The Australian flower essences were developed by Australian naturopath Ian White.
White began working in New South Wales as a naturopath and took a keen interest in using the English flower essences. At the same time, he was also aware of the possibility of using Australian flowers in the same way. Things developed further when White took part in a weekly healing and meditation circle with his wife and friends. He claims that, after a couple of months, guidance on the Australian flower essences started coming through to him. This came to him while he was meditating and took the form of mental pictures of a certain plant, plus a place in which he could prepare its essence. He felt he was given an understanding of the healing properties of the plant; if he was unfamiliar with a plant, its name would appear beneath the image in his mind. He would then go out and prepare the essence from that plant.
In this way, White kept preparing plant essences until there were fifty of them. He used them in his naturopathic practice and says he found them to be very powerful. He claims there was a synchronicity in the essences, by which he would prepare a particular essence in the morning and, later that day, he would get a patient who needed that essence. His conclusions were taken up by other practitioners, who also began using the essences. Their anecdotal experience served to confirm and verify White's work on the essences to them and to some believers in complementary medicine. However, apart from anecdotal evidence, scientific studies have not achieved any results other than the placebo effect. White continued developing more essences.
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Flower Remedies are not new. The Australian Aboriginals have always used flowers to heal the emotions, as did the Ancient Egyptians. There has also been a very long tradition of use of Flower Essences in India, Asia and South America and they were also very popular in Europe in the Middle Ages. Hildegard von Bingen (12th century) and Paracelsus (15th century) both wrote about how they collected dew from flowering plants to treat health imbalances.
This healing method was rediscovered by Dr. Edward Bach sixty years ago through the use of English flowering plants. Today our society and its needs are totally different to that of sixty years ago. There has been a great need for remedies that would help people deal with the issues of the 21st century - sexuality, communication skills and spirituality to name but a few. The answer to this need has come from the Australian plants, developed and researched by Naturopath, Ian White a fifth generation Australian herbalist.
Ian grew up in the Australian bush. As a young boy his grandmother, like her mother before her, specialised in using Australian plants and would often take him bush walking. From her deep understanding she would point out the many healing plants and flowers. He learned a profound respect for nature through her and went on to become a practitioner and a pioneer working with and researching the rare remedial qualities of Australian native plants.
Australia has the world's oldest and highest number of flowering plants exhibiting tremendous beauty and strength. Also Australia is relatively unpolluted and metaphysically has a very wise, old energy.
At this time there is a tremendous new vitality in this country. This, combined with the inherent power of the land, is why the Australian Bush Flower Essences are unique. Practitioners and prescribers world wide are now incorporating the Australian Essences to form an integral part of their therapy.
The Bush Remedies not only help to give clarity to one's life but also the courage, strength and commitment to follow and pursue one's goals and dreams. They help to develop a higher level of intuition, self esteem, spirituality, creativity and fun. The more the Essences are used, the more one is likely to experience greater awareness and happiness in one's life. Then everyone benefits....the individual, society and the planet.
