It's a week of personal renewal. Trust your inner guidance, and
lovingly express your real self outwardly and inwardly. Pay attention to
the guidance you receive during dreamtime. You are blossoming and
exiting a period of darkness, as you focus upon God's divine light and
guidance. As a result, you are spiritually teaching others how to deal
with stress in healthy ways.
Part 2
of the video discusses ways to heal resentment, and why it's important
to do so, in our continuing series about opening the heart to love.
From the Magical Messages From the Fairies Cards at bit.ly/Fairycards
MON/TUES: "Express Your Individuality" - Be yourself! Allow your true self to shine. Trust yourself and your inner guidance. WED/THURS:
'Flower Power" - Spend time with flowers and flower essences to
increase your personal healing power. New life, changes. Recognize that
YOU are blossoming. Allow yourself to open and bloom!
FRI-SAT-SUN:
"Spiritual Teacher" - Your life purpose involves teaching others about
healing and spirituality. Teaching about peace and teaching about
harshness. We are either a role model about love or a bad role model of
what not to do when we are stressed out, because EVERYONE gets stressed
out. Nobody is perfect.
When
I began my astrology practice twelve years ago, I felt constricted by
the traditional once-per-year contact with the client.
I could see
that many clients became overwhelmed by the amount of information
contained in the reading. Unless clients have some astrology background,
they have few resources to interact with the information, symbols, and
possibilities in the chart in a single session. Nor did I want to foster
a dependence upon my interpretation of the chart that might keep a
client asking for more information of the “what’s going to happen next?”
variety. Astrology is a spiritual practice and an art that needs
focused attention to be helpful at a deep level. It should be seen as an
ongoing exploration, unique in itself and deserving of time and
reflection.
I also have a strong connection to the natural world
and earth spirit. I have often urged my clients to get acquainted with
astrology by watching the sky. Astrology comes alive as we watch the
Moon wax and wane and see Jupiter’s bright eye in the sky. When I
discovered the world of flower essence therapy, I knew the combination
of the healing power of plants along with guidance provided by the stars
and planets would help my clients discover the healing power within
that is a gift of the natural world.
My acquaintance with flower
essences began in 1988 when a friend brought me a little bottle of Dr.
Bach’s Rescue Remedy after I was injured in a car accident. I was lucky
to escape the wreckage with only a broken nose, but I was incapacitated
for a few days with bruises and torn ligaments in body and spirit. I
felt dark holes open suddenly in front of me, and rage would wash over
me — a rage not connected to my thoughts. I drank a glass of water with a
few drops of Dr. Bach’s potent remedy and was put back together. I
would fall back into deep depression and, once more, be rescued by those
powerful flower drops.
Flower essences became my friends and
companions after that. I studied Dr. Bach’s books and was drawn to the
combination of energetic healing with the wisdom of plants and the
natural healing that they provide. Like homeopathy, flower essences
teach us that "less is more" — a new kind of physics where we come to
value and work with the pattern of manifestation before it takes form on
the physical plane.
What Are Flower Essences?
Flower
essences connect one to the vibrational energy of the plant, rather
than the chemical content. Flower essences are not herbal preparations,
nor are they essential oils, as used in aromatherapy. The essences are
gathered by floating blossoms on spring water and infusing them with
sunlight. From here, they are diluted in brandy and water until no
chemical effects from the plant are present. The essences work directly
with the subtle energy body.
Flower essences are traditionally
taken in drops under the tongue. They are also effective in a glass of
water, added to bath water, or sprayed in the air. Since flower essences
are vibratory medicines, some clients find them helpful even when they
are not ingested. People who have a strong connection to energy healing
often carry a bottle of flower essence around with them.
When we
experience ourselves as part of a network of light and movement rather
than separate solid objects, we understand why these simple preparations
of flower soul energy can be so powerful. Theories about physical
objects as light and energy flow have become part of or our concept of
physics. As we embrace energy therapies, such as acupuncture, and as we
open ourselves to the healing power of shamanic cultures, we begin to
appreciate our own healing traditions. Flower essences provide an
effective bridge between the medical treatment of the past and the new,
complementary healing methods of the present.
