SOUL. A Deeper Way to Work With Plants.
Plants have a lot to offer, and science is just trying to catch-up to their uses. As good science goes, randomized controlled trials reign supreme, and we try to isolate what exact part/compound could be having the potent impact. It’s pretty amazing the detail, and also has the potential to take away from the totality of the plant.
I’d like to offer a few different quotes and thoughts from other herbalists on St. John’s Wort. This plant is so much more than just its two (currently) isolated medical constituents, hyperforin and hypericin, it carries within it the full potential of light from the Summer Solstice. Solstice and Soul have a relation not just in sound, but also in meaning. There’s a depth that goes deeper than “discovered” constituents.
““It is indicated for depression due to feelings of isolation, lack of community and a sense of being disconnected from the rest of the world. SJW facilitates the body receiving sunlight... She will bring light into your heart. She will allow you to understand your own need for community and the need for social connectedness.”
This past week, I have been using SJW in a more energetic way to help calm and ground me in the frenetic energy of Summer and Solstice through a flower essence form. Dr. Bach is the father of flower essences, and this was his take on using plants in this way:
“Health depends on being in harmony with our souls. There is no true healing unless a change in outlook, peace of mind and inner happiness. Disease of the body is nothing but the disharmony between soul and mind. ”
I’d like to share the idea behind flower essences here through a reading from the Flower Essence Repertory by Patricia Kaminski and Richard Katz:
“Flower essences do not derive from any direct bio-chemical interaction within the physiology of the body, but work through the various human energy fields, which in turn influence mental, emotional and physical well-being. The action of flower essences can be compared to the effects we experience from hearing a particularly moving piece of music, or seeing an inspirational work of art. The light or sound waves reach our senses may evoke profound feelings in our soul, which indirectly affect our breathing, pulse rate and other physical states. These patterns do not impact us by direct physical or chemical intervention in our bodies. Rather, it is the contour and arrangement of the light or sound which awakens an experience within our own soul similar to that which arose within the soul of the creator of the musical or art form. This is the phenomenon of resonance, as when a guitar string sounds when a matching note is sung. In a similar way, the specific structure and shape of the life forces conveyed by each flower essence resonate with, and awaken, particular qualities within the human soul.
We can describe the water containing the blossoms as receiving a kind of holographic imprint of the essential qualities of the plant. Each drop of water contains the whole configuration of the plant's archetype. The full etheric message of the plant essence remains in the few highly dilute drops we take into our bodies. Working with flower essences requires a stretch in our thinking beyond the materialistic assumption that "more is better."
