A Vernal Interlude

I started this morning mulling over how I was to go about continuing this blog’s discussion between bites of breakfast. I barraged my husband with all of the thoughts in my head, the articles that I would reference, the theories that I had. He looked me squarely in the eyes, and said “Sounds like you have a lot you have to sort through. Why don’t you talk about Spring instead?” as he gestured out the window to the apple trees filled with blossoms.

And he was right. Don’t tell him. It’ll go straight to his head.

Magic theory can wait until next week. Right now, Northern Vermont is going through the later stages of Spring. I always think of Spring and Fall the way that I think of Dawn and Dusk. They are this magical in between time. Not quite winter, yet not quite summer. Spring is especially dear to my heart. This time of awakening, when we are shaking the shackles of the dark Winter. And what a long winter we have up here!

I feel that awakening as I ready the garden for the growing season. I’m out there, planting seeds and weeding remaining weeds from last year. Everything seems to be unfurling at once, leaf, herb, and flowers. Flowers like my apple blossoms.

While the most obvious usable product of the apple tree would be the apples, there are many other uses for the savvy herbalist and mage. One of the parts that are usable is the apple blossom. I bring this up because one of the ways that I intend to capture a bit of Spring is to make a flower essence of apple blossoms.

You may have heard of Bach’s Rescue Remedy. It’s sold at health stores around the country, marketed for stress relief. Rescue Remedy is also a flower essence mix. Did I mention flower essences are, essentially, magic?

Flower essences are liquids imprinted with the vibrational qualities of certain flowers crafted for specific interactions with the subtle body of the person taking the essence. Not only is it used by people, I know pet owners and even an animal shelter that swear that Rescue Remedy helps calm anxious and nervous pets. The people who use it on their pets usually assume that it’s some sort of herbal extraction, not a mentrum filled with the vibrations of a certain flower to effect the aura of whomever takes the essence. Yet, they will rely on it with moderately good results. One could attribute the effects of Flower Essences on people to the Placebo Effect (*ahem*), but what of pets who don’t know that their water has a few squirts of vibrational medicine? An interesting question, indeed…

But now I’m getting dangerously close to next week’s continuation on the discussion on magic.

So, I plan on harvesting these blossoms, carefully cutting them off the branch without touching them. Dr. Edward Bach, the person who came up with this process in the 1930’s, was very specific in his instructions as to have as little human energetic contamination in the process. He wanted the magic to be all flowers, sunlight, spring water, and brandy.

To make the flower essence, the flowers will sit in a glass bowl filled with spring water all morning on a sunny day. The flowers wilt and are strained. Add brandy as a preservative, and you have apple blossom flower essence.

When Dr. Bach first outlined his ideas on flower essences, he mentioned 38 flower essences and how they affect the energetic body. Apple blossom was not mentioned. When I first learned to make these essences, my herbal teacher had me sit with some flowers in her garden and listen for their energetic gift before making medicine from their flowers. This is how we suss out the use of flowers unmentioned in Bach’s list. I have a notion that making a flower essence of Apple Blossom will be a great way to capture some of the energies of the in between time that we are experiencing. When I feel a need for emotional clarity in new processes, or feel the need for a sort of awakening and unfurling, I’ll have that Apple Blossom Flower Essence waiting for me there. I won’t know for sure, though, until I have a sit with my apple trees before making the medicine.

I invite you, the reader, to honor Spring with me. Life is waking up and readying itself for the warm months and the extended hours of sunlight. Why not do the same? Make a flower essence. Plant something. Sit and watch the buds of trees unfurl.

Magic is happening all around you. How do you celebrate?

Loving this magical in between time

-The Green Mountain Mage