the world is then seen as it is: an amazing workshop for emerging souls. Without that insight, our fears and attitudes may well paint it as a dark and fearsome place, to endure or to escape from. Spring Squill helps us to see more widely and deeply into the true nature of reality. This remedy is most effective when other major blockages (particularly at the heart centre) have been eased. Only when the groundwork has been done can a person begin to fly in freedom.
Star of Bethlehem
£6.95 10ml
Component of Grounding Essence and Shock & Trauma
Star of Bethlehem is used as the basic shock essence, taking the initial negative reaction out of the system. This is vital in severe cases. When we are shocked the whole of the body's nerve system is severely upset. The initial shock reaction affects all the cells in the body and completely disrupts the body's energies. Indeed, people often die more from shock than they do from injury in severe accidents. Shock tends to make us detach and give up the will to live. Our Star of Bethlehem is made as a sun essence and it helps the mind to let go of the immediate traumatic experience. This is vital as it takes the sting out of the experience and so greatly reduces the body's shock reaction. Wherever there is sudden shock, this is the essence of choice for use immediately after the experience.
This is the reason why Star of Bethlehem is included in the Shock & Trauma essence; it is the essential first aid part of the composite.
£6.95 10ml
Component of Stuck in a Rut
Sumach is the essence for those who steadfastly refuse to accept their own potential.
Many gifted people hide their light under a bushel and try to pretend that it does not exist. There are many different reasons for this. It could be that much dedicated work or a considerable financial input is needed. Perhaps their partner is deeply opposed to it. Maybe there is a problem of self-image such as "People like me can't do things like that", or the defensive "Others do these things far better than I ever could". These are usually just excuses put up by the conscious mind. The reality is that they are frightened of owning up to their full powers and potential. In accepting their true role in life they would have to accept a new self-image - that of a powerful adult. They would then have to come out into the open, which could well make them feel very vulnerable. Sumach shows them that there is no hiding place and that it takes far less energy to accept what one is than waste energy in trying to oppose it. When they finally accept the truth the reaction is always the same - "Why did I put up so many barriers to change, when life is so much more rewarding this way?" Sumach helps them to reveal their true selves.
£6.95 10ml
This essence is indicated for stabilisation of the psychic areas of insight. It is the essence for those whose psychic gifts are developing, but who need this development to be strongly "earthed". As a tree cannot grow to maturity without firm roots, so we must be strongly rooted in ordinary everyday life before it is safe to open up to other aspects of reality. Some people tend to go "over the top" in the psychic areas and become very emotionally involved in beliefs and concepts. Thrift stabilises them so that the psychic gifts can develop in balance with other aspects of the personality. These gifts will then be seen as neither more nor less "spiritual" than those in any other area. For many, this earthing is very necessary. Opening up to psychic areas without sufficient grounding can easily give rise to deep fears or other forms of vulnerability. Thrift helps to establish a strong, safe base for our inner development. This essence can be very helpful to those who work as healers or teachers and who find that they tend to take on the symptoms of their clients. In chakra terms, this essence relates to stabilising the energy flows between the Brow and Root centres.
Trailing St. John's Wort
£6.95 10ml
Component of Grief
Trailing St John's Wort is for healing, particularly where there is the emotional tension and desperation that are so often a part of grieving.
This tiny flower helps us to relax and distance ourselves from emotional trauma. When there has been a sudden shock in our life, such as that caused by bereavement, we need healing support (the word healing means to make whole again). When someone or something we love or value deeply has been taken from us we need gentle loving support, helping us to accept the changes that have been forced on us.
Trailing St John's Wort works gently but powerfully to ease the situation that is causing us so much grief. It helps us to rebalance and to see that there is a way forward, a way that is far brighter than we might believe while we are immersed in the depths of our despair.
Tree Mallow
£6.95 10ml
Component of Tranquility
Tree Mallow is included because of its healing and inspiring properties. As we begin to relax more and more deeply, as we become more peaceful and tranquil, there is a risk that we may lose our power and drive: it may well have been largely our tensions that were driving us on. Tree Mallow facilitates healing and empowerment. Thus energised, we can go forward into life at the same time as we are becoming increasingly relaxed and tranquil. Tranquillity should not mean disempowerment, as is so often the case with tranquillising drugs. Rather it should mean that we become more powerful, as we have now reduced those tension patterns which had held us back. We only become tranquil and free when we can work from the present moment, from what exists in the "now". It is our fears that arise from past actions and future possibilities that prevent that vital relaxation occurring in our lives. Tree Mallow helps us to centre our attention more easily in the present moment. In reality, that is the only time that we ever have. We need to make the most of it.
