Positive Health Online

In July 2002, the world's first range of flower essences made exclusively from New Zealand's native plants and using the original methods developed by Dr Bach was released.

For a number of years the creators of First Light Flower Essences of New Zealand, Franchelle Ofsoske-Wyber and her husband Anthony Wyber, worked to create the long awaited range of 84 native flower essences. The range was made in response to the need to create a range of native flower essences that carry the essential Aquarian keynotes of peace and co-operation especially with the spirit and natural forces of New Zealand.

New Zealand has long been recognized for its ancient flora and pristine energy and, consequently, these native essences have generated substantial interest and high levels of excitement among many of New Zealand's health care professionals actively working with flower essences.

News has spread rapidly through the flower essence community and New Zealand 's first range of 84 native flower essences is already attracting enormous attention and capturing the hearts and minds of flower essence practitioners worldwide. Many health care professionals are reporting that the First Light Flower Essences are the most powerful and fast-acting flower essences they have used.

Long oblong First Light colour image with red Kakabeak

To understand why this may be so requires that we understand something of the qualities that are unique to New Zealand's native flora.

Also, some understanding as to how the First Light Flower Essences are made will perhaps provide extra clarity and may explain why people are commenting on the remarkable potency of the essences.

New Zealand's Native Flora and Fauna

The native flora of New Zealand has a significant number of very extraordinary and unique characteristics that are of great interest to those working with flower essence therapy.

The native flora from which the First Light Flower Essences are made is some of the most ancient on Earth. About 120 million years ago, the landmass we now call New Zealand or Aotearoa, separated out from the primordial southern continent of Gondwanaland. Subsequently, New Zealand became, and has remained, totally isolated from any other landmass for well over 100 million years.

This protracted isolation is the reason why New Zealand's native flora and fauna are so unique. For tens of millions of years, New Zealand was a totally isolated and uninhabited pristine nature preserve that supported a remarkable collection of plants, insects and birds. There were no land-based mammals to speak of and, apart from some native bats, the native frogs and lizards, such as the Tuatara, pretty much had the country to themselves.

This isolation and total absence of human habitation is also one of the reasons that New Zealand supports some of the most ancient forests growing anywhere in the world. Trees were not felled or cleared to develop agricultural land. Some species of trees growing in New Zealand forests have an unbroken ancestry stretching back into prehistory for over 190 million years. These trees are the Podocarps or Conifers from which First Light has made a number of essences.

One of the trees from this group of plants is New Zealand's tallest growing tree, the Kahikatea that grows to a height of over 200 feet (60 metres). Kahikatea, sometimes called White Pine, has a lineage that goes back over 100 million years.

Another tree from this group of plants in the First Light Flower essence range is the Rimu, or Red Pine, which has a lineage of over 70 million years. This tree also attains great height and has been found on occasion to grow to a similar height as the Kahikatea.

However, the most ancient of all and perhaps the most majestic of the trees is the mighty New Zealand forest giant, the Kauri. Many people are familiar with the renowned Tane Mahuta, the 2100 year old Kauri tree with a height of 170 feet (51.2 metres) and a circumference of 44 feet (13.7 metres), located in the Waipoua forest in the Far North of New Zealand.

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The truly majestic Kauri has a linage that stretches back over 190 million years into the primordial mists that shroud the dawn of time. It is no wonder that this great forest regent correlates to the heart chakra in the metaphysical anatomy of the human organism.

The native flower essence made from the Kauri tree kindles the spiritual heart fire to help generate the white heat of pure love. It brings healing through the accepting and understanding of difficulties or suffering. Only such a mighty and ancient tree could have the necessary mana, or power, to bring such intense focused strength to the human soul.

New Zealand also has a remarkable array of ferns, from the very tiny to the very large. 650 million years of evolution has produced this group of plants that are perfectly suited to offer much in the way of deep healing.

Many New Zealand ferns are particularly effective at releasing very deep and extensive trauma. First Light uses the regal and stately King Fern – essence number 37 – to treat trauma associated with survival issues. King Fern is a huge fern with spectacular fronds over 13 feet (4 metres) long.

