Today a Green Hope friend and mental health counselor asked us how we might explain Flower Essences to mental health support groups dealing with great challenges and very much in need of support from Nature. She wanted to know what Flower Essences we might suggest she share with the fifteen groups she leads each week.
First of all, to this woman I want to say thank you for the precious work you do. Running fifteen groups a week sounds like a very full plate. I salute you.
I went for a walk to ponder her questions. At the beginning of the walk, I thought mixes would be the way to go because they offer so much support. Then I thought about how Flower Essences are like music. I considered that in an introduction to Flower Essences it might be helpful to hear a few individual notes of several Flowers’ music before hearing a blend of Flower Essences.
I also thought it might be a good idea to choose individual Flower Essences from different kinds of environments. Each would have very different strengths because of where they come from. I liked the idea of folks savoring the healing energy of every distinct Flower. I wondered if there could be one Flower Essence blend at the end of the sessions to deonstrate a sense of the music of the blends, and I wondered which blend would be good to include.
Before I offer suggestions for what these Flower Essences might be considered, I have a few other things to offer.
I am going to encourage this counselor get a bottle of each Flower Essence she settles on and an empty 2 ounce spritzer bottle for each of these Essences. Then she can put a few dropperfuls of each Essence in an empty bottle, fill the bottle with water and then let people spritz themselves to their heart’s content with the Flower Essences they want to try.
This counselor asked how I would explain Flower Essences in simple, clear language. Whew! That’s the question of questions. I might begin by saying that Flower Essences are a way to experience the loving and healing energy of a Flower when it is not in season or when we don’t live where the Flower blooms. If we could always be in a garden soaking in the love of the Flowers around us, we might not need Flower Essences. However when we live in a climate with winter seasons or in an environment where there aren’t many Flowers, Flower Essences are a great way to get Flower love and healing energy when we want it.
I might add that sometimes we might want support from a Flower that doesn’t easily grow in our part of the world and Flower Essences are a way to solve this problem. I have made Flower Essences from Flowers all over earth and these are now available all the time to people. I often think of our Flower Essence inventory as a global library of healing energies.
If anyone wonders if it is possible for Flowers to share loving and healing energy, I would ask them to consider any experiences they have had with Flowers. Sometimes as adults we have forgotten the joy of Flowers. I’m not thinking of the weird commercial bouquets of half dead Flowers imported from South America that we see in the grocery store. I’m thinking of Flowers we brush by in a meadow or see in a cluster on a river bank or even those coming through the cracks in the pavement. I would encourage people to think back to their childhood and see if they have any memories of Flowers from that time. Even a weed like a Dandelion is recognized as a uplifting friend to a small child.
If someone has no points of connection with Flowers then they could imagine how they might feel about the energy of receiving an enormous bouquet of beautiful and fragrant Flowers versus the energy of receiving a bowl of rotten fruit. By considering these two experiences, we can begin to feel that Flowers have a more positive energy than many things and can uplift and support us more than we might think.
For Flower Essences that might deeply serve a community that has seen more than its fair share of suffering, here are a few possibilities. I would encourage the counselor who knows these groups so much better than me to follow her own guidance in choosing Flower Essences if these don’t feel right (and maybe even if they do).
Sunflower– A Flower that helps us know our own inner strength and know our ability to stand tall even when we face a lot of challenges. This is a Flower that most of us recognize and have some experience of as sunny, bright, strong and empowering. That helps us link to its energy as a Flower Essence. It doesn’t seem, like a stretch when I say that a Flower Essence made from 14′ tall Sunflowers helps us be the super heroes in our own life.
Rosa Mundi– As with Sunflower, most people know what Roses look like. They may however feel shut out from the whole Rose thing because the commercializatin of Roses make many of us feel that Roses for special people on special occasions and that doesn’t include us. Rosa Mundi wants to remind all of us that we are ALL included in the Rose Love fest. This Rose supports those who have been through the wringer of pain and suffering and are having a hard time keeping on going. This Rose is ancient, at least 700 years old, yet looks incredibly fresh and young. It carries this energy of refreshing the most world weary among us. It is a consoling, comforting friend.
Wintergreen– Wintergreen is a good one for explaining that Flowers grown in different environments have different healing strengths. Wintergreen grows in very cold climates in very harsh conditions. Think exposed mountaintops in the coldest places in our country. Wintergreen helps us be tough when the going gets tough. It also helps us stand up for ourselves no matter how much circumstances or other people seem to be intent on getting us down.