Tufted Vetch
£6.95 10ml
The key remedy for many sexual difficulties. People frequently have a fairly mixed-up sexual self-image. This is hardly surprising considering the number of manipulative power games that are played out with sex as a basis. A wholesome human drive has variously been portrayed as dirty, obscene, something to lust for, manipulate others through, etc. With all the heavy conditioning from childhood onwards, many people have difficulties in this area. Sex, like money and power, has traditionally been used to manipulate people, and we grow up in an environment where such manipulation is widespread. Tufted Vetch helps us to rebalance our own sexual self-image in both male and female aspects. When this essence is indicated, it is worth looking to see whether either the Yin or Yang composite is needed, to bring the "male" and "female" characteristics into closer balance. As our own male and female sides become more balanced, we will find that much of the sting is taken out of our relationships with other people at a sexual level. Only when we are really at ease with our own sexuality will we find ease in relating sexually to other people. Only then can we truly honour our own sexuality and then, by reflection, honour the sexuality of others.
£6.95 10ml
Component of Childhood
Valerian is the essence for the "lost child" - someone who appears to be in need of help and support. Instinctively one feels one's heart go out to people like this - they seem so alone and helpless. In reality, direct help is probably not needed at all. Usually the original cause of the problem is a childhood deprived of true love. Although they may put a brave face on things, deep down they feel bereft and unable to love other people. They also know that something within them needs the love, support and encouragement that was not available to them when they were young. Valerian encourages the development of self-love and self-esteem, and gradually reduces the need for external support. This in turn reduces the demands made on others.
White Cherry
£6.95 10ml
Component Protection & Clearing
This essence reaches deep into our being. It allows us to free ourselves from old patterns and negative influences from the past. From time to time all of us find ourselves in the grip of some emotion that has its roots in the long-distant past. Treating the emotion does not however solve the problem, unless the cause is removed, the emotional reaction will recur.
This particular White Cherry assists us by dissolving the old cellular memories that are behind our difficulties. These deeply rooted patterns from the past are imprinted in all our cells, hence the instantaneous shock that can accompany some of these old energies when they are triggered. In a strange way it is as if we are possessed by them.
White Cherry acts by gradually loosening the attachment to these old patterns until they finally dissipate - having been healed we are no longer bound to them. This essence therefore has powerful cleansing and healing properties for old unresolved memory patterns.
White Dead Nettle
£6.95 10ml
Component of Obsession
White Dead Nettle is about addictions to objects, events or people. Addictions and obsessions are closely interrelated.
We can become addicted to a person, perhaps a close friend or spiritual teacher. Under these circumstances we are giving away our control and power to them just as surely as we can to a drug.
We can become addicted to situations in life, whether it be the "high" of high-speed driving or as mundane as some comforting repetitive situation such as watching a favourite "soap" on television. The degree of personal danger and excitement is different, but the same factors are active in the background.
White Dead Nettle helps us to detach ourselves from emotional addiction. It does not mean we have to give up our favourite television watching, merely that we do not get so emotionally entangled.
White Lotus
£6.95 10ml
Component of Water Excess.
This essence is about peace and tranquillity at all levels of consciousness. Whereas the Tranquillity composite is aimed at a lack of ease in the body-mind, White Lotus is about being at peace at every level of our being. It mirrors the tranquillity that can be experienced in deep meditation when all barriers have dissolved. Tensions, fears, beliefs and opinions are all released so that we can just be.
As an aid to meditation it can be very helpful in quieting the chattering mind. It can also act as an essence of purification by dissolving away things of our past that we no longer need. Its action may be mild or powerful, depending on circumstances. As usual, it depends on our personal motivation. Like all the other flower essences, it can only help us as far as we are prepared to go. We must also bear in mind that there is a safe maximum speed to progress.
White Lotus mirrors our resting at peace, sitting in quiet wonderment at the true beauty of everything in this astonishing universe. In this peace, attitudes and opinions ease away - finally leaving only pure consciousness, pure awareness. This flower represents the highest flowering of the human spirit when all that is unnecessary has fallen away.
