Flower Essence Descriptions

Bach Flower essences

*Note: It is common that not every aspect of a remedy description will apply to you. Some aspects of a description may appear extreme or completely inapplicable. This is because each emotional state has differing levels of intensity. Do not be off-put if there are aspects of a remedy description that do not apply to you. Likewise, we may all slip into the extremes of certain moods from time to time. Emotions are not inherently good or bad. If a more extreme description does apply to you right now that is okay!

Agrimony

• For: Repressed emotions/ pretending all is well; the individual who always seems to have a cheery exterior, but internally they repress their emotions to avoid facing them; may frequently joke about or make light of very serious or sad situations to avoid facing the painful reality; may dissociate from painful emotions or experiences; may have difficulty connecting to their own emotions.
• Positive Potential: Ability to connect with and acknowledge one’s own emotions better; ability to face their ailments or emotions without repressing them; ability to share their problems with others rather than keeping them hidden behind a sunny disposition; ability to acknowledge one’s problems and then deal with them without sweeping them under the rug.

Aspen

• For: Vague, unidentifiable fears; fears with no known rational cause; terrible feeling of foreboding; apprehension, anxiousness, foreboding feelings without any known cause.
• Positive Potential: Fearlessness, true joy, renewed excitement for adventure; calming of fears to allow the individual to face the real world with confidence and calm.

Beech

• For: Intolerance of others; judgemental attitude; difficulty understanding why others fail to live like them; rarely make allowances for the mistakes of others; may have little or no empathy/sympathy for others; usually want precision and order in their life as well as the lives of those around them; often the differing opinions of others is simply referred to as stupidity; may appear quite tolerant and patient outwardly, but inwardly they are facing irritation and judgment.
• Positive Potential: Encourages more tolerance for the differences of others; helps the individual “live and let live”; helps the individual see the positive traits in others even if they have different beliefs or choose to live differently; helps foster more sympathy and empathy for others.

Centaury

• For: The person who can never say “no”; they say “yes” to almost every request; difficulty standing up for oneself; fear of letting others down; often easily dominated or manipulated by others.
• Positive Potential: Ability to set boundaries and say “no” when it feels right for them; still maintain their cheerful and serving hearts, but are now able to stand up for themselves or set boundaries.

Cerato

• For: Frequently doubt their decisions; always seeking advice and confirmation from others on their decisions; may make their own decision initially, but then asks for input from many others and begins to doubt their own decision; may change their minds based on the input of others and then later regret not sticking to their original decision; lacks confidence in own judgment.
• Positive Potential: Confidence in one’s own decisions; definitive opinions and trust in intuition; ability to make decisions without always needing input from others.

cherry plum

• For: Poor self-control; fear of losing self-control; desperation; on the verge of a nervous breakdown; fear of suicide; fear of insanity; fear of sudden violent impulses, emotional eating, addictive habits.
• Positive Potential: Mastery of the mind and impulses; restoration of composure; able to retain or restore sanity despite mental or physical tortures.

Chestnut Bud

• For: Failure to learn from experience; may keep repeating the same negative patterns or continuing to make poor decisions despite negative past experiences; letting others repeatedly take advantage of you; repeatedly dating the same type of person; etc.
• Positive Potential: Ability to observe these previous past experiences and learn new lessons from them; able to learn from one’s past mistakes to avoid repeating them again in the future; better able to watch and learn from others.

Chicory

• For: Love for others has become possessive and selfish; their overcare for loved ones can often become intrusive and controlling; the parent who does not let their adult child live their own life; constantly fussing over loved ones; may complain of neglect when loved ones do not give them enough attention and can often use emotional manipulation to make others feel guilty.
• Positive Potential: Encourages true generosity and selfless love; love can be given freely with no thought of return; able to support and love others without becoming possessive, intrusive, and/or a burden to them.

Clematis

• For: Lack of interest in the present because their minds are full of hopes and dreams for the future; may appear inattentive, absent-minded, vacant, preoccupied; can appear to be in a world of their own with little interest in what is going on around them; poor concentration and can easily become bored; may avoid difficulties by mentally and emotionally withdrawing.
• Positive Potential: Lively interest in the present and in the lives of those around you; still able to dream and have hopes of the future, but now able to also take an active interest in one’s present life as well.

