Last summer I knew I had to make an essence of Crabapple blossom. I'd missed their blooming and had to wait impatiently over Autumn and Winter. By late Winter I could almost taste the feeling of the buds. It was a longing from my heart to be with these blossoms. As often happens before the making of an essence I could feel it building in my being and particular patterns in my behaviour and interactions seemed highlighted. When the tree finally started budding I sat with it for hours, noticing how the light dappled through the leaves, the type of shadows cast on the ground, and the varying shades of petal from white to soft pink and red.

When I eventually sat beside the blossoms floating in a bowl of water I had a realisation about the immense level of support that is available for us unconditionally, at all times. Not just the 'cosmic spirit’ sort of support, it's about how we normally perceive our engagement with the environment - usually it's an act of separation, we perceive things in relation to us and not from a place of Oneness. Our world - the air, smells, sounds, bush, etc engage with us as much as we do them - it's more dynamic than we can possibly conceive. The air breathes us as much as we breathe the air. As we move, space conforms around us to allow our movement. Normally we think of support as something we accept or receive or do for others. It becomes something externally focussed. Our focus changes and we alter the way we perceive support, if we decide to 'acknowledge' or ‘allow’ all that is available to us constantly. I think of it like sinking into a large comfy armchair - that I can take refuge in every atom of existence.

Accepting all things in Oneness

We normally allow only very limited aspects of support, rarely that expansive, infinite space of absoluteness that’s available at every moment. The tricky thing that made this particular essence making so challenging for me is that we cannot accept such levels of support without the acceptance of all things (including ourselves), with no rejection or resistance.
Crabapple provides an opportunity to be fully present with self and other. This ties in with the traditional Bach flower meaning of Crabapple – as we accept all things in Oneness then there is no place for shame or feeling unclean. We can integrate all as Self, in equanimity, acknowledging the purity of our Being. I recognised many of the ways I resist other people, situations, feelings, (Coles!), the way I pull back from certain types of suffering as well as the limitations of my perception and the barriers perception creates. I so much did not want to know this – having been insistently (and stubbornly) independent for all my life! Within 2 days I developed shingles and was very ill for several months. The yo yo between resistance and integration of experience is very difficult...

Supporting the journey

“The making of essences is a spiritual practice that enables us to know ourselves more truly and to practice acknowledging the Oneness of Being”. (Wendi Forbes)
I make essences to support my own journey. Occasionally I may keep an essence I’ve made and sometimes it may be relevant for use with other people, if I feel it is appropriate to communicate my experience of making the essence to another being. For me that’s not the point though. It is the noticing of something in my environment that catches my eye, the practice of sitting with the thing in a bowl of water and acknowledging the Truth of it’s being and staying with what comes up for me during this process. As things arise I have an opportunity to work through them and potentially take it to completion.
With plants we are invited to connect with unconditional love. This is the doorway or form of access to Enlightenment that plants can facilitate. Each flower is an invitation along a different path to reach this point, just as making an animal essence reveals compassion and gems show us the nature of reality, Unity.

Essences as an unconditional offering

I had always thought of making essences as a very personal, self focussed experience. Over the years I haveI realised what a gift this process is, not just for me, but for the plant (or rock or whatever), the air, the ground, for everything in existence. As I have an opportunity to experience a path to unconditional love then so too does the plant. The act of making an essence has enormous impact. An Essence manufacturer once talked with me about how after making an essence of Rowan Tree, the tree didn’t stop flowering (even over snowy Winters) for three years. Rowan is about gratitude.
My practice of making essences has become a dedication or offering – to be of benefit for all beings. As I offer unconditionally with no thought of outcome I find that I can be more present with myself and that I can integrate tricky things with a little more ease. I learned the value of not just dedicating the ‘nice’ feelings but all the hard ones too, as well as physical pain, my responses to things, the ‘stories’ in my monkey chatter mind. It is the joy in offering that is important; it doesn’t matter whether we label what we’re offering as ‘not nice’. I’ve found that this is not avoidance or a pushing away of issues. It enables me to be more present with what’s going on which creates a lot more movement.
Over the years of making and taking essences and noticing the profound shifts in myself and clients, I started understanding more about the ways we perceive and communicate. How little we truly ‘listen’ to what is in existence. ‘Listening’ can be such a dynamic experience when we are not ‘listening for’ something in particular but allowing it to be an exercise of being with self and other in Truth. We listen with all of our body. The reception of frequency resonates through our waters and cells and impacts our consciousness. What we believe, the language we speak, the posture of our body and our physical composition form the framework through which we perceive and how we interpret the experience of listening.
Essences are tools that support consciousness shifts. They can assist us in engaging more clearly and directly with our experiences. It’s like trying to learn an unfamiliar pattern of something. An essence provides a direct invitation down this new path until we are familiar enough with the pattern and we can do it on our own. For me these levels of listening and being more specific with my communication of particular frequencies has been a key theme of learning to perceive as an act of Unity rather than of separation. Allowing this has and does require enormous levels of trust, acceptance of self and choosing to constantly practice being more present. Flower and gem essences assist me in learning more about myself and the world in a very grounded way and helps me practice compassion, tolerance and gratitude.

Jacqui-Bushell

Acknowledgements:
This article previously published in the Energetic healing association newsletter