The energies of these times support us to increasingly experience ourselves as one with one another.

We are receiving unprecedented support to release the illusion of separation and experience the complete realization that, “You and I are not we but one.”

Today I want to discuss a few of the complexities of expanding into an experience of oneness in a world in which many remain asleep to this truth.

Some of the complexities are challenges that empaths have long struggled with. More specifically the thought glitches wired into an empath can carry over when empathy expands into an experience of oneness.

Before I go further, here is a link to something I wrote about being an empath.

It seems worth going over some of an empath’s challenges, because I suspect most people who are beginning to experience our unified energy field more clearly began their lives as empaths.

An empathic child has an awareness of what others are thinking and feeling from an early age. I suspect most empathic children assume everyone is as empathic as they are. They assume everyone holds a similar awareness of interconnectedness and therefore is making decisions from this place of interconnectedness. When adults who are not making decisions from this place make decisions about them, empaths assume they must deserve what the adults in their lives are doing to them. They have no choice in their thinking but to assume this.

Many empaths have parents who have no natural empathy or sense of oneness. This assumption that the adults in a child’s life are looking out for the child from a place of empathy is an unavoidable misunderstanding on the empathic child’s part that can lead to a profound lack of self love as the child struggles to accept that he or she deserves what the adults are doing to him or her.

This sense of deserving what others are doing to them because we are all one often carries into adult life. It leaves empaths hurt, confused and disappointed by their treatment by others. The key here is grounding the truth that other people don’t feel connected as empaths do and are reacting from their illusions of separation consciousness. But this is very hard for empaths to grasp.

Once you know the answer to a riddle, you can’t go back to NOT knowing it. Empaths KNOW we are all connected. It is very hard for them to imagine there are really people who don’t know this.

Like everyone else, I have been at the receiving end of some harsh treatment from people wrapped in separation consciousness. I have wasted much time puzzling how they do not understand that we are all connected. It is hard for me to grasp that they do not, BUT THEY DO NOT!

When an empath’s understanding of the world blossoms into an expanding experience of the truth of our oneness, the same challenges continue to exist.

This is how it was explained to me by my guidance, “You can recognize a tiger as one with God, but this does not mean you should sit down and have tea with him. The tiger still thinks of himself as a tiger and may eat you!”

I was raised in a den of tigers. It is surprising they ate only part of me. Sometimes my survival makes me naïve about tigers. My wiring, laid down by my tiger mother, was an exhortation to live to serve tigers. This makes my default mind idea when faced with a tiger an idea that all tigers are my business. This idea kicks in with my own variations on the theme like, “As I learned a lot about tigers in my childhood, shouldn’t I take on any tiger thrown my way to try and tame them?”

The answer is always NO and frankly, you would think by now I would notice that I have never tamed a tiger- EVER!

This is where a gift of our expanding experience of oneness saves the day. As we grow in our awareness that we are all one, this oneness includes those beings in a state of complete conscious divinity. These beings stand ready to help us across the rocky terrain of our own expanding consciousness.

There are a million images for the spiritual path we are all on. One of them is the image of being led towards a high mountain peak by an experienced guide. The foothills of the mountain can be navigated by anyone, but higher up in the mountain we need a guide who has been there before.

This is to say, navigating our expanding sense of oneness is territory no longer in the foothills. It is easier in fact NECESSARY that we seek the guidance of others who have done this already. EXPERIENCED MOUNTAIN GUIDES so to speak- GOD REALIZED BEINGS THAT KNOW THE WAY!

One of the big surprises for me as I have sought guidance from God realized beings who are way out ahead of me is that I always am advised to leave the tigers completely alone.

Sensible advice of course, but having grown up with tigers who wanted me to take care of them, fix their problems, give them an arm or two to snack on, I still struggle with my hard wiring to think this is my business. Thank God, our guides are willing to say over and over and over and over to us, “NO!”

When a new tiger arrives in my ken, I don’t always notice the pattern until I have been dropped to my knees. But what comfort it is when I finally ask and get told,

“Just another tiger. Leave them alone. They are God’s business not yours.”

