How does one use a remedy? Drink it? Sniff it? Apply it to the skin?
The remedies come as a liquid, preserved in brandy. To take them, you dilute two drops of each remedy that you need into a 30ml dropper bottle, top up with mineral water, and take four drops four times a day. Alternatively, you can put the two drops into a glass of water, and sip from that at intervals.
How are they made?
Two methods are used to make the Bach Flower Remedies. Most of the more delicate flowers are prepared using the sun method, which involves floating the blooms in pure water for a number of hours. More woody plants, or flowers which bloom when the sun is weak, are prepared by boiling for half an hour. In both cases full-strength 40% brandy is used as a preservative, mixed 50/50 with the prepared tincture. Drops from the preserved mother tincture are further diluted in brandy to make the stock bottles that can be bought in the shops.
www.bachcentre.com
Agrimony - mental torture behind a cheerful face
Aspen - fear of unknown things
Beech - intolerance
Centaury - the inability to say 'no'
Cerato - lack of trust in one's own decisions
Cherry Plum - fear of the mind giving way
Chestnut Bud - failure to learn from mistakes
Chicory - selfish, possessive love
Clematis - dreaming of the future without working in the present
Crab Apple - the cleansing remedy, also for self-hatred
Elm - overwhelmed by responsibility
Gentian - discouragement after a setback
Gorse - hopelessness and despair
Heather - self-centeredness and self-concern
Holly - hatred, envy and jealousy
Honeysuckle - living in the past
Hornbeam - procrastination, tiredness at the thought of doing something
Impatiens - impatience
Larch - lack of confidence
Mimulus - fear of known things
Mustard - deep gloom for no reason
Oak - the plodder who keeps going past the point of exhaustion
Olive - exhaustion following mental or physical effort
Pine - guilt
Red Chestnut - over-concern for the welfare of loved ones
Rock Rose - terror and fright
Rock Water - self-denial, rigidity and self-repression
Scleranthus - inability to choose between alternatives
Star of Bethlehem - shock
Sweet Chestnut - Extreme mental anguish, when everything has been tried and there is no light left
Vervain - over-enthusiasm
Vine - dominance and inflexibility
Walnut - protection from change and unwanted influences
Water Violet - pride and aloofness
White Chestnut - unwanted thoughts and mental arguments
Wild Oat - uncertainty over one's direction in life
Wild Rose - drifting, resignation, apathy
Willow - self-pity and resentment
*More commonly used: Rescue Remedy - combination of Cherry Plum, Clematis, Impatiens, Rock Rose and Star of Bethlehem