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In flower essences we are dealing with geometric forms which are the precursors for the formation of matter. These codes are absorbed by the etheric body and translated into stimulating vibrational frequencies. —Dr. Marcel Vogel[1]
Health is our heritage, our right. It is the complete and full union between soul, mind and body.—Dr. Edward Bach[2]
Dr. Edward Bach
 Dr. Edward Bach was a remarkable man. After qualifying as a doctor in 1912, he said, as he received his diploma, "It will take me five years to forget all I have been taught." In fact it took longer than that. It was eighteen years before he smashed the glassware in his laboratory and abandoned his career as a successful mainstream physician, leaving London in search of the cures for illness he believed would be found in Nature.
Before he left the mainstream world, Bach was not only a general practitioner, but also a bacteriologist and pathologist working on vaccines. He became fascinated by the connection between a person's colon flora and their health, and discovered that a vaccine made from a patient's intestinal bacteria and injected into the bloodstream gave excellent results, especially in chronic diseases. When Bach discovered homeopathy and the work of Dr. Hahnemann, he modified his method and developed homeopathic preparations known as "nosodes" (remedies made from pathological tissue). He classified these nosodes into seven categories which are known today as Bach's Seven Nosodes.
Early on in his practice, Bach noticed that a patient's personality and temperament played an important part for him in deciding what medicine would be most effective to help in healing. Soon he noticed that there seemed to be seven major personality types which seemed to correlate with the seven categories of nosodes he had developed. With a great deal of success, he began prescribing totally on the basis of personality type rather than biological testing, and thus confirmed his belief that it was more important to treat the person's individual nature than the disease.
Although Bach had great respect for Dr. Hahnemann and his work, he disagreed with the premise of homeopathy that like cures like. ''It is obviously fundamentally wrong to say that 'like cures like''' Bach commented. ''... Like may strengthen like, like may repel like, but, in the true healing sense like cannot cure like. ... [A]nd so in true healing, and so in spiritual advancement, we must always seek good to drive out evil, love to conquer hate, and light to dispel darkness. Thus must we avoid all poisons, all harmful things, and use only the beneficent and beautiful.''[3]
Just as he had abandoned his practice in London, he now abandoned the scientific methods he had used until then. He was inspired by his work with homeopathy, but he wanted to find remedies that would be purer and less reliant on the products of disease. He left London and went in search of a system that he was sure could be found in Nature.
 The first two plants he used in his practice were impatiens and mimulus. The third was clematis. Bach was very particular in his selection of flowers. Because of his sensitive nature he could feel the vibration of the plant and where it was grown, and thus sought only those of the highest vibratory pattern. Thirty-nine of the essences he eventually developed are from plants, trees, and bushes. One remedy, Rock Water, is from a special spring. The 39th, known as Rescue Remedy, is a combination of several remedies and probably the most well known today.
Bach's research and his life followed the seasons. In the spring and summer, he looked for and prepared the remedies. Winter was spent treating those that would come to him for assistance. As he focused on the personalities and feelings of his patients, their physical maladies would be relieved as their bodies' natural healing potential was unblocked and allowed to work freely.
The discovery of the 38 remedies took five years. During this period, he continually suffered the symptoms and mental agonies that his patients were going through. In finding his last 19 remedies, for example, he was known to have endured the 19 mental states for which he needed them. Only when he found the right plant was his suffering alleviated.
In the early days Dr. Bach worked in several hospitals and was well aware of their negative affect on the human spirit. He dreamed of a different kind of hospital where people would go freely to find themselves and learn the lessons that life was teaching them. He dreamed of doctors who would treat their patients as individuals, studying their nature rather than the results of tests. He imagined patients taking charge of their own health, accepting the needs of the Spirit rather than dealing with the physical body alone.
Dr. Bach passed away peacefully in 1936 at the age of 50. He knew that the 38 essences he had discovered would cover every possible area of need and had declared the system complete. He had found all the remedies he needed: 38 individual preparations which could be blended into nearly 293 million combinations – yet so simple to make that anyone could do it!