(My business appears to be keeping my hiking boots on and trying to keep up with my guide! )

Q: I recently purchased some Red Clover Flower Essence (for panic attacks and anxiety) along with some other Essences from Green Hope Farm. I have noticed that since I began taking the essences that I am experiencing an increase in panic, anxiety and fears. I have also been crying a lot. Is this normal? Do I have the wrong flower essence? Do I need another one? Please help.

A: Red Clover Flower Essence can only give your electrical system information about finding calm and peace because that is the only energetic information the Flower holds.

Additionally, no Flower Essence has the volition or ability to cause panic or a lack of calm. This is because Flower Essences are strictly information and cannot chemically alter your system or cause you to feel negative symptoms.

Instead, Flower Essences offer your electrical system the high vibration pattern of the Flower. If and only if your electrical system thinks it is a good thing for your health and wellbeing to hold this pattern also, your electrical system will copy this information and vibrate at the same higher vibration as the Flower and its Essence.

Your electrical system is always driving the decision making about using the information of a Flower Essence and will only use the information if it serves you and will improve your health and wellbeing.

The reason Flower Essences hold only high vibration patterns is that Flowers are by their nature high in vibration as they hold the highest vibrational and most evolved wisdom of the plant. Since they naturally vibrate at the highest healthiest band of electrical bands they offer us electrical patterns that we can learn from to hold the same high vibrations.

Sometimes it helps to think of Flower Essences as the same energy as the actual Flower just in a different form. If you were standing in a field of Red Clover, those blossoms would hold the same calming information as the bottle of Red Clover Flower Essence. The Red Clover in the field would offer you its sense of peace- no more- just as Red Clover Flower Essence does.

Please keep questions like this coming. I want to address all these concerns. Flower Essences are the safest, most gentle friends and can do no harm- I truly want you all to know this!

Q: I’ll be ordering some more Red Shiso soon and was wondering: when I make mixes, would it be fine to add also some good spring water to the mix, apart from Essences and Red Shiso? I’m making more mixes so that would seem practical. If yes, are there any recommendations regarding the ratio of Red Shiso to water?

A: Good question! I would not add water to the Red Shiso when making a mix of Flower Essences. If you dilute the mix down with water, it may not stabilize as well as full strength Red Shiso.

Sorry to be the bearer of this info! I wish things could work well when water is added but the life force of the Flower Essences is such that they need the Red Shiso full strength to stay potent and fresh.

If you were to make a mix that was going to be used in a few days, water would be fine to add but the mix would only last a few days. One important thing about what kind of water you use: Do not use distilled water as it is actually the minerals and other materials in water that hold the charge of the Flower Essence. Distilled water has none of these minerals so cannot hold the electrical charge of the Flower Essence

Q: This am, I was sitting at my desk waiting for the rain to ease before my run, so I opened up The Things We Cook: A Green Hope Farm Cookbook and started reading the dedication and stories about your three cook inspirations. LOVE this. I had been looking at recipes. Now I feel like I am in the family soup with you knowing the full history. Your grandmother was amazing. I didn’t know Ben was such a badass cook. His recipes look great. What a cool cookbook. You have a way of making us all feel part of your family soup.

A: This is not a question obviously! I include the lovely comment because I want people who have not seen or read our Green Hope Farm Cookbook to know that the Cookbook is a book of stories about my childhood and the adventure of creating Green Hope Farm as much as it is a book of recipes. What I found as I embarked upon this project is that recipes work as a wonderful springboard for telling stories about the beloveds who have been a part of my life and the life of Green Hope Farm!

This is my beloved grandmother Katharine Salmon. Her hair is bobbed as she is just about to become the adventurous thoroughly ahead of her times woman I knew and loved.

Here is Teddy at her family farm in Wolfe’s Neck, Casco Bay, Maine. I love how she is so casually feeding a lamb while managing a St Bernard and her brother Woodie. Teddy is the reason Green Hope Farm is here and the reason I am a good cook! There is lots more about Teddy and my grandmother in the Cookbook.

