Choosing the flower remedies is an art in itself. While there is, in my experience, no substitute for knowing each one thoroughly, I have noted something interesting. If you take a couple of drops direct from the stock bottle, the more you need the remedy, the stronger the taste will be. It is possible to take the same remedy at various times, and sometimes not taste anything, while at other times, your tongue will tingle as strongly as putting a nine volt battery on it. (Though, certainly not as unpleasant.)
This, of course, flies in the fact of mixing them up first, and you are ingesting pure brandy. I have noticed the same effects if they are mixed into water, however, it is very subtle. It seems that it infusion into the alcohol seems to give it some additional quality.
Other methods.
Some people use methods such as divining by a pendulum or kinesiology (muscle testing) to choose the right remedy for people. As someone who had had this done to for over a year, I can tell you it's not a very effective, or accurate method. With kinesiology, it is said that your body doesn't lie, though I have to say, in my experience, this isn't the truth.
As a side note, some practitioners let you choose the remedies and use this as a guide to what your problems might be. However, they tend to concentrate to the negative aspect of the remedy. If what they tell you doesn't feel right, then it most likely isn't!
Dr. Edward Bach's story has been told many times, so I'll just give a brief synopsis. He was an English doctor (M.B., B.S., M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., D.P.H.) who became disillusioned with traditional medicines, so he left his lucrative practice to find another way of healing. During the 1930's he discovered that the dew drops of certain plants had an effect on certain emotions.
He believed that all dis-ease began in the mind, and by healing the emotion that caused the dis-ease, you would also heal the illness itself by removing the cause.
From all accounts, he certainly was a remarkable, humble man, who would have endured much suffering in order to find all the remedies. This would have meant going through all the state of minds in order to find the cure.
"Treat the patient, not the dis-ease." - Dr. Edward Bach. Back to top
How are they made?
There are two methods.
The Sun Method. This method involves put the flowers into a bowl of spring or well water, and putting it in the sun during a good sunny day.
The boiling method. Simply put, the flowers are boiled in a saucepan.
Of course, there are specific procedures for each remedy, but those are the two ways of doing it. It should also be noted that conditions have to be exactly right in order to obtain the proper result. The time of year, the plant in question, the weather, etc, all should be perfect.
Anyone who makes them in their backyard without first studying how should be considered as suspect. (Of course, they might be working on guidance, but there are many who do not seem to be!)
For those who want more information, the book The Bach Flower Remedies - Illustrations and Preparations by Nora Weeks and Victor Bullen contains full details on making the remedies. Back to top
How do they heal?
There is a link between your state of mind and your illnesses. For instance, it is said that fear affects your kidneys and anger affects your liver. Dr. Bach believed that all illnesses began with the mind and that by removing the state of mind that was causing the problem, the illness would go.
I feel that in my own experience, this would mainly apply to illnesses developed during your lifetime, and not conditions that you were born with, though there is no doubt that the remedies will help.
For me, the most important thing isn't whether I am healed or not, but rather how at peace I am feeling. Emotional angst and trauma is always far worse for me than any physical pain. Back to top How do they work?
I've read various ideas on how these remedies work, but none of the explanations really satisfied.
This is how I believe they work.
Everything is vibration.
Everything is vibration, and that includes things such as your emotions, feelings, etc. Hence, guilt would have its own vibrational frequency which connects you to your higher self. Your higher self is like a radio transmitter, sending information to you all the time, but if the receiver (you) gets off frequency, or something interferes with that signal, you no longer are getting the instructions from your higher self clearly, or maybe not at all. The can be caused by shock, trauma, or any number of things that are part of daily life.
Each remedy is the exact frequency as that of your emotions. So taking pine, in regards to guilt, would be ingesting the exact vibration needed to restore the connection and get the signals clearly from your higher self.
Blowing a fuse.
Another way of looking at it is like your connections to your higher self is like a fuse box with thirty eight fuses. If all fuses are working, all the connections are working. But if a fuse blows, then the messages you should be getting for that emotion is interrupted. The specific remedy replaces the fuse. It is possible that more than one fuse might be blown.
This also explains why taking the remedies to prevent feeling a certain way does not work, as replacing a working fuse with a working fuse does not cause it to work any better. Back to top
Why don't they work for some people?
When taking the remedies, it's worth noting that one should have either a neutral or a positive attitude towards them. A deliberate negative attitude will block the effects, as with anything, even orthodox medicine. We get what we ask for, and when one is being deliberately negative, you are asking not to be healed. Back to top
I've got a friend who could use them, but they don't want to. What can I do?
Many people aren't ready to let go of their states of mind, dramas, illnesses, whatever. They feel they will be giving up something, and in many cases they are right. For instance, many people come down with a cold because they need a break from something, such as their job. But they are way too busy to take one, however, if they were to get sick, who could blame them for having to take time off, least of all themselves.
More than not, we are caught in an illusion that we need certain things for us to maintain our lifestyle, and we rarely give ourselves the space to step back and look at things from an outside perspective.
I'm a great believer of this world being just an illusion we use to experience who we are as put forth by the Conversations with God series. I also believe that very often we lose control of what we are doing, and forget the illusion we live in, making it a reality we are trapped in. When you are at that stage, it can be very hard to step outside and look at things. Also it can be very easy to fall back into patterns as soon as stress starts up again.
