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Natural Wellness for Body, Mind and Spirit

                                                      FLOWER ESSENCES
                                          INTRODUCTION TO FLOWER ESSENCES

Plants have been used by all cultures and throughout all history to feed us, shelter us, and heal us.  They have the ability to affect us physically, emotionally and spiritually. We are naturally drawn to flowers to express love, for inspiration, to beautify our abodes, to uplift us, to decorate our bodies, exalt our celebrations, honor ones who have passed and to crown our victories. 

Taoists say that “Anything alive is sacred. And everything is alive.”  Everything alive has a life force, a distinct energy which is naturally perceivable and scientifically measurable. Richard Pavek, developer of SHEN Therapy, named this life force the biofield, and the Chinese call it qi (pronounced 'chee' and often spelled “chi”).

A flower essence is a living biofield in liquid form which has the imprint of its mother plant's intrinsic qualities.  Flower essences work energetically by resonance to release unwanted reactions and behaviors, promoting a return to health and the emergence of a more fulfilling way of being.  They primarily affect the realm of emotions, feelings and attitudes, although flower essences can and do influence the physical as well. 

photo left by Linda Kordich, used with permission

Different plant species have specific characteristics and distinct strengths which model a certain way of being that other living beings respond to, a characteristic or strength that can influence our minds, emotions, and bodies.  Each species of plant, one could say, is a sacred gift emanating a distinct aspect of our Creator. 
 
Plants naturally demonstrate what best nurtures them.  Some plants are delicate with vital requirements, and some sturdily tolerate a wide range of conditions.  Some flourish in the mountains, some in the desert, but each plant has specific conditions in which it really grows best.  Where and how a flower grows, its “likes” and “dislikes” and its appearance give clues to its specific influence that a skilled flower essence practitioner has learned to perceive and utilize.
 
A flower essence is prepared from a plant at the peak expression of its vitality—when it is blossoming —in a co-creative process involving nature, the plant and the flower essence preparer.  Listening, seeing, and preparing the essence specifically from plants that are blooming in their ideal “heaven” is part of the art and skill of flower essence preparation.  Another aspect of flower essence preparation requiring skill is the creation of the formula itself.  The practitioner needs to discern what is striving to emerge and/or heal in their client, and match the plant or plants with the best qualities to help support the individual at the time.  Over a period of time (which can be a couple of weeks, a moon cycle, or a couple of months), the formula will usually change to support the evolving and changing client. Flower essences are compatible with both Western and Eastern medicine and have been safely used effectively with infants, children, the infirm, the elderly, and animals.


 
Dr. Edward Bach

Dr. Edward Bach, a pioneering English physician turned homeopath at the early part of the twentieth century, is considered the father of modern flower essence therapy.  Bach observed and publicized a connection between stress, emotions, and illness which modern medical science is only now beginning to address.  He noticed that individual patients with the same disease reacted to their illness with different states of mind, behavior and moods, and he began to treat their illnesses as a reflection of disharmony between the physical personality and the Higher Self.  Dr. Bach's remarkable insight into the relationship between illness and the emotions came about more than 50 years prior to current psychoneuroimmunology research.  

                                                                                                                                          

Bach wrote: 

“Disease is in essence the result of conflict between Soul and Mind... No effort which is directed to the body alone can do more than superficially repair damage, and in this there is no cure, since the cause is still operative and may at any moment again demonstrate its presence in another form...

Behind all disease lie our fears, our anxieties, our greed, our likes and dislikes...from time immemorial it has been known that Providential Means has placed in Nature the prevention and cure of disease by means of divinely enriched herbs and plants and trees... 

Health and disease are caused by how we think, how we feel within ourselves...Think...of the outlook on life of the one in distress.  The same disease may have different effects (varying states of mind or moods) on different people; it is these effects that need treatment, because they guide to the real cause...[when]one becomes well by gaining increased happiness and interest in life, the disease goes, having been cast off by the increase in health.”

 

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THE BACH FLOWERS: A SLIDESHOW

 

 Bach Flower Essences - slideshow by Dr. Susan Archibald for National Public Health Week.

 

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Ayleyaell's Flower Essence Services

Personal Flower Essence Consultations with Ayleyaell
I give flower essence consultations by phone or in person to assemble the perfect flower support for you.  An initial phone or in person consultation is typically about 30 to 45 minutes.  During our first conversation, I will hear a flower or several flowers "speaking" for you.  I then take my impressions into meditation.  I call you back and share with you what I received and a description of the flowers of your formula, and if you desire, I'll prepare your personal formula for you potentized in co-creation with Nature.
 
photo left: "Love In Action," by Linda Kordich, used with permission 

RATES

Flower essence consultations are offered on a sliding scale of $65 to $95 a session. This includes an initial conversation by phone or in person of 30 to 45 minutes, a follow up phone call after I receive your formula, and a second follow up call after you have been sent your formula.

Your personal formula, if you would like me to prepare and potentize it for you, is $15 each  one ounce dropper bottle plus shipping ($6.00 USPS for up to two 1 oz bottles).

I use a diluted liquor (usually brandy) solution as a base to hold the flower essences.  
For the alcohol sensitive, I offer alternatives: flower essences in apple cider vinegar, energized pure spring water, or vegetarian sweet glycerin derived from coconut.  Unlike essential oils, flower essences themselves have no smell (just a slight aroma from their carrier liquid). You are welcome to choose your preferred liquid base, or I can help you select one. 

At right: a beautiful bearded Iris - I often use the FES Blue Flag Iris which helps bring forth creativity. 

 

UNIVERSAL FLOWER ESSENCE ELIXIRS   

I have received in meditation some wonderful, effective, universal flower essence formulas.  These elixirs help with the effects and our reactions to Receiving Light, assist in Accepting Mastery, support working with the Native American Medicine Wheel, with each of the 12 steps in Recovery programs, center you in Peace & Balance during times of change (The Equilibrium Elixir), and accelerate  Fortunate Manifestation.

I also have available formulas developed by Patricia Kaminski and Richard Katz, founders of the FES (Flower Essence Society), for Grief Relief, Spiritual Strength, and Spiritual Leadership.

 

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THE SPIRIT OF PLANTS
 
The lovely video above is based on the book Tree Talk by Dianne Robbins. Oribel co-created the video to share why trees are important to planet Earth.  She speaks eloquently of the aliveness of trees and encourages you to “Listen with your heart” to the messages of the plant kingdom.  The video introduces the concept that trees feed our soul with light and information they receive from the Creator, and gives you insight as to how a flower essence practitioner discerns the spirit and gifts of a plant.  One of the reasons I so love the James Cameron movie Avatar is that the film also awakens people to this awareness.
 
 

 

 
“So will I build my altar in the fields, and the blue sky my fretted dome shall be.
And the sweet fragrance that the wild flower yields, shall be the incense I will yield to Thee.”
..Samuel T. Coleridge 

 

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