Maria Gaian, Mental Wellness Mentor 

 Can flower essences help relieve depression and anxiety?

About 25 years ago, I was suffering from yet another bout of crippling anxiety and depression.

Someone, I don’t remember who, recommended Rescue Remedy from the Bach’s range of flower essences.

I had no idea what a flower essence was, but I was willing to try anything!

Off I went to Boots, a chemist shop in the UK and bought my little dropper bottle of mystery liquid. 

A few drops in a glass of water sipped over the day seemed to calm me.

If I was feeling really bad, a few drops directly under my tongue worked a treat.

I could taste something, but I wasn’t sure what. It wasn’t unpleasant, though.

Flower essences didn’t just work for me, they worked for my animals, too! 

A few years later, I moved house and my horse was anxious and fretful about his new stable. 

After checking that flower essences were safe for animals, I added several drops of Bach’s Rescue Remedy to my horse’s feeds. It did the trick, making him much more relaxed.

I could tell the difference when I forgot to add it to his food. He became jumpy and upset again.

I gradually reduced his dosage and as time passed, he became much more settled and didn’t need the remedy any more. Although I did use flower essences again when he had to travel or see a vet.  

I didn’t actually know what flower essences were; I believed that they were some sort of herbal concoction, maybe like homeopathic drops. 

And then I learned how to make them and my mind was blown. 

To make flower essences you put flowers in water, let them steep in the sun or moonlight and then add preservative.

They’re so diluted, it seems ridiculous! 

Some flower essences are made using the ‘no touch’ method, which means that a bowl of water is placed next to the flowers and there is no contact with them at all!!

WHAT SNAKE OIL IS THIS!!???

But then I remembered that flower essences had worked for me.

And they’d worked for my horse, Tyson, too. 

You could argue that they were a placebo for me, but I’m pretty sure Ty had no idea what I was adding to his feed, so the same couldn’t be said for him! 

Yet, I couldn’t help but feel a bit cynical.  

I had no problem believing in the power of rituals, herbalism and energy healing, so why did I have so much trouble believing that flower essences can actually work?  

I felt so blocked.

But then I began studying shamanic healing and everything made sense. 

Shamanism teaches us that everything has a soul, the mountains, stones, trees, flowers, animals, water, and us. 

I began to understand my connection to the Earth and the plants that I’ve always been drawn to. 

And I could finally understand how flower essences work. 

Everything is made of pure energy, including us.

So it makes sense that the energy from flowers can be held in water. 

I realised that there was so much more to flower essences than I’d initially understood. They are little drops of pure natural magick!

And that’s when I felt guided to make my own flower essences, to help myself, animals and other people to heal their wounded souls, build confidence, relieve anxiety and depression and begin to thrive.

What do you think? 

Have you used flower essences?

Do they work for you? 

Are you a skeptic or a believer?  Come on over to the Black Dog Cafe and let me know what you think. 

With love and magick always,

Maria xx

Want to make your own flower essences? You can! Read the next article here: 

Don’t forget that you can join me over in the Black Dog Cafe community. It’s an off facebook, safe space for you to get support, tools and techniques to help you survive depression.