As I work on definitions for the new Flower Essences I brought back from St John this trip, I pause to share photos I took of some of the St John Flower Essences we have offered during the last decade.

Today, I start with those Flower Essences made in the desert like terrain of the eastern coast of St John in the Salt Pond Bay area. Very little rain falls here and the vegetation includes cactus and small scrubby bushes that thrive in the extremes of much heat, much wind, and little moisture.

Here we begin our hike up Ram’s Head, the eastern most tip of the island,

moving up through a terrain thick with cactus including Turk’s Cap Cactus.

You can see the hint of pink that forms the Flowers in the part of the cactus plant at the bottom of the picture.

Turk’s Cap Cactus Essence is all about helping us to unapologetically know our right to be who and where we are. It also supports us to gracefully move on when the circumstances call for change and we know its time to go. The prickles of this beauty underscore this plant’s understanding of boundaries and the right to be. This cactus transplants itself across a landscape away from shade always towards maximum light, reflecting its clarity about moving as necessary, ever clear of its right to be where it wants to be.

At the end of Ram’s Head we looked east and south east with only the island of St Croix between us and Africa.

One plant thriving in this eco-system is West Indian Sage.

When I visit with West Indian Sage, I always rub its leaves. Its essential oils create an intense penetrating fragrance. This fragrance, like its Flower Essence, brings us into a vivid experience of SELF experiencing itself more deeply.

All the Sage Essences orient us in time and space, giving us a clearer sense of where we are and who we are. This one, with its tremendously strong presence in an extreme landscape, reminds us how to have a vibrant experience of both self and the inner life of our soul, even amidst an outer life that is extreme, challenging, or distracting. West Indian Sage has an ability to create a “stop all the presses” moment that anchors us to the eternal verity of our souls.

Coming down off the cliff, we encountered a very old Flower Essence friend.

This orchid, with the cumbersome name of Psychilis macconnelliae, rises dramatically about five feet above the scrubby landscape. It is always such a delight to meet up with this Orchid again.

This Orchid helps us to ground ourselves emotionally and physically when we have been grafted to a new landscape. The Orchid helps us adapt to change. including both vibrational as well as human made changes on earth. Psychilis Macconnelliae recommends itself for finding stability amidst any kind of radical change, be it our movement to a new location or our accomodation of the rapid changes in our world right now. The very fact that it can thrive season after season in a landscape so alien to itself reflects its vibrational wisdom about thriving wherever we find ourselves.

William and I walked over to another extreme environment, the salt pond at the base of the Ram’s Head. All around William is a mass of Sea Purslane, a Flower with an Essence that supports us to expand our definition and experience of love. This Flower thrives in an environment of flying salt foam and relentless salty winds.

After a visit with Sea Purslane, it was time for

more swimming!