“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye”, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Most people think of flower essences when they hear the name Bach flowers. And that’s the closest they get in understanding the genius in Dr Bach, a man whose gentle compassion for healing the world made him look into the gutter of our guts and over the rim of his teacup into the world to rediscover the essence of healing in the form of specific flowers and trees. And Rock Water.
Today, his true teachings are mostly ignored. Premixed bottles marketed for anxiety or sleeplessness often have nothing to do with Bach’s original vision, despite the label. As healing has become commercialised, “New Age” therapies often miss the point entirely.
And with that, any chance of solving the problem. Used correctly, Bach flowers can open the gateway to your higher self and help to restore your balance on all levels. So let me take you into his world. I’d really like you to get to know his thoughts, some of his insights and dreams; they can be of great inspiration, as he made us responsible for our health. Contrary to a medical complex that has outlived its purpose, which was never about healing anyway. Take your time to acknowledge an auspicious soul that left us an incredible legacy.
Dr Bach studied Medicine in Birmingham and later as a house surgeon at the University College Hospital in London. As a bacteriologist and pathologist, he undertook original research into vaccines in his own research laboratory.
Dr Edward Bach qualified as a doctor in 1912. He saw thousands of cases coming in and out of the wards, and he observed patients returning health problems, only located differently. He saved thousands before he himself was struck down by a tumour in 1917, with a grim outlook. But he hadn’t achieved his goal to turn medicine less mechanical and more human, less bloody and more effective. Returning to his studies despite his condition, his fixation on finding a cure helped him overcome his own.
From his end, it wasn’t hard to notice that there was a link between the emotional state of a patient and the disease. He made his consciousness, which drove him to find a solution to human suffering, responsible for his recovery. Inspired by Hahnemann’s legacy, he developed seven homoeopathic Nosodes from his vaccines. And these were later reflected in his 7 emotional ground types, which would group his flower remedies.
He found something that aligned with his perception, but he couldn’t solve the missing link. In 1930, he freed himself from all that remained within the medical system. He left their teachings behind, together with his successful London practice and turned inward and to the countryside.
There, he could finally complete his collection of helpers, healers and spiritual guides...all found among flowers, bushes and trees, except Rockwater. Interestingly, a lot of these plants have been mentioned as divine helpers in old scripts. Some have been described as holy plants. Their names are in sacred books, rhymes and verses, songs and paintings. An interesting collection of these texts can be found in the epic book ” The White Goddess”, by Robert von Ranke-Graves, bringing together mythical language, cultural interconections, and spiritual context. Dr Bach found that the way a patient deals with his illness exposes his personality traits and temperaments. And that there is a link between these behaviour patterns and the balance of gut bacteria. A disbalance caused by a lack or an excess of certain bacteria would lead to a disbalance of the whole energetic body, and further down to the accumulation of dense particles, hence physical disease. He categorised seven main groups as follows:
- Fear
- Incertainty (Insecurity)
- Insufficient Interest in Present Circumstances
- Lonliness
- Oversensitivity to Influences and Ideas
- Despondency or Despair
- Over-care for the Welfare of Others
He grew more sensitive; his compassion and love for others made him feel their emotional pain. This again enabled him to find the right plant, mostly a flower that would vibrate the same energy. Over time, he completed his set into 38 essences. By filtering their frequency through the dew and sun, he developed a method so gentle, so subtle that it seems unbelievable it could provoke any disease (which should be spelt dis-ease, because that’s what it is!) to vanish, disappear into thin air within weeks.
But frequencies never lie. They react.
And less makes it easier for our emotional body to react.
But even while he was still alive, a few people began promoting the idea of combining the 38 remedies into one elixir, seeking to solve everyone’s problems with a single mix – an idea that, since then, has multiplied. And grew tentacles of premixed, diluted, invented or distorted superfixes sold at the crossroads of holistic wellness therapies and commerce. Health has turned into one of the biggest commodities, not being healthy.
“The distortion is a far greater weapon than attempted destruction.”
Dr Edward Bach, October 1936, a month before he died.
May we all learn to see through our hearts, feel through our energies and speak through love.
Leave your experience here, as it helps you and others