bach flower essences
- Melinda
- Apr 6
- 16 min read
Updated: Apr 26
but why?
I personally love (like, really love) Bach flower essences, but other than maybe The Rescue Remedy, it's likely you've never even heard of them. Or if you have, you had no idea what they were nor did you really care. So why on earth would I spend so much of my precious time compiling a blog post on a subject that will likely be of interest to only a few? It’s a good question, actually, and there are two equally good reasons why I decided to forge ahead.
The first is a simple matter of: I love to know all the things about the things I love. Sometimes I feel like I gather info like a squirrel gathers nuts, busily stashing away the bits until the time comes when I’ll need them. Drafting this post and rereading my books refreshed me on so many of the details that I'd forgotten. And even better than that, this refresher deepened and clarified my understanding of the essences in a whole new way for me.
Secondly, the essences have made a marked difference in my life, helping me to release and work through emotions that I've been stuck on for years, probably even lifetimes. This blog post—and all of the future ones to come on the single essences—feels like my way of giving thanks. Of paying homage to a man who inspires me with how relentlessly he pursued his dreams and his vision.
And what better way to pay my respects than to share his discoveries so that they can perhaps reach even more lives. I like to think he'd be tickled pink to see me, ninety years after his death and all the way across an ocean, working daily with the essences that he adored so much. I hope his story (and mine) inspires you to give them a try.
who was Edward Bach?
Credit for the discovery of the flower essences (called remedies, in England) goes to a man named Edward Bach (pronounced: batch), who was born in England in September of 1886. From the time he was a child, he dreamed of the far-off day when he would be able to heal and cure others. Initially, he wasn’t sure which direction to pursue in order to achieve this purpose—the clergy or medicine—but in the end, he settled on medicine. After completing his formal education in 1912, he began his career as a licensed physician in the position of Casualty House Surgeon.
It became clear pretty quickly, however, that this scalpel-wielding position wasn’t satisfying for Bach, at least not on a soul level. His overreaching goal was to cure, and all too often the solutions being offered to patients were nothing more than a temporary fix—an addressing of the symptoms without striving to locate the underlying cause. The focus was consistently on the disease and not on the individual.
This, Bach intuited, was problematic, but it was a problem he didn’t yet have a solution for. Nonetheless, it quickly became obvious to him that this orthodox disease-oriented type of care wasn’t aligned with his long-held vision, and he made the decision to change course. He hoped that by pursuing bacteriology he would discover a more satisfying method of healing.
As a bacteriologist/immunologist, he was to make an important discovery very early on, and one which would remain his focus for years. Through the study of endless fecal samples, he discovered that certain species of bacteria were present and thriving in all patients suffering from chronic disease. These intestinal bacteria were also found in healthy individuals, but their numbers were far fewer.
His working theory was that it was these bacteria, when found in large numbers, that were creating the chronic illnesses presenting in his patients. Armed with this knowledge, he now set about developing a series of vaccines—created from the bacteria—to address the problem. The vaccines turned out to be enormously effective and other doctors began using them with widespread success as well. In spite of all this positive feedback, Bach still wasn’t satisfied and continued his explorations, certain there was more to be learned.
name that bacteria
Despite the obvious success of the vaccines in addressing disease, he was beginning to believe that the type of disease was actually irrelevant, and his attention began to shift from the diagnosis onto the person who was suffering from it. With that hugely important shift, he became aware of something fascinating: by close observation of his patient’s behavior, he was often able to discern which type of bacteria was wreaking havoc within.
He became so good at “name that bacteria” that within seconds he usually knew precisely which strain he was dealing with. By the time a patient had crossed the room from his office door to reach his desk, Bach had a preliminary diagnosis. His patient’s mannerisms, bodily movements, and expressions were all obvious indicators to him and a fecal analysis would, more often than not, confirm his suspicions. These behavioral clues were beginning to point him in a new direction, but it would be years before he realized the full implications of them.