How to Make the Mother Tincture
 The natural substances used to make Bach essences are initially extracted either by boiling or by leaving them in the sun. Most of the more delicate flowers are tinctured using the sun method, where the petals are floated in pure water for a number of hours. Woody plants, or flowers which bloom when the sun is weak, are prepared by boiling them for half an hour.
In both cases, full strength, 80-proof brandy is then used as a preservative, mixed 50/50 with the prepared tincture. Finally, drops from this preserved Mother Tincture are further diluted in brandy to make the stock bottles that can be purchase in stores today.
It's a simple process and does not require special preparation or special abilities. All that is needed is sunshine, water, brandy, bottles — and the right plant on the right day. Dr. Bach had the gift of healing by laying on hands, but he understood that this gift was not universal. He felt that the remedies, and the simple methods of working with them, would place the same power of healing in the hands of all. Thus, he did not patent his recipes. They can be had by reading his book The Twelve Healers.
How Are Remedies Chosen?
By being aware of one's own mental, emotional, or spiritual state, one can select the remedy that may be useful for onesself. In his book The Seven Healers, Bach suggests looking for the positive, uplifting aspects, or the opposite of the person's current state of being. For instance, if a person is discouraged, this might indicate a need for Gentian, which restores hope.
Remedies are available in most health food stores and can sometimes be found in local grocery stores, as well. They may also be purchased online at nelsonbach.com.
The Seven Healers
Dr. Bach placed the flower essences into seven main categories
- Fear
- Aspen – Vague, unexplainable fears/anxieties
- Cherry Plum – Fear of reason giving way, mind being over-strained
- Mimulus – Fear of known things, everyday fears the person bears quietly
- Red Chestnut – Fearful/worrying about others
- Rock Rose – Emergency remedy for fear, terror, panic
- Over-concern for the welfare of others
- Beech – Over critical of others and of surroundings
- Chicory – Over-caring or controlling of others
- Rock Water – Strict lifestyle due to high ideals
- Vervain – Strong opinions, and wanting to impress these on others
- Vine – Strong-willed leaders
- Loneliness
- Heather – Don't like being alone
- Impatiens – Prefer to work alone. Quick in thought and action
- Water Violet – Independent, self-reliant, prefer to be alone. Also for grief
- Not sufficient interest in present circumstances
- Chestnut Bud – For those who take a long time to learn from experience
- Clematis – Dreamy quiet people, dreaming of a happier future
- Honeysuckle – Nostalgia, homesick or dreaming fondly of the past
- Mustard – 'Dark clouds' of gloom or despair
- Olive – Sapped vitality, no strength to go on
- White Chestnut – Persistent thoughts or worries circling in the mind
- Wild Rose – Loss of enthusiasm for life, resignation
- Oversensitive to ideas or influences
- Agrimony – Want to keep peace at any price, easily disturbed by quarrels
- Centaury – Difficulty saying No to others. May neglect their own life purpose
- Holly – Anger and vexations of the heart
- Walnut – Protection from all outside influences in daily life and transitions
- Uncertainty
- Cerato – Lack of self-confidence in making decisions, always asking advice
- Gentian – Easily discouraged
- Gorse – Great hopelessness
- Hornbeam – Feeling of insufficient strength to meet the demands of life
- Scleranthus – Unable to decide between two things
- Wild Oat – Deciding on a life path, when many choices look exciting
- Despondency or despair
- Crab Apple – Feeling dirty, shameful, contaminated
- Elm – Overwhelmed
- Larch – Capable people who lack self-confidence
- Oak – Strength to go on without loss of hope or effort
- Pine – Apologetic, unable to accept compliments, self-blaming
- Sweet Chestnut – When one feels they have reached the limits of endurance
- Star of Bethlehem – Comfort in times of great distress
- Willow – Resentment, feeling life has been unfair
Rescue Remedy
Composed of five essences formulated for use in acute or emergency situations, Rescue Remedy is used to assist in calming, clearing, and restoring harmony.
