Newsgroups: alt.magick
From: oispeggy@********* (Peggy Brown)
Subject: howto make flower essences, x-post from Castaneda list...


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INSTRUCTIONS FOR MAKING FLOWER ESSENCES
USING COMMON HOUSEHOLD ITEMS
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Materials needed for EACH flower essence to be prepared:

* 1 clear, unadorned glass bowl, to hold about 12 oz. of water
* 1 16-oz. glass storage bottle (blue is preferred, but amber,
green, or clear glass is acceptable), with a new cork stopper and
a blank label
* 12 oz. of unpolluted local spring water (preferred) or distilled
water, in a glass bottle with cork stopper (I use a wine bottle)
* 4 oz. of pure brandy (I like Korbel)
* several wild or organically grown plants of the chosen species,
in full bloom with abundant flowers
* 1 4-oz. bottle (again, blue preferred, but amber, green, or clear
is acceptable) with blank label and glass dropper and bulb in cap,
to hold the "stock" tincture (diluted from mother essence)
* several 2-oz. bottles (blue preferred etc.) with blank label and
glass dropper and bulb in cap, for the "dosage" tinctures (diluted
from the stock tincture; one bottle for each person who takes the
essence)

The last two items are the hardest to find, but fortunately you
don't need them to prepare the mother essence, you only need them
when you dilute the essences for use.

Other items needed for making and storing flower essences:

* 1 glass funnel
* 2 finger-sized quartz crystals, unpolished
* 1 kitchen
* 1 pot (with lid) made of enamel, glass, copper, or stainless
steel, big enough to hold bowl & bottles, for sterilizing
* 1 cloudless morning, preferably in spring or summer
* 1 idyllic, fairy forest glen with towering oaks and dancing nature
sprites (preferred) or a spot in your backyard. It has to get
full sun starting in the early morning and lasting for at least
three hours. Also, privacy is nice because you'll be talking to
the plants, and, as dJ says, you must talk to them in a loud,
clear voice if you expect them to answer you.
* 1 linen cloth (I use a piece of raw 100% linen artist's canvas)
* sea salt
* 1 cupboard or closet shelf, away from plastics, petrochemicals,
camphor, caffeine, and toxic metals like lead or aluminum (that
is, not in the kitchen, bathroom, or garage--I use a hall closet
shelf), for storing mother and stock bottles
* a box in which you can place the mother bottles for carrying in
such a way that they will not touch each other (optional--needed
only if the place where the plants are growing is far from the
place where they will be stored)
* extra brandy for sipping on cloudless morning while waiting for
essences to be done (also optional)

In what follows, I assume that spring water is being used, to avoid
having to say "spring or distilled water" all the time.

I try to make more than one essence at a time whenever possible. The
only thing you have to be careful to do is to rinse your hands and
any equipment you're using (like the funnel or the bottle of spring
water) under running water when you're done working with one essence
and want to move on to the next. This is to avoid contaminating the
second essence with the vibrations of the first, which may cling to
your hands and equipment if you don't rinse them. Vibrational
cross-contamination is a continual worry of flower-essence makers,
but fortunately it is a danger only when working with the mother
tinctures and, to a lesser degree, the stock tinctures. The dosage
tinctures of several different plants can even be mixed in the same
bottle without contaminating each other.

Before making any essences, clean the cupboard or shelf space where
they are to be stored, using distilled water and a linen or cotton
cloth. Leave the space empty for several days prior to use. Put some
quartz crystals in the area.

Steps preparatory to making flower essences (I usually do these the
night before my cloudless morning):

1. Sterilize the pot by boiling tap water in it for 10 minutes.
Discard the water.
2. Wash the bowl, the bottles, and the funnel.
3. Sterilize the bowl, the bottles, and the funnel by boiling them
in the pot with tap water for 10 minutes.
4. Label the 16-oz. mother bottles with the name of the flower
essence; for example:

ST. JOHN'S WORT
(Hypericum Perforatum)
FLOWER ESSENCE
MOTHER TINCTURE

5. Collect the spring water you'll need (12 oz. per essence).

The sterilizing in boiling water is not only to remove bacterial
contamination, but to remove any vibrations from whatever was in
the bottles or bowls previously, or from the manufacturing process,
in the case of new bottles.

