Positive Health Online

I really entered the healing kingdom of the flower essences whilst giving a Reflexology treatment. I treat with my eyes closed, tuning into the energy of my patient and using my third eye. On this particular occasion I saw what looked like a fibre optic light. My patient did not own one so I dismissed the picture without another thought. A few days later a company I order from enclosed their newsletter and in it was a short piece about the healing properties of Bottlebrush, an Australian Bush Essence. I phoned and asked if they had a book on the essences; the book arrived the following day. My eyes were immediately drawn to a photo of Billy Goat Plum. This was what I had mistaken for a fibre optic light. I ordered some of the essence and gave it to my patient, and the change it brought about was quite remarkable. This was my first introduction to the flower essences.

Pink Water Lilly

After discovering the Australian Bush Essences I read about dear Edward Bach’s wonderful remedies. I now joke I entered by the back door. My journey of discovery has been rewarding, funny, moving, but always nothing short of miraculous.

Using a meditation I was shown flowers and their particular properties; the dawning was like a shockwave. Was I to make flower essences myself?

The first essence I made was Snowdrop and I was told it was for connection to higher self, removing the fear of death, enabling peaceful sleep and a sense of calmness. It was made with the nurturing energy of the moon after the sun had given its energy. I consider this to be very symbolic of the nature of the essence and its ability to help during the time of transition from this life into spirit.

All my essences channel poems and Snowdrops was written not at the time of the essence’s making, but a year later. In fact, I remember thinking, with rather an anti-climactic note, “Was that it?” and the late Tommy Cooper’s voice saying “Just like that”. It’s essential to see the joy that nature brings us with such compassion and so much fun!

Snowdrops
As the sun goes down turning the sky
to hues of violets and red,
The Snowdrops glisten white in their hard packed bed.
The crows’ raucous calls as the day becomes night, becoming silent and still
As the moon’s disc appears with her silvery light.
These brave little blossoms are the heralds of Spring
Bringing promise of warmth as the cold Winter ends.

The Poppy essence was the next to follow and was brought about by the need of a patient dying from Motor Neurone Disease. Ann had been doing healing for others for many years but as the end of her life drew near she became fearful and depressed. Immobilised physically by her disease, her mind became locked by fear and depression. After treating her for the first time I took my dogs for a walk. I came across an absolutely amazing display of wild poppies that told me they would be good for Ann.

Poppies
Poppies bobbing in a field, poppies know just how you feel.
Coloured red, bright and gay, bringing light into your day
When you are lonely, feeling sad, we will help to make you glad
That you stayed with us a while, it was us that made you smile

After rain there comes the sun, this is when our work is done
Turning sadness into joy helping every girl and boy.

As its poem suggests the poppy essence is good for depression. The type of depression that Ann was suffering from can be termed a ‘black night of the soul’ or a ‘period of personal crucifixion’. It is difficult, to say the least, when a person has fallen into deep despair, for them to believe they could ever feel bright again. The poppy essence helps to bring the person from this deep trough to a higher level of lightness and to become more buoyant again. Ann passed into spirit peacefully the following week.

When therapists treat patients with their individual therapies they have revealed to them areas of emotional blockage that call for a helping hand. The wonderful gentle energy of the flower essences do just this, enabling them to move past the ‘stuck in the rut’ syndrome and continue on their journey once again.

The day that I went to make the Poppy essence I was drawn to some large seed heads growing in among the grasses. They looked like large dandelion clocks and with the sunlight shining through them they shone as gold. I put my hand over them and closed my eyes and I was shown a large golden web and the word ‘interconnected’ came into my head. I returned to make the essence the next day. The essence of Goatsbeard also fondly known as ‘Jack goes to bed before noon’, as the flower closes at lunch time, has proved to be an extremely powerful yet versatile essence as its poem suggests.

One particular experience of Goatsbeard was had by a friend of mine. Celia, who is a spiritual healer, was planning to leave her job and move house, a complete new start. I gave her Goatsbeard a month later when she visited me for some Reflexology and asked her when she was moving. She said she wasn’t; she was staying in her job and seeing in a different light the work she had been doing. Also she had decided to stay in her home where she is happy. A few months later she became reacquainted with someone she had met a few years previously and a loving relationship has developed.

Goatsbeard
Celestial spherical threads of gold
Interconnecting sinews of muscle and bone
Allowing body and mind to work as one
Balancing moon and balancing sun.

The web of life is spun from gold
It spans through ages young and old
Interconnected the path unfolds
Showing the eternal journey of soul.

Goatsbeard is good for being stuck, or for problems with elbows; joint problems usually mean a person is stuck. Old hat to those of you familiar with Louise Hay’s work “You can Heal Your Life”. It balances the Yin/Yang energies, softening the hardened male and offering strength to the weaker female aspects of self.

