What are essences?
Essences can be described many ways- are energetic or vibrational remedies, plant spirit medicine, magic potions, some kids I know just call them “fairy drops” – essences are water-based infusions, usually made with blossoms of a flower or tree or a stone, that is then preserved with brandy (or vinegar.) A powerful, but subtle medicine, essences are the distillation of stones, plants, or moments of time that are created with great intention, ceremony, and magic. Different from tinctures, which use the physical constituents of a plant, essences are energetic and work on our hearts, souls, spirits, and subtle bodies. They are safe for animals, children, pregnancy, and are not contraindicated with any other medicines or modalities.
Essences have been used for thousands of years and all cultures have some version of essences in their healing traditions. I encourage you to look into your ancestral lineage for how your ancestors engaged with plant medicine! Flower essences were popularized (I mean as popular as flower essences can get) in Europe and North America by Dr. Edward Bach, but most indigenous cultures have been making energetic infusions of flowers and stones long before essences became commercialized.
I believe that essences are an amazing “people’s medicine” because they are affordable and low impact/ use very little resources, you can make them yourself, and because they encourage a kind of deep intimacy with the earth, with plants, with yourself, and with each other. They do not rely on pathology or empiricism, extraction or reduction, making them a radical ally for personal and community healing. Making essences can be a radical and beautiful practice of intimacy and intuition, that nourishes trusting one’s own experience and knowing, and also connects us deeply with our more than human kin.
FAQ
How do you use essences?
The standard dose is 1-4 drops, 2- 4 x a day under tongue or in water, but essences love to be played with, so you are invited to find a dose that feels right to you! Many people like to use them topically, in a bath, on your pillow, in a special drink or tea, in massage or body oils, in a spray bottle, and even in paint!
How do you figure out which essence to take?
Intuition, divination, muscle testing, pendulum, reading the description, guessing, being drawn to the name or picture, seeing a practitioner
How many can you take at a time?
This depends! Some people keep it simple and take one, some mix many essences into a formula blend.
Side effects? None! Totally safe to use with other medicines or modalities.
What if someone is sensitive to alcohol?
You can put a few drops in boiling or just boiled water, which will burn off the alcohol, use vinegar as a preservative instead of brandy, or use a topical application mentioned above.
Are they homeopathic and can they be antidoted?
No and no.
Making Flower Essences: One way to do it
- Make it when you feel called to- a plant has been bugging you to make it, you can’t stop thinking about it, someone you know, or you, yourself, need it. Only make essences from flowers in peak bloom. Ask the flower’s permission. Leave an offering (a song, your hair, a stone etc…)
- Choose a vessel for the essence (be creative, listen carefully to find the right vessel for the essence – teacup? Glass bowl?)
- Choose a time – sunrise, sunset, full moon, solstice, etc – that you think supports the purpose of the essence.
- Pick the flowers with a leaf from the plant or with your clean fingers. Float the blossoms in water in the vessel placed amongst the plants in the sunshine for the amount of time that feels appropriate (usually a few hours). Some people also make the essences in the morning, under moonlight, on special days, etc. Observe the language of the plant* (see below- color, habitat, shape, etc..) Ask questions. Pay attention to everything. Your experience is part of this process.
- When it’s ready, follow directions below for dilutions. You can also sip a small amount of the Mother/Potentized water and give some back to the earth in gratitude.
*Getting to know you: Reading the language of flowers
I like to think of this as using our witch eyes, or trusting the things we knew as kids, but unlearned. Basically, putting our faith in our intuition, which is also called imagination, which is also a gift from our ancestors. So, starting with noticing, which is a form of love. Listening deeply, and then trying to speak the language of the plant (or the stone)
- Color
- Shape, orientation, number of petals
- Aroma and taste
- Habitat- who it’s near, where it likes to grow
- Insects or other animals around it
- History and folklore, other associations like astrology*, deities
- Medicinal uses
- Noticing your sensations, memories, messages, emotions
Sounds
For more info see www.essences.com/vibration/astrology
Dilutions: One way to do it
- Flower essences are incredibly sustainable and economical! Tiny amounts of plant material make a lifetime supply of remedies.