New Zealand's isolation and the unique nature of many of its native plants means they can provide enormous energy and power when harnessed in the appropriate manner and made available as flower essences. This then ensures that the essences work effectively at the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual levels.

New Zealand's complete isolation for so many millions of years has also produced some other very important and extraordinary characteristics in the country's native flora. These characteristics or qualities exist nowhere else on Earth.

The forest trees of New Zealand exhibit a very singular factor in their growth pattern – they don't produce taproots as other forest trees do. Taproots are the roots normally produced by most trees in their juvenile stage which anchor a tree into the ground until it can support itself with the main root systems that are more associated with a maturing or mature tree.

One of the remarkable qualities about the New Zealand forest trees is that they depend on their neighbours for support and, in turn, support their neighbours. In other words, the New Zealand forest is a perfect living example of the dynamic power of co-operation. This focus of co-operation actually sustains the entire natural eco-system made up from New Zealand's native flora.

This quality and keynote of co-operation is of enormous significance when making flower essences that truly embody the energetic resonance of the emerging new age – the Aquarian Age. This age or era has as its fundamental essence or base resonance, the quality of co-operation.

Another characteristic that is of profound interest and significance is the colour and size of many of the flowers produced by native plants.

A high number of New Zealand's native plants have white flowers or flowers with little or no bright colour. The flowers also tend to be very small, compared to the size of the flowers found in other landmasses and continents. Being a botanist studying New Zealand's plants means a strong magnifying glass is never far away – it is an indispensable part of the botanist's equipment.

These two factors – small flowers and the general absence of bright colour – complement the theme of co-operation and also supply the native plants with a singular vigour that is echoed in the First Light Flower Essences.

Further explanation will make these points clearer. Unlike other areas of the world New Zealand has never had honey bees or bumble bees as the natural pollinators of flowers. New Zealand only has very small native bees, which don't have the same honey making focus as honey and bumble bees. Many of New Zealand's plants actually depend on having their flowers pollinated by other insects and birds, and not by bees at all.

Bird pollination is very common in New Zealand. Tuis, Bellbirds and the Stichbird all pollinate a wide range of flowering native plants. The Pohutukawa, Flax, Kakabeak, Tree Fuchsia and Kowhai flowers are all pollinated by this means, as is the beautiful, and now rare, native Red Mistletoe.

In other words, the native plants of New Zealand have never had to compete for the attention of a honey or bumble bee. Native plants didn't have to develop bigger and brighter flowers to ensure their pollination because there was simply no reason to do so. Consequently, the flowers of native plants are often relatively small and devoid of bright colour.

The ramifications of this lack of colour and size have very far reaching implications when making flower essences from native plants. Basically, it means that New Zealand's native flora hasn't had to direct the huge amounts of energy necessary to produce and sustain the types of flowers necessary to attract honey and bumble bees. This meant that the native plants could redirect that vital energy to produce the natural dynamic vigour that characterizes so many of New Zealand's native plants.

Kauri at Tararu Creek

This vigour shows up in a large number of New Zealand plants as longevity. Many New Zealand forest trees grow to a very venerable age. 1500-2000 year old trees are the norm, and many trees live for much longer periods of time. Dragon Leaf – Number 60 in the First Light Flower Essence range – can be 100 years old before it first flowers and it rarely flowers before it is 30 years old.

The emerging New Age is essentially a non-competitive, co-operative age. This non-competitive response that the native plants of New Zealand have is the essential core keynote of the Aquarian Age and weaves through the base resonance of co-operation.

It is important to understand that the New Zealand eco-system was created 'and has evolved' as a totally benign environment. There were no predators and the natural bush and forest environment was home to many unique ground-dwelling birds, like the Kakapo and the Kiwi. In other words, the natural eco-system of New Zealand replicated what the essence of the yet to emerge brotherhood of man is really all about – a totally integrated benign co-operative endeavour that is non-competitive. The importance of this cannot be overstated when making flower essences, especially if they are being created to resonate to the higher energetic frequencies of the new and still emerging Aquarian age.

Such a remarkable natural environment has existed nowhere else on Earth. Flower essences in general are naturally associated with the brotherhood of man through their Aquarian or vibrational nature. Flower essences made from native plants in New Zealand have a naturally occurring superabundance of this energetic resonance built into their very core. This makes them a very valuable and important contribution to healing during this time of transition from one age to the next.