In October 1997 I attended, along with three hundred-odd other participants, an International Flower Essence Conference at the Findhorn Foundation. Near to Inverness in Scotland the Findhorn Community, founded by Peter & Eileen Caddy in 1962, runs regular workshops on spiritual issues and prides itself on its ecological approach to life in its community.

Those who had not attended such a conference before probably had no idea of the magnitude of the world-wide growth and interest developing in the flower essences. Here were people from the United States, Canada, Alaska, Brazil, Australia, Holland, India, New Zealand, to name just a few, who were using and developing flower essences in their own countries. The week was very full, with many interesting lectures from the more established producers, each giving mind-boggling facts about their research, including clinical studies and essences photographed by kirlian photography. The slides they provided took us around the world in a wonderful colourful display of flowers and different terrains. We had the opportunity to attend workshops of our own choosing to have a more in-depth look at particular ranges made by the producers. This enabled us to become familiar with the very intimate nature of the individual energies of the flower essences that are peculiar to the different countries.

Pink Water Lily
Pink lilies floating on a pond, resplendent in their watery home
The deep pinks amongst the shades of green
Tell of nature’s fondest hopes and dreams
The flowers are like rich jewels reflected droplets hang on petal and leaf
Bringing calming love and relieving pain and grief
Love the greatest gift of all that nature brings
About which poets write and singers sing
Allays all fears, calms the mind and unites all of humankind.

At first I was dismayed to discover that several of the essences I had made myself were also made by other producers, particularly as the properties were different. However, a year on, my experience has shown that no two essences will ever be the same, as the energies, like the needs of the planet and its people, are constantly changing. Indeed, if we consider all the emotions and their various facets, added to the number of souls on earth, it is marvellous to see how nature accommodates herself to these changes. There will always be sceptics who are quick to dismiss these natural abilities but the results now being seen world-wide can no longer be denied.

The flower essences are not a new discovery. The ancient civilisations who had a closer connection to the earth were all too familiar with the bounty that nature offered in her healing ability. It is evident everywhere we look how nature adapts to the continual onslaught of modern man. Now we turn once again to her for the answers that only she can provide. As always the answers are given so simply and in such abundance it is both humbling and awe-inspiring to experience.

Golden Rod
Skylarks hover above the cloud-like golden field
Bees bustle amongst the honey-smelling flowers
Many are their number for heavy is the yield
Confident majestic the flowers as they sway
With nodding heads they seem to chatter
What do they have to say?
We bring you strength and confidence
Give guidance, hope and happiness
To all who falter in their steps
Or those that sit upon the fence.

Last year we were drawn together as a nation over the loss of Princess Diana. The scenes in London on the days leading up to her funeral were a witness to how much love this one person had inspired in her short but very public life. At this time I was being drawn to the making of another essence, that of Pink Lily. I had been aware of the flower’s desire to be made into an essence for a few weeks. As the actual mechanics involved wading into a pond, of whose depth I was unsure, I had been avoiding the making. Or at least that’s what I had thought; in fact the time had not been right.

The 6th of September, the day of Diana’s funeral, was the day that the essence had been waiting for. A day that was doubly appropriate as dear Mother Theresa had passed into spirit the previous day.

As I walked out early that morning to make the essence the utter feeling of peace and calm was tangible. As I waded through the water to the blossoms the water closed around my legs in welcome. As the flowers were large I had intended to only use one; however, again nature directed me, quite rightly, to take two. Afterwards I reflected this represented the energy of both the Princess and of Mother Theresa.

The Pink Water Lily essence helps to calm the mind, to deal with grief and to heal the heart chakra energy. It is also good for use during the menopause, helps regulate periods and relieves pain. It enables an acceptance of femininity and a feeling of love towards others.

Initially I experimented with my essences in my own Practice, then a colleague testing with Kinesiology started using them with her patients. The flower essences are now an integral part of my work. Unlike in the infant stages when I secreted them away in a cupboard and relied on the more established ranges available, I now use them on increasing occasions. When we are in possession of information given by the cosmic consciousness it is our part to share and pass this information on.

The flower essence that has enabled me to have the confidence in what I am doing I made in June 1997 and it is… Golden Rod.

At the time of writing this article I have made fourteen essences and I have received poems from them all. The poems have healing qualities too. We all know the metaphysical power of the spoken word. I read the poems to the people I give the flower essences to and their reactions confirm this. I see their energy change as they identify with the healing love of the flowers.

Further reading

Poems from the Flowers by Rosemary Williams. Price £6, available from The Limetree Centre, Fitzroy House, Lynwood Drive, Worcester Park, Surrey KT4 7AD.
Australian Bush Essences by Ian White. Findhorn Press, £11.95
You Can Heal your Life by Louise Hay. Eden Grove Editions, £8.99.