Calliandra– This is a tropical Flower. Flowering plants in the tropics don’t have to struggle against the climate as much as cold weather plants. This means their Flowers can really take off in dramatic ways. They are like spark plugs of energy and help us find our sass and zip as well. Calliandra has a Flower that is a ball of brilliant red threads. It looks like a fireworks burst of cleansing and clearing energy and that is just what it is. We have found it helps a lot when there has been a lot of painful experiences in our families and our hearts have closed a bit to protect ourselves. This one helps us let the light into our heart again and opens up all those rivers of love that we might not have felt safe to express. We describe it as good for the circulatory system but it is so much more.
Dombeya Wallichii- Here is another Flower from a tropical location, this time Madagascar. When it blooms Dombeya Wallichii smells like baking cake. Our Dombeya spent many years in my husband’s sixth grade classroom where students called it the “Cupcake Tree”. When it bloomed all the kids in the school would come visit it. It has beautiful clusters of pink flowers as well as a wonderful fragrance. Its gift as a Flower Essence is to help us feel sheltered and comforted like the most loving mother embracing us with unconditional love.
Teasel- I like how Flower Essences help us find energetic balance. Yes, Calliandra helps us let the love flow, but Teasel helps us let the love flow appropriately. It keeps others from violating our energy boundaries and taking energy from us that belongs to us. We own our energy system. It is no one else’s, and no one else should be in our energy system. Teasel is a wildflower that knows this. It is all about protecting our energy. You can see this when you look at Teasel‘s Flowers. That is one of the interesting things about many Flowers. They look like what they are for.
Gorse– One of the great things about Flower Essences is that they give us the opportunity to work with Flowers that grow in other places on earth. This helps us balance ourselves with energies from all parts of the world and thus become balanced global citizens. Our Gorse comes from Scotland. Here is how it is described on our website:
Gorse is a Flower Essence that floods us with uplifting light and hope. It is particularly supportive in situations of transition and challenges such as illness, despair or heartbreak. Gorse helps us have a steadiness of hope and optimism within ourselves even in situations in which we are being battered by the winds of change or find ourselves in an environment of pessimism. It is an excellent ally when a feeling of all is lost is prevalent because Gorse knows all is never lost.
People who live in certain climates tend to suffer from the same challenges both physically and emotionally. In Scotland the weather is chilly, damp and overcast most of the time. This can lead to a similar inner climate of wet, gloomy heaviness, so it is perfect that this Flower of optimism is right there in the fields of Scotland to uplift with its bright yellow blossoms.
Dittany from Crete– Sometimes a Flower Essence will hold the energy of the place where it was made as well as the Flower itself. With this Dittany from Crete there is a healing energy from the Flower that holds the energy of ten thousand years of healing work done by Cretans, especially Cretan women, to bring values of selfless love, generosity, peaceful coexistence and many values that prevailed on Crete before the rise of patriarchy. When we work with Flower Essences from Crete we get deeply rooted support from across time to be our most evolved selves.
After working with individual Flower Essences, I would love to see these groups get support from blended mixes but to work and play with individual Flower Essences first might be a memorable way to open the door to energy healing with Flowers. I asked the Angels to pick one mix for the group to consider and they chose Boundless. I loved this suggestion and this Flower Essence combination made from all the Flowers a garden called Boundless. This Essence has been cropping up a lot as an Essence that reminds us no matter what is going on in our lives, we are eternal spirit having a physical experience not the other way around.
After I wrote this I went back to check the counselor’s email to see if I had answered all the questions she had about offering Flower Essences to her circles. She had asked about how to explain the safety of Flower Essences. Here’s my thought on that. We are out in the world all our days. Some places we go and some people we encounter feel heavy on our spirits and make things more difficult. We keep on keeping on even when we have had that kind of low vibration experience. Flowers however always uplift. They offer the brightest most uplifting vibration of the plant because they are the most evolved part of the plant. AND they wish us well. When we work with Flower Essences we are inviting in the companionship of fellow travelers on our planet who only want to help us and carry only the best intentions. At worst their love and energy feels irrelevant, offering healing love we don’t need, but so often Flowers and Flower Essences are the very gift we most need, reminding us WE ARE LOVED.
