St. john’s wort a special summer herb holds an esteemed place in the world of flower essences. This light filled essences is made from the bright yellow flowers that begin blooming around the summer solstice. The days near the solstice are characterized by early sunrises and sunsets that stretch long into the evening. This abundance of light is a key signature of the action of this essence.

I has my first plant spirit journey with this herb. Plant spirit journeys are one way to gather information on the healing properties of the plant. Two years ago while attending a flower essences course with David Dalton and Kate Gilday I made an essence from this plant. There were many plants flowering at this time and we were instructed to make an essence of a plant we felt drawn to. I felt myself being guided to a bright yellow flowers of St.John’s Wort.

After making the essences we reconvened and prepared to journey to the plant spirit to seek information on the healing action of the essence. The journey was led by a drummer and verbal instructions from David. As with most spirit journeys we were told to find a portal near the plant and travel through the portal to meet the spirit.

The journey took me down a portal which led to a garden, it was like and English garden, very neat with rows and a pathway lined with some benches and lanterns. I walked around in this garden looking at the various plants and then sat down on a bench. Soon after sitting down I was greeted by luminous being about 3 feet fall. He told me he was the spirit of St. John’s Wort, I asked if he had a name, he said “John”, of course. I then asked him “What does St. John’s Wort flower essence do?”

The spirit jumped up put his hand on my belly, upon putting his hand on my stomach a light grew and then spread to encompass my whole body in tight field of light. I could feel a brightness and sense of protection and upliftment from this action. He then sat down next to me, we just sat together on the bench and soon afterwards the drumming changed rhythm and we were lead back to body consciousness.

I related my story to the group and David shared that in his research he discovered that St John’s Wort strengthens the energy field where it connects to the stomach. What I discovered from this plant is that it has a powerful ability to strengthen the human energy field, it tightens the energy field pulling it closer to the body. David recalled that in his research he found that it ‘tightens the filaments of light in our protective field.

The human energy or aura, can be damaged or compromised by stress, ill health, drugs and negative thoughts and feelings. When our field is compromised we may feel tired, unable to focus, experience unexplained fears, disturbed sleep and nightmares. Research by the Flower Essence Society recommends it for people who are overly expanded, thus making them more susceptible to outside influence. This essence has also been used to treat depression related to Seasonal Affective Disorder.

Saint Johns Wort’s unique actions make it a useful essence to have on hand when we need extra support in maintaining the integrity of or energetic field.

Winter has afforded us the time to go inside but now spring is here and it is time to shake off the winter doldrums. The days are getting longer and the sun is rising higher in the sky, change is in the air. It is observable with green shoots emerging, trees budding and birds singing. Lets go! and Let go!

Here are some flower essences which we can use to enliven our energy system and spirits.Cayenne, Horseradish, Habanero Pepper, Goldenseal, Blackberry and Lovage, these are common plants with exception of goldenseal (endangered) which have a home in kitchens around the world. The first essence we will look at is cayenne pepper produced by Flower Essence Services.

Cayenne is useful to ignite the fiery forces within us, this useful when we feel emotionally or spiritually stagnant. This is helpful when we feel unable to make changes in certain areas of our life such as career, relationships, decisiveness or when we are stuck procrastinating.

Habanero pepper is known as one of the hottest peppers in the world and this signature of heat is useful for catalysing repressed energies which are tied up in trauma. This essence helps the soul to penetrate deeper into the lower chakras, this movement can shake up the energy system as old traumas are brought into our awareness and released. This essence can be of benefit when we feel depressed, absentminded, can’t think clearly or stuck daydreaming.

Goldenseal, a native plant of the North America is commonly used as a natural antibiotic and detoxifier. It is common to woodlands across the northeast and mid west, the potent energy of this remedy greatly assists in clearing out debris in our subconscious. Sometimes this ‘debris’ or old energy holds us in a pattern of obsessive thinking that challenges us to break free and develop new habits. This is a very supportive remedy for clearing out the old.

