Subtly & Flower Essences
When chronic illness goes beyond physiological and enters the realm of psychospiritual, implementing flower essences can be helpful. Likely, starting with an approach that’s addressing the emotional state of a client is more effective than using herbal constituents alone. Almost always there’s an emotional component with chronic illness. Understanding a client, hearing their story, and getting an intuitive feel of them is how I start off in any consultation. Many people aren’t ready for immediate change. A healing journey doesn’t happen overnight, it doesn’t happen in a few weeks either. Healing is a spiritual journey, and embarking on a spiritual journey is lifelong. When you begin a healing journey, other aspects of your soul cry out. You may start having desires for change that you’ve never felt before. You may have a sudden increase of vitality that allows you to unravel years of suppressed emotions or grief. You may become aware of things that were previously unseen or hidden in your psyche. Unhelpful patterns and negative emotions or habits become apparent, but may be difficult to address or know how to make any steps towards changing behaviors.
I believe that flower essences are incredibly helpful for navigating the emotional aspects of a healing journey. When the soul lays stagnant for years and when we finally reach a state of increased vitality to begin to desire once again, we’re faced with a sort of spiritual overwhelm.
I’m a fan of James Hillman’s The Souls Code. He believes that the soul needs to go in and down, rather than out and up. “Growing down,” rather than “growing up.” When the soul descends, we’re able to tap into our more authentic self, not in spite of our wounds, but through it. Addressing deep wounds by going through them and rather than overcoming them can allow for true healing that’s deeper than managing physiological symptoms. It’s commonplace to see chronic illness coinciding with a traumatic event. This is one piece of the puzzle that modern health care doesn’t address, or understand fully. Also why healing oneself is deeply personal and soul bound. You need a full spectrum of “healing” in order to move through chronic pain, whether this is psychological or physiological. All is connected to wellness - your body, your mental health, your chosen environment, and so on. So embarking on this journey, emotional upheaval will occur. Utilizing flower essences can offer a gentle “hug” of support through plant energetics, making this process a bit more tolerable.
Utilizing flower essences can seem a bit elusive, truthfully, I am not one to fully understand their quality since it’s hard to quantify. Though I do have a personal understanding of subtlety of plant energetics and how they can tap into the psyche. I can understand this spiritually, emotionally, and intuitively - though almost impossible measure scientifically. It’s best to simply try out flower essences and keep a journal along the way. Keeping track of your dreams, notice themes and symbols that come up.
Pay attention to thoughts, feelings, and subtle changes. When you’re actively engaged in your innerworld, things begin to show up that haven’t before. You may notice synchronicities, some “huh, that’s interesting” moments. Take note, don’t try to understand, but try to go along and allow for the universe (spirit) to interact with you.
Allow your body to feel what it needs to feel, allow for your emotions to go through you, don’t suppress anything. Not to say your emotions should take reign, but observe them, ask questions, and take the space you need to process. Allow the help and guidance of plant medicine to assist in the upheaval, you might be surprised by what they can offer.
