Essence Descriptions

ANGELICAAngelica archangelica (white)

Healing qualities:  consciously connected to the world of spirit: the devic realm; acknowledging the help of the angelic

Angelica flower essence keeps us in conscious connection with the angelic assistance, which is always available to us.

We have only to ask and be willing to receive the help of angels, and it is there for us.  Yet for the most part, we do not

even think to ask.  Angelica helps us to remember and to receive that help.

BASILOcimum basilicum (white)

Healing qualities: sweet innocence and surrender; balanced second chakra; ability to appropriately draw on sexual and

creative energy

Basil flower essence reflects the sweetness of the herb.  Everyone likes the taste of basil – including the bugs!  The flower

essence works strongly on the second chakra: receptivity, sexuality and creativity.  When in balance, our creativity and

sexuality are the ultimate expression of a connection through all levels: spirit; mind; heart and body.  Out of balance, it

can be repressed or it can run wild, with no discernment or connection to other levels of being.  In balance, it is the

sweetest possible union – like the herb, it is spirit made manifest.

BINDWEEDConvolvulus (white)

Healing qualities: releasing addictive behavior; and/or sticking to work that needs to be done

Bindweed, also called morning glory, is persistent!  The Bindweed flower essence is about those patterns that we have

really, really worked to eliminate, and still find choking our lives with outrageous arrogance.  The essence helps us to

stick to the food plan, or to stick it out through the shakes, or the nicotine fits.  It allows to really get to the root of the

matter and to heal that which is choking our lives.

BLACKBERRYRubus ursinus (white-pink)

Healing qualities: Active, grounded, manifesting our dreams

Blackberry flower essence is especially helpful for those who cannot seem to act to create their dreams.  It provides a

quality of robust manifestation of potential.  It is vibrant with yang energy.  This energy is very grounded and productive.

BORAGEBorago officinalis (blue)

Healing qualities: Serene heart focus; able to experience a full range of emotions and remain balanced

Borage flower essence carries the quality of courage.  It strengthens the heart chakra, and allows us to experience the

full range of our feelings and still stay clear within our being.  The flower is a tiny blue star that makes one smile to see

its presence.

BURDOCKArctium pubens (purple)

Healing qualities: deeply grounding; connected to earth; healing that which is deeply ingrained in our bodies

Burdock flower essence has the quality of the plant, which has very deep roots.  If you have burdock in your meadow or

pasture, it will be very difficult to “root out.”  You may dig and dig and dig and still not get it all.  Thus the essence is very

deeply grounding.  It also helps the being to soften any quality that has taken root so deeply it seems the roots go down

forever – addictions, for example.

BUTTERCUPRanunculus occidentalis (yellow)

Healing qualities: Modesty; shining workaday plainness

Buttercup flower essence helps us to reach that place of balance between an over-inflated ego and self-doubt.  It reminds

us that there are angels everywhere, in every walk of life.  One does not have to be extraordinary to radiate the divine

that resides in every one of us. 

CALENDULA  Calendula officinalis (orange)

Healing qualities: Integrated; intricate and deep; vibrant; many-faceted; warm

Calendula flower essence brings a centered wholeness out of many pieces.  The complexity and individuality of the parts

are retained, yet there is a deeper mystery involved in the integration of minutiae.  In oneness there is a presence and

solidity that is, in itself, healing.  The flower’s warm color adds its vitality to the total expression.  Calendula is an edible

flower, and herbally is therapeutic for the skin. 

CHAMOMILEAnthemis cotula (white/yellow center)

Healing qualities: Calm; serenity in any situation

Chamomile flower essence embodies the sweet serenity of a sunny summer’s day.  The flower itself exudes a wonderful

apple fragrance from its dainty white petals.  This quality allows us to stay calm in any circumstances; to relax and allow

the flow of the Universe to carry us through whatever we need to accomplish.  Thus it becomes possible to do without

doing.  This is serenity!

