Choosing intellectually
The leaflets on the 38 Bach remedies give brief descriptions of 38 different states of mind. When I first read the cameos I quickly chose a mere 32, discarding only six! Two days later I narrowed my choice to 16, but it took considerable soul-searching to get down to 12! Actually it is uncommon in practice to benefit from more than six Bach remedies at any particular time.
This experience showed me the difficulty of choosing for myself, at least at the beginning. To choose wisely you need insight into your own personality, your needs, your hopes and your fears. It is actually very difficult to appreciate your own need for Holly (jealousy, envy, revenge, suspicion and greed), Vine (always right, never need to argue, always know best and tell you they do), Impatiens (impatience and irritability), and Willow (bitterness and resentment). On the other hand it's surprising how easy it is to know when a friend, partner or relative needs any of these four.
But the process of choosing accurately for yourself does have its reward, in terms of the insight it brings into your own personality. This insight catalyses growth and change, a process which the essences help initiate and support. The intellectual approach helps consolidate the benefits of insight and wisdom that are gained by observing the process of personal change and growth.
One of the problems for me was that the original literature, such as Dr Bach's The Twelve Healers, tends to give the most negative and extreme picture about a remedy. Actually the positive quality brought by taking the essence is just as important in choosing wisely. After all, we'd all like more of the quality of vitality, sound judgement and pleasure in living. But not many of us equate this with the remedy Pine if we read 'guilt, self-blame and self-reproach'.
It certainly isn't easy to detect your own need for Holly (hatred) or Willow (bitterness), yet some practitioners usually give one or other of these in the first treatment bottle. These two remedies address two of the most important aspects that need healing before any other problems can be addressed, yet recognising the speck in someone else's eye is always far easier than spotting the plank in your own!
Reading the positive aspects of a remedy is just as important as reading the negative. Sometimes our friends can help. They can generally see our imperfections as easily as we can find theirs. Of course if they are too closely related they may be emotionally involved in the problem and so unable to give unbiased help.
Dr Bach advised the user to pay particular attention to one's outlook on life. He identified twelve key personality traits and found remedies for each of these.
- Weakness: Centaury
- Terror: Rock Rose
- Fear: Mimulus
- Mental torture: Agrimony
- Indecision: Scleranthus
- Indifference: Clematis
- Fussiness: Chicory
- Self-distrust: Cerato
- Discouragement: Gentian
- Over-enthusiasm: Vervain
- Impatience: Impatiens
- Aloofness: Water Violet
Later he categorised emotions into seven main groups, each with several different facets: Fear; Loneliness; Insufficient interest in present circumstances; Despondency or despair; Uncertainty; Over-sensitivity to influences and ideas; Over-care for the welfare of others.
One useful starting point is to write your symptoms on a sheet of paper, particularly the mental and emotional ones. Write down also your reactions to any recent stresses or challenges. Add any major life events, sadnesses, problems or issues.
Try and draw out some themes from these and relate them to one or more of the seven categories Dr Bach described, if it is to be Bach Remedies you choose from. Choose at most six or seven essences, then try and narrow down your choice further. What you are left with are the remedies to use at present. The tighter you are able to make your choice, the more you benefit from the insight you gain from being critical in your choosing. In other words, a critical self-analysis has its own benefits - bringing insight into your own personality and consequent emotional challenges.
Bach Remedies are widely available, but other ranges, including the Masters and the Australian Bush, are particularly suited to the beginner as well, if these are what you have available. There is certainly great merit in buying a whole set if you can afford it. All the ranges described in the next chapter have essences to help solve the common problems we all share. If you cannot afford a whole set, choose the one that most fits your needs and your pocket.
Feel free to use remedies from any of the systems mentioned in this book if they are appropriate. You can choose more remedies than seven, but often the descriptions may appear similar for different essences, though they might have different characters. At this point you can either call in a skilled counsellor and essence practitioner, or you can realise an important new truth, namely, that there can be pitfalls in the process of taking a history, identifying a need and selecting the correct remedies.
There are actually a number of essences from which everybody benefits if taken in a 4-6 week course:
- Star of Bethlehem for long slow shock over the years or in childhood
- Holly to bring out love
- Mustard, Walnut and Willow to process any past traumatic or sad events - we all have them! Adding Sturt Desert Pea to these three makes a very powerful combination
- Pine is for the shoulds and shouldn'ts of life that weigh heavily on our shoulders.