Flower Essences for Depression
Flower Essences for Depression
Depression is unfortunately all too common in our world, in part due to genetics or trauma, and in part due to our environment and the world we live in. There are a lot of different things that can be done to help support somebody struggling with depression, but right now I want to focus on flower essences.
We've already discussed in a past post what flower essences are and if you haven't read that, you can read that here:
So moving beyond that, I first want to say that I am not a doctor and I can not prescribe or diagnose anyone with anything. If you or someone you know is struggling with depression, don't rely on flower essences to do the full healing. Flower essences are an energetic process which helps reach the trauma and issues we hold internally that lives in our cellular structure. It can be a wonderful assistance to your healing process, but shouldn't be your only method.
Flower essences address many different issues and complications. Some of the flower essences I chose to write about will have some overlap, and this is by no means a complete list. If you want to schedule a flower essence consultation with me to figure out what might be right for you, please feel free to reach out to me in the comments!
The layout of this post will be as follows: a mention of the type of depression that is being addressed, and then the essences. With the essences the information follows as the positive and healthy desired effect of the essence, the imbalance that we are trying to correct, how it can help, who could benefit from this essence, and a small tidbit or quote about the essence.
The essences:
First I'll start off with essences for situational or generalized depression. By this I mean a general feeling of gloominess, lacking motivation or hope, or a general feeling of monotony and boredom with life. Somewhat like a gray cloud following around over top your head. It's often a stress response and can be due from a new or sudden change in life such as losing a job, a loved one, a breakup, etc. Some of my favorite essences to use for a situation like this are chamomile, gorse, and gentian.
Chamomile:
Positive qualities: Serene, sunny-like disposition, and emotional balancePattern of imbalance: Easily upset, moody and irritable, inability to release emotional tension, especially in the stomach or solar-plexus.This essence helps those who need to regulate and harmonize their emotional life. The chamomile personality is moody and their inner weather is stormy and cloudy until they have a shift of consciousness and realize that the sun is always shining behind the outer “phenomena”The chamomile type accumulates emotional tension throughout the day and has difficulty letting go of their emotional stress, which may result in insomnia. The emotional tension is often manifested physically with stomach pain.
Gorse:
Positive qualities: Deep and abiding conviction and hope; equanimity and light-filled optimism.Pattern of imbalance: Pessimistic attitude, unable to trust or imagine a positive outcome for future events.This essence helps people to find the balance between the polarities of the light and dark.Those who need this essence have internalized darkness or pessimism in their outlook on life which gives weight to depression and erodes at the soul’s natural buoyancy.Gorse can help to restore hope and allow individuals to look with a brighter and more joyful outlook on life.“Such persons need to counter the darkness they feel within themselves with strong forces of inner light and luminous insight. Through Gorse, the soul learns to use light as an alchemical agent for change and healing…”
Gentian:
Positive qualities: Perseverance, confidence; faith to continue despite apparent setbacks.Pattern of imbalance: Discouragement after a setback; doubt; depression due to a sense of failure.The gentian type is easily discouraged and disheartened when faced with a setback. They may view the situation as problems they can’t overcome, and are unable to find a solution for.Gentian helps to give encouragement and helping the soul to shift perspective and see that often what is perceived as a setback is necessary for growth and strength.“Gentian flower essence helps the soul to acquire great inner fortitude and unwavering trust in the outcome of life events.”
Grief:
Grief is a natural response to death or loss. When someone loses someone or something very dear and special to them it is important to grieve however feels right to the person. The experience is a time to mourn and then heal. Grief is of course not strictly related to having a loved one die, but can also occur when one loses a pet or a pet runs away, when kids leave the home, going through divorce, losing a job/income, or any major change in life. The essences used here are Bleeding Heart, Yerba Santa, and Borage.
The essences:
Bleeding Heart:
Positive qualities: Ability to love others unconditionally, with an open heart; emotional freedom.Pattern of imbalance: Entangled in relationships based on fear, possessiveness, or neediness; emotional co-dependence.This essence is a heart cleanser and strengthener, which helps those who need to learn the deeper spiritual lessons or love and freedom. This essence is for those who suffer tremendously from broken heartedness and pain due to having poured completely into another soul that is no longer with them whether that be because of death, someone moving away, or from a dissolved relationship.The bleeding heart personality may have genuine aspects of love but they live too extensively outside the boundaries of the Self and are often seen as emotionally codependent upon others.This essence helps “the soul to learn to fill itself from within with strong spiritual forces, so that the capacity to love another is based on the ability to honor and nourish the Self.”
