Healing Flower Remedies  

When we think of medicine, be it pharmaceutical medicine or natural medicine we often think of the physical body, of some physical illness.  We think about health as to do with the body but often neglect our mental and emotional health.  There are lots of natural medicines for illnesses of the body, from herbs to aromatherapy.  This is where flower remedies are different, they are not herbal extracts nor are they oils.  Even though they are made from some of the same flowers, the way they are made is very different. Extracts, tinctures and oils are made out of the plant matter themselves. Care needs to be taken when using herbs and essential oils because they can be quite powerful in their effects on the body.  Yet flower remedies are perfectly safe to use, with no concerns around overdosing, toxicity or harmful side effects.

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One of the benefits of flower remedies is that they are self-adjusting meaning that if you take the wrong remedy or too much for example the body simply expels it in a natural way without any noticeable effects.  You might question why this would be and if that means they are not powerful healers worth taking.  The answer to this is that flower remedies are not medicines for physical complaints, although as a side effect of their benefits they can heal the body indirectly.  So to that end, if you are looking for a remedy for colds and flu for example you would not find it amongst flower remedies. The benefits and healing properties of flower remedies is on an emotional and psychological level.  Improving these states can indeed lead to better physical health. We know that if we’re not in a good space mentally and emotionally this can impact our overall health.  The effects of emotional distress are evident and far-ranging from being unable to sleep, poor diet and self-care being direct consequences.

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Flower essences work on the emotional level, helping to balance out negative energy that may be affecting our emotions and thinking. Flower remedies are a wonderfully gentle way to restore inner harmony and balance our internal energy.  Dr Edward Bach, the creator of the original Bach flower remedies gave up his medical practice in Harley Street in London to follow the plant path such was his belief in the healing potential of these flower remedies. Dr Bach noticed a relationship between certain flowers and emotional states in humans and found that if you used a flower remedy that had the same energy flow as the one that blocked certain energy in humans, the energy block could be cleared allowing the free flow of energy and balancing of emotions.

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Bach created a special way of extracting this energy from the flowers.  He did this in such a way as not to use any of the flower material themselves making them perfectly safe for humans to use without the normal risks found in taking any form of medication natural or not. 

If you want to have a go at making your own flower essences, the methods used to create them are outlined below.

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Sun Method

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This is the traditional method that Bach himself used.

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• Wait for a cloudless, bright, clear sunny morning to start making your essence.

• You should begin before 9am.

• Fill a thin glass bowl with half a pint of water.

• Pick the flowers, place them on a large leaf if possible to keep contact to a minimum.

• Place them in the water.

• Cover the surface of the water with flowers.

• Leave the bowl of flowers in the sunshine by the plants the flowers were picked from.

• Avoid the bowl becoming covered by shadow either by the movement of the sun or by cloud cover, this would spoil the essence and have to be discarded.

• After 3 – 4 hours use a twig or stem to remove the flowers from the water.

• Pour the remaining water into empty glass bottles until they are half full.

• Top up the bottles with an equal amount of brandy as a preservative

• Label the bottle with the name of the remedy.

• Use as needed

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Boiling  Method

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This method can be useful if you are not able to or can’t be certain the weather will hold long enough to carry out the sun method.

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• Wait for a cloudless, bright, clear sunny morning to start making your essence.

• You should begin before 9am.

• Pick the flowers, place them on a large leaf if possible to keep contact to a minimum.

• Place the flowers into a clean enamel saucepan (not aluminium as this can leech into the remedy) if you don’t have an enamel saucepan you can use a stainless steel one.

• Fill the saucepan three-quarters full of flowers and take home.

• Take a twig home with you too.

• Fill the saucepan with 2 pints of spring water and bring to boil, leaving the lid off.

• Simmer for half an hour, pressing the flowers gently into the water periodically with the twig (not a spoon).

• After half an hour, place the lid on the saucepan and take the saucepan outside and allow to cool.

• When fully cooled down, use a twig or stem to remove the flowers from the water.

• Pour the remaining water into empty glass bottles until they are half full.

• Top up the bottles with an equal amount of brandy as a preservative

• Label the bottle with the name of the remedy.

• Use as needed

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NB: With the boiling method you will likely find that you will have more of the essence than you need. You can drink the leftover essence on its own minus the brandy.

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As you can see these are very natural remedies with nothing in them that can cause harm. True to Bach’s vision flower remedies can be safely used at home without the need for any specialist skills or training. Hopefully, the information you find on these pages can help you on your way and feel more confident in using flower remedies for both yourself and your family.