What are Flower Essences?

Flower essences have a long history. The ancient Egyptians collected dew from flowers to treat emotional imbalances. Hildegard Von Bingen, a German abbess from the twelfth century, was well known for instructing her nuns to place muslin cloths over flowers and plants to soak up their dew during the night.

She would then use the dew in treating patients. The books she wrote on her practices, Physica and Causae et Curea, are still held in high regard to this day. We have seen a revival in their use thanks to Dr Edward Bach (1886 – 1936), an English doctor from London. Dissatisfied with the poor results he was getting from allopathic medicine, he searched for a holistic approach to treat the person, not just the disease.

After leaving his prestigious career as a medical doctor and dedicating his life to finding a more natural approach, he had this to say about flower essences:

‘…to raise our vibrations and open up our channels for the reception of our spiritual self, to flood our natures with the particular virtues and to wash out from us the faults which were causing them. They are able, like beautiful music or any gloriously uplifting thing which gives us inspiration, to raise our very natures and bring us nearer to ourselves and by that very act to bring us peace and relieve our suffering. They cure not by attacking disease but by flooding our bodies with beautiful vibrations of our higher nature in the presence of which disease melts as snow in the sunshine. ‘

How are they made?

A glass bowl is used to float specially selected flowers in spring or mineral water left in the sunlight. During this time the healing properties of the flowers transfer to the water. It’s a bit like an energy exchange. Something that happens in nature every moment of every day in myriad ways.

The flowers are removed and the water is used as a natural medicine. The healing abilities of flowers in the form of these essences are far reaching. When taken internally, such as drops, the essences go into the digestive and nervous systems and then into the energy channels of the body. From here they travel out to the energy fields around the body and back in again via the chakras and energy channels.

How do animals respond?

This is a natural holistic process that animals are completely open to. In fact, they regularly demonstrate their own ability to identify and work with the healing properties of plants and flowers as a way of self-medicating. Anyone who has seen a dog eat grass whilst on his walk has witnessed this phenomenon. The dog eats the grass due to a stomach upset or parasitic infection. By eating the grass, it helps them vomit up the cause or eliminate it with through the faeces.

This phenomenon is so widespread in the animal kingdom it is now known as zoopharmacognosy, or the science of animals’ innate ability to detect the therapeutic constituents of flowers and plants. The feedback I’ve received from clients and my experience with my own animal friends confirms the power of essences.

Dogs often get excited when the drops come out and happily lick them off the palm of a hand. Cats that normally run a mile when you try to pop a pill in their mouth, but will sit calmly as they drink the drops straight out of their bowl before the milk has even been added! I’ve had horses lick my hand because it has traces of an essences given to another horse a few stables down. They know. Even if we humans don’t!