Dr. Edward Bach
developed flower essences during the 1930s in England. Bach was a famous
bacteriologist and homeopath who had come to the conclusion that
illness begins in the emotional body before it manifests in the physical
body. He wanted to find a source of healing easily available to country
people who cannot afford to go to a doctor. Bach left a successful
practice and a teaching position in London to search for a new kind of
medicine. Certain that he would find this new medicine in nature, he
wandered the English and Welsh countryside looking for inspiration. At
first, he used the dew on plants as the essence. By touching the dew to
his lips, he could sense the ailments and psychic imbalances that the
healing power of the plant was able to address. Later, he arrived at the
method of obtaining the essence by floating flowers on spring water and
infusing them with sunlight. From this water, he made remedies that had
amazing results with his patients.
Dr. Bach discovered that
flower essences encapsulate the pattern of the flower, and he developed
38 essences that he connected to various psychological profiles. Bach
chose to use the homeopathic method of working with character types
rather than physical ailments.
In the 1980s, new flower essences
were developed by practitioners all over the world. Energetic plant
medicine has blossomed and evolved in many directions. The devic
communication made manifest in the Findhorn Garden in Scotland took
plant spirit medicine in a new direction. The pioneering work of the
Flower Essence Society of California developed flower essences from
plants native to that part of the country. As the practices of shamans
and herbalists from traditional societies are sought as teachers by
Western practitioners, we acknowledge further cooperation between plant
and human. There are now thousands of flower essences which are
collected and used in a variety of ways. The plant kingdom seems eager
to collaborate with humans, to help us heal and evolve so that we may
survive in peace and harmony on the planet.
I owe the integration
of astrology and flower essence therapy to my Druid studies begun in
1990. As a practicing Druid, I see plants and planets in a network of
life and energy, visible and invisible, which includes me and all else
in its embrace. Until Druidry gave me the language to communicate
directly with the spirits of natural places — trees, plants, stones,
earth, and breezes — I had felt a terrible yearning and frustration. I
knew the language exists that could connect me to nonhuman creation, but
I did not know how to access it. I needed the wisdom and guidance of
the natural world but was deaf to the language that I could only sense
all around me.
Druidry sees all creation as imbued with spirit and
recognizes many realms of parallel existence that are imperceptible to
the senses. There is no concept of the superiority or separation of our
species. There is no hierarchy in consciousness: a stone, a tree, a dog,
an earth spirit, and a human perceive reality from their own viewpoint.
Creation is interconnected and interdependent. Humans dwell in a small
band of sight and sound and an even smaller range of smell and
intuition, yet we can open up to keener perception when we understand
our potential for listening, seeing, and sensing. Animals, plants, and
minerals also evolve in their ability to communicate and adapt to
changing circumstances. Druidry combines a respect for what has gone
before with a responsibility to develop creative responses to what is
going on in the present.
Plants and Planets: The Doctrine of Signatures
Western
healers were astrologers in many societies, and their medicine was
plant material. The Doctrine of Signatures, as conveyed by Paracelsus,
looks for the correspondence between the physical characteristics of
plants and the organs of the human body. As an example, mullein has
furry leaves, which gives a clue to the use of this plant for chest and
lung ailments: The “fur” is similar to the cilia of the trachea and the
alveoli of the lung.
Correspondence between the zodiacal mapping
of the human body and plant characteristics is another clue herbalists
were trained to observe. Yellow flowers and roots are associated with
the Sun; red flowers, leaves, and roots, with Mars. A thistle might also
be associated with Mars because of its spikes. The signs and symptoms
of the disease — the qualities of hot and cold, dry and moist — were
related to the appropriate plants and planets. For instance, fever,
because of its heat, and bleeding because of its red color, was
associated with fire (heat) and with an excess of Mars. The white
flowered yarrow plant, ruled by Venus, (considered a balance for the
excess of Mars) is used to staunch the flow of blood and to cool fevers.
Chiron used the herb to stanch the bleeding of Achilles. The Latin name
for yarrow is Achilles millefolium.
Nicholas Culpeper, a
17th-century social revolutionary, herbalist, apothecary, and
astrologer, left us with several herbal guidebooks still in print today.
These were the first such texts written in English, rather than Latin,
so that the common people might have access to healing from easily
available plants. Along with each herb, Culpeper noted its ruling
planet. Folk tradition, which had always depended upon plants and
astrology, had been devastated by the witch trials, so people were
terrified to admit any knowledge of herbs. Culpeper was able to give the
tradition back to those from whom it had been stolen.
