Farmacia Mario Marchetti: Bach's Flowers

Edward Bach was born in Moseley, near Birmingham, in 1886.
He studied medicine in Birmingham and then in London and in 1913, after receiving certification, he was made director of the emergency room at the University College Hospital.
As an assistant lecturer in the bacteriological department, he discovered a correlation between bacterial strains present in the intestine and chronic illness. He began experimenting with new vaccines and dosages, repeating injections only upon the reappearance of symptoms. He obtained very good results with this method, following each patient's individual progress rather than a predetermined protocol.
In 1917, he underwent an operation for a spleen tumor and was given only three months to live. Despite this, he soon returned to his laboratory and completely immersed himself in his studies as his health improved and the prognosis was proven false.
In 1919, he began working as a pathologist and bacteriologist at the Homeopathic Hospital in London, encountering the ideas of Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathic medicine. Bach agreed with most of Hahnemann's theories; that he viewed the patient as the focus rather than the illness, his consideration of intestinal imbalance, his use of plants and herbs to cure different pathologies, and his use of biological preparations extracted by his patient (which Bach was already doing).
He started making his own homeopathic vaccines and administering them orally; this was the beginning of Bach's Nosodes, divided into seven groups based on sugar fermentation action. The predominant type of intestinal bacteria was identified in each patient and the corresponding nosode was prescribed. Given the good results, the use of Bach's nosodes spread throughout England, Germany, and America. Bach started looking for similarities among people with the same type of intestinal bacteria, managing to find the correct nosode according to the patient's emotional state. He worked together with various homeopathic doctors in writing publications, including "Chronic Illnesses", "A Job Hypothesis", "The Relationship between Vaccines and Homeopathies", "Toxemia and its Relationship to the Appearance of Tumors", and "The Rediscovery of Psora".
In 1924, at a convention for homeopathic medicine, he presented a study on effects of the combination of diet and nosodes in which he affirmed that improvement of an illness is determined by an individual's overall improvement. Bach then substituted plants for the nosodes, beginning a new series of experiments. In 1928 he had the insight to regroup patients into different categories based on their behaviors, establishing a link between illnesses and personality types based on patients' reactions to the illnesses, not on pathology type. He then began prescribing remedies on the basis of the patient's behavioral characteristics, identifying a list of 12 emotional states:

Fear

Terror

Restlessness, anxiety, mental torture

Indecision

Indifference or extreme boredom

Doubt or discouragement

Extreme worry

Weakness

Insecurity, low self-esteem

Impatience

Extreme enthusiasm

Pride or reclusiveness

Bach started using flowers in homeopathic preparations in 1928 and prescribed them according to the personality of the patient, achieving great success. He used a solar process, placing the flower in a glass bowl of water which was then exposed to the sun for four hours, during which time, according to Bach, the vibrations of the flowers are transferred to the water which acts as mediating element and subsequently carries a charge.
He completed his first series of 12 remedies in 1931, later adding other flowers, seven supplemental aids, and developing the first emergency compound, the Rescue Remedy. Bach, who until that time had found remedies by tasting the petals and following the sensation he experienced to understand what that essence could help cure, was from this point on guided by suffering. In the days before the discovery of each new remedy, he himself experienced the feelings for which that particular remedy would be useful. Bach found his last group of remedies in only six months, using the boiling method both because the particular flowers used for these remedies bloom when the sun is too weak and because some are hard or have wooden stems. According to Bach, the 19 assistants (among which 11 are trees) act on a different level from the other remedies in that they help us develop the ability to overcome any type of fear, difficulty or worry.
In 1936 he wrote "The 12 Healers and Other Remedies", where all of the essences are described in a simple and understandable style. He died in the same year.

