MAKING THE LIGHTBRINGER ESSENCES

By Rachel Singleton

CO-CREATING ESSENCES

I first began working with essences in the 90's, in my practice as a homeopath. From the very beginning, I was struck by their beauty, simplicity and effectiveness. I felt that this was a therapy capable of touching a person's heart and soul with intimacy and gentleness and one which acts as a catalyst for a quality of change which is quite exquisite and unique.

I knew that I wanted to make essences myself. However, it was not until events in my own life brought me to making Angel Star, the first of the LightBringer Essences, that I realised the difference between deciding I would make essences and a true "flower essence moment" where it seems the essence itself calls to be made.

I have come to recognise this moment as a point of profound and spontaneous communion between self and subject - very different from the day-to-day meetings one might have had with that place or plant a hundred times before. It is a moment where one's perception shifts to a higher level and what is seen, felt, and communed with is the spiritual quality of the object. It feels for me like meeting the flower or environment for the first time, seeing it in its entirety and understanding something of its deeper gift of being.

Honouring this call involves attuning to that object and heeding what my senses tell me of how, when and where to make the essence; opening myself to understanding what it speaks of and how to utilise its healing gifts. This, in itself, is a process which can take many months. From here, over time, a 'picture' of the essence builds up. Taking the essence myself, giving it to colleagues and clients to use and give feedback on, further strengthens and consolidates this picture.

A LIVING ENERGY

It has always felt important to me that the LightBringer Essences have been made from the start of the process through to the finish, with absolute attention to their energetic quality. One of the most significant factors in this has been making the flower essences in a way which does not involve picking or damaging the plants they come from.

Many of the plants I have been drawn to are rare plants which have a very local distribution and specific habitat - plants which I needed to be able to work with without harming them. The traditional method of making a flower essence (removing the blossoms from the plant and infusing them in water in the sun) was therefore not possible or desirable for these plants. I needed to find a different way.

This way materialised very early on. I already knew methodologies for creating different types of essences - animal and environmental - through trainings I had attended. All of these types of essences are made without placing the physical object or any part of them in the water and instead use sacred ceremony and intent. Many of these essences have now been around for some years and are proving to be potent and beautiful, with an incredible purity to their energy.

From here, the ways in which I now harness the plant's vital energy for the LightBringer Essences evolved. There are three main methodologies: placing a bowl in the aura of the plant, nestled in its leaves or with its flowers hanging into the bowl; making a dew essence which involves placing fine organic natural cloth lightly over the flowers and collected the dew; or through distillation, by capturing the condensation from the plant. With all of these methods, the process is one of ceremony, focus and meditation, and this continues through every stage of production through to the final product.

These ways of working have yielded beautiful results. The essences feel both embracing and subtle. They seem to permeate one's being in a gentle, intimate and respectful way - touching the areas where we most need them very poignantly, but with the sense of a surrounding and embracing support field that holds the rest of our energy in balance as we go through the process.

In this way, they could be termed 'living flower essences' - essences which have been made in complete harmony with the living energy of the plant.