I have a funnel and a couple of bowls I use only for making flower
essences, and a couple of bottles I use for carrying spring water.
You don't have to boil such equipment to sterilize it after the first
time; all you have to do is fill the sterilized pot with spring
water, put some crushed quartz crystals in a clean linen cloth, then
dip the bowl or whatever in the spring water with the bag of
crystals. Then dip the bag of crystals alone in the water. This
clears away any lingering old essences, and saves a lot of boiling.

Early in the morning of your cloudless day, take your stuff to a
place that's a little distant from the flowers. (You don't want the
equipment--especially the brandy, which you have to keep pure, from
one gathering to the next--to be permeated by any flower's essence,
for then it would contaminate other essences.)

Then follow these steps:

1. Pour 12 oz. of spring water into a bowl. Take the bowl and the
two quartz crystals and go to the plants. Talk to them. Explain
what you're doing, talk baby talk, or tell them how cute they
are--whatever. You are hoping to get a friendly, affirmative
response.

Here's what Gurudas says about communicating with the plants:

Thy communication in dialogue needs to be sensitive to the
fields of life and light about these essences, for herein is
the dimensional state upon which the devic forces exist. As
you work with plant forces, placing flowers on the water, be in
communication with these intelligences as though they were
present with thee, even though you may not see them with the
physical eye. Eventually you will evolve, with the ability of
the physical eyes, to see those energies or nature spirits.
This increases your communication with them as forms of
intelligence and acknowledges their existence....
Explain to the nature spirits exactly what you are doing, so
they will understand and help in the process of transferring
life force of the flower into the water. In picking flowers,
you are literally stepping into someone's territory. If you
want to walk across someone's private property, it is courteous
to first ask permission.... (p. 21)

2. Sit by the plants and attune yourself to them. Release any
attachment to the outcome of the whole endeavor. Wait until
you feel attuned to the plant and know that it has given you
permission to pick its flowers. If you don't get a good feeling
from the plant, as if it wants to help you, thank it courteously
and go find another plant, or go on to make the next essence.

3. If the plant gives its assent, place the bowl on the ground near
the plants. If you need to elevate the bowl (to catch the sun,
say), place it on wood or a natural stone, never metal or cement.

4. Remove flowers one at a time and place each immediately on the
surface of the water. Pick enough to cover the whole surface.
Do not touch the flower with your hands; instead, use either a
leaf of the plant or the pair of quartz crystals to pick each
flower. It is important to be very gentle, as any great shock
to the plant will cause its essence (energy field) to retreat
into the ground. If you drop a flower, leave it on the ground.
Also, do not let your hands touch the water. If several plants
are available, pick the healthiest looking flowers from them all,
rather than denuding one plant. Try not to take more than half
the flowers on any one plant; this is simple courtesy.

5. Note the time. Go rinse your hands and the crystals, then take
them back to the spot where you left your other equipment.

6. Repeat steps 1-5 for the other flower essences being prepared.

7. When all the flower gathering is done, pour 4 oz. of brandy into
each of the 16-oz. mother tincture bottles. Then go sip brandy
(or however you want to spend the time) until the first bowl
of flowers has been basking in the sun for three hours.

8. Take the funnel and the mother bottle to the bowl that's done,
then carefully remove the flowers from the water, using a leaf
from the plants so that your hands do not touch the water. Also
remove any insects or debris that may have fallen into the water.
The water should look sparkling and clean. Pour the water into
the bottle using the funnel. Set the bowl aside to be sterilized
(away from the other equipment and the brandy). Put the mother
bottle in the storage space or in the carrying box.

