Flower essences are wonderful tools for self-transformation, especially for working on the emotions, which are key to creating a feeling of wellbeing. Making your own essences from the plants around you can give you a range of personalised tools to lift and change your mood.

Flower essences are very safe, they work at a vibrational level, in a similar way to homeopathic remedies. You can take them along with any current medication, even give them to children and pets.

You will need:

A small, clear glass bowl
Spring water- fresh is best, but still bottled water will do if you can’t collect from a natural spring
Filter paper- coffee filter papers are fine- preferably unbleached
A glass jug
Brandy- for preserving the finished essence
A small funnel
A small bottle- preferably with a pipette
Labels & pen

All of the items should be scrupulously clean, and the glassware sterilised

1. Decide what to make. Take a walk around your garden, or go into nature & notice the plants in flower- you will probably feel drawn to one particular type of flower to make your essence- it is best to only make one at a time.
2. Choose a nice sunny day to make your essences. Go out early to find freshly opened flowers.
3. Fill the small glass bowl with spring water and place on the ground in the sun.
4. Asking permission from the plant in your mind, and with gratitude, carefully pick enough flowers to cover the surface of the water (don’t do this with endangered species please!)
5. Leave the essence to develop in the sun. The sun’s rays help the energy signature of the flower move into the water.
6. You will probably need to leave it there for three to four hours. If you pendulum dowse you can check when the essence is ready- otherwise you can rely on your intuition to tell you it ‘feels done’.
7. Strain the flowers from the water into a jug using filter paper
8. Decant into the bottle, half filling it, adding the same amount again of brandy to preserve your essence. Made with care and kept in a cool place it will store indefinitely.
9. Cap the bottle and write a label, include the date & type of flower.
10. Drink a little of the remaining essence if you like, then return it to the Earth with thanks.

You can dilute this ‘mother’ essence further to make a ‘stock’ bottle:
Take another small clean bottle and fill with brandy. Just two or three drops of the mother essence added to the stock bottle will carry the energy signature throughout the contents. In this way your mother essence will last you an extremely long time.

Flower Essence practitioners usually dilute again one further stage to make a ‘dosage’ bottle from their stock bottle for their clients, this is the final dilution that is found to be effective, however further dilution isn’t necessary for home use.

It is worth knowing that most essences on sale in shops are stock bottle strength, therefore you can dilute them down to create dosage bottles that you can share with friends and family. One bottle of essence can go a very long way!

You can take your essence by adding a couple of drops to a glass of water, or add a few drops to a bottle of water to sip throughout your day. Keep a diary to note any emotions or changes that occur. This will help you work out what your essence does. You can make up a bottle for a friend to use too and compare notes.

You can also make essences with crystals in this way but you must make sure that the crystal is clean, physically and energetically, non toxic and will not dissolve in water. Check your facts before you proceed!