Another character from life on the farm! Bless you Alli Howe for the fabulous art that FILLS the Cookbook!

Q; I just spotted the Vata, Pitta, Kapha Trio on the website (which is gorgeous, by the way, and must have been a considerable feat to realize) and would like to know more about how it was developed and how it can be used. I am interested in how these essences are used to affect imbalances, either in the individual’s constitution, or under conditions that provoke a particular dosha. In particular, would a Vata use the Vata essence exclusively to rebalance at the exclusion of the other essences (which, for example, might promote more pitta or kappa)?

How do the clients of the practice that they were developed for use them? One at a time – using the essence related to one’s primary dosha, or as a group – employing those that are not one’s constitutional type in order to effect balance?

A: These are relatively new mixes available individually or as a trio. An ayurvedic practice asked us to create these three remedies for the doshas- We had been making custom mixes for their patients for many years and had learned much about the doshas as we did so. After we were asked to make these mixes, we studied more, consulted with our Ayurvedic practitioners friends and of course, got guidance from Angels for the creation of the three mixes- They are intended to balance the doshas- Each addresses a specific dosha.

My understanding about how the Ayurvedic practitioners use this remedy and how we have seen these used is that people have gravitated towards taking the combination remedy that best represents their dosha or their combination of doshas i.e. a Kapha takes Kapha, a Kapha-Vata takes both Kapha and Vata. Each remedy works to help us be the strength of the dosha not the liabilities of the dosha and supports us so we can vibrate at the high end of our constitutional structure not the low end- Taking the remedy for a dosha if it is not our dosha will not make for problems but it will probably not address issues you are apt to have.

Q: I can’t say enough wonderful things about The Arbor Garden!! I had a feral cat show up at my house in January. She was very scared and edgy. I first gave her your Abandonment and Abuse, which really helped calm her down. Then I gave her The Arbor Garden. Suddenly she came in the house and started sleeping at the end of our bed. She’s turned into such a lovey kitty!! She runs up to me when she sees me and can’t get enough loving.
Such an amazing turnaround! And I love it, too!!

A: So not a question here either, but I love this story! One of the first jobs we give new staff ( and we have two new staff right now! more about them soon!) is to open the mail because it is so much FUN and it’s a great way to hear a lot of Flower Essence stories- Email is another way! THANK YOU FOR SHARING! It means the world to all of us!

PS Yes, Ben is working on the search function!!!!! We know it needs to be created! THANKS FOR YOUR PATIENCE AS WE GET THIS DONE!

I have begun to get questions for this blog. The following are some that I have received. I have edited the questions slightly to protect people’s anonymity.

Q: Can my Flower Essences go through airport security?

A: Flower Essences can go through airport security without their vibrational information being damaged. I always ask the Angels to keep my Flower Essences safe and protected when I travel as they can be pulled on energetically by people and animals in close proximity to the Essences, and this can drain them of their information. But the machines do not damage them. Someone also asked if their Flower Essences would get confiscated. The bottle size is under the legal limit. I have heard of no one getting their Flower Essences taken from them at the airport.

Q; My rescue dog has gotten very quiet even withdrawn since beginning to take Abandonment & Abuse. My instinct is to keep giving him the Essence. What do you think?

A: Every animal is going to make use of the information a Flower Essence provides in a different way. I had a number of back and forths with this GHF friend about her dog, a 5 year old rescue who had been in his new home with her for 3 months. Ultimately she decided to keep giving him the Flower Essence. We both agreed that the dog was really taking in the information of the Essences to heal, and in that place of deep healing work, he needed the quiet and the space he was taking.

I appreciate how animals have the wisdom to take sanctuary when they are healing versus trying to engage in the world full bore while also doing this healing work. This is something a lot of us people could learn from! It struck me and this dog’s person that he was wisely taking a time out to do the work of healing his trauma and would re-engage in the world when he knew he had done this work. This dog felt to me and to his person to be an extremely wise animal practicing self care while letting old traumas surface to be released.