- The bowl of water the blossoms float in is the POTENTIZED WATER.
- Pour an equal amount of potentized water into a bottle with an equal amount of brandy. This is the MOTHER ESSENCE.
- 2 drops of stock in a solution of 50% brandy and 50% water makes the STOCK BOTTLE. This is what you buy in the store. You can also do closer to 60/40 water/brandy…(Bach was once asked why 2 drops and he answered, “In case the first one misses.”)
- 2 drops of the stock are then put into a solution of 25% brandy and 75% water for DOSAGE or Formula bottles. People like to use different substances to preserve: choose one that you feel a connection to- perhaps something that comes from your ancestral heritage, or if you are not using alcohol, you can instead use shiso or another kind of vinegar.
Some essences I use a lot in my practice:
- Five flower/rescue remedy: trauma recovery. Take a few drops every few minutes after trauma or shock then 4x day for a week or so.
- Black Eyed Susan: brings awareness to shadow, integrate disowned parts of self.
- Blackberry: the great manifestor! Good for people who have a goal, but have trouble with follow through. Spreads roots and limbs, takes us into the world, lets will express itself and take action.
- Bleeding Heart: mass grief, deep grief about world, fear & possessiveness in relationship
- Borage: for deep despair and hopelessness. Brings buoyancy back to heart.
- Calendula: creating container for hearing and listening, good for people with history of verbal abuse, sensitive to criticism, or highly critical and rough with words.
- Dandelion: breakthrough old patterns, when tension is held in the body- good for massage oil
- Dogwood: brings physical grace to body, good for after accident or physical injury.
- Echinacea: protection through alignment, rebuilds core immunity & sense of self
- Elm: overwhelmed, not feeling up to task
- Fireweed: regeneration after extreme disruption
- Madrone: for body love, for supporting taking up space
- Manzanita: healing from sexual trauma, embodiment
- Moss: support and protection, humility, grounding, good for fear about apocalypse
- Pine: for guilt and self-blame, promotes self- acceptance and forgiveness
- Pink Yarrow: emotional boundaries, esp. in personal relationships, good for people who are highly absorptive of other’s feelings and tend to merge. Able to stay present with suffering and radiate love and compassion.
- Red Clover: calm and steady presence in mass hysteria or panic
- Red Root: releasing ancestral trauma, connecting to chosen family
- Self- Heal: fundamental remedy to promote self healing. Reconnects us to capacity to regain health and remember one’s resiliency. Great for acute or short term illness as well as people struggling with chronic illness.
- Shooting Star: alienation, feeling like you don’t belong here, feeling not human or hard to relate to people. Good for difficult birth- helps incarnate.
- Sunflower: helps you shine and radiate. Good for low self-esteem and when you have a hard time taking up space/tend to contract. Also good for bombastic or egocentric behavior.
- Sweet Pea: support for those who feel uprooted and lack of “home” feeling. Good for people who feel alienated and disconnected from place.
- Walnut: helpful for making healthy transitions
- Willow: helps release bitterness and resentment
- Yarrow: like pink yarrow, protection from absorption, but more mental and less personal. Good for people who feel “sensitive”, get headaches easily, sensitive to EMF, environmental toxins, etc. creates a radiant forcefield.
Resources
- Flower Essence Repertory , Patricia Kaminski and Richard Katz
- The Alchemy of the Desert, Cynthia Athina Kemp Scherer
- The Art and Technique of Using Flower Essences, Cynthia Athina Kemp Scherer
- Stars of the Meadow, David Dalton
- Flower Essences, Machaelle Small Wright
- The Bach Flower Remedies, Edward Bach, MD
Healing Justice Podcast
You can hear some of these instructions explained by Dori Midnight on Healing Justice Podcast, Practice 28: Essences for Everybody…Making Your Own Medicine.
