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History and Background of Flower Essences
Flower essences have been around for many years.
There are suggestions of their use dating back to Ancient China and Ancient Egypt. The first written reference appears to have been by Paracelsus back in the 16th century when he referred to collecting dew from plants in order to take the properties of the flower.
Dr Edward Bach is recognised as the modern father of flower essences.
He created the 38 Bach Flower Remedies and the well-known Rescue Remedy. Rescue Remedy is a wonderful remedy to use for shock. Dr Bach created his range of flower essences between 1930 and 1936. His essences were each for different emotions, such as sadness, anger and bitterness and over time they have become the best known range of essences.
As far as we are aware, Dr Arthur Bailey (Becca's step-father) was the next person to start to work with flower essences after Bach. Arthur made his first essences in 1968 and continued to add to his range until his death in 2008.
Arthur Bailey was President and Scientific Advisor to the British Society of Dowsers.
Arthur found his way into using flower essences after a protracted illness. While he was recuperating, he read a book about dowsing which he found intriguing. Arthur was a scientist (an electronics engineer) and he spent many years researching and studying dowsing after his initial discovery that it worked. In his final conclusions, he said that there was no scientific explanation at the time that he could find, but it nevertheless worked. He hoped that science might find answers in the future.
He was fascinated by dowsing and became the President and then the Scientific Advisor for the British Society of Dowsers for some years. He was a respected water diviner and taught many people the art of dowsing over the years.
He was a first-class scientist.
Yet he could be quite scathing about some members of the scientific community who he believed to be blinkered. It would astound him that they could be so unwilling or unable to look at the facts and to understand that there may be gaps in our current scientific understanding. He had very little time for people who thought that modern science has all the answers. It was very clear to him that there is much about life and the universe that we still have to learn and he had the humility to accept this and to love this about life. Before he died, he was sure that the answers for how flower essences work would lie in the field of quantum physics.
Arthur found new ways of making flower essences.
Following the way of Bach, Arthur made his flower essences by floating flowers in sunlight and preserving them in alcohol. However, he preferred to use vodka believing it to be purer than brandy. Over time, Arthur found other ways of making flower essences that differed from this original method. He never liked Bach’s boiling method, for example, and he used alcohol to extract the essence of the flower. He also made essences in moonlight and without the flower even being present.
His range of essences is called the Bailey Flower Essences.
Arthur worked out the meanings of his flowers, which all pertain to personal growth and changing our attitude towards life, using intuitive methods, meditation and dowsing.
Although Arthur died in 2008, his essences are still popular and are still sold by Yorkshire Flower Essences.