How To Make Flower Essences
Utilise the abundance of flowers in Djilba seasion to support your emotional body.
Flower essences are a gentle, yet potent, form of energetic medicine that supports us on a mental and emotional level. They work to shift self-limiting beliefs, self-sabtogaging bahaviour and emotions that keep us from our vitality.
Honouring our mental and emotional well-being through flower medicine is incredibly potent work. The beauty of flower essences is that they can evoke such massive shifts, in the most gentle and nurturing way.
What Are Flower Essences?
Flower essences are the energetic imprint of flowers captured in pure spring water at the height of their bloom. Once collected from the wild, the flowers are infused into the water either by the sun’s rays or light boiling. The water then becomes the carrier of that particular flower’s energy.
What Can Flower Essences Do?
Flower essences are a subtle form of energy medicine that can have powerfully transformative effects. They are used to release limiting patterns of thought or perspective, helping us to recognize and fulfill greater states of harmony and joyful purpose. Used consistently, flower essences can have tremendous effects on your emotional, physical, and spiritual wellbeing.
Dosage
As a general rule, I like to dose flower essences at 7 drops on the tongue or sipped from a glass of water upon waking and before sleep. This allows the medicine to work while the mind is more receptive to the frequency and maximises the effects. However, in acute situations flowers essences can be taken every 5 minutes for up to 30 minutes.
.Doctrine Of Signatures - Plant Communication
The doctrine of signatures is an intuitive art to recognising a plants medicinal properties by observing its habitat, shape, colour, growth and texture.
When collecting flowers to make your essence, take a moment to connect in with your flower and tune into it's medicine. What hints is the flower giving you? Observe habitat, growth, colour, texture and shape. Record your notes in a notebook. Remember, there is no right or wrong answer, this is intuitive medicine.
HABITAT
Observe the area in which the plant grows, this can give us clues as to the affinity of body systems. Plants growing in wet areas often have an affinity for the kidneys or waterways of the body. If a plant grows in a hot, dry environment it may have an affinity for hot, fiery conditions and temperaments. If a plant grows in groups, it may be useful for social connections and initiating sociability for individuals with poor social skills.
SHAPE
Sometimes shape can give a really obvious clue to the healing power of a flower. Waratah is a red, heart shaped flower on a long stalk that rises high above the scrubs, it is a flower for the heart, supporting one during the dark night of the soul. Wattle is a fuzzy round yellow orb that blooms through the winter months, looking like a mini explosion of joy and sunshine. What shape is it, how many petals does it have, how is the flower attached to the plant? These all give us insights into the healing properties.
GROWTH
How the flower grows on the plant can give us clues too. When we look at she oak, the flower clings to the branches like a foetus to the uterine wall, she is an essence with an affinity to the womb. Kangaroo paw grows in clumps, communities, suggesting an essence that can support with sociability and improving ones social skills. Is the flower dozens of tiny flowers bundled together or a single solitary flower standing strong and proud. Are the petal delicate, indicating a softer, gentler medicine for a more delicate constitution. Or are they tough and hardy, indicating a stronger, faster acting medicine for a more hardy constitution?
TEXTURE
The texture of a plant can tell us a lot too. A tough, spiky plant can suggest an indication for a tough spiky constitution. A delicate plant suggest a soft, delicate medicine for a gentler constitution.
COLOUR
Colour can give us a huge amount of information about the plants healing properties.
PURPLE
Spirit, connection, purpose, soul, meditation, nervous system, pineal.
INDIGO
Insight, mood balance, sleep, thought, intuition, reflection, pituitary.
BLUE
Truth, authenticity, choice, voice, hearing, speaking, throat, thyroid.
PINK
Love, compassion, expansion, service, breath, heart, calm, serenity.
YELLOW
Joy, optimism, balance, energy, liver, stomach, small intestine.
ORANGE
Flow, creativity, emotions, relationships, reproduction.
RED
Safety, survival, passion, grounding, fear, anger, fire, root, adrenals.
WATTLE FLOWER ESSENCE RECIPE
ownWith the abundance of wattle during Djilba season, it is the perfect time to make a flower essence to help shake off the ‘down and in’ energy of Makuru.
When you look at the wattle flower, you will notice that it looks like a golden orb of joy, and that is exactly it’s medicine! To bring joy and uplift the spirits, to shift out of stagnation and to open oneself up to a bright future.
MATERIALS
Glass bowl
Filtered water
Scissors/flower snips
Sunlight/moonlight (in this case we are using sunlight)
Intention
Flower of choice (in this case we are using wattle)
Preservative of choice: Apple cider vinegar/glycerine/brandy
DIRECTIONS
CHOOSING A FLOWER
When choosing a flower, it is best to choose one that is in full bloom in the environment that you are in, rather than pre-cut flowers from the florist. Look for a flower that is really attracting your attention and igniting your curiosity, this is always the flower to go with first.GATHER YOUR MATERIALS
Collect your bowl, water and flower snips and go out to the flower,ASK PERMISSION
Sit with the flower and ask its permission to harvest the bloom for this medicine. This is a moment of making a heart to heart connection with this flower. When the flower gives permission they are opening the gateway to all of its healing to be translated into your medicine. By dropping into your own meditative practice you may sense the yes as a change in the direction of the wind, a bee landing on the flower or simply a sense of knowing you have permission.HARVEST FLOWERS INTO YOUR BOWL OF WATER You can choose 1 flower, a flower head, or several flowers.
PLACE FLOWER ESSENCE UNDER THE SUNLIGHT
There is a special kind alchemy that happens between the sun, the flower and the water. Leave under the sunlight for 3-6 hours. Making flower essences is intuitive medicine, so sometimes you may feel called to place your bloom under the moonlight to soak up the magic of la luna.CREATE A MOTHER ESSENCE
Using a cheesecloth or coffee filter to catch any particulates, drain the infused water from the bloom into a jar or bottle. Preserve by placing 50/50 water and preservative (apple cider vinegar/glycerine/brandy). If preserving with apple cider vinegar or glycerine, the essence will last several months in the fridge. If preserving with brandy, the essence can last indefinitely directly from the bottle.CREATE A STOCK ESSENCE
Fill a 30ml dropper bottle with 2/3 water and 1/3 preservative (apple cider vinegar, glycerine, brandy) and add 2-7 drops of mother essence. The philosophy behind this method of dosing is similar to homeopathics, in which by diluting the essence one step further, you are making the essence slightly smaller, thereby making it more readily available for our emotional and spiritual bodies. Dosing is intuitive, but typically is either 4 drops 4 x daily or 7 drops 2 x daily under the tongue.
IMPORTANT NOTES
Always know what flower you are collecting, some are toxic so correct identification is important! Always triple check to ensure you are collecting a safe plant.
Picking native wildflowers is illegal in WA, opt for flowers that are growing in your garden or the gardens of friends and family.