Lipstick for Goats: Flower essence therapy for animals

Summer brought scorching skies, long periods of no rain, crunchy brown grass and very nearly bitter disappointment in the wildflower department to Somerset farm until I came across this stunning Fringed Violet in our heath land.

Fringed Violet (Thysanotus tuberosus)

Sadly the flower only lasts one day; it won’t open when it is overcast or on wet days so I feel incredibly lucky to have found a few flowers.

While trying to find out what this flower was I discovered a lot of the Australian bush flowers I found blooming over spring and summer on our property are used in Essence Alchemy.

I was so interested in using a resource freely available on our farm I researched this natural therapy.

Each flower has an essence, a vibrational imprint or energy, so when we use a flower essence, we begin to resonate in harmony with the qualities of the flower. The essences have the power to heal emotions; like humans animals experience a range of emotions and the essences are safe to be given to our pets. Ok I’m on board so far. I love flowers; just having them around me lifts my mood so maybe there is something in this.

It seems quite easy to become a do-it-yourself maker of flower essences. It is a simple matter of using pure spring water in a clear glass bowl, then to snip off enough flower heads to float over the entire surface of the water.

Leave the bowl in direct sunlight for three hours. Ta-dah, the energy of the flower has now been transferred to the water. This water, minus blooms, is poured into a dark coloured glass bottle to the half way mark. Now we use our best quality brandy to fill the remaining half of the bottle. The brandy is a preservative and an anchor to hold the essence vibrations in the water. This is called the Mother Essence, the concentrate. The mother essence needs to be further diluted by putting 7 drops of it into a 30ml dark eyedropper bottle filled with 1/3 brandy (apple cider vinegar can replace the brandy, but hell, give me brandy! Its medicinal,.... isn't it?!) and 2/3 spring water. This is the strength you dose with.

Now I am really unsure what to make of this flower essence therapy. The essence water is so broken down with brandy and water I find it hard to imagine there is anything left of the flower vibration and whatever else the flower imparts to the water to be of benefit. For it to work those flowers must have an enormous vibrational energy or else it’s the brandy giving that amiable feeling!

Perhaps the power of belief comes into play, which no doubt goes a long way with a placebo effect but what I find interesting are the positive outcomes pet owners and even some vets and animal behaviour experts report after giving their animals flower essences.

Unlike humans, animals aren’t subject to the placebo effect, they would not have a clue the 7 drops of bottlebrush essence you slipped into their water while they weren’t looking will address their compulsive personality.

So could it be a placebo effect on the owner really believing they are addressing an emotional or mental need of their fur babies and as animals pick up so much on the energy vibration of the humans around them, this ultimately brings about a change in the animal?

I am not ready to completely throw away the idea of flower essence therapy. It might really work and there is certainly no harm in a placebo effect if it brings about the desired outcome.

My chiropractor is also a herbalist, she stresses study is required to fully understand what each flower or combination of flower essences can achieve and how important it is to not treat as a blanket case but to work out why the dog, for example, is aggressive, is it fear, dominance or some other cause, then to treat with the appropriate essence, otherwise the outcome may fail expectations.

Marie Matthews in her book 'Animal healing with Australian bush essences' gives insights for various states of emotion and animal behaviour. From her suggestions my mind is running with what flower essence would suit or benefit each goat personality.

Slender Rice Flower for dominate bully girl Doe #104

Fringed Violet will help clear the trauma of doe #91 having her shoulder dislocated by doe #104

Isopogon for my brown headed blonde Rosie to improve her focus and memory. Rosie may then remember if she sticks her head through the fence wire beside the star picket she will get stuck...again!