Bach Flower Remedies
Healing with Bach Flower Remedies can be extremely effective, but if the wrong one is given at the wrong time, then there will be no discernible results. This can be due to emotional layers.
I’ve been working with and studying Bach Flower Remedies since 1994. Anyone who knows me knows that I seem to have a bit of an obsession with them.
This is due to me being, by my very nature, a healer. Also, because they are the only remedies that work consistently with the people I have used on.
While the remedies may be simple to use, they can take a lifetime to master due to all the nuances each of the remedies have.
There are three times when a remedy will not work, at least in my observations.
- If someone is resisting healing. This may be because their current condition suits their purposes, and they need their illness, state of mind, etc, to continue so they don’t lose what they feel they have.
- When the wrong one is taken. When you do this, the user will feel no difference to their mood.
- When the right one is taken, but at the wrong time.
The last reason is something I see many practitioners and users, alike, do.
This is because emotional healing works in layers.
Before you can heal what you know is the underlying cause of the patient’s malady, you first need to look at what other ones were created because of it.
PTSD
Let me give an example.
Let’s say, you are suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The logical remedy to help heal this is Star of Bethlehem, which clears trauma and shock.
This is one of those remedies that seem like magic as it can literally give a new lease on life to those suffering from the effects of PTSD, such as clinical depression.
However, there may be times when you are taking it, and you are not getting the expected results.
Does this mean you don’t need that particular remedy?
The answer is, no. You will still need it, but there are other things that need to be looked at before you can use it for its full effect.
Jane
Let’s take a fictional person we will call Jane.
Jane is an Empath and had a lot of trauma when growing up. She is the middle child of three.
Her parents had major fights when she was a preteen and divorced when she was twelve.
Both her mother and her two siblings would turn to Jane because she was always the compassionate one. She would always be there to give support, lend an ear and provide counselling.
Her mother was also a narcissist, so she would use Jane to fulfill her desire for attention.
Over the years, Jane would be there for everyone when tragedy struck, and she would help those who would turn to her for support.
But no one was ever there for Jane, so she would end up putting away those feelings in order to cope with them. What was more, Jane could not have a bad day because everyone would make it all about themselves or try to fix her, when all she needed was just time out.
Because of that, she soon learned to keep her feelings to herself. Eventually, she reached the point where she did not have the luxury of acknowledging them because she felt she had to be the strong one.
Past Trauma
By the time we meet Jane as a patient, she is thirty years of age and it’s clear that she is suffering from the effects of past trauma.
The logical Bach Flower Remedy to choose would be Star of Bethlehem.
However, there are things we need to look at first before Jane will respond to this remedy.
These are the layers that must be dealt with and removed before we can heal the trauma.
First Layer
Looking at the first layer, we find that she is emotionally exhausted and weary, so we need to take care of this first.
Hornbeam (for weariness), Olive (for exhaustion), Oak (for being pushed past your limits) and Elm (for feeling overwhelmed) would be the first line of remedies.
Second Layer
Once we remove the exhaustion, Jane starts to feel she can’t express herself and she is feeling a deep anxiety that the remedy Aspen (for anxiety) does not seem to shift. This is the second layer.
She will need Agrimony (cheerful façade but tormented within) because she is hiding her feelings, not only from others, but from herself. She does not feel she has the luxury of breaking down as she must always be the strong one. The anxiety is due to her Agrimony state.
The Bach Flower Remedy, Cherry Plum (fear of letting go) works well with this remedy.
Third Layer
The third layer is that once she starts to acknowledge her feelings, anger will start to rise within her. She also tries to repress that anger, then feels angry that she is not allowing herself to be mad.
So, Holly (for anger) along with Cherry Plum, again, will help deal with that.
Further layers
Once the anger is gone, she feels numb and depression sets in. This is now a good time to use Star of Bethlehem, as the layers that were above it have now been dealt with.
Of course, there will be other remedies she will need, such as Centaury (unable to say no) and Pine (for carrying guilt for not being there for others), but once again, those are further layers.
As a general rule, if you are taking the Bach Flower Remedies, and not getting the results you expect, it means you need to look at other remedies first.
Taking the correct remedy at the wrong time will not help, but if you are able to choose the right one, the results will be very fast and profound.
Stacks within the stacks.
You can look upon layers as a stack of papers. Each page represents a different emotional state and in order to get to the next page, you first need to remove the top one.
You can only do it in the order the pages are stacked, but each removed page takes you closer to healing.
Eventually you will get to the bottom of the stack and healing will have taken place.
Don’t be surprised, though, when you find there may be a sequel to that stack of papers, waiting to be uncovered.
Those are the stacks within the stacks.
Tip of the Iceberg
The important thing to bear in mind with using Bach Flower Remedies is that if one is not working, do not continue using it. Unless you happen to luck out, and something happens that puts a new page for that remedy on top of the stack, then you are wasting time and resources.
Look deeper. If you are out of ideas, take the Bach Flower Remedy, Cerato, which is great for intuition, and look at things from a different angle.
Most importantly, do not be restricted by the traditional description of those remedies. They barely scratch the surface.
Doctor Edward Bach was an amazing man, but he did not live long enough to understand just how nuanced and deep his discoveries went. He only saw the tip of the iceberg.
