Saturday, June 24, 2023

Rock Rose for panic

Cartoon used with permission of Jonny Hawkins

 Rock Rose is for the ‘panic button’ feeling of fear. As Mechthild Scheffer puts it, “The state has been aptly described as ‘a punch in the stomach,’ for the solar plexus has been overstrained … the central nervous system is unable to cope.”  

We have all experienced the terror – such as during a road accident – where we know we are so close to panic we doubt if we can prevent it from taking over. This is when we need Rock Rose and why it is one of the five essences in the crisis formula (eg Rescue Remedy).

The rock rose flower itself demonstrates the condition of being almost at the point of collapse.  It only needs an insect to land on it and the flower head falls over.  It has a frail grip on life – each flower only lasts a day and its petals often fall by noon. It is almost as though, as Julian Barnard has said*, it hovers between life and death; as ready to leave this life as we would be in facing a bomb attack or a gun massacre.  Anytime we are panicked beyond thinking clearly or rationally, the Rock Rose essence is helpful, including when someone wakes up terrified from a nightmare.

But the fact that the rock rose plant thrives on shallow chalky soil with little water and few nutrients demonstrates its huge tenacity for life, a strength and courage in the face of adversity – and these are the blessings it bestows on us when we take the Rock Rose Flower Remedy.




*References: Julian Barnard on the Healing Herbs website; Mechthild Scheffer in Bach Flower Therapy.



Wednesday, June 14, 2023

Quantum physics and Bach Flower Remedies

The beauty of quantum field theory is that, in essence, it is stunningly simple.  It considers that the universe is basically just force fields of energy. If we imagine them as fluids[1], you and I and are just waves on the ocean of existence.  Where the ocean ‘ripples’ into clusters, there we have particles which in turn form the building blocks we call atoms and molecules. These coalesce into forms we call the 120+ elements of the Periodic Table, of which everything – human and non-human – is constructed.[2]

For the last few centuries the scientific approach was to try and analyse everything down to its smallest possible components – atoms of oxygen, carbon and so on.  This concept – identify and measure everything – isolated and placed humans above the rest of the living world and formed the basis of classical physics.[3]

But opening our minds to other possibilities has prompted us (latterly) to consider the universe as one living entity; and quantum physics is the science working to prove that, via intricate and breathtakingly complicated mathematical equations.  Quantum theory is taking the credit for iterating an ages-old idea that we are all One[4], and so is every other life-form and sub-life form (rocks, gases, etc) in existence. We thought we were discrete objects in space; turns out we are space – since atoms are almost wholly space – as is every other creature or object. As Albert Einstein phrased it so lyrically, “We are slowed-down sound and light waves, a walking bundle of frequencies tuned into the cosmos.”

What does this mean for us in the field of flower essences? Along with homeopathic remedies, flower essences have been accused of being placebo, incapable of having any effect as they consist of ‘nothing’.  The sceptics have dismissed their effectiveness as impossible on the basis that, containing no molecules of any active ingredients, they can have no effect.  Their argument is deeply rooted in the old Newtonian science that only physical items can affect something physical such as the human body; if there’s no physical mass, there’s no existence.

Quantum physics provides a different answer.  It tells us that ‘mass is nothing but a form of energy’[5]. Particles are not things but processes or happenings. Nothing exists without having an (energetic) effect on something (or everything) else;[6] even observing an experiment while it’s underway will affect the outcome.

Compared to other life-forms, human senses are very restricted, we only see 5% of everything there is. But even though we can’t sense them, we are still subject to the universe’s energy fields. We know for instance that some vibrations can affect us: other people’s grumpiness, menace, or fear etc is palpable.