His work with the vaccines was continuous and his intense focus brought him to the point of physical collapse on more than one occasion. Why weren't the vaccines helping everyone? Why were so many finding success and a return to health, but then others weren't? Too many questions remained unanswered and he worked tirelessly to find the solutions. So tirelessly, in fact, that in 1917 he fell unconscious while working in the lab. Admitted to the hospital for an emergency procedure, he was found to be hemorrhaging internally, diagnosed with cancer, and given a mere three months to live.
This didn't sit well with Bach, but not for the reasons one might assume. He seemed to have little fear of death and when he lay on his actual deathbed twenty years later, it appeared to be with peace and equanimity. Apparently, it wasn’t so much the death sentence that upset him, but rather the fact that he had much more work left to accomplish and now so little time in which to do it.
He remained in bed, recovering, for just barely long enough to regain his strength and then immediately resumed his labors. Consumed by a need to see his life’s work through, he gave himself over to it wholeheartedly, determined to fully utilize whatever time he had left. At the end of those three months he was still very much alive, completely cancer-free, and now stronger than he’d been prior. He pursued his work with renewed vigor, likely grateful to have been granted permission to extend his stay for at least a little bit longer.
three flower essences
His position as bacteriologist was at a homeopathic hospital where he was introduced to the field of homeopathy—a field he strongly resonated with. This exposure presented him with a new way of preparing the vaccines so that they could be taken in pill form—and Bach’s seven nosodes were born. He felt that to administer the vaccine by syringe was unnecessarily invasive to the body, and while the pill was a definite improvement, it still wasn’t enough to satisfy Bach; whether taken by pill or injected by syringe, he was still working with the products of disease and he firmly believed that true healing and cure would only be found in nature (basically, he was to soon trade poop for flowers—wise man).
He was still employed as a bacteriologist when he discovered the first three of the flower essences in 1928. Although initially created by homeopathic standards (this would later change), he immediately began using them with patients and was encouraged by what he saw. So encouraged, in fact, that he decided to make a bold move.
Feeling it was now time to focus exclusively on pursuing the clean and natural avenue of healing that the flowers offered, in 1930 he sold all that he had and stepped away from a flourishing practice, his widely acclaimed work with the vaccines and nosodes, and the exhausting bustle of London city life. Courageously, he handed over prestige, acclaim, respect, and a steady income for the uncertainty of a burning dream. Walking away with a suitcase full of shoes, his true mission was about to begin.
"Health is our heritage, our right. It is the complete and full union between soul, mind and body: and this is no difficult far-away ideal to attain, but one so easy and natural that many of us have overlooked it."
~ Edward Bach, Free Thyself
His abrupt departure was necessary in that it freed up his time—time that he would now spend searching out the additional flowers he needed. And while his steadfast belief that true healing support would only be found in nature served as constant fuel for his search, this belief was supported by a radical change of perspective. He'd experienced this shift a year or two prior to leaving London while at a dinner party; bored and trying to entertain himself, he began watching the other guests. What he saw surprised him, and he realized as he scanned the room that he could identify distinct “personality types.”
Exploring this more deeply as the days and weeks passed, he found himself reaching new conclusions. Originally, his focus had been on treating the imbalance of intestinal toxemia, believing this to be the cause of disease. Now, however, his thoughts were taking him down an entirely new route.
Instead of bacteria, he now felt the cause of all illness to be moods (or the state of a person’s mind). These negative moods so disrupted the harmony of the body that they led to disease and illnesses of all sorts. He believed that if he could find a way to remedy the mood, his patient’s body would then be able to restore equilibrium all on its own—as it's designed to do—and health could return. He identified the twelve moods as follows:
Fear
Terror
Mental torture or worry
Indecision
Indifference or boredom
Doubt or discouragement
Over-concern (for others)
Weakness
Self-distrust
Impatience
Over-enthusiasm
Pride or aloofness
the sun method
Having settled on what he believed the twelve universal moods to be, he began the process of identifying which flowers would treat them. Instead of the consulting room, his days were now spent happily wandering the fields and streams of the countryside, not always sure of what he was looking for, but closely studying nature at all times.
