Overview: Flower essence therapy involves the healing of the human soul through the use of potentized substances made from flowers. Flower essences have the unique ability to address mental and emotional levels of imbalance within the soul, and they are generally described and selected according to these more subtle qualities. Although flower essences have trans-physical attributes, we can come to know and appreciate these subtle healing aspects by training our senses and thinking capacities when beholding plants. By consciously extending and refining what we take in with our senses, we can cross the boundary of the physical world of plants and enter into the higher dimensions of plant life. Such research work forms the basis for understanding flower essence qualities and how they work within the human soul. The ability to hone our perception of plants creates a deep receptivity within the soul — an imaginable field of sensitive awareness — for encountering and being healed by the plant essences that we use for ourselves or select for others.

Through our research in the Flower Essence Society, we have identified twelve major windows of perception for viewing plant qualities. Each of these windows yields a different dimension of information about a plant, and yet the wisdom we seek is greater than an aggregate listing of all of these perspectives. We must "re-vision" and "re-view" these various insights as a living whole in order to appreciate the essential meaning of any given plant.

The twelve windows are not mutually exclusive divisions. Rather, these windows operate as a kaleidoscope, each perspective unique, yet with shifting colors and overlapping structures related to, and built from, each other. For any particular plant some of the windows will be more significant; while others will yield comparatively little insight. However, it is only by systematically considering a plant from a full spectrum of perspectives that we can hope to gain true insight into its subtle characteristics.

Botanical Plant Studies

When Dr. Bach developed his flower essences in the 1930's he left very clear descriptions of the personality profiles associated with each of his essences. Missing, however, from his written work, is any description of how the essence indications are derived from the properties of the essence plants themselves.

One of the principle contributions of the Flower Essence Society has been the development of flower essence plant studies, particularly the relationship of botanical classifications with flower essence qualities. These correlations are based on the perception that the forms and structures of the essence plants are expressions of their underlying qualities and energetic properties.

FES has expanded on the insights of such researchers as Paracelsus and Goethe who studied the "signatures" and "gestures" of plant forms, based on the ancient alchemical awareness that the macrocosm of Nature reflects the microcosm within the human body and soul. FES plant research applies these insights to the practical study of the therapeutic properties of flower essences.


by Richard Katz and Patricia Kaminski
http://www.flowersociety.org/twelve.htm

By Steven L Hutchinson