Why and how flowers act

According to Bach, the soul, the divine spark, guides us throughout our passage on the earth, that is to say, in our life, which he considered a chance to improve and correct mistakes that may have been done in a previous life.
The biggest mistake we can make is to not follow the soul's directives, in other words become separated from our superior self, or act against the unity between Creator and creation; from this comes illness and suffering.
Since illnesses do not have material causes and are instead the consequences of conflict between the soul and the mind, they can be removed only through a spiritual and mental process.
A materialistic treatment will cause an apparent improvement but cannot affect the actual source of the illness.
Illnesses can actually be beneficial because they offer us the chance to understand what we would otherwise not be able to comprehend and what does not even come to mind until we have learned the lesson.
Acording to Bach, the true illness lies in faults like pride, cruelty, hate, selfishness, ignorance, instability and greed, which we can overcome not by fighting against them but with the help of the corresponding opposite virtues.

How can flowers be therapeutic? They allow us to develop virtues, the lack of which leads us in error; or rather, according to Bach, the plants he has chosen help establish a more complete unity between the soul and body and facilitate better communication between the body and the superior "I", resulting in positive vibrations which flood our personality, helping us to eliminate our character defects.
The vibrations of the floral essences help us harmonize the altered vibratory frequency of our energy field, utilizing the energy information they carry.

Bach's flowers cannot be considered as a form of alternative natural medicine because floral remedies, although originating from flowers, do not act according to the respective physical components of the plants, but restore, each in a specific way, the energy vibrations of the health condition.
In this field, as in homeopathic medicine, the concepts of energy and vibration are essential because it is nothing material that is active but something more difficult to measure.

Supporters of Bach's theories, to clarify their positions, identify with quantum physics and the theories of Einstein (E=mc² ) as opposed to the ideas of Newton.

Flower subdivisions according to Bach

Bach subdivided his flowers into 12 healers (the first to be discovered), 7 helpers and 19 assistants.

The 12 healers

Agrimony, Centaury, Cerato, Chicory, Clematis, Gentian, Impatiens, Mimulus, Rock Rose, Scleranthus, Vervain, Water Violet.

The 7 helpers

Heather, Oak, Olive, Rock Water, Vine, Wild Oat.

The 19 assistants

Aspen, Beech, Cherry Plum, Chestnut Bud, Crab Apple, Elm, Holly, Honeysuckle, Larch, Mustard, Pine, Red Chestnut, Star of Bethlehem, Sweet Chestnut, Walnut, Wild Rose, White Chestnut, Willow.

He also proposed a different classification of seven flower groups to cure seven disharmonic conditions:

Uncertainty

Cerato: mistrust in one's own judgement, insecurity.

Gentian: depression for known reasons, discouragement, skepticism.

Gorse: chronic despair, but active.

Hornbeam: mental tiredness that affects the body.

Sclerantus: indecision between two things, instability.

Wild oat: uncertainty in what to do in life, dissatisfaction.

Fear

Aspen: vague fears about unknown things, anxiety, panic.

Cherry Plum: fear of losing control.

Mimulus: fears of known things, fear of the world, shyness

Red Chestnut: excessive fear for close friends and family, exaggerated apprehension.

Rock Rose: terror, panic caused by certain situations.

Loneliness

Heather: selfishness, self-indulgence, need of others.

Impatiens: impatience, tension, relationship difficulties.

Water Violet: feeling of superiority, pride, desired loneliness.

Lack of interest in the present

Clematis: distraction, escaping into imaginations, absent-mindedness.

Chestnut bud: repetition of the same mistakes, superficiality.

Honeysuckle: anchored in the past, difficulty to cope with changes.

Mustard: depression for unknown reasons, deep sadness without reason.

Olive: mental and physical exhaustion.

White chestnut: obsessive and circular thoughts.

Wild Rose: total resignation, apathy, tiredness of life.

Hypersensitivity to others

Agrimony: inner conflict, fear of loneliness, intolerance of conflict.

Centaury: exaggerated sense of sacrifice, submissiveness.

Holly: jealousy, envy, sense of revenge.