CHICKWEEDStellaria species (white)

Healing qualities: sustenance; rich nourishment

The name of this herb reflects the fact that chickens love it!  It is a very nourishing weed, rich in vitamins and minerals.  It

grows where the soil is rich.  The essence brings in that richness of spirit and nourishment.  It provides the sustenance we

need on an emotional and spiritual level to continue our journey in life.  Whenever you feel depleted, you can rely on

the Chickweed flower essence.

CLEMATIS  Clematis (white)

Healing qualities: grounded and disciplined  imagination; creativity

Clematis flower essence is one the five flowers in the Bach Rescue Remedy.  It is for the absent-minded professor types,

the ones lost in fantasy and daydreams.  Clematis will assist these people in being productive with the creations of their

inner lives.

COAST REDWOOD     Sequoia Sempervirens

Healing qualities: Strength; longevity; meditation

Sequoia tree essence brings strength and longevity. It is the tallest tree in the world, reaching up to 112 m in height, and

7 meters in diameter at the base. The oldest known Coast Redwood is about 2200 years old; many others in the wild

exceed 600 years of age.  The native habitat of these trees is along the coast of northern California, where they grow in

groves and live long and silent lives.  Walking through a grove of mature trees is a meditation in itself. 

COMFREYSymphytum officinalis (purple)

Healing qualities: hardy, robust, sturdy and tenacious wholeness; in touch with the totality of the soul

Comfrey flower essence binds up the wounds of the soul.  It heals wounds from trauma and shock in this lifetime and also

from past lives.  It is very helpful at times of physical trauma to assist on the etheric level of healing the physical wound.

As an herb, comfrey is extremely beneficial in healing any wound or even broken bones because of the substance it

contains: allantoin.  Where it grows, it is tenacious and pervasive, with deep tough roots.  As an essence, therefore, it

goes deep, and “hangs in there” through almost anything.  This is one of the master essences.

COSMOSCosmos bipinnatus (purple)

Healing qualities: Communication from the heart; an easy flow

Cosmos flower essence connects the heart and throat chakras, allowing an easy flow of expression.  It is an excellent

remedy for any artist or writer.  It also aligns the etheric, mental and spiritual bodies, bringing creative freedom.  It

allows one to speak the truth.

CROCUSCrocus tomasinianus (purple)

Healing qualities: renewal and rebirth; hope

Crocus flower essence supports us in the vision and reality of new life out of that which has died.  The crocus, first flower

of spring, often comes even before the snow has melted.  It gives us hope for the future and the willingness and ability to

go on.  It also teaches us how to release and grieve in a healing way – without gripping or staying stuck.

DAFFODIL   Narcissus ajax (white/yellow)

Healing qualities: Connection to spiritual guidance; strong mind/soul link

Daffodil flower essence links us to the world of spirit in a conscious, knowing way.  The lack of this connection is one of

the main causes of discontent in our modern world.  Technology is no substitute.  Daffodil is an excellent tool for anyone

beginning a meditation practice.

DANDELIONTaraxacum officinale (yellow)

Healing qualities: relaxed, flowing ease; purity

Dandelion flower essence is cleansing.  Where there are deep emotional and/or physical toxins present, the liver is

stagnant and cannot adequately fulfill its function of cleansing the blood.  The liver holds old, unresolved anger.  With

this condition in the body, the physical being cannot relax, but maintains an unhealthy tension always.  Dandelion flower

essence helps the emotional and physical cleansing process, allowing the body to let go – emotionally and physically.

This is necessary before healing can take place.

ECHINACEAEchinacea angustifolia (pink/purple)

Healing qualities: healing; balance; purity; flow; integrity

Echinacea flower essence affects all the levels of being and all the chakras.  Herbally, Native Americans used echinacea

to treat burns, snakebites and bites of poisonous insects.  They also used the juice of the plant in the water sprinkled on

hot rocks during traditional purifying “sweat lodges.”  Echinacea is still considered by modern herbalists to be an

excellent immune stimulant and antibiotic.  As a flower essence, echinacea’s healing and supportive energy acts more

on the mental and emotional levels, assisting in the process of releasing old poisons and stagnation while bringing

greater emotional balance.  It acts particularly well in healing old, unresolved anger.