Devic Power

When certain knowledge is applied, the very dynamic vigour that many native plants exhibit can be isolated into a flower essence. We understand that it is this vigour that in part generates the potency and power many health professionals are saying the First Light flower essences possess.

At First Light we refer to this potency as strength or intensity of devic power. We consider this strength of devic power to be one of the most vital factors or elements to be ensouled into the flower essences.

We are also dedicated to ensuring that a totally pristine expression of devic power is ensouled in each native flower essence. This combination means strength is combined with purity. The end result is a flower essence with very high levels of energetic integrity and therapeutic immediacy.

New Zealand is naturally predisposed to generating this pristine quality of devic expression and, with a little specialized skill, the pure quality of devic expression can be exponentially enhanced.

Creating the First Light Flower Essences

To achieve the desired levels of pure devic energy we consider are necessary to be present in the First Light Flower Essences, we work to a set of very strict protocols when working with the native flora of Aotearoa.

Franchelle Ofsoske-Wyber was instructed to consult with her long standing friend and highly esteemed associate Dr Rangimarie Turuki Arikirangi Rose Pere CBE CM. Dr Pere is a very highly respected Maori elder and one of the last living traditional Maori Tohunas, or wisdom keepers. She is well known throughout the world for her work promoting the need for deep respect of the natural world and an awareness of working co-operatively for the benefit of humankind with Papatuanuku – the Earth Mother.

As a result, Dr Pere, in agreement with her own spiritual guardians, chose to embody the sacred role of official spiritual guardian and protector in perpetuity for First Light Flower Essences of New Zealand. We understand that this is the first time such an undertaking has ever been made in association with the creation of a range of flower essences.

Dr Pere also chose to create, and subsequently give to First Light, First Light Flower Essences' original sacred salutations in Maori and English that honour and invoke each individual flower essence. Each salutation honours the plant as a child of Aotearoa, and also honours its unique role in New Zealand's first native flower essence range. This totally groundbreaking innovation has added a whole new healing dimension to working with the native flower essences. Dr Pere has used the highly sacred ancient language of 'Te Rei Huna', the secret language of the Tohuna and the sacred language of vibration, when creating these powerful salutations. This is one of the few times 'Te Rei Huna' has ever appeared in written form.

The native flower essences are made according to very specific requirements and under very special conditions. Franchelle received long lost sacred chants from the spiritual guardians of Aotearoa to be used in the making of the flower essences. Dr Pere also provided ancient and very sacred seed syllables, or sacred vibrations, that are used while the First Light Flower Essences are being made.

Special techniques are also used to work directly with each deva that overlights the species of native plant. This led to another innovation introduced by First Light – the creation of devic blessings to go with each flower essence. These individual native plant devic blessings further enhance and potentize the efficacy of the range of native flower essences.

Each First Light Flower Essence immediately accesses a particular channel of devic interaction. In order to bring this about, each deva associated with the making of a First Light Flower Essence directly provided to Franchelle a unique devic blessing. Each unique devic blessing provides an instant link with the deva involved and confers deep healing to the person using the First Light Flower Essences. For example, the devic blessing for Pohutukawa is as follows:

I bring the gift of peace and stillness via an inner vibrancy of spirit that permeates the being. Through me you experience the pulse of life; the heartbeat and the pulse of the land.

Aspects of this devic interaction are applied in the First Light Foundation Training, where devic attunements are made available to those wishing to deepen their connection with the native power of Aotearoa. In these ttunements, it is possible to have a direct personal experience of some of the energies associated with the creation of the First Light Flower Essences. Many of those who have chosen to experience the First Light devic attunement have said it has been one of the most significant moments in their lives, and that their ongoing relationship with New Zealand's devic power is one of the most precious qualities woven through the pattern of their daily life.

It is our understanding that the First Light Flower Essences of New Zealand are a living embodiment of the ancient natural forces of New Zealand. They are a pure unconditional expression of this magical land and its ancient sacred healing power.

Through the First Light Flower Essences of New Zealand you can directly and personally experience the great healing spirit of Aotearoa – the land of the ever shining light.