This search was initially focused on the flowers of the plant, believing that because they held the seed, their life force was concentrated there (later he would include the buds of trees as well). Passing through a field early one morning, his intuition told him to look more closely at the drops of dew that were covering the flower heads surrounding him. Bathed and glistening in the morning sun, the idea surfaced that those drops were potentially infused with the energetic essence of the plant, and the place where the “medicine” was to be found.
As one would imagine, collecting dew drops was no easy task, and it didn’t take him long to discover The Sun Method of preparation. He began with a clear glass bowl filled with fresh spring water. Then, being careful not to touch the flowers with his hands (and so contaminate them with his energies), he clipped only the flowers that were at their peak glory, dropping just enough of them into the bowl to cover the surface of the water. This bowl was then laid out in the uninterrupted sun for approximately four hours, or until the blossoms began to wilt.
Carefully removing the spent blossoms, he saved the water which was now impregnated with the energetic vibrations of the flower by the powerful rays of the sun. (If you find this somewhat hard to believe, I’d encourage you to check out Emoto’s water experiments.) After preserving this Mother Tincture with brandy, it was then ready for use. This was further diluted into stock bottles and then dosage bottles. Now ready to be dispensed, the patient would take these drops by mouth as indicated. (I'll explain more about how to take the essences in future posts.)
messages came through
No one is quite sure how he went about discovering these flowers. All we know is that he spent an enormous amount of time outside and close to nature and that "messages came through to him." Was it Mother Nature herself, offering up her medicine? Or was it his Soul, intuitively dropping breadcrumbs, leading him along the path to his personal mission? Was it a higher vibrational being, such as an angel or a guide? Maybe it was God? No one (except perhaps Bach) knows where the messages that led him to the flowers came from, but as he worked with the demonstrated effects, his "definition" of each flower and how (and what) it could help became more refined, clear, and succinct as the years passed.
As he learned more, he shared more, constantly updating his previous works with newly accumulated information. Each step of the way, Bach made sure to share his findings with both the lay person and the medical community. He printed pamphlets and books, disseminating his findings for all to read and, hopefully, use.
In addition to his widely available literature, he donated the prepared Mother Essences to two local London chemists, asking them to sell the essences to the public for as little as possible. He made money off of neither the books nor the essences, believing that God provided us all with the plants of nature and we should all equally benefit. In fact, the day he walked away from his work in London was the day he stopped charging patients for his services. From 1930-1936, he sustained himself on the donations of wealthy patients and other random means; always expecting to have enough, he always did. Although Bach didn't seem to be affiliated with any one particular religion, he was a deeply spiritual man and his faith in a Divine Source ran deep. Not only did faith sustain him, but it continued to fund his work right up until the day he died.
"Healing with the clean, pure, beautiful agents of nature is surely the one
method of all which appeals to most of us." ~Edward Bach
Bach's written works weren't only about the flower essences, though, and quite a bit of it was focused on his spiritual beliefs. It's interesting reading and I find I can agree with a lot of it, but I'm only going to touch on that which relates specifically to the essences and why he felt they worked. In essence (pun intended), his thoughts were these: Each person is born as both a Soul and a mind/ego/personality; each person is also born with a personal mission. The problem lies in keeping these parts aligned with each other, and often our mind—and all of our roiling human emotions—knocks us off track and away from the path of growth that lies before us.
The Soul, however, is continually doing its best to keep us on track; negative emotions which create a state of unhappiness are the first indication that we're off our game, giving us a chance to tweak course. If we fail to do that, these negative emotional moods then become more deeply embedded as emotional patterns—patterns which throw off the harmony and balance of the body, leading to a generalized weakness. Here we have yet another chance to correct course, but if we don't? Disease will ensue. Disease, Bach believed, was the desperate attempt of our Soul to get our attention, alerting us that we'd strayed far from our original purpose.