Borage:
Positive qualities: Cheerful heart forces, buoyant courage and optimism.Pattern of imbalance: Heavy-heartedness or grief, lack of confidence in facing difficult circumstances; depressive behavior.Borage is another heart remedy, especially indicated for a feeling of heaviness in the heart and body. Borage helps to give the heart courage in difficult times.When the soul experiences too much grief, sadness, or another adversity where the individual feels discouraged and disheartened.Borage helps one to find a sense of strength and light or an uplifting feeling.The type of courage Borage helps one to find and emit is less connected to strength and more to a sense of buoyancy in the soul to help one to rise above rather than sink under the weight of depression.“Borage helps the heart to experience the cheerfulness and lightness, filling the soul with fresh forces of optimism and enthusiasm.”Yerba Santa:Positive qualities: Free flowing emotion, ability to harmonize breathing with feeling; capacity to express a full range of human emotions, especially pain and sadness; positive melancholy and soul depth.Pattern of imbalance: Constricted feelings, particularly in the heart and lungs; internalized grief and melancholy, deeply repressed emotions.The heart is a space that must be kept open and free as this is the place where the Self breathes its soul essence in and out from- and is the most sensitive, deeply feeling, and psychic part of the human. This area is of course, especially vulnerable to emotions of sadness, grief, and other soul pains. When these emotions aren’t actively addressed and instead repressed they become stored away in the heart which leads to the individual feeling melancholic, bearing deep internalized sadness which is deeper than daily events and colors the entire emotional life of the person. This illness grips the entire body.This can manifest itself physically in the lungs resulting in degenerative diseases of the lungs, chest congestion, pneumonia, asthma, tuberculosis, or addiction to tobacco.Yerba Santa helps to release trauma and emotional impurities. “This essence helps to restore the temple space of the heart, making it more spacious and light-filled.”
Essences for Dark or Major Depression:
Major depression is when you are suffering for depression for a long period of time. At least a few weeks at a time, or most days of the week. Feeling depressed more often than not.
When I think of a darker depression, I think of someone feeling like they’re stuck in the dark of night, feeling suicidal, lacking complete hope for anything and everything. Those stuck in these types of depression states might have a hard time getting out of bed to go to work or to school. This may come with intense mood swings, such as with Bipolar, or it may come with the feeling that nothing can be done to help them, and they will be stuck in this feeling forever- that there is no way out. In comparison to the gray cloud with a milder type of depression, to me major depression feels more like a black hole or rock bottom. The essences here are Mustard, Black Cohosh, and Sweet Chestnut.
The essences:
Mustard:
Positive qualities: Emotional equilibrium, ability to integrate suffering and joy into a positive whole.Pattern of imbalance: Overly susceptible to depression or despair due to fluctuating life events, bouts of mania followed by depression.This essence may also be useful for those who are bipolar or those who suffer from manic depressive mood swings.A remedy for the soul’s darkness, an essence for those who are suddenly overwhelmed with gloom and despair. This is not always connected to obvious episodes or situations surrounding the person’s life, but instead the feelings are much deeper and overpowering. It is especially difficult because the consciousness can’t find an exact meaning or reason of such depression.This essence helps to come to terms with deep unreconciled parts of the past and with memories and past karmic circumstances that draw out depressive episodes.This essence also helps to balance the extreme polarities of light and dark and to help one experience darkness as a transformative experience rather than experiencing the light separate from the darkness.“Mustard flower essence helps the soul to anchor and stabilize its light, leading to a sustained experience of gentle joyfulness and quiet radiance.”
Black Cohosh:
Positive qualities: Courage to confront rather than retreat from abusive or threatening relationships or situations; clear and contained psychic forces.Pattern of imbalance: Enmeshed in a relationship or lifestyle that is abusive, addictive, or violent; dark, brooding emotions, congested or toxic psychic forces.This essence may also be helpful for those struggling with addiction.The black cohosh type tends to wrestle with the shadow side of itself and of others.Because the black cohosh personality tends to have positive gifts and a sense of magnetism they often attract challenging people and situations which they must learn to confront.These people easily get caught in cycles of destructive energy, and the quality of inner life is often disturbed, tending toward brooding, vengeful, or morbid thoughts.These imbalances may reflect themselves physically especially in the reproductive organs or metabolism.This essence helps one to find the ability to confront and transform the negative, destructive, or threatening circumstances. “In this way such souls fain enormous power, and learn to balance and harness their innate strength and physical prowess (skill or bravery).”
Sweet Chestnut:
Positive qualities: Spiritual depth, faith derives from encountering adversity; solitude rooted in spiritual communion.Pattern of imbalance: pronounced despair and agony; feeling of aloneness or abandonment due to a “dark night of the soul.”Sweet Chestnut is indicated for the deepest anguish and despair of the soul – the essence for those who see no way out of their depression and are at risk for suicide or for those who suffer from addiction. Those who feel they have finally hit “rock bottom.” This essence can also be indicated for other extreme situations such as the death of a loved one or for one who has to come to terms with the fact that they have a life-threatening illness.The conditions that indicated Sweet Chestnut are extreme and are considered to be the most negative and acute form of suffering. This pain is often due to a deeply personal situation and the person feels completely alone in their suffering.This essence helps to bring about a great spiritual transformation. Through suffering the Self surrenders to some sort of “higher power” and is able to be reborn in a sense which is what allows for such a transformational healing.“Sweet Chestnut helps the soul surrender and open to a new spiritual identity.”
The healing journey can be a long one, and often we need more support than just the essences - but using them daily by adding them to your water bottle, adding some to a bath or a lotion you use, or even just adding a few drops on your food if you have to can make a difference when done regularly. Practicing self love can mean many different things, and that is something that is practiced by taking essences or medications, etc. daily to help spark the healing and release of pain.
I hope you give flower essences a try sometime - and if you ever need some support with them, please don't hesitate to reach out :)
