Please note that “Flower Essence” is used as a general term to answer most questions. All suggestions below are the same whether you are using a Flower, Environmental or Nature Essence or Gem Elixir.
- What are Flower Essences?
- How are they made?
- What about Gem Elixirs, Environmental Essences and Nature Essences?
- What do they do?
- How do they work?
- What do they address?
- What is the history of Flower Essences?
- How are they diluted, preserved, and sold?
- How often and how long do I take them?
- What if I am alcohol sensitive?
- Why do you add brandy or glycerin?
- Are they safe?
- Who can use them?
- How do I choose Flower Essences?
- What if I choose the wrong ones?
- How many essences can you take at one time?
- Can you mix different systems?
- How do you know what each essence is for?
- How should Flower Essences be stored?
- Can they be harmed by x-rays?
- Are there any harmful side effects from Flower Essences?
- What are other ways to use essences?
A Flower Essence is a living energetic preparation made from the imprint of a plant’s vibrations in water. This potentized water is preserved with brandy and taken orally under the tongue or applied to the body. When ingested, the energy of the flower infuses our energy field with its own signature vibration. Raising our vibration catalyzes safe, profound shifts in consciousness, allowing us to engage fully and authentically with the world around us.
Flowers are selected at the peak of the blooming cycle and floated on top of a clear bowl filled with pure water which is placed on the earth and left in unbroken sunlight for several hours.
While the mechanics are very simple, it is the consciousness of the person preparing the essence and their relationship with the unseen forces of Nature that is a key to the success of the preparation. Making an essence is a deep alchemical process which requires presence, love, respect, gratitude and good manners with the unseen world. We always wait for an invitation from Nature to prepare an essence and do so in a sacred, heartful manner.
What about Gem Elixirs, Environmental Essences and Nature Essences?
The intention is the same, to transfer the healing pattern from an aspect of Nature into the water to be preserved and shared with others.
- Gem Elixirs are prepared with a gem or mineral in the water. For the Alaskan Gem Elixirs we invited the strength and purity of the Alaskan environment into the process as well.
- Environmental Essences require an attunement to a specific element of Nature which is transferred into the bowl of water. Nothing material goes into the bowl.
- Nature Essences are also made with a bowl of water, by attuning to the biointelligence of an aspect of nature such as the wind, or a dolphin, or a sacred valley. Nothing material goes into the bowl. No animals are touched or harmed in any way during this process. The essence of their healing spirit is transferred into the bowl in a very respectful, co creative manner.
- Flower Essences catalyze shifts in consciousness that help us release old patterns and reveal more of who we really are.
- Gem Elixirs provide stability, structure, and support for evolution of consciousness in form. They help us ground and integrate change into our bodies and our lives.
- Environmental Essences give us the energy to make changes, as well as providing a clean, clear, supportive inner environment.
- Nature Essences help us evolve from outdated internal structures and behaviors, opening us up to fresh, innovative ways of engaging with life.
- Combination Formulas are blends of several essences that address a host of common conditions and provide immediate support to animals and humans alike.
Everything is energy. Healthy energy moves. When we become stuck or fixed in our habits, thoughts, emotional states or outlook on life, our energy stagnates causing imbalances on all levels.
Essences bring an organized frequency of energy into our bodies and energy fields, disrupting old imprints and helping us establish new patterns of energetic support and balance. By infusing our systems with the pure, positive energy of Nature, we activate our potential to innovate and go in fresh, positive directions in our life.
For every challenge a human being experiences, essences can unlock the opportunities and support us in finding inner strength and balance. For example, they address the energetic aspects of being grounded, protected, and clearly radiating our essence to attract what is right for us. At the mental level they address clarity, inspiration, focus, concentration and spaciousness. At the emotional level they help us with self esteem, forgiveness, self kindness, and resiliency. At the spiritual level they help us connect with the unseen forces of nature, with our guides and helpers, gain clarity about life purpose, and access our dreams, visions and intentions.
As these more subtle levels of ourselves come into balance, a tremendous burden is lifted from our physical body and we are free to heal and maintain vibrant health.
What is the history of Flower Essences?
Throughout time many cultures have used floral water in healing rituals. Dr. Edward Bach, an English physician and homeopath, founded the Bach Flower Remedies in the 1930’s. His philosophy was that our thoughts and emotions affect our physical health. When these stresses are reduced, the body and mind can more easily create and maintain health.
In the late 1970’s early 1980’s there was a renaissance in the Flower Essence world when several producers around the world began to create essences from environments as diverse as the desert in Arizona, the wilderness of Alaska, the Australian outback, the forests in Canada, the Sierras in California and gardens on the East Coast.
How are they diluted, preserved, and sold?
The solution in the original bowl of water is called potentized water. This solution is then mixed with an equal amount of brandy to preserve its freshness, and is called a mother essence. Two drops of mother essence are put into a solution of 50% brandy and 50% water and sold to the consumer or practitioner as a stock essence.
You can make a custom formula at the dosage bottle level by filling a 1-ounce amber dropper bottle with 20% brandy or vegetable glycerin and 80% pure water with 2 drops of each essence selected for your blend. This is usually taken 4 drops at a time, four times a day.
All of the Hawaiian and Alaskan Essences are individually hand potentized and sold at the stock level.
How often and how long do I take them?
In an acute situation take frequently, up to every few minutes, until you experience relief. For example, if you can’t sleep take Replenish Combination Formula 2 drops 5 times a day and once every few minutes during the hour before bed. You can put 8 drops in your water bottle and sip throughout the day.
For a longer term issue, make a dosage bottle (see above) and take four drops four times a day. Re-evaluate or consult your practitioner in a month.