Footnotes
- Earth, p.2
- Collected Writings, p.91
- Collected Writings, p.113
- See Collected Writings for more information
Recommended reading on Bach's and other flower essences:
Bach Flower Essences
- Collected Writings of Edward Bach, edited by Julian Barnard, 1987. Excellent reading. Philosophy and practical information on the remedies
- The Healing Herbs of Edward Bach: An Illustrated Guide to the Flower Remedies, Julian and Martine Barnard, 1988. A beautiful and informative book. One of my favorites
- Patterns of Life Force: A Review of the life and work of Dr Edward Bach and his discovery of the Bach Flower Remedies, Julian Barnard, 1987.
- The Medical Discoveries of Edward Bach, Physician, Nora Weeks, 1973, Keats Publishing. The book about Bach's life and work
- Bach Flower Therapy: Theory and Practice, Mechthild Scheffer, 1986, Thorsons Publishing Group Limited. Great book for information on choosing remedies
- The Bach Flower Remedies: Illustrations and Preparations, Nora Weeks and Victor Bullen, 1990, The Dr Edward Bach Centre
Other Flower Essence Books
- Seven Herbs: Plants as Teachers, Matthew Wood, 1986, North Atlantic Books. Highly recommended
- Flower Essence Repertory, published by The Flower Essence Society. A flower-essences materia medica, so to speak. Very well done
- Flower Essences: Reordering Our Understanding and Approach to Illness and Health, Machaelle Small Wright, 1988, Perelandra, Ltd
- Vibrational Medicine: New Choices for Healing Ourselves, Richard Gerber, MD, 1988, Bear and Company
What Are These Things
Called Flower Essences?
a book excerpt from
Reordering Our Understanding and
Approach to Illness and Health
by Machaelle Small Wright
I have learned from the nature intelligences I work with that specific healing and balancing patterns that are vital to humans have been incorporated into the makeup of plant life. These patterns are usually found in the flower petals of the plant. When the petals are placed in water and allowed to sit in the sun for a period of about three hours, that specific healing and balancing pattern is released into the water in a highly condensed form. The water is now what can be called a ''tincture.'' The tincture is diluted, preserved — usually in brandy — and is then ready to be taken orally a few drops at a time whenever needed.
How does this link in with the human body? We humans borrow from the three kingdoms in nature what is needed for an appropriate physical form. It stands to reason. Everything that is of form on Earth is derived from nature. We draw from the animal kingdom for our physical form and from the mineral kingdom for the building and stabilizing process in our cells. And for our central nervous system, we draw from the plant kingdom. Because of their close relationship, the central nervous system responds easily and favorably to input from the plant kingdom. Hence the wisdom of making healing and balancing patterns available to us through plants. It's like a direct telephone linkup. From one direction you have the direct link with healing and balancing patterns as a result of the plant/central nervous system relationship. And from the other direction, because the disorder and dysfunction we experience first impact our bodies within the central nervous system, you have the early warning system. The two — the easy accessibility to the healing patterns held within plants and the early warning when the body dysfunctions — meet right at the central nervous system.
One result of disorder and dysfunction is that the corresponding electrical circuitry along the spinal column breaks, short-circuits. If nothing is done to rectify the situation, the related network of nerves receives weakened electrical impulses rather than the usual strong impulses. These weakened impulses travel through the nerves to their related areas of the body, especially the endocrine system. Immediately, there is physical weakness in that area which, if not addressed, results in illness or disease.
Another result causes what can best be described as ''system overload.'' Disorder and dysfunction impact the central nervous system along the spinal column, causing the electrical circuitry to unbalance in such a way that the normal flow of electrical impulses dramatically increases. If the overload is not addressed, the body will physically respond with symptoms such as hyperactivity and twitching.
Because of the unique relationship between the plant kingdom and the central nervous system, flower essences, in a most efficient and dramatic manner, are able to reconnect the broken circuitry and rebalance the electrical overload along the spine. This, in turn, stops the weakening domino effect that ultimately leads to illness. If a person is too late in using the essences, and illness has already set in, the essences still reconnect and balance the circuitry and hold that balance while the body heals.
Reprinted with permission from the book Flower Essences: Reordering Our Understanding and Approach to Illness and Health by Machaelle Small Wright. ©1988 Machaelle Small Wright. All Rights Reserved. Machaelle Small Wright's website is at perelandra-ltd.com.
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