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Our lives,
so seemingly small, ripple out to the whole universe as tiny whispers like the sounds of butterfly wings, and the clear voice of the living truth. -J.L.D. |
Have you ever wondered what's in those little bottles of Bach Flower Remedies, or from some of the other elixirs at the health food store? We've used flower essences (superlative quality from Bach, and FES) since the 1980's with profound effects.
 
In short, flower essences hold the vibratory essence of a flower. The vibration acts as a matrix to remind the body, mind, or emotions, of a certain state of consciousness. When the essences are taken for a period of a few days, or weeks, the imprint that is inherent in the flower usually takes hold. It's as if our inner being goes, ah, now I remember this, and at that point, we usually no longer need that essence.Here's a recipe to make a flower essence from a rose. Never use flowers from a flower shop—I've learned that, sadly, most flowers purchased these days have been sprayed with pesticides. When making essences ourselves, we only use flowers that we know are edible, such as rose, lavender, sage, borage, nasturtium, clover, and so forth! Method for Making Rose Flower Essence:
You will need:
1 cup filtered water Clean glass, or ceramic bowl Clean scissors Clean strainer Good quality brandy to "fix" the essence so it will last for years. Begin on a sunny morning. First ask the flower if it wants to be made into a flower essence. That may sound strange, but this is an important part because asking establishes a connection between you and the individual flower. You will either feel a resonance—a yes—with the flower, or a no. Honor the impressions you receive—this is an intuitive process. Ask the flower to draw its energy from the stem to the flowerhead. This will avoid shock (explanation follows in the story). Give the flower a few minutes to do this. After you have completed these two steps, have the bowl of water ready in one hand. Then carefully, lovingly, cut the rose just at the base of its stem, allowing it to fall gently into the water. Set the bowl under the mother rose bush in full sun for three hours. Give the flower love and gratitude for its willingness to become a flower essence that will nourish you for many months, or even years to come. After three hours have passed, bring the essence inside. Pour the water through a clean strainer into a clean glass container. It's important to keep all contaminants out of the water because there's so much lifeforce present. At this point, take a little spoonful of the rose water—it tastes amazing and alive! For fixing (preserving) the essence here's the rule of thumb: make with half flower essence water, and half brandy. Pour into jars, or blue, green, or brown glass dropper bottles. Store in a cool dark place. The essence will usually last for a long time. The one that I made three years ago is still good. However, if your flower essence ever gets tiny particles inside the bottle, or if it tastes odd, this means that it has started to go bad. Discard. A Little Story: I Am Deeply Touched 
In the continuing theme of sensing the living consciousness in life all around us, three summers ago I tried making a flower essence from one of the flowers in the garden (shown in these photos). One day while watering the roses, with colors of blush, ivory, and pale yellow, I sent out a telepathic request to see if any of them would want to be made into a flower essence. One flower nearly jumped out at me, and bowled me over by practically shouting, "Take me. Take me. Please make me into a flower essence!"This response caught me completely off guard, and I asked the flower several more times, just to be sure I wasn't imagining what I thought I'd sensed. Each time I checked, the flower seemed to glow and shine with that same, take me, feeling. It seemed only fair to explain to the flower what would happen, that it would be cut off from the mother plant, placed in a bowl of water under the rose bush, and stay there in the sun for several hours while its essence fused with the water. The rose seemed fine with this, and continued to send impressions that it yearned to become a rose flower essence. A few minutes later I was walking outside with a bowl of purified water in a glass bowl, and scissors. I snipped the rose off at the stem, just before the first join leaves, and it dropped into the water. I felt an immediate shiver from the flower.... a this isn't what I thought it would be like feeling. This unexpected reaction shocked me, because I felt that I had made a mistake. I would never have taken the flower in the first place, had it not been so insistent. It seemed crucial to thank the flower tenderly, as I put the bowl on the ground in full sunlight, under its soothing mother rosebush. I went outside every half hour to check on the rose. I sang the holy word HU to help open our hearts to God's healing love. The rose's shock began to clear, and I felt more at ease too. Three hours later when I went into the garden to bring the bowl inside to complete the process, I was stunned to see that the flower was totally spent. This is unusual, because roses will stay fresh for days when picked and put into water. I poured the liquid through a very fine strainer into a glass jar, and took a spoonful. The water was the sweetest, most delicious rose water I'd ever tasted...and I felt a subtle, yet distinct, surge of energy that I knew was the flower's signature. It had been a hard day, so I couldn't tell for sure if I felt uplifted. But when I went to lie down for a few minutes, I heard a sweet voice within, saying, I found you! It was a very happy, very light, and very fulfilled sounding voice. I knew immediately it was the consciousness of the rose. After fixing the essence, I carried the flower, still in the bowl with a little of the original water, back outside and placed it under the rose bush, leaving it there in that protective field. Over the course of the next few hours, I took two more sips of the essence, and each time, within a few minutes, I would receive the impression, I found you! All traces of the flower's shock and trauma were gone. 
A day later when I went out to see the flower, it was beginning to disintegrate, the petals separating from the main stem at the slightest touch of my finger. I was stunned at how quickly the flower had passed. Also, that it had given everything it had, its lifeforce, its spirit, its love, to become a flower essence. When its energy was completely gone, so too was the rose.Over the following days I took drops of the rose essence several more times, and on each occasion was brought to a greater understanding of the intrinsic message of the flower. One time I had feelings that centered on giving oneself to life in the deepest sense of service. Another time I experienced a profound gratitude toward life itself, and remembered the sweet little rose flower that yearned to become something more. When I told this story to my friend, Lillian, she mentioned Findhorn—the legendary group of people in Scotland who started gardens of profusion in growing conditions that were well known to be impossible and hostile. They learned to develop their abilities to have conscious participation with the plant spirits—what they called "devas". Lillian said that before cutting a flower, the Findhorn people would ask the plant to draw all its life force from the stem into the flowerhead, so there would be no shock. I vowed to do this the next time. I named the essence "Garden Rose", and was deeply touched by its depths of love. Months passed. One day I looked out the kitchen window and saw one yellow rose still open, blooming valiantly in a storm. I put on my coat, walked into the blustery wind and rain to the flower, cupped it in my palms, breathed deeply, and smelled its sweet scent, the last fragrance of summer. I breathed that scent in, again and again, and then breathed out into the rose, so that my essence would go into it. Then I kissed the petals, and said, "I found you." 
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