What if I am alcohol sensitive?
At the rate of four drops, four times a day you are ingesting a total of four drops of brandy a day. You can put your drops into a beverage to disguise the taste, use vegetable glycerin as a preservative in your dosage bottle, or make your dosage bottle in distilled water and refrigerate to preserve. You can also rub the essences into your wrists, bottoms of feet, crown of head, temples, etc.
Why do you add brandy or glycerin?
Stock bottles and dosage bottles are water based mediums which can spoil or grow “science projects” if the bottle is exposed to high heat or the dropper goes into your mouth and back into the bottle. Stock bottles last about 15 years, a dosage bottle is designed to last a month.
Are they safe?
Yes. They are free of biochemical components and do not interfere with medications or other forms of treatment.
People of all ages including babies, as well as animals and plants. You can also use them in your home or work environment.
How do I choose Flower Essences?
There are a variety of approaches. I recommend that you start with a focused intention on the issue you want the flower essences to address. You can read the descriptions and see which ones speak to you, use a pendulum or kinesiology, run your hands over the bottles to see which feel right, or go by your intuition.
Working with a Flower Essence Practitioner is really helpful to uncover and resolve long standing patterns that may be unconscious or that you need additional help with.
What if I choose the wrong ones?
An essence that is not appropriate will simply have no effect, so there is no risk in choosing the wrong one.
How many essences can you take at one time?
It is not so much how many essences, but how many issues you are trying to address in one formula. Creating a clear intention for the formula before selecting gives you more focused results.
Can you mix different systems?
Yes. The division between systems is man-made. There is only so much one person can do in one lifetime, so there are a number of us around the world who were given the assignment to prepare and research essences from various environments.
How do you know what each essence is for?
You observe the plant itself and the habitat it grows in. There is something called the “Doctrine of Signatures” where the form, gesture, color, and other traits tell you something about the healing qualities of the plant.
When you make an essence you have a distinct experience, and you observe yourself having the experience. During the preparation process you are in an attunement process with the Deva of the plant, listening deeply and translating the message of the essence quality. I take the essences myself and give them to clients and gather feedback over the years. Initially the essences are given to practitioners around the world to gather their impressions and experiences with their clients. It can take many years to thoroughly research an essence. Like any good relationship, spending time with an essence brings a deeper sense of understanding. At a certain point you just “know” the essence, it is embodied, a part of you. Then it is ready to be released to the public.
How should Flower Essences be stored?
Ideally in a cool, dark place separate from strong smells such as essential oils.
No
Are there any harmful side effects from Flower Essences?
No. Essences can bring buried emotions to the surface to be released, so in rare occasions someone can feel worse before better. This does not mean the essences “aren’t working”. Quite the opposite, it means you are allowing yourself to change at a deep level.
What are other ways to use essences?
Essences can be used in wildly creative ways. The following are some suggestions to encourage you to experiment.
For internal use:
- Add to herbal tinctures to augment the benefits. For example, if you are taking a tincture to help you sleep, add Replenish Combination Formula to help with deeper unwinding.
- Combination formulas such as Veil of Light or Pleasure Full can be put in your water bottle for protection and upliftment. This will not conflict with your personal dosage bottle formula.
- Put in your food. One of my good friends makes raw fudge with themes such as “focus fudge,” which she used to get through her Ph.D exams.
For external use:
- Rub them on your skin. This is useful for many situations such as when fasting, in preparation for surgery, for babies, or if someone is unable to take fluids orally.
- Put a few drops in beauty products, shampoos, massage oils, lotions, etc.
- Baths and hot tubs are blank canvasses for infinite creativity. Chose a theme for your bath and use essences to invoke those qualities.
- Place drops on bandages or wound dressings.
- Transform your environment by putting essences into your house paint.
- Add drops in your watering can to pamper your newly transplanted plants.
- On your hands when giving healing treatments such as Reiki or massage.
- Essences can be sprayed into any environment where you live, work and play.
- Putting essences in a bowl of water, vase of flowers or a fountain gives a continual boost to your environment!
- Place drops on a candle and dedicate the fire to something sacred in your life.
- On all Space Clearing tools such a drum, tuning fork, chimes, a crystal bowl, rattle, feather, crystal, salt, etc.
- A few drops on a crystal will amplify and broadcast the energies of the essences into your environment.
- Apply essences to acupuncture points or needles in an acupuncture session.
- Put essences in “bubble stuff” for kids, especially if there is an upset between siblings. As they play they heal!
- Place bottles on the body and run Reiki or other healing energy through them.
- Annoint the objects on your altar with appropriate essences to bring in the blessings of Nature.
- Drops of essences or bottles placed on a photo with a prayer can send much needed healing energy to someone you love.
- Spray correspondence such as invitations, birthday cards, love letters, bills, promotional pieces, or advertisements for a place to live. The paper will send a vibrational message to whomever receives it.
- Animals often appreciate being petted with flower essences on your hands. Who wouldn’t?
Special Formulas We typically make a formula for ourselves or our clients based on our current situation, intentions and goals. You can also create formulas for very specific purposes such as:
- A special formula for an aspect of ourselves such as the inner child, the inner mother, the inner critic
- Use during births and deaths
- To prepare for and recover from surgery
- To facilitate seasonal shifts
- Before, during and after any therapeutic situation such as bodywork, counseling, acupuncture or medical appointments
- For traveling
- For a birthday you can tune into a theme formula for the coming year
- During any transition such as moving, starting a new job, having a child, losing a loved one, graduating, etc
- To prepare for or integrate expansion experiences
- To enhance learning while studying or during a class
- In rituals or ceremonies