But how to get back? Especially when the emotional patterns have become so firmly set that we believe they are us? The solution, Bach believed, was the high vibrational frequency of the flower essences. These frequencies seemed to hold the power to break up the negativity of emotion, allowing the guidance of the Soul to be heard again. Even when taken at the point of chronic disease, the essences begin dissolving the countless layers of negative emotions and moods that we’ve accumulated along the way.
By diligently peeling back the layers of the emotional onion (as Bach practitioners love to say), we can once again gain access to our intuitive guidance and allow our body the space it needs to heal itself. If you select the “wrong” essence, nothing happens either way. But if you select the correct one(s)? The process begins of breaking free from the unconscious—yet self-created—emotional swamp we're stuck in, eventually getting ourselves firmly back onto our personal track.
"They cure, not by attacking disease, but by flooding our bodies with the beautiful vibrations of our Higher Nature, in the presence of which disease melts as snow in the sunshine."
~ Edward Bach, Ye Suffer From Yourselves
hit all the marks
His life had taken on a general pattern during the years he searched for the essences. Spring and summer were often spent in pursuit of the essences, while the colder months were largely dedicated to treating patients with this new healing modality. From the time he left London in 1930 until his death in 1936, he relied on only the essences to treat his patients, and was greatly encouraged by the improvements he was seeing in his patients' health.
At this point, I imagine he would have experienced a sense of deep satisfaction, perhaps even elation. His dream appeared to be manifesting before his very eyes. Had he discovered the easy, painless, and natural mode of healing that he'd dreamed of since childhood? Neither the type of illness nor its duration were of consequence when it came to working with the essences.
Some patients responded immediately to treatment while others required weeks or even months, but quite often the end result was the same: incredible healing and recovery were taking place. The flower essences hit all the marks for Bach and could be used by anyone of any age, as they were harmless and offered no ill side effects even when chosen incorrectly. Additionally, they could be safely used in conjunction with any other healing modality.
seven more
Bach was prepared (and likely eager) to forge ahead with these first twelve essences—The Twelve Healers—but he quickly realized the set wasn't yet complete; there were still several more flowers waiting to be found, and the Seven Helpers were soon added to his apothecary. (Each of these essence sets served a very specific purpose in Bach's mind, but I'll dive more deeply into that in upcoming posts.) After the discovery of these first nineteen essences, Bach once again believed that he’d fully accomplished his goal, and now was the time to begin treating patients full-time with the essences.
Unfortunately for Bach, this wasn't to be the case and it turned out that his work was only half done. I say "unfortunate" because unknown to him, the most challenging discoveries still lay ahead (from my perspective, anyway). All of the flower essences he had thus far discovered (collectively called: The First Nineteen) were based off of his observations of others. Identifying the moods, emotions, and personalities that were creating ill-health in his patients, he then went out in search of the flower that could heal it. With the Second Nineteen, however, the rules were about to change. And instead of objective observation, he now had to rely on subjective observation and all of the physical, mental, and emotional torture that it brought.
Several days prior to a new essence being discovered, Bach would begin to suffer the symptoms he’d need to treat, and the remaining nineteen essences were particularly—psychologically—intense. Physical ailments would assault him (excruciating sinus infections, intensely itchy full-body rashes, etc.) and as the subsequent mental reaction swept over him, he would begin his search. No longer was he simply watching things unfold in others as he had with the prior essences, he was now literally feeling the desperation of Cherry Plum. The Shock of Star of Bethlehem. The devastating despair of Sweet Chestnut. One by one, he sought the remedies (often trees, in this second nineteen) and within hours of finding the correct essence, the feelings and physical manifestations would blessedly recede.
"In treating cases with these remedies, no notice is taken of the nature of disease. The individual is treated and as he becomes well the disease goes, having been cast off by the increase in health." ~ Edward Bach
just heal thyself
Whereas Bach spent six years finding the First Nineteen, the Second Nineteen were found in six extremely trying months. I imagine it was an incredibly exhausting time for him, but his dream had been fully realized: thirty-eight flower essences to address any and all moods. It was now time, he concluded yet again, to resume speaking publicly about his new-found treasures and he prepared a lecture tour. Turns out, this part of his plan would remain largely unrealized, at least by him. Very quickly, his body began to slow until he was confined to bed. Just six months after the discovery of the last essence, and only two months into his lecture tour, he was gone. Official cause of death? Cardiac failure and cancer.