Crab Apple

• For: Feeling unclean or impure; disliking one’s appearance; self-disgust; self-loathing; common for those dealing with illness who feel unclean because of their disease; rigid hygiene due to fear of contamination; compulsive hand washing/cleaning are common traits.
• Positive Potential: Cleansing emotionally or physically; helping us rid unwanted thoughts; more grace and acceptance of one’s appearance; may help with compulsive cleaning/hand washing; helps rid the feelings of impurity or self-loathing.

Elm

• For: Temporary loss of confidence in oneself due to overwhelm; crippling overwhelm from too many responsibilities; may feel on the verge of panic from the overwhelm.
• Positive Potential: Helps resolve these temporary states of low confidence; helps the individual feel calmer and more capable of managing responsibilities.

Gentian

• For: Despondency brought on by setback; easily discouraged when something goes wrong or there is a setback, even if it is a small one.
• Positive Potential: No longer deterred by setbacks; resiliency and determination in achieving one’s goals even when setbacks appear; helps dispel negative thinking and replace with resolve and positivity.

Gorse

• For: Has given up in life or in trying to better or heal themselves; hopelessness or despair after receiving a medical diagnosis; may blame health or countenance on genetics and be convinced there is nothing they can do to change things or nothing will help them; may be pessimistic that anything can help them and may only pursue treatments or activities at the urging of loved ones.
• Positive Potential: Renewed hope that difficulties can be overcome; renewed light, life, and determination to take action to improve life or situation.

Heather

• For: Incessant talking of oneself to anyone they encounter; often so involved in their own affairs that they have no concern for the problems of others; dislike being alone; can often sap the energy and strength of those around them.
• Positive Potential: Helps the individual rise above their own concerns and be able to hear the troubles of others; helps encourage better listening and less incessant talking of oneself; able to share their troubles without inflicting their problems on anyone who crosses their path.

Holly

• For: Hate, jealously, spite, suspicion, revenge, envy towards others; anger at others as a result of one of the above emotions; may have outbursts of temper or appear to have explosive emotions; for children who have temper tantrums frequently.
• Positive Potential: Holly helps turns these negative thoughts for others into positive ones; instead of being eaten up by their internal thoughts, they are able to let these go and look at the world with more openness.

Honeysuckle

• For: Those who live in the past or are stuck in the past emotionally and mentally; may dwell on either happy memories of the past or heartbreaking memories of the past; always reminiscing on better times rather than taking a lively interest in ones present life; may feel that the future will not be as happy as the past was; for grief surrounding a lost loved one.
• Positive Potential: Ability to remember and reflect on past memories with joy without losing interest in the present; for negative or traumatic past memories, can help put these into perspective and free the mind from these haunting aspect of these memories.

Hornbeam

• For: Lethargy; despondency or lethargy related to an emotional cause (not from physical exhaustion, see Olive); may frequently procrastinate due to lost enthusiasm.
• Positive Potential: Helps lift spirits and restore interest and enthusiasm for life; restore faith in one’s own ability and strength to accomplish goals.

Impatiens

• For: Impatience; the person who is always in a hurry; no patience for others who move, work or think slowly; constantly fidgeting; may be accident-prone because of their constant rushing.
• Positive Potential: Patience for others and life in general; restoration of calm and balance; allows one to take their time and enjoy life.

Larch

• For: Lack of confidence; fear of failure that prevents one from trying anything; may find that many opportunities pass them by as they were too afraid to take the chance; full of doubt about one’s abilities.
• Positive Potential: Confidence in one’s abilities; confidence to challenge oneself, take opportunities, risks, adventures without the fear of failure holding one back.

Mimulus

• For: Everyday fears and anxieties; fear of specific things (an upcoming speech, social interaction, losing your job, phobias, etc).
• Positive Potential: Ability to enjoy life more without rational or irrational fears; quiet courage to face everyday fears and anxieties; ability to enjoy life more without irrational fears.

