Simple Essence Preparation Instructions copyright 2002, 2005 Alicia Russell-Smith To make a flower essence, it's useful to be as grounded and tuned-in as possible.  In time you'll learn how to merge with the plant spirits in a fluid and fairly automatic way.  In the beginning stages, it's usually very helpful to pick a plant you already feel   bonded with and, if possible, have worked with in flower essence form with significant result.   Such prior work leaves you predisposed to believe in the value of what you're doing.  Belief makes it easier to trust yourself as well as the process.   As a practical rule of thumb, plan to prepare flower remedies on a sunny day with a cloudless sky.  As you continue essence preparation work, you may find some remedies call for different types of environmental conditions.  The established earth angels and medicine spirits in the places where you do your co-creative work may also lend practical as well as metaphysical input that differs from the established and best accepted dogma. Select flowers that are perfect and freshly bloomed.   It’s very likely your intuition and the attendant angels will guide you through this selection process.   The flowers are placed in a plain glass bowl; avoid pryex and other oven-proof ware, as well as etched designs.    Some people swear by distilled water and others (like myself) believe the distillation process robs the water of too much spirit.  I use spring water.   For reasonable, non-commercial sized batches, it isn’t necessary to use more than four to six ounces of water.  You'll want to remember to release the excess preparation in a respectful and perhaps ceremonial way.  Take the extra water back to the plant, water her roots, and thank her for her blessings and generosity. Over time I've found that relatively small sets of inexpensive bowls are very workable.  The best way to know how many flowers are necessary is through intuitive response to the plant’s spirit.   Some people state, more practically, that it's best to cover the entire surface of the water with blooms.  Some folks even remove the petals from the rest of the flower but I’m not one of them.  It feels too much like dismemberment to me and that thoughtform can impact the rest of the process in a negative way. The flowers should be placed in direct sun which will not turn to shade for the next four hours.  This is the most standardized amount of time needed to merge the plant’s essences with the water.  This basic preparation will be diluted to create a mother stock.  Use an amount of brandy equal to the flower water.   Dilute again with an equal amount of brandy and water in order to create a stock essence at the ratio of seven drops of mother stock per ounce.  This may be further diluted to dosage level; using a few droppers of stabilizer and filling the rest of the bottle with water.  Again, the proper ratio is created by adding 7 drops per ounce; this time from the stock bottle. In terms of alternate stabilizers, organic vinegar or red shiso is frequently substituted by those who wish to avoid working with, or ingesting, alcohol.   Some people prefer white or brown rice vinegar and others like the red cider varieties.  Although I am a sober alcoholic of 21 years, I choose to work with brandy because, to me, it feels like the “fix” of the essence’s structure is more complete and organically true to itself - especially when it's placed under the duress of massive energetic input that defines much of our normalized modern world. NOTE:   When you work with the preparation bowls, it’s important to avoid handling the flowers directly.  You can use a pair of tweezers or chopsticks to manipulate the petals in the water.   It’s common to pick the flowers by first picking a leaf of the same plant, and then using it as a protective wrapper for your fingers.  The plant touches itself, part-to-part, and the integrity of the essence’s structure will be insured. Strain the fused essence water two times before you dilute it with your stabilizer of choice.  I store the stock essences in four ounce, cobalt glass dropper bottles.  This can get expensive, but to me it’s the most efficient and useful way to accommodate a well-functioning healing repertory.   Pour the brandy into the bottle first, then the twice-strained preparation.   This is capped and shaken very vigorously for half a minute or so:  eventually it needs 777 shakes to thoroughly activate the mother stock's vibrational signature.   This process strikes many people as tedious but it definitely gives us a chance to bond more thoroughly with the medicine spirits we've been called to activate. You should label the bottles with the flower's name and the mother stock's creation date as soon as you possibly can.  If there needs to be a time lag, I put the bottles somewhere they won’t be disturbed - and far enough apart that I can still tell one from another even if they fall over somehow.   Anyone with cats will be especially appreciative of this safeguard.  I use very bright, easy to spot post-it sheets as a temporary labeling system.   I place the paper under the bottles until I have a chance to get back to the labelling chore.   Essences are as useful for plants & animals as they are for humans, and they are also entirely safe for children.   I add certain essences to my scrubbing water, individual bowls of soup, catfood, and any number of other places.  This addition to daily routine lends an enhancement quality to life which promotes true quality OF life.  I think that’s where peace and power usually meet  most  tangibly.   From there, it’s a question of individualized immanence, manifestation, and trans-personal achievement. back to flower essence subdirectory back to teaching/bio subdirectory site directory h-o-m-e