Here the two newest rescue beloveds at the farm, Sheba and Po, meet at their version of the office water cooler!
Q: What is going on with your Guidebook? Are there still copies available?

A: Yes! Yes! Yes! We DO have copies available and we want to share them with those who want them!

As you may have noticed, we have made a sea change in how we are sharing this book! Quite unexpectedly, the Angels encouraged us to get all our information onto our website and let the Guidebook go. Because I have loved writing and sharing different editions of the Guide during the last 25 years, this guidance reflected a big change for me. However, as the creation of the new website unfolded, I could see that the information on the website, i.e. my rewritten Flower Essence descriptions combined with photographs of the Flowers, really did a wonderful job conveying the energy of the Flower Essences. I fell in love with the whole approach! However we want to have Guides for people who do not have computers or easy access to the internet or for those who love books as I do. So we have kept back what remains of the Guidebook to offer to those who need or want it. We are asking people to pay $10 for the Guidebook from here on out so that only those really interested in reading it will request it.

Q: I have just been told there is a long list of essential oils unsafe for cats and that I should discontinue using your Essences.

A: Flower Essences are not chemicals, and they are not essential oils. They do not contain the actual plant. Instead they are energetic information of the Flower transferred from the Flower into our Red Shiso stabilizer. Red Shiso is a mint and is not toxic to animals. Additionally, it is not necessary to give Flower Essences to animals internally in order for the animal to learn from them. Topical applications or misting Flower Essences mixed with water over the animal and around the animal often work just as well if not better! How to use Essences on the website explains this better. This document explains this in even greater detail

Q: I have two Shelties and we will be moving soon to a new state. What would be best to make this move easier for them? How far ahead of the move should I start giving it to them?

A: New Beginnings and Anxiety are great to give dogs well before a move since they pick up all the energy of the move beforehand and may need reassurance even then. Anxiety is also great for car travel; It helps with motion sickness among other things as does Chinese Hat Plant! Depending on the circumstances, Grief & Loss can be helpful if they miss their old home- but this may not be a factor- It is certainly great for you to take the Essences with them as you are going through a lot also! I like Grounding for after a move. It really helps everyone get grounded in their new home!

Q: I see you have some Flower Essence suggestions in your document Green Hope Farm Flower Essence Suggestions for Common Concerns Do you ever do custom mixes for fertility?

A: We do have many Flower Essences to support fertility concerns- There are some really wonderful Flower Essences for this, and we love supporting people to get pregnant when that is what they want- A custom mix is an excellent way to go and we can explain our choices of Flower Essences if you have any questions- We have done a lot of work on this and love supporting people in this way.

Q: Your new site is BEAUTIFUL but all I want is to look at one Essence and a few others and I’ve been pushing and clicking and decided I like the “old site” better. Please tell me how to get to the simple menu that you had before. I am one who can live wonderfully well without electronics. I am electronicked to death in many ways. Just a simple list for each collection and an empty little “search” box that I can fill in with the name of the essence I want.

A: We are working on creating a search bar. We may also create an alphabetical list of all Essences linked to their pages. We are listening to all your thoughts! The new website is a work in progress. We are adapting from everyone’s feedback both positive and negative. When we began the re-creation of the website, our goal was to make all the information we have about our Flower Essences much more accessible. That is still our goal, and we will be working in the weeks and years to come to improve this website in every way you suggest!

And Finally- This is not really a question but I wanted to share this person’s thoughts about Caretaker from our Animal Wellness collection because I love this remedy so much and sometimes feel it gets lost in amongst all our other offerings. Here is her quote exactly, “It seems to me Caretaker is absolutely essential in mothering. I was out of it for three days and noticed I had anxiety in “what to do” for my baby for the first time since she was born. It really helps with being just completely in tune and harmony with the person you’re caring for. I think it’s really amazing stuff and I think it’s my first “staple” find–the one I will need for the rest of my days!”

With so many beloved rescue animals at the farm, we get endless opportunities to put what we know about Flower Essences to good use.