Mustard

• For: Descending gloom for no apparent reason; depression or hopelessness that descends suddenly and lifts just as suddenly; this gloom can be mild or severe and can leave the individual feeling hopeless for a period of time; when asked why they feel this way they usually cannot find a reason.
• Positive Potential: Helps to dispel this dark cloud that seems to descend and allow sunshine and joy to fill one’s life again; provides inner joy, stability, and peace that is not easily shaken.

Oak

• For: Utter depletion from over-exertion; burn out from too many responsibilities and not being able to give the mind and body proper rest.
• Positive Potential: Restoration of strength and energy; better able to see when they need rest and give it to themselves before they become burnt out.

Olive

• For: Complete exhaustion from overwork or a period of intense emotional stress; can also be good for those dealing with exhaustion from chronic illness or intense treatments (cancer), tired to the point of tears; no reserve of strength left and even the simplest tasks can feel like an immense effort; total fatigue of the mind and body; lack of joy and interest in life due to total exhaustion.
• Positive Potential: Helps restore peace of mind, vitality, strength, and interest in one’s life; helps replenish lost energy whether from intense mental stimulation (studying for an exam, preparing for an event, going through intense physical treatments) or physical exhaustion (over-work, period of intense traveling, intense physical treatments for illness, etc).

Pine

• For: Feelings of guilt; frequently blames self for everything, including the mistakes of others; “guilt-complex” which can suck the joy out of an experience of even life; often overworks, but never feels content with one’s achievements; the individual who is always apologizing; burden themselves with self-reproach even when they have done nothing wrong.
• Positive Potential: Ability to take responsibility for one’s own mistakes without intense feelings of guilt or shame; ability to separate oneself from the mistakes of others and not take the blame for these; ability to be proud and content with one’s work and achievements.

Red Chestnut

• For: Excessive fear or concern for loved ones; convinced calamity will strike their loved ones; can blow minor issues or illnesses of loved ones far out of proportion; can fuss and fret over their loved ones causing additional stress and overwhelm.
• Positive Potential: Ability to support loved ones calmly; helps put fears into perspective and allows rational thinking; ability to remain calm, mentally and physically, in an emergency.

rock rose

• For: Terror; panic or terror from a specific event, bad dream, bad news, etc; can also be unexplainable terror that strikes suddenly and unexpectedly.
• Positive Potential: Calming of terror and/or panic whether rational or irrational; great for adults or children dealing with nightmares.

Rock Water

• For: Inflexibility of mind and spirit; has strong opinions and can be very inflexible; at extremes, this individual may take on the martyr persona, when their habits of self-denial and self-control do not allow for any pleasure in their lives; has strong convictions, but usually does not try to force others to believe the same (see Vervain); may also become so rigid that they cannot see through any other lens but their own; often are perfectionists who are extremely hard on themselves when they do not meet their perfect standards.
• Positive Potential: helps encourage greater flexibility in their everyday life as well as internal beliefs; allows for more grace with self when making mistakes or not meeting standards.

Scleranthus

• For: Indecision; uncertainty; difficulty making everyday decisions; generally can make more important choices easier than the smaller remedial decisions; may know what they want out of life, but are unsure how to achieve it; can be unreliable because their decision is constantly fluctuating; may find they waste time trying to make their decision and may miss opportunities; may also experience mood swings: joy to sadness, optimism to pessimism, etc.
• Positive Potential: Removes the clouds of uncertainty to allow quicker, easier decision-making in the day-to-day; remains calm and feels less stress when making decisions; able to maintain poise and balance; more reliable due to clearer and quicker decision making.

Star of Bethlehem

• For: Shock from sudden bad news, an accident or physical trauma, having witnessed a disturbing scene; grief/shock after the death of a loved one.
• Positive Potential: Helps neutralize the shock regardless of the cause; allows those grieving the death of a loved one to cope with their grief and can help ease the sorrow and pain; helps allow feelings of grief or sadness to flow rather than being stuck and repressed within; helps calm the nervous system when in shock to allow the individual to recover quicker and lessen the negative effects of the shock.