Walnut: difficulty to distance oneself, hypersensitivity to external influences.

Exaggerated care for others

Beech: excessively critical, strictness.

Chicory: manipulation, possessiveness, intrusiveness, oppressiveness.

Rock Water: iron self-discipline, self-strictness, severity.

Vervain: excessive enthusiasm, fanaticism.

Vine: hunger for power and control.

Discouragement and desperation

Crab apple: feeling of being dirty, being ashamed of one's own instincts.

Elm: feeling of not being equal to a task, tiredness.

Larch: mistrust of one's own abilities, feeling of inferiority.

Oak: exaggerated sense of duty, tirelessness, without complaint

Pine: feeling of guilt, self-underestimating, self-criticism.

Star of Bethlehem: psychological and physical shock, psychological blocks.

Sweet Chestnut: total despair, anguish, dejection.

Willow: resentment, self-pity, bitterness.

Essence production

The solar method

Bach initially used this method to produce his essences, finding the flower growing wild on a sunny day, in the absence of clouds and wind. After filling a glass container with a half liter of spring water, it is placed near the plant from which the flowers will be gently picked. The flowers are dropped onto the surface of the water, left exposed to the sun for three or four hours, then removed with a twig from the same plant. An equal part of brandy is added to the water, producing what is called the "mother dye".
Another 240 liters of brandy are then added to the solution before bottling into "stock bottles" of 10 or 30 ml. The content of the bottles is usually diluted before being used.

The fire method

When flowers bloom too early in the spring and the sun is too weak to release the energy, the fire method is used; the flowers, with some leaves and stems, are boiled in an enamel container for half an hour. After straining, the same dilution procedure is followed as in the solar method.

Rescue remedy

The Rescue Remedy is a combination of flowers ready for use that can be used as first aid both for inner difficulty (sudden terror, bad news, etc.) and for physical injuries such as burns or accidents. The Rescue Remedy is suitable for people who feel threatened by a situation.

The remedy is composed of the following flowers:

Star of Bethlehem: for a state of shock.

Rock Rose: for sudden panic and fear.

Impatiens: for stress and inner tension.

Cherry Plum: for the fear of being driven insane by despair.

Clematis: for the feeling of not being completely present.

Our advice

Personalized remedies can be prepared by a pharmacist or at home, after you have bought stock bottles.
If brandy is undesired, or in the case of children, it can be substituted by apple vinegar.
For local applications creams are used, made by adding two drops of essence to every 10 ml of base cream and mixing it with a glass rod or toothpick.
The number of flowers to be used is extremely variable, rendering self-administration unadvisable without adequate knowledge of the subject.
At our pharmacy you can find a vast department dedicated to Bach's Flowers and we are, of course, always at your service for advice and recommendations.
Please contact or visit us for any doubts or questions.

The massage with Bach's Flowers

The massage with Bach's Flowers is a new way to use floral essences.
Beyond curing negative moods such as anxiety, irritability, stress and depression, it is also a skin treatment to prevent illness and disease.
With the use of Bach's Flowers, the immune and nervous systems can be stimulated, having a reconstituting and revitalizing effect.
As we have already said, the use of Bach's Flowers creams during massage is effective at the initial stage of deep emotional distress that can also develop into psychosomatic illness.
It can be used to combat states of extreme exhaustion, anxiety and depression.
Physical ailments can be treated as well, such as muscle and vertebral column pain, cephalea from stress, burns, cuts and light abrasions, rhinitis, chronic tiredness and muscle cramps, and the cutaneous consequences of strong and sudden emotions.
To perform a massage, there is a Bach's Flowers cream with specific floral essences for each problem.
The relative areas, which differ according to negative feelings to be harmonized, are stimulated one at a time.
The cutaneous stimulation should be continued for about ten minutes in a quiet room. Massage should be avoided in the cases of burns, open cuts, and skin illness.