Here is an
example of how the Doctrine of Signatures can be used with flower
essences to address a physical ailment. Snapdragon has a tiny mouth that
opens and “snaps” shut and was thus a good remedy for a client with
Bell’s Palsy, a disease causing pain and drooping paralysis of the head
and face. My client had been diagnosed with this uncomfortable malady,
which has no medicinal cure, and she was told that it would probably go
away in six months to a year. Transiting Mars had just entered her 1st
house. I suspected that this entry of Mars into Aries’s house had taken
the form of this painful attack on her head and face, parts of the body
traditionally ruled by Aries. I gave her an essence of snapdragon, based
upon the appearance of jaws in this flower. The pain and paralysis were
gone in a few days.
After her Bell's Palsy lifted, my client was
then able to carry out some plans for a community group. Mars in her 1st
house could now support her personal talents, and she became the head
of the civic organization rather than a woman with a painful attack upon
her head. The energy and determination of Mars in her first house was
transformed by the use of this particular flower essence.
The
connection between plants and planets and signs takes a variety of
forms, shapes, colors, and even numbers. For example, the Rose family
has five petals and thus a traditional connection to Venus. Why Venus?
Because, with her five-step cycle as evening and morning star, she has
been portrayed as a five-pointed star, the pentacle; the number 5 is
often associated with the feminine energy of the Goddess. When Venus is
uncomfortable in a natal chart because of sign, placement, or aspect to
other planets or is under siege during a transit, flower essences with
Venus characteristics can be tried as an antidote. This has to be done
very carefully over several sessions, to avoid activating the pattern of
resistance to Venus energy.
A variety of Rose-family essences
have helped clients who yearn for satisfying relationships but who are
discouraged by a history of failed love affairs. As progressed Venus
changes signs or houses, it’s not unusual for this despair to lift and
for clients to find room in their hearts to try love again.
Water
lily blossoms on top of water but has deep taproots that anchor the
plant to the bottom of the lake. I used water lily essence with a client
who has the Sun and Venus in Pisces. She had terrible pains in her
feet, a part of the body ruled by Pisces. This client also has Neptune
conjunct her North Node in Libra, which suggests that she needs to
listen to her Pisces, Jupiter (ruler of Pisces), Neptune, and Venus
(ruler of Libra) voices to move into new territory. The pains in her
feet came at a time when she was about to take a “big step.” I believed
that this client was not able to trust her Piscean energy to solve
problems and feel secure. Instead, she tended to fall back on her South
Node in Aries and Mars in Capricorn, often using a sledgehammer where a
gentle touch was needed.
Water lily eased the pain in her feet and
allowed her to trust herself to make decisions based on feeling rather
than a need for certainty. She could explore Piscean and Libran modes of
trust and could thus release her reliance on survival methods. As a
side benefit, she found that water lily enhanced her sexual desire
(Venus in Pisces), which enriched her relationship with her husband. She
also set aside time in her busy schedule to meditate. Like the water
lily, she opened to her potential to float while feeling the roots deep
beneath her.
This is where the invisible director, the soul, makes
choices. The chart becomes a stage; the planets, dynamic actors in an
endless, cosmic drama — a mythology constantly in the making. The plants
connect them to the transpersonal assistance of other realms and to the
healing momentum that is within each person. A link between the plants,
the planets in the charts, and the issues that trouble us are woven
from tradition and intuition in a process that continues to evolve.
Further Reading
Bach, Edward. Heal Thyself. C. W. Daniel Co. Ltd., 1931.
Bach, Edward. The Twelve Healers & Other Remedies. C. W. Daniel Co. Ltd., 1933.
Carr-Gomm, Philip. The Druid Way. Element Books, 1993.
Culpeper, Nicholas. Culpeper’s Complete Herbal & English Physician. Meyerbooks, 1990.
The Findhorn Community. The Findhorn Garden. Harper and Row, 1975.
Gerber, Richard, M.D. Vibrational Medicine. Bear and Co., 2001.
Kaminski, Patricia and Richard Katz. Flower Essence Repertory. Flower Essence Society, 1986.
Maclean, Dorothy. Seeds of Inspiration. The Lorian Association, 2004.
McIntyre, Anne. Flower Power. Henry Holt Co., 1996.
Tobyn, Graeme. Culpeper’s Medicine. Element Books, 1997.
Sarah
Fuhro combines her training as an astrology counselor and flower
essence practitioner in a healing practice called Star-Flower Alchemy.
She is a Druid member of the worldwide teaching Order of Bards, Ovates,
and Druids and participates in the training of Druids. To contact Sarah
phone (508) 652-9881; e-mail: sarahbeagl@aol.com or visit http://sarahfuhro.com.
This article appears in the Winter 2007 issue of Spirit of Change