EVENING PRIMROSEOenothera hookeri (yellow)

Healing qualities: nurturing; able to give and receive tenderness

Evening Primrose flower essence reflects the quality of the herb: every part of the plant is edible and nourishing.  The

plant is tall and phallic, with bell-like yellow flowers. The essence helps reconnect us with the wise, receptive, feminine

aspect within each of us, and to maintain a balance between the active (masculine) and the receptive (feminine)

principles that are indelibly a part of every one of us.

Herbally speaking, the oil is very healing, providing essential fatty acids that assist the human body to stay balanced in

the glandular system.  Evening Primrose oil is especially important in rebalancing women with Premenstrual Syndrome.

When balanced, PMS becomes simply truth telling.

FEVERFEWMatricaria parthenium (white/yellow)

Healing qualities: relaxed, calm serenity

Feverfew flower essence allows one who is emotionally contracted and immobile through lack of trust to relax enough to

release the old hurts which have become crippling by being held.  Emotionally, this person is in the fetal position.

Herbally, feverfew has proven useful against the pain of migraines and arthritis.  Some researchers believe it affects the

prostaglandins, thus averting inflammation which leads to muscle spasms.  As an essence, it acts on both the physical

and emotional levels to relax the body and emotional field enough to allow a detoxification process.

FORGET-ME-NOTMyosotis sylvatica (blue)

Healing qualities: Clear memory; remembrance of those gone

Forget-me-not flower essence reminds us that spirit is always within us.  The flower is ever present in the spring: if you

have some in your garden you know that it reseeds itself readily and widely.  So too, the unseen world of spirit abounds

with life – angels, nature spirits, guides and teachers.  Especially in this time of change for the Earth, it is an advantage to

remember the unseen help that is available to us.  Forget-me-not also helps with memory of the most mundane sort.

Partly this is focus; partly it is intention – the same qualities that allow us useful connection with the realm of spirit.

Remember!

FREESIAFreesia corymbosa  (white)

Healing qualities: radiant joy; abundant sweetness

Freesia has small trumpeting flowers, often in yellow or white, sometimes in red.  There are many flowers blooming

serially upward along one side of a slender stem.  The fragrance is intense.  The flower essence brings out the qualities

of radiant joy – joy and sweetness that are vibrant even though  the herald is petite.  Joy is the result of reaching upward

toward Spirit.  Knowing that life is ephemeral, we have the choice to reach up and sing of the joy and sweetness of life.

FUCHSIAFuchsia hybrida (pink/purple)

Healing qualities: deep emotional balance; ability to express emotion

Fuchsia flower essence allows the heart to open in trust, knowing that emotions are simply energy in motion.  Flowing

freely and easily, our deep feelings cannot hurt us or others.  Only in being stifled and pushed down do they build up the

force which can overwhelm and even drown us.  Fuchsia allows those who have kept a dam in place to gently release

the built up power so that the current can bring useful energy into action.

GARLICAllium sativum (purple)

Healing qualities: Intense vitality; self-confidence

Garlic flower essence brings boldness, born of clarity about the eternal question “Who am I?”  By clearing energetically,

garlic flower essence allows a confidence to shine through.  It brings vitality, clears murkiness in the aura and this allows

the auric field to become bright with color.

HOPS (male flower)Humulus lupulus (yellowish green)

Healing qualities: Rapid growth; elasticity; capacity to receive the fullness of life

Hops flower essence expresses the quality of the plant, which grows rapidly in a unique manner: expanding and\

contracting as it grows.  It dispels any rigidity on all the levels: physical, emotional, mental or spiritual, and restores

flexibility and the potential for rapid growth.  The essence is useful for those with arteriosclerosis.

HOPS (female flower)Humulus lupulus (yellowish green)

Healing qualities: receptivity; nurturing; sharing; deep and balanced femininity

The female flower of Hops contains a substance very like the female hormone estrogen.  The flower essence, therefore,

can ease women through menopause by allowing them to remain etherically connected with the hormone their bodies

are no longer producing.  It can also help to balance men who are deeply alienated from their feminine aspects of

nurturing and receptivity, allowing them to experience gentleness within themselves and to thus express it outwardly as

nurturing.

