What is a Flower Essence? And do They *Actually* Work?
{Want an audio version of this blog post? Listen to my interview with Katie J on the Womanifester podcast here.}
Practitioners always talk about healing the mind, body, and spirit…but how do you actually go about healing your spirit?
Flower essences, gem essences, and other vibrational remedies, are one of several ways you can access healing on a deeper level (along with energy work, meditation, body work, entheogens, etc.).
We often call on plant medicines to heal our physical bodies, but they can also support the more subtle layers of our being.
Flower essences can help us make profound energetic shifts that allow deep healing to happen. They are non-toxic, extremely gentle, homeopathic preparations that you can easily make on your own.
Honestly, when I first learned about ~energy~, eNerGy HeaLing, vibrational remedies, etc., I was skeptical. Flower essences, which are energetic medicines, were not exempt from that skepticism.
Like, “Oh, you tryna sell me magic water? I’m good.”
I could understand how ingesting a physical dose of an herb could product an effect. That tracked. But something like a flower essence was a little harder to wrap my head around. After all, a flower essence is an “energetic remedy” that doesn’t actually contain any plant constituents.
When I attended my first herb conference, my curiosity overtook my skepticism and I decided to sign up for a flower essence workshop. I was expecting to watch everyone else as they stood in awe and “felt the energy of the plant,” while I sat back and observed, unaffected.
Instead, as soon as I took one drop of a flower essence and it was…profound. To say the least. I honestly couldn’t stop smiling the rest of the day because I couldn’t believe that this “magic water” could actually make me feel so joyful, alive, and open (I experienced rose flower essence during that workshop).
The workshop concluded with me and the rest of the participants each making our own flower essence, and I remember being really excited to try mine. Mostly because I wanted to see if I could duplicate the effect. Maybe this lady leading the workshop slipped something else in this so called flower essence….
When I had a similar experience from the essence I made, I realized there was something to this sect of herbalism.
Don’t take my word for it – below are instructions on how to make your own essence, as well as a little more about information about them. If you would like more clarification, I co-taught a class on flower and gem essences that you can access here.
You can also book an in person or virtual energy work session with me. I’ll recommend a flower essence that can support you after your session.
Now, let’s get into the nitty gritty.
What is an essence?
A flower/gem essence is a vibrational/energetic remedy that works by transmitting the vibrational pattern of a plant/gem/mineral to the user in order to promote healing on an energetic level. (Basically, magic.) Technically, the essence itself consists of water and a stabilizer (vinegar, alcohol, or glycerin).
What are the benefits?
Flower essences are used to support our physical, emotional, and spiritual bodies by working on an energetic level to bring us into a more balanced vibration. When you read descriptions of the imbalances that flower essences are used for, you’ll get an understanding of how these remedies are used. For example, agrimony flower essence is indicated for people who are irritable, angry, or anxious on the inside, but who are pretending that everything is peachy on the outside.
How do you take them?
Because essences do not contain physical amounts of plant constituents, they are extremely safe. It is common to take flower essences orally, but there are several ways to administer them:
Orally: 2-5 drops on the tongue 2-4 times/day I link my clients to take their essence as soon as they wake up, right before bed, and sometime in the middle of the day. They are also great to take during meditation. You can also add to your drinking water.
Topically: You can apply 2-5 drops of a flower essence directly to the skin, into bath water, or into a topical preparation like a lotion.
Added to herbal medicines: You can add flower essences a tea or tincture to create a well-rounded formula that creates shifts both the physical and emotional/spiritual body.
Pets: You can give flower essences to pets in the same ways. Apply to their skin, put some drops in their water, etc.
Are they safe?
Essences are safe for everyone, human and otherwise. Because only a few drops are taken at a time and no physical constituents of the plants are present, they essences are extremely safe.
Where can I purchase a flower essence?
Here are some companies you may consider:
FES (Flower Essence Services)
Green Hope Farm
Bach Flower Remedies
A local herbalist/flower essence practitioner
The essence should ideally be organic with the type of stabilizer used and the botanical (Latin) name of the plant shown on the bottle.
DIY
Here are the directions for making a flower essence. They can easily be adapted to make a gem essence. You will need:
Unmarked glass vessel
Pure water (spring water, filtered water, etc.)
2 bottles for storing the essence (dark amber or blue bottles are nice)
Coffee filter or find mesh strainer
An offering
Take some time to take some deep breaths + ground and center yourself in whatever way is most comfortable/accessible to you. Set your intention (e.g. that this process be for the highest good of all involved, or that you gain a deeper relationship with a plant in order to give it’s medicine to whoever needs it)
Pour some pure water into an unmarked glass vessel. You don’t need much. An ounce will do.
Sit with the plant you intend to make your essence with*. Take some time to open your heart to it and perhaps have a conversation with it. Introduce yourself, ask it how it’s doing. Ask it if it needs anything (perhaps some water, leaf pruning, etc.). Most importantly, ask if it is willing to offer it’s medicine to you. It may be hard to know if you are getting a “yes” from the plant if this process new to you, but don’t worry. A “no” is always something you will feel, whether you have experience or not.
If the plant has given you permission, provide an offering of some sort. This can be a song, a bit of your hair, or whatever you are called to give. Tobacco is a traditional offering when harvesting plants.
Ask which flower(s) want to be harvested for the essence. Harvest those, thanking each one, and place in your vessel of water. You may choose to wear gloves when harvesting. Alternatively, you might find a way to dip a flower into the water without harvesting. This is especially useful for working with at-risk or endangered plants.
Leave the water out in the sunlight, moonlight (lovely during full or new moons), or both for at least 4 hours.
Strain out any plant material from the water using a coffee filter or fine mesh strainer.
Place the water into a glass container and add equal parts of your stabilizer** (vinegar, alcohol, or glycerin). For example, if you have 1 ounce of your essence water, you add 1 ounce of your stabilizer. This is your mother essence.
To make a stock bottle, place about 4 drops of your mother essence into a 1oz dropper bottle. Fill the bottle with half water, half stabilizer.
Optional: Make a dosage bottle by adding 4 drops of the stock bottle to a 1oz dropper bottle. Fill the bottle with half water, half stabilizer. Some people prefer to use a stock bottle for more acute conditions and a dosage botte for long term use.
*Herbalist/author Stephen Buhner explains how we can use our heart to perceive the world around us in order to communicate with plants in a way that we can’t with our minds or with words. I highly recommend his book The Secret Teachings of Plants: The Intelligence of the Heart in the Direct Perception of Nature. You can find an excerpt of it here.
**Choosing a stabilizer (preservative), organic if possible:
Brandy is traditional, but really, any alcohol 80 proof or higher will do.
Any vinegar will work to preserve your essence. I personally like red shiso vinegar or organic ACV.
Glycerin can also be used. Make sure it’s organic.
Making a flower essence can be a profound way to connect with plants. Be sure to let me know how it goes, if you end up making one yourself.
If you’d like to gift yourself an energy healing session, after which I will recommend a flower essence for you, click here.
Access the class I co-taught on flower and gem essences here.