It combines the essences of Star of Bethlehem, which helps deal with the shock of trauma: Rock Rose, which helps reduce terror: Cherry Plum, which helps deal with the fear of losing one's mind in extreme states of fright: Clematis, which helps one center in the present: and Impatiens, which helps one deal with things one at a time rather than staying trapped in the hope that everything will be cleared up at once. I have both seen and experienced how this remedy can help people in severe mental distress calm down enough to start dealing with their situations.

This remedy can be taken in a glass of warm water, rubbed on the lips of an unconscious accident victim, or even sprayed in the air in a crowd where emotions are running high. It is also sold as a cream which can be massaged into an injured area.

Get into a meditative state and communicate with the flowers, let them know why you want to make an essence and what you hope to use it for. Ask permission to pick the flowers for this purpose and wait for an answer. Ask the deva or spirit of the flower to help you and help transfer all available healing energy into the essence.

Pick the blossoms without touching them if you can; it's best to use cotton gloves. Float the flowers in a clear glass bowl of spring water. Put the bowel in the sun. Usually takes 2-4 hours depending on the weather; the energy absorption will take longer if it's cloudy. Ask the deva or spirit when you think they are done, and wait for an answer.

Filter the liquid and mix it with brandy, three parts of solution to two parts of brandy. This is the Mother Tincture. Pour into dark glass bottles. All essences should be stored out of light and heat, away from sources of electromagnetic energy.

To make a Stock Solution, put 3 drops of the Mother Tincture in one ounce of fluid; again, this fluid is three parts of water to two parts brandy. This Stock Solution is what you buy from suppliers or retailers. Both it and the Mother Tincture can be stored for many years without loss of potency.

To make a Dosage bottle, put 3 drops of stock solution in one ounce of spring water. Add 1 tsp of either brandy, glycerine, or vinegar. You can often get by without the preservative in the dosage bottle if you refrigerate and use within 2 weeks.

Up to six different essences may be mixed in a dosage bottle, depending on your needs.

To take the essences, put four drops from the dosage bottle under the tongue four times daily.

The best way to choose the remedies is to read the descriptions and think about whether the they paint an accurate picture of either your current or habitual emotional patterns. There are also questionares available which allow one to select essences for him/herself.

Many people use muscle testing to choose flower essences. The theory behind muscle testing, which is also called "biokinesiology," is that our muscles will be stronger when we focus on something positive for our system than when we focus on something likely to harm us. You can try this by holding your arm out in front of you and stating your name; a friend trying to push your arm down will find it strong. Then say, "My name is Ethelred;" if your name is not, in fact, Ethelred, your friend will likely find it easy to push your arm down. It is actually possible to learn to muscle test for oneself using the small muscles in the fingers. Machaelle Wright describes this technique in her book "Flower Essences."

Muscle testing can be used to confirm the essences one chooses by reading about them, or it can be used as the exclusive tool for choice.

Someone who is confident in the use of a pendulum or other intuitive techniques can also select essences in this way.

I have found that in general the Bach essences work best with long-term emotional patterns. The Flower Essence Services (also called "California") essences can work with long term patterns, but can also work very well with short-term spritual or emotional challenges. Perelandra essences tend to work best with situational challenges. Some essences will be relevent for months or years, and can be taken in several consecutive dosage bottles. Some will be relevent for a number of days.

In Flower Essences, Michael Wright outlines techniques that work through disease processes or emotional patterns by taking single doses of essences determined by muscle testing, then testing for any further essences needed, until the testing provides the answer that one is clear of further emotional patterns needing essences at the present time.

When one is starting, I would suggest reading about the Bach essences and selecting one or two remedies that seem relevent to take for a month or two. See what sort of difference this makes for you. I also think every household should have a bottle of Rescue Remedy to use for anything from cuts, stings, and poison ivy, to intense emotional situations and frank emergencies. If one is interested in using the essences for healing or spiritual growth, s/he might then consider buying a small set such as the Perelandra essences and using them along with meditation, journalling, and internal journeys.

If you are sensitive to plants, you can start making essences from the plants that seem to stand out and attract your attention. Often these will be the plants whose energies will help you. If you work this way, you might want to enlist the help of clarivoyant or clairaudient friends sensitive to energies, who can validate your impressions about the effects of the essences. As one works with these remedies and reads the descriptions offered by the companies that have developed lines of essences based on local flora, it becomes obvious that Nature has supplied every region with plants whose energies cover the whole range of emotional healing needs.

This is an exciting field because the essences can be extremely powerful, but it is safe to experiment. It also brings one into deeper contact with the plants, seeing them as energy beings who can join us as partners in our healing, rather than as packets of chemicals. It helps us deepen our awareness of the Divine in all living things, and to connect with the unique presentations of Divinity in our friends the plants.