From self observation, I noted that there are times (even now) where I will fall into a poor me or victim drama, in spite of knowing better. Taking the remedies helps bring me back out of it, but it's very easy to fall into. There are even times when I want to be indignant, angry or self righteous about things.
I've got a few friends who would definitely benefit from taking the remedies, but I can't even get them to talk about it.
The fact is, most enjoy their dramas, and are reluctant to let go of them.
It's a conscious choice. Once you've chosen another way, then the tools will appear to make this a reality.
The decision must be made by the individual to heal. You can even cure someone, but unless you've actually 'plugged up the holes' they will eventually sicken once more.
I don't believe that are any wrong choices, just things that don't suit your purposes.
What if I try to slip them into their drink?
You can do that. Many practitioners even suggest it. My point of view on this is that nothing can happen to you without your consent on some level. Also, as I said, the healing would only be of a temporary nature if the person doesn't wish to be healed. The best guide you have is your feelings. If it doesn't feel right, don't do it. Back to top
What negative effects can occur?
I think the answer is very dependant on what state of mind comes out when taking a remedy.
For instance, supposing you are taking Star of Bethlehem to deal with trauma, and that gives way to exhaustion, then unless you have access to Olive, you will suddenly feel very tired. Then you take Olive and that gives way to feelings of guilt, then unless you have access to Pine, it can be very tormenting.
The problem for many is the lack of access to all remedies due to money, logistics or circumstances. In such as case, reducing the amount taken can help you deal with the results.
Rescue Cream can sometimes produce a rash. This is due to the body flushing out toxins.
Remember, you can't having something manifest itself unless it's already there. Back to top
Things to watch out for
Random' thoughts.
When you take a remedy, it's worth noting what thoughts come to mind. Take Star of Bethlehem (for shock and trauma) for instance. If you take it, you might find an unrelated thought suddenly pop into your mind. Very often, this is the key to what is causing your problem, so take note and let it pass through its healing stages.
Holding the thought.
It's a good idea to hold the event that is causing you problem in your mind when taking the remedy. I find this has the effect of clearing the emotional impact much faster.
There are more and more remedies being discovered all the time. Two of note being the California Remedies and the Australian Bush Flower ones.
I've tried the California ones, and have felt little or no effect. That's not to say they don't work, just that they didn't work for me.
The Australian Bush Flower ones I've heard positive feed back on, though, I've not tried them and feel no pull to do so.
Update: I finally tried a bottle of Australian Bush Essences. I complete the bottle and found no effect on the desired condition. Whether it was too many remedies mixed in or whether they just don't do what they are said to do, they simply didn't work for me.
I'm not really sure why people are working to discover more and more remedies. The Bach Flower kit is complete. It covers every known state of mind. The plants, trees, etc, used to create them were specifically chosen for their non toxicity. I'm far from convinced that these new remedies are needed or useful, or even what they say they are. I feel they might even hurt an already proven, safe system.
Dr. Edward Bach wrote this before he died.
Attempted distortion is a far greater weapon than attempted destruction... mankind must always have a choice. As soon as a teacher has given his work to the world, a contorted version of the same must arise - the contortion must be raised for people to be able to choose between the gold and the dross.
The same goes for many other things in our daily life. Things such as love, truth, peace, happiness, selflessness are being distorted. Being made to look sappy and weak. There is no greater weapon of destruction than distortion. Back to top
Are they a placebo?
If they were a placebo, then any remedy would work. But sometimes they don't until you hit the right one. Also, they have proven results on animals, plants and children.
That's not to say that the simple power of suggestion wouldn't have any effect. There are some people who are of the belief that they can receive the effects of a remedy simply by placing the appropriate one in front of a monitor and allowing it to transmit over the internet. I've not researched this myself, but my feelings tell me it's probably more power of suggestion that they can take them that way more than anything else.
Another clear indication that they work well is that the Rescue Cream heals burns better than anything I've seen. That cannot be just due to the power of suggestion. Back to top
Why can't you take more than several at the same time?
Once again, I contemplated this question, and the answer I got was that the more vibrations you add, the more muddied they become and the weaker the effect. It's like a note of music. By itself its clear and distinct, but the more you add, the more discord you get, until in the end, you can no longer distinguish the notes that make it up. Or another way is having using colours as an example. A single colour is clearly identifiable, but the more colours you add, the more muddied it becomes, until there it is hard to distinguish the right colours.
From experience, I'm starting to suspect that some vibrations seem to work better when taken by themselves, rather than being added to the mix. Back to top Breaking the seven remedy limit.
The traditional way of taking the remedies is to mix several into a bottle and take them several times daily, which is a tried and true method.
I've noted that, however, if you mix the remedies up separately, and take them about a minute apart, the effects are far more potent and quicker. This was also noted by a lady who noted that if she mixed Star of Bethlehem (for shock and trauma) together with walnut (for change), she felt little effect. But when she took them separately, the effects were immediate and pronounced.
The same is true for Rescue Remedy. Star of Bethlehem is a component of this mixture, but the effects will hardly be as potent or pronounced as when you take SoB by itself.
I have taken up to around 16 remedies one after the other. Each one of them produced the desired effect.
Attuning to the remedies produces faster results. It does appear that after a while, you become attuned to them so instead of taking days or weeks for healing to occur, the results happen within minutes and generally from one or two doses. Back to top
