Mood · Learn

Bach Flower Remedies

Dr Edward Bach’s 38 essences in seven groups, plus Rescue Remedy. Mood language, not medicine.

Dr Edward Bach described 38 essences in seven groups, and a combination of five — Rescue Remedy — for acute weather. In this house they are mood language: a way to name tight, heavy, scattered, tender, unnamed. They are not medicine, not a diagnosis, not for sale.

Walk a group the way you walk a garden. If a sentence is true today, that is enough. You do not have to take anything. Naming is already a practice, and it belongs with the healing room’s flower-and-mood.

The five together

Rescue Remedy

Acute weather: shock, panic, a too-fast mind, absence from the body, fear of losing the helm.

Five of the 38, combined. Mood language for a spike, not a medicine, not a first-aid kit, not a substitute for emergency care.

Seven groups

Bach’s own headings. Each group is a climate. Each essence is a more precise weather inside it.

Rock rose, mimulus, aspen, cherry plum, and red chestnut gathered on cream paper

For those who have fear

Fear

Named fear, unnamed fear, panic, fear for others, fear of losing the helm.

Wild oat, gorse, gentian, and hornbeam on cream linen

For those who suffer uncertainty

Uncertainty

Doubt of one's own judgment, two paths, setback, hopelessness, the Monday mind, the unchosen vocation.

Clematis, honeysuckle, olive, and white chestnut on a wooden board

For those who do not take sufficient interest in present circumstances

Insufficient interest in the present

Elsewhere, yesterday, apathy, exhaustion, circling thought, causeless gloom, the unlearned lesson.

Water violet, heather, and impatiens in a stone dish of water

For those who are lonely

Loneliness

Proud distance, the too-fast mind that works alone, the talk that cannot land.

Agrimony, walnut, holly, and centaury on cream paper

For those over-sensitive to influences and ideas

Oversensitivity to influences

Cheer that hides a bruise, the difficulty of no, the need for a shell in change, the heat of envy or suspicion.

Pine, oak, star of Bethlehem, willow, and crab apple on linen

For those in despondency or despair

Despondency or despair

Expected failure, guilt, too much to carry, anguish at the limit, shock, bitterness, the fighter who will not rest, shame of the self.

Chicory, vervain, vine, beech leaves, and a small dish of rock water

For those who over-care for the welfare of others

Over-care for the welfare of others

Possessive care, over-striving, the will that dominates, intolerance, rigid self-rule.