The latest rescue to join us is Po. We have welcomed him with open arms and LOTS OF FLOWER ESSENCES!

Po was found in a drainage ditch near where Katie Carpenter lives in Vermont. He had so many burrs on his coat that he could not open his mouth. He was emaciated and in very bad shape. After an extensive search for his original family, he has been taken under Katie’s wing. Quite literally!

He is the sweetest dog. One of our theories is that he was discarded by a puppy mill as his tail was docked but he has a slight problem with his right back leg. No matter what went before, he has found his forever home where Flower Essences and love are flowing like river water!

I try to simplify giving our animals their Flower Essences, so I mix 2 ounce bottles with everything our animals need. This is what I did for Po when Katie first took him in.

His initial mix contained many Flower Essences.

Abandonment & Abuse– Every rescue can benefit from this mix even when the rescue was many years in the past. It helps to unwind the electrical tangles which early life trauma left in the animal’s electrical system, glitches that can lead to lots of fear based PTSD behaviors. This remedy does profound work but it also takes most rescue animals many months to learn all they can learn from this remedy. I am going to encourage Katie to keep Po on this for at least six months if not longer. This remedy has been central to our work with hundreds of thousands of beloved rescue animals, and I know it will be central to Po’s journey to health and wellbeing.

Digestive Woes– Because Po was so emaciated, the Angels said his journey back to a healthy weight might involve some digestive difficulties. Digestive Woes is in his mix to help with this. He is a very smart dog, nudging Katie’s with his paw whenever he needs to go outside. I am happy to report he has gained weight and is not going outside at night as frequently.

Anxiety and New Beginnings– These two remedies are so important for rescues. They are understandably so anxious and so uncertain about whether this truly could be as good a new beginning as it appears. These two remedies help them feel calmer and more ready to enter into a new life with their new people.

Animal Emergency Care and Recovery– These two remedies really help with the adrenalized and exhausted state most rescues are in. They arrive into our lives exhausted from the trauma they have been through then the stress of their new lives exhausts them further even as their new lives are all good news. Think how often we too have a physical reaction after some traumatic circumstance has occurred. This is true with these beloveds too. The Animal Emergency Care helps ease the over-adrenalized responses, and the Recovery helps restore their whole electrical systems. As the years go on, I find myself reaching for Recovery in more and more situations. It has such a solid, restorative vibration thanks to all the Tree Flower Essences in the mix. It is excellent for so many diverse situations. Here it helps Po recollect himself and find his strength and the fiber of his being.

Run & Play and Watch Your Back– Because of Po’s problems with one of his back legs, I included these two remedies in his mix but I think most rescues can benefit from these two. Run & Play will help with all orthopedic issues an animal faces, and the Watch Your Back is something we have seen help with all hind end issues. It gets energy back to the end of the animal’s spine so maximum healing can occur.

Healthy Coat– This was to help Po’s coat recover from all the burrs, but it also soothes the internal tissues of the digestive track so it was good for him as he returns to eating food after many weeks without enough food.

Golden Armor– You didn’t think I was going to do a post without mentioning this one did you? OF COURSE NOT! This one is important for so many reasons. Po needs sanctuary as he collects himself and moves forward into life with the most wonderful new person. This gives him personal space as he engages with a complicated but wonderful new world. And as any of you who have read anything I have been saying about the world and this remedy since its creation in 2001, this remedy gives animals information they need about how to buffer out all the dissonance of the modern world’s technology. This is incredibly important information for all of us, most especially the animals who hear and feel this dissonance so much more than we do.

Po loves his Flower Essence mix and cheerfully licks it from Katie’s hands. We have been lucky enough to have Katie bring Po to work with her this week. He has played with Grace and Sheba as if they are old chums and helped us with all office tasks including loading 54,000 bottles into the barn on Wednesday! Welcome Po!

Po with Sheba and Grace in the gardens.

Po helps load the last of the bottles into the barn. We are officially ready for winter!

Po & Katie. A Happy New Beginning for them both!