IRISIris Sibirica (blue and yellow)

Healing qualities: Spirit connected to all the other levels; creativity in bloom; a rainbow of spirit

Iris flower essence helps us to our true nature: the rainbow bridge between spirit and matter.  The iris often has her feet

in water or damp earth.  She reaches to the sky and to spirit, in elegant and sumptuous rainbow colors.  The iris is a

grand statement that spring has truly arrived.   It lifts our hearts and raises our spirits.  This is the healing note of its

flower essence.  For those who have forgotten their creative side, iris will help it to bloom again.  For one who has

become cynical, iris brings spirit and soul to life again; like a spring flowing in the desert, it waters the parched places of

our beings.

LAVENDERLavendula officinalis (violet)

Healing qualities: Sweetness; relaxation; clarity; purity

Lavender flower essence brings to the heart and mind the same quality as the flower’s fragrance brings to our noses.

The smell is sweet, and at the same time bracing and clarifying.  It sweeps away confusion and discord, allowing the

mind to relax.

LILACSyringa vulgaris (lavender)

Healing qualities: a strong central core; flexible framework

Lilac flower essence works on the spinal column, in every way: disease; vertebrae needing adjustments; and serious

misalignments.  It dissolved rigidity and inflexibility.  The spine is the conduit for kundalini energy, and by aligning the

physical spinal column with the etheric body, lilac also opens the chakras and allows the free flow of kundalini energy.

It can be applied externally as well.

MADRONA Arbutus menziesii (white)

Healing qualities: shedding the past; fully present in the moment

The Madrona bark is brick-red and smooth, peeling in thin sheets from the trees as they grow.   Flowers occur in white 

       clusters which become orange-red berries, eaten by birds.  The tree is very striking in appearance, and has a magnetic

presence.  The essence reflects these qualities.  By allowing us to shed the past as we grow, it also facilitates our being

very present in each moment, unrestricted by “baggage.”

MANZANITAArctostaphulos sp. manzanita (pale pink)

Healing qualities: Having gone through the fire, soul is deeply integrated with the body.  Anything that is not true to the

soul is shed.

Manzanita flower essence is a reflection of this unusual plant.  Manzanita is an ancient plant, and its qualities are

reflected in the essence.  Most manzanita bark peels off a layer each year, which helps to shed anything that might have

grown on it. The wood is slow-growing and very dense, which makes it for good firewood because it will burn for a long

time.  Botanists think that manzanitas originated about 15 million years ago and hybridized as the parent plants were

burned up in fires. Some of the newer species will only produce viable seeds after a fire has heated up the plants.

MARIGOLDTagetes patula (orange/brown stripe)

Healing qualities: Clairaudience; clear hearing on the physical level

Marigold flower essence helps the hearing both on the physical and the psychic levels.  It acts by melding the mental and

causal levels of being.  The flower is named after Mary – Mary’s gold – and can be used as a dye.

MULLEINVerbascum thapsus (yellow)

Healing qualities: strength in action; group process

Mullein flower essence strengthens the yang, or masculine energy.  Its signature is its phallic looking flower stalk, which

has many small individual yellow flowers joined on a single stalk.  The yang energy is especially useful for group

projects, giving life or potency in action.

NASTURTIUMTropacolum majus (orange-red)

Healing qualities: Physical vitality

Nasturtium flower essence brings vitality, particularly after illness.  It can assist in the complete recovery of the physical

body and the immune system.

PENSTEMONPenstemon husker red (white)

Healing qualities: Acceptance of life as a school, some of which is very challenging; willingness to participate; excitement in       the encounter

Penstemon flower essence assists anyone who feels overwhelmed by circumstance, usually something outside of the

self.  Like Job, we can learn to face whatever comes with equanimity.

REDWOOD    Sequoia sempervirens

Healing qualities:  strength, long life, beauty, endurance

The redwood is one of the longest lived plants, and one of the largest as well.  It's beauty and grandeur lead us to

connect with Spirit as well as reminding us of the beauty of earth and nature and the connection between earth and the

heavens, between Nature and Spirit.