9. Go rinse your hands and the funnel, then return to the spot where
you left your equipment.

10. Repeat steps 8-9 for the other flower essences.

This may sound complicated, but it is really just a matter of being
conscious of where each flower's vibrations have gone so you don't
let one essence contaminate another. When you're done, rinse the
crystals and funnel and sterilize the bowls (using the
bag-of-crystals method). You can store the equipment in the space
with the mother bottles as long as everything has been sterilized.

To prepare a 4-oz. stock bottle, wait at least two days after making
the mother tincture. Then wash and sterilize the stock bottle, and
put 1 oz. of brandy in it. Fill the rest of the bottle with 3 oz.
of spring water. Fill the stock bottle dropper with mother tincture
from the mother bottle. Add 7 drops to the stock bottle. Empty the
remaining mother tincture in the mother bottle, replace the dropper
in the stock bottle, and cork the mother bottle. Wipe the mother
bottle with linen dipped in a solution of water and sea salt. Shake
the stock bottle about 15 times and store it in the cupboard or
shelf.

To prepare some 2-oz. dosage bottles: again, wait at least two days
after the stock tincture has been prepared. Wash, sterilize, and
label the dosage bottles, fill each with 1/2 oz. brandy and 1 1/2 oz.
spring water, then use the stock bottle dropper to add 7 drops of
stock tincture to each dosage bottle. Cap all bottles. Shake each
dosage bottle 15 times. The dosage bottles are ready for immediate
use. When you give someone a bottle, write the name of the person
on the bottle's label.

A flower essence that is being taken for a specific problem is
usually taken once a day by placing seven drops in a glass of water,
then drinking the water. For dream recall, it would make sense to
take the essence in the evening. If you don't want to drink the
water, you can simply put seven drops from the dosage bottle under
your tongue.

Never put the stock bottle dropper into an unsterilized bottle or
a bottle containing a different flower essence. Never share a single
dosage bottle between two people. Store the stock and mother bottles
so they don't touch each other; keep the mother bottles about 1 foot
apart. Wipe them once every three months with linen dipped in a
solution of water and sea salt to clean them of environmental
contamination.

There are many fine points to this work that I have omitted for
brevity's sake. For example, flowers that grow facing the east side,
rather than the west, of a shrub or tree tend to be slightly more
potent; flowers from the top of a tree tend to move emotions, while
those near the bottom stabilize them; and so on. In a pinch you can
bend most of the rules; you can get by with a plastic funnel, leave
the flowers out a little longer if there are some clouds in the sky,
etc. The main ones you can't bend are the requirements that you get
permission from the plant, that the essence must not stay out so long
that the flowers begin to wilt, and that petrochemicals or toxic
substances should not be kept near the storage area for any extended
period of time. Also, roses, lotus, papaya, and mango require 50%
brandy instead of 25%. If you want to know more, get the Gurudas
book.

The *intent* of the person making the essence is probably the most
important factor. You don't necvessarily have to gullibly believe
anything, but you need to at least have an open mind, and of course
not too much self-importance.

Properly stored, mother tinctures can last indefinitely. If you only
use them to prepare stock bottles, and only use the stock bottles to
prepare dosage bottles, one 16 oz. mother bottle will supply you and
all your relations with plenty of flower essence for the next seven
generations. So it's worth taking care to do it right.

The first essence I made was Easter Lilly, which is a general
purifier of the female reproductive organs. I made it for a friend
who was concerned about the possibility of ovarian cancer (mainly
because she had been reading about it, not because she had any
medical tests that indicated she had it). She had a hard time
believing that the dosage tincture would do anything (even though
there's really no real substance in the mother tincture either), so I
gave her the mother tincture straight. This will usually cause the
essence to affect the physical body more directly, and is generally
to be avoided because it circumvents, to some degree, the body's
intelligence. But if she had taken the dosage tincture, her
disbelief that it could be effective would have worked against her.

After a few days of doing nothing different except taking a few
drops of the mother tincture each day, she got her period early, and
her body ejected some fibrous matter that she said looked like small
fibroid tumors. This result even impressed me! I hadn't expected
anything quite so dramatic on my first attempt.