I, too, was a skeptic. After all, how could a relatively clear liquid composed mostly of water do anything except quench someone's thirst? But my doubt gradually gave way after friends told me, time and time again, how by using my essences, they were accomplishing tasks they never dreamed possible. As if by magic, people with weak wills grew determined, procrastinators finally followed through, and those with closed hearts felt compassion. But my own experience was the clincher. After being told to "lighten up" for years, the essence of the zinnia flower helped me develop a sense of humor. The "essence" of trumpet vine enabled me to voice deep-seated emotions.

Sixty-nine years after Dr. Edward Bach first started developing his repertoire of 38 remedies (37 with flowers plus one with rock water), there is still no conclusive scientific explanation describing why flower essences work. It remains a mystery, but we do have some valid nature's divine forces -- water, earth, air and the fire of the sun. What's more a flower is a plant's regenerative organ, a harbinger of life itself. These factors help us understand the power of flowers, but...

What Is An "Essence"?
Thorndike-Barnhardt Dictionary defines essence as "any concentrated substance that has the characteristic, flavor, or fragrance, or effect of the plant, fruit, etc." This etc. pertains to flowers. Without its preservative, a flower essence has neither flavor nor fragrance, but it does contain the characteristic of that plant. Bu t how? The answer dwells in understanding how flower essences differ from related holistic modalities -- herbal extracts, essential oils, and homeopathic remedies.

• Herbal extracts affect the physical body and thus rely on the physical parts of the plant. Substances from the root, stem, branches, leaves and/or flowers are extracted from the plant.
• Essential oils for aromatherapy use the most fragrant part of the plant (usually the flower) to influence one's emotional state).
• Homeopathic remedies incorporate highly diluted parts of animate and inanimate substances. While some of these substances are toxic if taken in larger doses, the body recognizes a homeopathic dose of the toxin and naturally produces a defense. These remedies successfully treat physical and emotional imbalances.
• Flower essences are prepared with living flowers that impregnate spring water with their essence. Administered in diluted forms (a stock or dosage bottle), the flower essence contains only a trace of the actual flower. For its effectiveness, the flower essence relies more on the vibrational energy of the plant. This less is more principle equally applies to homeopathy, which is also considered a vibrational medicine. Yet, due to the nature of flowers, flower essences primarily address emotional and spiritual issues. Indirectly, however, they can eventually alleviate some psychosomatically induced symptoms.

Dr. Bach passed away at the early age of 50, indicating that not even he had discovered the key to longevity. But the 38 remedies that he worked with during the last six years of his life provided important pieces of the puzzle. They laid the foundation for a field of research that continues to encompass more of the plant kingdom. With hundreds of flowers now researched worldwide, the range of the essence keyboard continues to expand.

A Personal Journey
David E. Thomas was an avid gardener, spending nearly 60 hours a week tending his plants on my property. In itself, this is no amazing fact. Yet, he did this for four years while his cancer was in remission after his entire stomach, duodenum, and spleen were removed. I would like to claim that his miraculous recovery was due to his taking flower essences, but the truth remains that he constantly smoked cigarettes, drank coffee and never tried a flower essence. But when David was in his sixties, he told me he tapped into nature's restorative powers through gardening

A month after he passed away (during the early spring of 1994), a thousand tulips and daffodils poked through the very ground he tended. In a most mysterious way, I felt his presence. I, on the other hand, knew about holistic healing and flower essences. I tended his garden and started making essences as a way of continuing David's work, but at some point over these past six years, the work branched out and became my own.

As a flower essence practitioner, I have seen the remedies help others overcome dreadful moods and achieve long-term goals. Their effects have ranged from subtle or barely noticeable to dramatically empowering. For instance, a college student once told me she had taken the entire bottle of True Path, a combination of five flower essences I prepare to help one get on track with their true purpose. It contains the essences of mullein, which helps one hear the inner voice or conscience. "Did you feel its effect?" I asked. "Not really," she replied. And then, when it seemed our conversation had ended, she casually added, "But I did change my major from criminal law to journalism. My advisor was furious with me!" 

This gradual shift in perception occurred as the flower essences freed up stagnant energy in her energy field, slowly but surely. Yet, another person taking the same combination essence described it as "a miracle fertilizer the quickly brought about many positive changes." A bull's-eye essence will foster greater growth, and for this person I believe it was the walnut essence. His family's furniture business has just gone bankrupt, but the walnut essence provided a sense of stability during this period of turmoil. He quickly changed careers by managing a health food store.

People can safely treat themselves with flower essences because there are no harmful side effects. Bu t a good practitioner can detect a client's blind spots, sensing those dark regions of the psyche that one would prefer to overlook. Nurturing a caring and trusting environment is also an integral part of the cure.

There's No Place Like Home
We tend to think that the more exotic flowers from far away lands would be the most effective. But just as locally grown produce is considered best for consumption, the same belief applies to flower essences. In his book Plant Spirit Medicine, Eliot Cowan quotes Professor Worsley: "Local herbs are not ten times stronger, they are not a hundred times stronger, they are one thousand times stronger than plants that grow someplace else." (Cowan describes "local" plants as those that are within a three-day walk.)

Here, in Northeast Pennsylvania and the Southern Tier, we are blessed with many of the identical wildflowers that Dr. Edward Bach used in England. Would you recognize agrimony growing on the edge of a woodlands? While you might identify a beech tree, have you ever noticed its delicate flowers? The Flower Essence Society has researched dozens of Californian wildflowers many of which also grow here. Buttercup, Queen Anne's lace and red clover are just a few of the wildflowers that grace our fields and the West Coast's. Second to the Amazon rainforest, the Appalachian Mountains harbor the greatest variety of wildflowers in the world. We're amid them. So with your budding interest in flower essences, you might regard a great source of healing as blooming in your own backyard.

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