RED CLOVERTrifolium pretense (red)

Healing qualities: Calm understanding; strength in a crisis

Red Clover flower essence assists those people who panic in a crisis.  It allows for calm and an understanding of what

underlies the situation, and the strength to work toward a resolution.

ROSEMARY   Rosmarinus officinalis (violet-blue)

Healing qualities: Emotional balance and sensitivity

Rosemary flower essence allows the joy within to surface.  Rosemary is a drought tolerant, somewhat bristly plant, with

whorls of needlelike leaves.  Its flowers are tiny blue-lavender bits of ecstasy.  The overall effect is one of balance within

the flow.

SAGESalvia officinalis (violet)

Healing qualities: Spiritual balance integrated with the personality

Sage flower essence works with one’s spiritual being – aligning and integrating it with the more mundane aspects of our

personalities.  This integration brings about the balance needed to be in the world yet not of the world.  Sage flower

essence also assists in the assimilation of nutrients on the physical level.

SAINT JOHN’S WORTHypericum perforatum (yellow)

Healing qualities: visionary abilities

Saint John’s Wort flower essence allows the soul to soar, traveling beyond the lower astral into realms of spirit, and frees

the tangled silver thread so the soul can leave the physical body unencumbered during the dreamtime.

SCOTCH BROOMCystisus scoparius (yellow)

Healing qualities: Clears all types of stagnant, dark and ungrounded energy; sweeps out muddiness and brings clarity

Scotch Broom flower essence brings the quality of a broom, sweeping out all kinds of unpleasant energies.  What

remains is a sweet clarity. 

SELF-HEALPrunella vulgaris (violet)

Healing qualities: Deep awareness of one’s own ability to become whole

Self-heal flower essence allows us to truly know that we each have within ourselves everything we need to become

whole.  Indeed we are already perfection unfolding itself in each moment.  This awareness is essential in any process of

growth and healing on any level.

SKULLCAPDodecatheon media (lavender)

Healing qualities: Relaxed vitality

Skullcap flower essence brings deep relaxation.  Trust is essential to such repose.  The essence is especially helpful for

massage or other hands-on therapy.  Clients can fully allow the process and the gain the greatest possible benefit.

SKUNK CABBAGE    Symplocarpus foetidus (yellow

Healing qualities: Strong and healthy boundaries; respect;  abundant physical vitality

Skunk cabbage in bloom is an unforgettable experience.  It smells something like its namesake!  The plant grows in

swampy areas, and has a very erect and noticeable yellow flower.  The message is much like the energy of the skunk –

notice me, and respect me and my boundaries. 

SNAPDRAGONAntirrhinum majus (yellow-orange)

Healing qualities: Gentleness in communication; clear, serene expression

Snapdragon flower essence assists those who are healing rage and anger, which is often held in the throat chakra. 

Those who habitually repress emotions usually have tightness in the jaw.  Snapdragon is also useful for those who do

express, but in a destructive manner: sarcasm; biting humor; a chronic caustic verbal pattern.  Thus, physically it will

relieve the Temporal Mandibular Joint syndrome.

STINGING NETTLE (male and female flowers)Urtica doica (green)

Healing qualities: Ability to support others simply by being present; ability to connect with and utilize the strength of the

earth

Stinging Nettle flower essence is useful in grounding those who, because of early childhood lack f nurturing and support,

have a weak core self.  It supports the core of such a person in becoming strong, and then, through strength of being, to

support others.  It is also useful for those whose body/soul fusion has been incomplete, or is damaged due to trauma.  As

the nettle plant is nurturing of nearby plants, strengthening their unique healing oils and essences, so the person with a

strong body/soul fusion strengthens the essential beingness of those with whom she has contact.