Sweet Chestnut

• For: Extreme mental anguish; utter despair and a feeling that there is no light at the end of the tunnel; feeling as though one has reached the limit of their endurance; total exhaustion, hopelessness; may feel that there is nothing left in life and can be so sad that they feel physical pain inside; utterly desolate, heartbroken and feel there is no hope for the future.
• Positive Potential: Helps raise this curtain of despair to restore hope for the future; ability to bear one’s sorrow without feeling crushed by it and faith that there is an end to this suffering, pain, sorrow.

vervain

• For:  Hyperactivity; great for those who can never seem to stop moving or fidgeting; over-enthusiasm; zealous enthusiasm for a cause; may constantly be trying to convince or convert others to their way of thinking; feel strongly about matters of injustice and may find that they just have to speak out when they feel an injustice has occurred; a constant mental activity that leads to exhaustion.
• Positive Potential: Helps calm the constant flow of mental activity and allows the individual to rest and recover without feeling guilty; helps support an individual’s enthusiasm for causes without feeling the need to convert others or push their ideals on others.

Vine

• For: Tyrant, demanding or controlling behavior; at their worst, these individuals try to get their own way through brute force and ruthless domination; often don’t criticize the opinions of others, but rather ignore them completely; seeking to get one’s own way by force or manipulation; tells others what to do rather than asking what they would like to do; bullies.
• Positive Potential: More flexibility, patience, and understanding in dealing with others; ability to hear input from others and not need to control.

Walnut

• For: Fear of change; for those who find it difficult or even impossible to adapt to change; this fear of change may keep an individual stuck in a certain place in life and unable to pursue their real dreams.
• Positive Potential: Helps reduce the fear of change; determination and resilience when facing a period of change in one’s life; helps guide through periods of change so that the individual is swayed by the opinions or influences of others.

Water Violet

• For: Ability to connect emotionally with less fear and more ease; tend to be very solitary people who may appear as though they think themselves superior; rarely confide in others and tend to bear their pain or grief quietly and internally; may keep a thin veil between them and others making others feel as though they never really know the individual; can often act superior or condescending to others.
• Positive Potential: Ability to let down one’s walls and connect deeper with others; they may keep their calm and quiet, but are better able to relate to others without appearing superior or uninterested.

White Chestnut

• For: Endless mental chatter; “monkey-brain”; tormented by worrying or repetitive thoughts that one just can’t seem to silence; feeling helpless to prevent these thoughts from swirling around and around in the mind; sufferer may have trouble sleeping, feel and look preoccupied in life, have poor concentration and accident-prone due to the distracting torment of thoughts.
• Positive Potential: Ability to quiet one’s mind and restore inner peace; ability to control one’s thoughts and put worrying thoughts to constructive use.

Wild Oat

• For: A time of uncertainty or big life decision; uncertain about what they want out of life; may be at a crossroads in life where they are unsure what the next step is; direction or purpose in life is unclear; can often lead to feelings of despondency and dissatisfaction; may frequently change jobs, homes, etc looking for fulfillment; can often make decisions that are counterproductive because they know what they do not what, but they aren’t clear on what they do want or what they are really looking for; can often feel bored, frustrated and/or depressed because of lack of direction in life.
• Positive Potential: Can help in selecting a career choice or in finding one’s purpose and fulfillment; helps make the path ahead more clear; allows for more meaningful and impactful decisions and clarity of what they want out of life.

Wild Rose

• For: Resignation to one’s illness or a bad situation; loss of motivation or the will to change anything in one’s life; often apathetic and resigned to everything that happens to them; often they take on the “victim” mentality; dislike change and as a result may miss many opportunities in life; may be resigned to illness rather than working to heal themselves; emotional flatness, neither happy nor sad.
• Positive Potential: Helps restore a zest for life; determination and enthusiasm to improve one’s health and/or life; ability to feel one’s emotions more fully and enjoy friends, family, and life in general.

Willow

• For: Resentment, bitterness, self-pity; often blames others for all their misfortunes; victim mentality; may begrudge the health and happiness of those around them; can often be irritable and can subconsciously enjoy spreading gloom; no interest in the affairs of others; can often take from others without giving back; a very difficult patient when sick and nothing pleases or satisfies them; reluctant to admit improvement.
• Positive Potential: Ability to take responsibility for the role they play in their own misfortunes; helps release the constant gloom and allow the individual to take more enjoyment in life; helps release resentment towards others or even life in general; ability to take more interest in the lives of others and celebrate the successes of others.