Horseradish, feeling stuck, feeling tired, feeling controlled by others . . . turn to horseradish. This essence helps one to bring into focused awareness our power, our real inner power to change a situation. Fears tie up tremendous amounts of energy, which can lead to us feeling tired and unable to make the breakthrough we so desire. This essence bringing this into focus, enlivens the energy system to shake off frustration build confidence and move forward. This flower essence helps us take more control of lives and is excellent to use when setting goals, this essence will spur more action and help focus our energy on goal achievement.

Blackberry we may be caught in minds yet know that we need to act, the inertia of this can be enough to inhibit action. This plant is a member of the rose family and its tenacious growth pattern is a signature of its action. This essence helps to close the gap between thoughts and action and fosters movement in a decisive way.

Lovage, feeling frustrated, have plans yet there is something that keeps you tied up in the mental sphere and taking action gets usurped . . . sound familiar. This essence greatly assists the movement process bringing joy and confidence helping us to move from the thinking planning stage to the action stage. This essence will help us to get a grip on thought energy in a way that we can filter down into concrete action.

The above remedies are a sampling of the major flower essences which are useful for when we have thoughts, goals and dreams that need extra energy in order to translate into physical manifestation. The thinking process uses a lot of energy and when we are caught up in a cycle of thoughts we may find we lack the energy to take the action. All these essences greatly assist the 3rd chakra and our willpower towards action.

A common theme of the essences listed above is that they treat sluggishness in the lower areas of our body, whether is it be cold feet, tired legs or slow metabolism. Now, is a great time to take advantage of the growth forces of nature and bring these forces in greater quantities into the body in order to translate thought to action.

When investigating an essence it is not uncommon to find different definitions of the same essence by different companies. In this post we will take a deeper look at Sunflower, an essence produced by Delta Gardens, Alaskan Flower Essence Project and Flower Essence Services. All three companies are respected for their integrity and comprehensive research methods. They also all hail from diverse geographical regions, New England, Northern California and Alaska and offer an expanded perspective of Sunflower.

The sunflower is part of the plant family known as composites, this includes daisies, tansy, chamomile, and echinacea, they are the second largest flowering plant species in the world. They consist of a round flower head, surrounded by by petals. There are some daisies with no petals and they are known as class two composites, such as tansy, moxa and wormwood. Back to class one composites, the circular nature of the flower resembles the sun, the way a child may draw. Lets look at the different definitions by the 3 producers:

Delta Gardens- “This essence enhances the ability to project energy outward. Will forces are strengthened along with a persons sense of his or her ability to do things. This essence helps treat fear of success and fear of failure.”

FES- “Balanced sense of individuality, spiritualized ego forces sun radiant personality. Sunflower heals disturbances or distortions in the soul’s relationship to the masculine, often associated with a conflicted or deficient relationship to the father in childhood.”

Alaskan-”The essence of Sunflower strengthens the quality of individuality and brings balance to the process of soul activation on the physical plane. Sunflower helps attract and activate one’s unique spiritual potential in a centered way through the establishment of a grounded, nurturing connection to the earth.”

The language used by each producer is different, which in a sense reflects their personality and interpritations of the energies of this flower remedy. A common theme is sunflower essence affects and works with the will/ego/ individualized consciousness. The will/ego is our solar force which is related our masculine side. The sun projects its energy, the earth receives it and growth is activated, life flourishes. Sunflower helps us with our own capacity to activate the solar energy within us through our solar plexus also known as the 3rd chakra.

What can we glean from all three definitions?

Sunflower essence: Is a strengthener, activator and harmonizer of will forces and helps to balance our relationship to the masculine and solar forces within us

Some areas of use are, treating low self esteem or an over inflated sense of self, manifesting our desires in a tangible way on the earth plane, activating inherent potential, healing disturbances with the masculine and our own difficulties with our father or father figures, building confidence stemming self sabotage.