Was his body worn down by the strain of those six taxing months? Perhaps his job had been only to discover the essences, leaving their dissemination to others? Personally, I feel like after his first three-months-to-live diagnosis twenty years prior, he'd struck some kind of "heavenly" bargain. Somehow, he'd delayed his death, buying himself just enough time to accomplish his mission. Once accomplished he relinquished the body, apparently quite peacefully, to "continue his work elsewhere.”
For some (and me, initially) this death-by-cancer would negate all he'd said about the essences—why didn't he just take the appropriate drops and heal himself, right? At only fifty years old, it should have been a piece of cake. It was definitely a sticking point for me, right up until I tried the essences… and found they worked. Just how much they’re capable of healing is still left for me to see (where do things like diet and lifestyle come into play?), but I’ve felt—and seen in others—the mood shifts happen time and time again. Sometimes, within mere minutes.
Now, all I can say about Bach’s cause of death is that I know my understanding of all things is limited. Panic forced humility on me in a way that was painfully undeniable. Sure, it'd be easier to tell the end of Bach's story if he'd instead been mauled and killed by a bear while out there wandering his beloved fields (do they even have bears in England...?). But maybe it's not supposed to be so easy. Maybe, like Bach, sometimes we just need to rest in unwavering faith. Rest in the comfort of knowing that we don't have to understand all of something in order for it to be true.
let's keep it simple
Clearly, Edward Bach was born with a burning passion. It drove him to the brink of death on at least one occasion (and maybe directly into it on another), and yet he never let go of that long-held vision. He truly believed that the discovery of these thirty-eight flower essences would revolutionize the medical industry and would forever change how doctors treated their patients. No longer would physicians be focused on disease, but on the person who sat before them. (You'd laugh—or cry—if you read how he envisioned hospitals of the future to be. I'll just say this: we're not there yet.)
Up until he died, he worked to convince his fellow doctors of the efficacy, yet harmlessness, of the essences he had discovered, largely to no avail. Here was a man once greatly admired and respected, now content to call himself a simple herbalist. To the medical industry, it was absurd, and on more than one occasion they threatened to remove him from the registrar of physicians for his bold declarations and newfound treatment methods.
I'm happy to say that their threats fell on deaf ears. With so simple of a remedy—so incredibly simple that anyone could make the essences themselves—he didn't need the medical profession to believe him, only the lay man. He searched for a "medicine" that was easily accessible, simple to administer, wholly natural in nature, harmless, and available to all. He wanted people to be so well-versed in the essences that they took a drop or two as easily as they took a drink of water when thirsty. (Personally, I wish every household had a complete set.)
In closing, my upcoming plans are to talk about the essences, each in turn. This will be the longest post (by far), with the individual essences being much more succinct. Why? (when clearly I have such a love of words)? Because I believe that's how Bach would have preferred it. (I just really wish there was an essence that would address the need for "short and sweet" ;)
"I am hungry, I will go and pull a lettuce from the garden for my tea;
I am frightened and ill, I will take a dose of Mimulus." ~ Edward Bach
Much love,
Melinda
(Bach flower practitioner)
The Twelve Healers
Impatiens
Mimulus
Clematis
Agrimony
Chicory
Vervain
Centaury
Cerato
Schleranthus
Water Violet
Gentian
Rock Rose
The Seven Helpers
Gorse
Oak
Heather
Rock Water
Olive
Vine
Wild Oat
The Second Nineteen
Cherry Plum
Elm
Pine
Larch
Willow
Aspen
Hornbeam
Sweet Chestnut
Beech
Crab Apple
Walnut
Red Chestnut
White Chestnut
Holly
Honeysuckle
Wild Rose
Star of Bethlehem
Mustard
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