Wild Mallow
£6.95 10ml
Component of Liberation
Within each of us there can be hidden possessive energies that try to control our life. These energies may originally relate to our parents who tried to dominate our lives, or to others who would try to control, and so "possess" us.
Wild Mallow brings these hidden possessive energies to the surface where we can see them. They can then be identified for what they really are, and in that revelation they lose their power over us. It is as if this essence tightens us up inside so that what is affecting us can be expelled. Rather like wringing out a cloth, the negative possessing energies are wrung out by Wild Mallow. For many people this may be the most important part of the combination essence Liberation. Seeing the reality of what is affecting us automatically empowers us. It is always the things hidden in the shadows, where we cannot see them, that cause the most problems.
Witch Hazel
£6.95 10ml
Component of Self-Esteem
Witch Hazel is for those who are always trying to live up to the expectations of others - the willing horses who are constantly trying to please their parents, teachers, partners, children, or whoever. You may find them on committees: the eager-beavers who are always busy and always helpful. They feel that to let anyone down is to fail, so they drive themselves relentlessly. This state often relates to childhood, when they felt that to keep their parents' approval they had to live up to their parents' expectations of them. This in turn gave rise to a conditioned response of always trying to gain the approval of others. They now need a wider view of the world, where they take their "mission" in life rather less seriously, ceasing to give themselves such a hard time. Witch Hazel helps the mind to drop its dependence on this continual stimulation and thus breaks the vicious circle. With progressive quietening and ease, a completely new evaluation of their lives then becomes possible.
Wood Anemone
£6.95 10ml
Component of Cellular Memory and Energy Liberator.
For problems where the roots are very old, often before birth. Some of these may well be karmic. "Acting completely out of character" can be an indication of this state. Where there are deep-rooted psychic problems, this is often the best remedy to start with. Sometimes people blame others for "psychic attack" without realising that they themselves may unwittingly have taken part in the process. There can be deep feelings of guilt and fear in such people, even though they have no idea why they are feeling fearful or guilty. Wood Anemone helps to clear these old blocked areas, illuminate them and so resolve the old tension patterns. Because of their very old origins, karmic problems have gained the reputation of being difficult to eradicate. In fact, if we deal with any problem as it arises in this lifetime, any past difficulties will be resolved at the same time. It is in the present, not in the past, that we can rebalance our lives. As the constrictions become less pronounced, it becomes easier for us to perceive them. In seeing them and seeing how they affect our lives negatively, it becomes much easier to leave their influence behind. Monk's Hood can often be helpful when used at the same time.
£6.95 10ml
Component of Yang
This essence is for resilience and for escaping from rigid patterns of thought and behaviour. Tensions make many people brittle and, although they may appear to be strong, they may suddenly crack under pressure. They are like cast iron which, although very strong, can fracture easily under a sudden shock. They may have developed strong principles about which they are very protective. This can result in their reacting fiercely against what they see as opposing forces. Yew helps people to see that there is no sin in being both resilient and flexible, or indeed bowing before the storm. It also brings the discernment needed to assess accurately just what forces are involved in any particular situation. After all, only a fool will stand in the path of an express train!
Yew helps people to become less proud of their own ideas and concepts, more open to new approaches and ideas, and break up the rigidity of outmoded patterns of thought and behaviour. It is a very useful essence for people who have become trapped by their own beliefs and opinions.
Yorkshire Fog
£6.95 10ml
Component of Grief and Water Excess
Yorkshire Fog enables us to open up to the pain of grief and to shed tears that help to wash away our anger, frustration and sadness.
Accepting our hurt and anguish is a very necessary part of the healing process after bereavement or similar traumatic experiences. People bottle up their emotions because expressing their grief openly is not socially acceptable. But suppressing grief, trying to pretend that we are not seriously hurt, does not cure the problem. Burying our deep hurt merely means that it festers, sometimes for many years.
Yorkshire Fog helps us to open up to our grief, to express it openly, to weep cleansing tears. Grief is a natural reaction to what has happened to us. There is nothing weak or effeminate about expressing our grief openly, so long as we do not wallow in it.
Yorkshire Fog also helps us to move on from grieving to a new and changed future without feeling the need to drag the past along with us.
Orchid Essence Seminars
Seminars Summary
Tel: 01 583 505 385
We are open to receive telephone orders Monday through Friday
from 10 am till 5 pm except on Bank Holidays.
Achamore House
Isle of Gigha
Argyll, Scotland PA41 7AD