Flower essences have been used in complementary medicine since the early 1900's. Katy Edwards spoke to a flower therapist who makes her own.

Apparently to restore me to optimum emotional and mental well-being I need the Angel of Peace, Truth, the Spider animal, Beauty in the Eye and Inner Lover. Bizarre though it may sound, these are not ethereal beings sent to do my bidding - this is my flower essence profile, a special compound tailored to my individual needs by flower essence therapist Robina Hearle of Rose Cottage Flower Essences, in Woodbridge.

Flower essences are based on the premise that the vibratory signature or frequency of flowers, crystals, gems, trees, animals, birds, people and even places can be captured and infused into spring water. This is achieved by the sun or the moon and by energy from the spirit realms, nature spirits and Devic Kingdom.

It may all sound a bit hocus-pocus to anyone who has not come across them before, but flower remedies have attracted an enormous following worldwide since they were first developed by an English physician and homeopath in the early 1900's.

Edward Bach believed all illness was caused by emotional imbalance and sought to develop a natural healing method applicable to all. He experimented with hundreds of flowers, trees, bushes and water sources before identifying 38 essences to remedy negative emotional states such as fear, guilt and anxiety. He would select his raw materials intuitively, boiling twigs in spring water, or floating freshly picked flower heads in sunlit spring water, which was mixed with a little brandy, as a preservative, and bottled.

Although there is still little research evidence for these remedies, beneficial effects are widely reported in their use for emotional, mental, spiritual and even physical problems.

After 20 years as a chartered physiotherapist, Robina Hearle also came to the conclusion there must be an emotional and mental component to ill health. She trained as a Reiki Master and Flower Therapist and has now developed her own range of flower essences.

Among them are combination remedies to target very specific problems such as exam and coursework stress, relationship stress, work stress, wedding nerves, moving house, adults grieving, victims of rape and many more. Take a few drops at a time, several times a day, from a small bottle and pipette; they are designed to restore clients' emotional well being, removing emotional blockages. They can be taken alongside conventional treatments and have no side effects. They can also be used on animals.

Each vibratory signature, captured in the essences, is compatible with an emotion, Robina explained, adding: "Think how much energy there is when you are angry. The frequency of the energy of anger matched a flower or crystal's signature. By taking the essence you help dissolve or release that energy from your body."

She went on to reveal how she develops individual essence profiles for clients, using kinesiology - a system of identifying any imbalances a person has by monitoring their ability to hold their muscles against light pressure.

"I sit down with a piece of paper and put the persons name at the top. Then I will say, 'My intention is to make up an essence for Katy. Please can I have some help to do this? Are there any essences here that are appropriate at this time?' I usually come up with about five. I then ask how many drops of each is required. It is very simple kinesiology. You could also use a pendulum to dowse or use your intuition, but I don't think using your head is as accurate."

Robina described how she makes her essences. For Allow Love, for example, an essence which allows us to receive love by opening our hearts and minds, she captures the vibratory signature of a beautiful orchid and rose quartz crystal by adding petals and the quartz to spring water and leaving them to infuse, usually in sunlight.

"I try not to handle them too much," she said. "After a few hours I will ask if the essence is done, using kinesiology".

The essence is strained into a bottle and brandy or vodka is added as a preservative. That "mother essence" is extremely powerful; Robina added and would have to be diluted further for clients' use.

Another Rose Cottage essence, The Healing Garden, is made from the vibratory frequency of Robina's beautiful garden. She believes that her 17th Century home, an old gardener's cottage, next to a manor, is on the site of a former healing garden.

"That frequency has stayed here," she said. "That is why you get such a wonderful sense of wellbeing. For people who are intuitive and can feel that frequency, it is very powerful."

She pointed out a magnolia tree, from which she made the essence Abundant Light, for clients who feel very down, and white climbing rambler rose - the raw material for Seeing Clearly Now.

A flower therapist will build up a pallet of essences to treat clients. Along with her own, Robina also uses some from Bach Flower Remedies, The Light Heart range, Perelandra essences and some animal essences. With these last, the therapist has called upon the spirit of the animal to infuse the water. "They connect at a spirit level, asking for the essence to be potentised," Robina said.

Flower therapists also create channelled essences from spirit guides. This is done by asking nature spirits for help in obtaining energy signatures. At this point I was getting a little muddled. I could cope with the idea of making a flower potion by floating a few petals in a bowl, but I sensed we were straying into more esoteric waters.

"There is a very spiritual, metaphysical side to all of this that people either won't accept or don't even know about," Robina explained. "But the essences are also a down to earth, practical help."

Apparently, flower therapy is all about interacting with the all pervading consciousness within the whole of the physical universe; something we burned out westerners are not used to doing. Robina went on:
"We live alongside this huge intelligence called Nature that we take for granted and think we can control but we can't. We should live in harmony and balance with it. It's the nature spirits of the plant world who give you the nudge to make the essence. That's where you get the channelled information about where the essence is. Each individual plant has a nature spirit. The Native American Indians and Aboriginals understood the healing power of nature - they just needed to be near the flower or animal to pick up the vibratory signature because they were closer to the earth and her rhythms. We money-driven, industrial and scientific bods have lost our innate capabilities.

I wondered what kind of people sought help from flower therapists. Robina said: "It might be someone who has emotional traumas going on, or who are feeling down and don't know why. They may be worried, scared or anxious or feeling unbalanced. A lot of people don't like of value themselves, which causes a lot of problems. I have one gentleman who has just had a nervous breakdown and just can't seem to get going again. Another client, a hyperactive child, who used to have a lot of tantrums, has settled down a lot. He can control his own anger a lot better now. Or I might see ladies who have menopausal problems who are not coming to terms with the fact that they are undergoing changes."

Can her essences really help or are the benefits purely psychosomatic, I asked? Robina answered: "If you have emotional imbalances that are hidden away, deep inside, that emotional energy can start to cause changes at a cellular level, causing illness. I think ordinary medicine is now beginning to understand that. By taking flower essences you are dealing with the problem and improving your overall well being. Anti-depressants don't get to the root of the problem - they only draw a blanket over it. I would like to see people have flower essences as part of their first aid kit. When they are feeling down and depressed or out of sorts, they would go to their flower essences as they would if they had cut themselves. That way they are taking responsibility for their own mental health. It isn't a quick fix. It's taken years for you to produce your emotional baggage; it will take some time to clear it. I'm not saying this is going to cure them, but it will begin a healing journey."

By Katy Edwards
East Anglian Daily Times 20th Sep 2004