How to Use Essences

Storage - Methods - Dosage

How Long Can They Be Stored?

With care, a dosage bottle should keep well for at least a year, especially if it’s a formula for irregular use, such as the Cuts Stings & Burns formula, or the Survive! formula.

The stock bottles you can buy from producers generally have an expiry date of 10 years, but flower essence stock can last for decades if well protected.

It’s important to store all flower essences away from direct sunlight, sources of heat, electro-magnetic radiation (including the strong fields from fridges, inside and out), computers, mobile phones (most potent when they initiate/receive a call, or are connected to the net), close proximity to wifi routers (deary me!), wifi printers, hi-fi speakers (due to their magnets), and lamps that contain mercury-fluro globes (which emanate a strong field up-close—the newer LED globes are much safer for you, too!). Surprisingly, flower essences do survive plane travel (lots of radiation up there), but can be weakened up there over time.

I believe the Blessings I use over the bottles I dispense also help to protect the essence frequencies.

Methods of Ingestion

There are several ways to ingest flower essences, including the two principle methods of internal and topical application.

  • The traditional approach favoured by Dr Edward Bach, the rediscoverer of flower essence therapy in the early 20th century, is to use a dropper to add several drops of the flower essences to a glass of pure drinking water, to be sipped over several hours, or a day—not all at once.
  • The most common approach today is to use a dropper to put a number of drops directly under the tongue.
  • My preferred approach for humans is to spray the flower essences directly onto the person. I have found the external spray method to be more immediately effective (and preferable particularly for children, due to the brandy solution), especially when sprayed on the crown of the head and the heart area. Just one spray each per session.
    Be aware that the flower essences are preserved in 25% brandy (37.1% proof alcohol), so if you have a skin allergy to alcohol, you can spray on your clothing, test your hair, or I can dispense the flower essences in apple cider vinegar (which will have its own particular odour!) in place of the brandy.
  • Unorthodox approaches:
    — Some acupuncturists dip their needles into flower essences immediately before applying those needles to their patients.
    — A single drop of a flower essence can also be applied directly to acupuncture points.
    — Adding flower essences to an oil base will allow the frequency to resonate for a longer time—you can add them to (natural!) cosmetic creams and essential oils.
    — Some artists have been known to add flower essences to their paints, but I have no idea if the frequency would last after the water or oil has dried. But it would certainly be an uplifting experience for the artist and the studio environment!
  • For animals, you can spray your own palms and stroke the animal’s head and possibly the area to be healed—animals generally don’t like being sprayed! (Their formula won’t harm you, and will most likely be beneficial for you as well.)
    Some cat’s will lick the brandy solution off the tops of their paws (or from your finger) if it’s a mild amount you’ve stroked onto them there, yourself.
    Animals and birds may be suspicious if their water supply is laced with a drop or two of brandy! Same with their food. So, topically is generally best.
  • For plants:
    — You can add a few dosage bottle drops or sprays into a watering can and add to the soil around the plant. Plant-life is particulartly sensitive to flower frequencies, so even one drop of a dosage bottle is plenty.
    – In some instances you can mist a plant very lightly with flower essences, so that very little brandy is present. 
    — I’ve added one spray of flower essences into a mister already full of water, which works well—but after a few uses, green algae can begin to grow inside the mister bottle as the lifeforce is so strong! 
    — I’ve known summer flowers to bloom during a cold winter after being watered regularly with the Lotus essence added. Plants love Lotus!
  • Environmentally:
    — A spray can be added to a small bowl of water placed in your home or on an altar as an offering;
    — Or spray carpets and furnishings, even your pillow before you sleep—these can be lightly sprayed (don’t ever saturate anything: be mindful of the alcohol content, even though it’s minimal—but I’ve never had a problem with furnishings).
    – My Pure Space formula is designed principally as an environmental spray.

How Long Should I Use The Formula?

With personal formulas, you can start with a 50ml (handy carry size) spray-top dosage bottle, administered at least twice per day until the bottle is empty (generally, about a month — being a complete Moon Cycle, as the transiting Moon sequentially influences your entire astrological birth chart over that period, and hence the entire contents of your mind-stream at the emotional/subconscious level). And then evaluate if you’d like to continue with that formula, or update it as you process the changes. 

For best results, it is preferable (and more economical) to use a 100ml spray bottle for a couple of months or so, continuing until the bottle is empty. This helps to initiate more permanent change. 

Repeat formula bottles are also available for deeply ingrained issues that may need time to transform permanently (or buy these in multiple bottles for discounts—see the Pricing page for details).

Flower essences are more effective when administered more frequently rather than in multiple doses at one time, the ‘quantity’ being only the carrier substance (brandy and purified water in this instance).

Three Quick Misting Tips

  • Spray lightly on especially the Crown of the head, and also the Heart area (one spray each is sufficient), as well as topically on any pertinent areas.
  • The base of the skull can also be effective in some circumstances, as this is the instinctive ‘survival area’ of the brain.
  • In certain social situations, it may be more convenient or discrete to spray onto the inner wrists over your pulse points.

The most important factor, in any of the above methods,

is to use the essences frequently and regularly.
The brain changes through habit.

ExceptionalPurpose | Kerrie Redgate
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