What we’re less conscious of is the energetic vibration of ‘wholeness’, which exists in everything because it’s the ‘law’ of the universe[7]. So when we are in close proximity to a vibration which is in tune with the Infinite we cannot help but feel the effect. If our individual wholeness is temporarily depleted by anger, say, the loss can often be restored by anything that is essentially Wholeness – beauty in any form, the natural world, music, a flower remedy. (Whole and healing stem from the same word.) It’s as though we are each an orchestra and if the second violin is absent, the energy field of the flower remedies flows into the empty space and makes us complete. If the cello is out of tune, Beech floods in … Nothing exists separately from us; everything, including humanity, is part of the energy called Unity.

“The development of love brings us to the realisation of Unity, of the Truth that one and all of us are of the one great Creation,” Dr Bach wrote. And also, ”We each have a Divine mission in this world, and our souls use our minds and our bodies as instruments to do this work, so that when all these are working in unison the result is perfect health and perfect happiness.”[8]

Unity, health, happiness – what we do for ourselves (with the aid of flower remedies) we do for everyone. That’s our real work, and quantum physics demonstrates how in lifting our own vibrations we are able to raise those of all living things, ultimately to the benefit of the entire world.

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For further (easy) reading on quantum theory and energy medicines, read Biology of  Belief by Bruce Lipton or The Basic Code of the Universe by Massimo Citro.



[1] David Tong’s lecture, Quantum Fields: the real building blocks of the Universe, on YouTube

[2] “Everything we call real is made of things that cannot be regarded as real.” Niels Bohr, atomic physicist

[3] “[Newton and Descartes] attempted to place ‘man’ at the centre of the stage… to prove to him that he need not be a bystander in a world governed by unfathomable forces.” The dancing Wu Li masters, Gary Zukav

[4] “Quantum theory thus reveals a basic oneness of the universe.” Fritjof Capra, The Tao of Physics

 [5] Fritjof Capra.  Also “… mass, according to Einstein’s special theory of relativity is energy and energy is mass.” The Dancing Wu Li Masters by Gary Zukav.

[6] “The properties of a particle can only be understood in terms of… its interaction with the surrounding environment and … cannot be seen as an isolated entity but … an integrated part of the whole.” The Tao of Physics

[7] Ultimately, the entire universe… has to be understood as a single undivided whole.” David Bohm, theoretical physicist.

[8] Free Thyself, chapter 2.

Monday, June 5, 2023

Heather and the need to satisfy an emotional hunger

Heather is the essence for the emotional state where our loss of connection with others is so great that we are consumed by the urge to restore it – and then we gorge ourselves on attention like a starving person.  I was reminded of this when I first heard Rumi’s poem last week*:

“The Worm's Waking”

This is How a Human Being can change:

There’s a worm addicted to eating
grape leaves.

Suddenly, he wakes up,
call it grace, whatever, something
wakes him, and he’s no longer
a worm.

He’s the entire vineyard,
and the orchard too,
the fruit, the trunks,
a growing wisdom and joy
that doesn’t need
to devour.

–––

I was struck by the idea that our egos are so greedy that we end up trying to devour the very life which sustains us, and as we know in Heather’s case, that very hunger tires out their audience and drives them away.

This need to ‘devour’, to satisfy our wants and fill our emptiness, can also be seen in a number of other flower remedies.  Chicory for instance, with her grasping for others’ affection and attention.  Vervain with their pressurising of others to join in plans and ambitions. Agrimony in their desire for company, cheer and socialising.  Red Chestnut in their near-addiction to keeping loved ones safe; and so on.

When we are emotionally out of balance, feeling lonely, rejected, fearful etc, our needs become ego-centric: it’s all about me rather than them.  This is a very human, survival-driven response but flower remedies help us to recover our equilibrium.  Then we realise, in a burst of insight (like the worm) that we have no need to devour our life-giving world, because in actual fact we are already at one with it.



Photo: Ally Matson

* In Tara Brach’s Youtube, Releasing the habits that imprison your spirit II

Burnout and what to do next

Lexicographer Susie Dent tweeted the word ‘dumfungled’. From the 19 th Century it means, she wrote, ‘used up, worn out, and entirely spent....