STINGING NETTLE (male flower)Urtica doica (green)

Healing qualities: Strong and sturdy self-respect and presence

Stinging Nettle flower essence draws on the power of the earth to support and protect the vulnerable.  For one who feels

weak and shrinks from attack, who will not or cannot defend herself, nettle gives the ability to stand up for herself.  It

creates an appropriate circle of personal space for one who has none or too little.  For those who are too aggressive,

nettle brings balance: not reaching out to harm, but strong in beingness.  Herbally it is useful as a nutrient: calcium,

potassium, zinc, vitamin A and all the B vitamins are better assimilated with nettle.  It acts on the spleen and liver

meridians, and is support for a weak immune system response, strengthening and cleansing, a tonic for the kidneys,

lungs and nervous system.

SUNFLOWERHelianthus annuus  (yellow)

Healing qualities:  connection to the divine; spreading one’s talents exuberantly

The sunflower reaches very tall, with a wide spreading and radiating flower.  The essence gives a healthy sense of self

and an awareness of one's highest and best use of talents and time.  The flower follows the sun, connected directly to the

source of light, the Father.  This connection to the divine allows us to know who we truly are and why we are here,

without needing to err either in feeling superior or inferior.  We know that every being has purpose and that when we

find our true purpose, we will shine brightly, like the sun itself.

TANSYTanacetum vulgare (yellow)

Healing qualities: Clear thought; Connections made between disparate ideas

Tansy flower essence brings together diversity on the mental level.  It also produces clarity of mind.  Herbally, Tansy

contains thujone, a volatile oil that adversely affects the central nervous system and can even be fatal in sufficient

dosage. Farm animals who eat it become sickened and/or crazed.   It has been used as a dye and as an insect repellant.

TURKISH HAWKSBEARDCrespin nicineaea (yellow)

Healing qualities:  cooperative, collective activity and productivity

The Turkish Hawksbeard, closely related to the common dandelion, has numerous flowers on branching stems.  So the

qualities of the dandelion essence are become applicable to the collective, cooperative life of any community.  If anger

is held, rather than appropriately expressed and moved through, the community experiences tension and inability to

relax together or to productively work together.  Turkish Hawksbeard will assist a group to release the tension and work

together.  The group may be literally a number of people working or living together, or may be a therapist and client, a

person and spirit beings working with him or her, or even a number of disparate parts of the Self of one person.

VIOLAViola tricolor (yellow/purple/white)

Healing qualities: Sensitivity; adaptability; spirituality manifest in the physical realm

Viola flower essence will help the extremely shy person to come into the world in a gentle, delicate fashion, and

will also help one who is brash and even aggressive to tone down their forcefulness.  It reveals the shadow side as

well as the apparent personality, and works to balance both sides.

The flower is abundant, found in both sun and shadow.  There are many variations: it is actually a cross between

the wild wood violet and another English flower.  Yet viola is somewhat bashful, often apparent only when you

look closely.  It brings an ever present grace and beauty.

WESTERN REDCEDAR     Thuja plicata

Healing qualities: Cleansing; purity; hardiness and resilience; sacredness of life

Cedar tree essence brings cleansing and sweet purity.  This long-lived tall tree is highly sacred to the first people

of the Northwest Coast of the American continent where it grows.  It provides materials for everything from cords to

canoes.  The wood is resistant to rot and mold, and is still used in making outdoor furniture.  As an essence, it

brings that quality of resilience and hardiness, along with the cleansing and purity it is known for herbally.

PINK YARROWAchillea millefolium (pink)

Healing qualities: Clear emotional boundaries; intact sense of self

Pink Yarrow flower essence protects the emotional body and field.  It is especially helpful for those whose

       emotional boundaries are less than clear, whether temporarily or as a learned response.  The temporary loss of

clear boundaries may result from trauma or from any overwhelming event or situation. 

There are also those who develop an extreme sensitivity as a coping mechanism – striving to protect the self

through hyper-awareness of any energy in range.  Such an overextended boundary is easily invaded – the

protection is illusory.  Sometimes the emotions of others are even voluntarily absorbed in an ineffective attempt at

creating a peaceful environment.  These problems are common among incest survivors, children of alcoholic

parents, and those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.  Pink yarrow will assist such persons in the task of

establishing a distinct boundaries and an inviolable sense of self.