When a flower essence is created a bowl of spring or holy water is placed in the vicinity of the plant that we wish to obtain it from. The spirit of the flower is then invited to imprint itself into the water along with any other elements from the ether that wish to emphasise the quality and message behind this particular bloom.

Imagine, if you will, various nuances and subtleties of meaning, spiralling around in the atmosphere, that are just waiting to drop into place within such a vessel at this  opportune moment, gently settling and coagulating within the mixture to establish an eternal bond, between floret and water, for our own benefit.   

This April marks the completion of a two year cycle with the Allies Of Nature range of flower essences. When an entire range of essences is created it forms in a very similar way to how an individual essence does too. It takes time for all the elements to come together, for each essence to circulate and begin to settle into its rightful place, for the collective to reach completion and the common purpose to be known. 

Little did I realise in the spring of 2019 when first being called toward the hedgerow by the abundant Blackthorn blossom, the inaugural essence of the range, of the journey I was about to embark on with all of the flowers that wanted their spirit to be collected from them to appear in my offering.   

The first 365 days of that voyage were all dedicated to collecting the 18 flower essences that now make up the individual spokes within the wheel. The second full rotation has allowed me to create poems dedicated to all of those flowers, plus, establish the 6 lunar and solar blends to be included within the package too.

Now we are 24 essences strong. Equating to two essences for every month of the year, lending a complete annual support system, morning and evening, to any would be client wishing to embark on a personal development program with me.

Like me, if you are to be an ideal client of mine, your primary life concern is likely to be something along the lines of how you are going to 'awaken to a life beyond bullying  to claim your true power', for this is my story also. 

Each of the essences or blends in the range add a restorative quality to us that is often lost when we are bullied, controlled, criticised or conditioned to live our lives to others wishes. The idea of the range is to assist us in coming back to a place of wholeness and balance, one essence and quality at a time, reclaiming our true power in the process. 

In April for instance it is the Bluebell and New Moon Essences that come to assist us with our improved emotional wellbeing. The elegant, slender Bluebell encourages us to engage with our lost beauty, something that may have disappeared from us as early as birth itself, in order to gain an 'inner-sense' of who we truly are. Whereas, the New Moon Essence aims to embed a greater assurance within us of truly 'knowing our purpose' here on Earth at this moment in time also. 

So to May, with the Red Campion and Waxing Half Moon Essences with their respective qualities of connection and vigilance and so on and so forth, month by month, right throughout the calendar, absorbing further attributes such as courage, confidence, vision, enthusiasm, resilience and trust as we go.

If this notion of gaining support from our fellow flower allies the whole year through truly resonates with you, then maybe it is time to get in touch with me and think about how you can start to benefit from the Allies Of Nature range of flower essences in their own right or as part of a wider personal development program with me. I look forward to receiving your inquiry by contacting me now. 

If you care to comment on this blog with regards to any issues or feelings it brings up for you then please feel free to do so below.

One of the more positive things to have come out of the coronavirus pandemic and the lockdown of 2020 has been our ability to reconnect with nature. 

Faced with vast periods of time spent alone at home, stuck between four walls, with only a tablet or phone screen for company, we have yearned for the great outdoors and taken every opportunity to go out and fill our lungs with fresh air and deepen our connection with the world around us. 

If we have been unable to venture into the wilderness like before then we have become more aware of what has been happening on our own doorstep. We have begun to value intimate time spent with bird, bee, flower and tree in the gardens, fields and hedgerows close to where we live. 

We have learnt that experiencing a restrictive, controlled, bullied existence is not a healthy one for us, short or long term, as many an oppressed individual would testify. It can lead to poor mental health, stress, anxiety and depression. Here we live our lives as fragmented souls cut off from our true selves and wider community, no amount of consuming can ever fill the void left behind. 

Whether we wish to live a life closer to our own nature or that of the planet itself, the plants and animals are just waiting for an opportunity to become more acquainted with us, to act as our allies. 

Flower essence and shamanic practitioners are trained to tune into what these allies want to communicate to us at a more profound level. They do this through capturing the spirit of the plant through a bowl of holy spring water and then sampling it or just understanding what an animal’s unique power and essence is from the characteristics and behaviours that it wishes to display to us all. 

This knowledge can then filter into a more expansive body of shamanic practices and healing techniques designed to restore any qualities we are lacking, bringing us back to a state of wholeness and balance, helping us to vibrate at a higher level of energy frequency to that which we do now, moving ourselves from a place of fear to one of love. 

If you would like to reconnect to nature yourself and want to tap into what the flora and fauna is wanting to communicate to you why not join me on a Medicine Walk or engage in a Flower Essence Consultation to discover 'The Essence Of Who You Are', these are the best routes into discovering the Great Mystery of how we are all interrelated and connected. 

If you care to comment on this blog with regards to any issues or feelings it brings up for you please feel free to do so below.

The Hedge Bindweed is the flower that wanted to present itself to me as the next natural Flower Essence Of The Month for the Allies Of Nature range of flower essences last October. With a quality of resilience and a message that 'Persistence Pays' we may have to ask ourselves why in particular this time of year? 

The question is a valid one because initially when this flower essence was gathered it soon became obvious that the prime objective for collecting it was its relationship to being able to help alleviate some symptoms of bullying. Indeed, of all the flowers in the range that have come to assist in helping people overcome the effects of bullying to discover their true identity this flower is the flag bearer of that campaign. 

This is because even though the flower itself can be seen as a bully in the way that it clambers over, suffocates and strangles other plants in the garden, the more it gets cut back the more it comes back stronger. It gives us the power of creating a strong root or centre to our being and indeed embrace the quality of resilience because each time it gets knocked down it gets back up again. 

Resilience by definition according to Google is 1) the capacity to recover from difficulties, i.e. toughness and 2) the ability of a substance to spring back into shape, i.e. elasticity. So in order to be resilient you need to have both of these qualities combined that of toughness and elasticity. 

In October, going by the Celtic calendars, we are about to enter winter, (officially winter starts on November 1st). At this time the majority of the deciduous trees in the Northern Hemisphere are either shedding their leaves or preparing to let them go. The week of Halloween and Bonfire Night sticks fervently in my memory as being the time when the majority of leaves fall from the trees within the year. 

Nature at this time is preparing to let go of anything that no longer serves it, the trees are readying themselves to go back to their plain wood, their root, trunk, branch and twig and nothing else. This is so they can become more resilient to the frosty mornings and sub zero temperatures of the winter months. They don't carry any baggage with them at this time they tough it out with the bare essentials, so that they can spring back again in March to be in full leaf.

So this is why the Hedge Bindweed appears as the Flower Essence Of The Month for October and offers us the quality of resilience, by being persistent we too will navigate the colder months and begin to bloom again in the spring.  

If you care to comment on this blog with regards to any issues or feelings it brings up for you please feel free to do so below.

Little did I know when I first started collecting flower essences of the journey I was about to be taken on in order to understand everything that was needed to be learnt of each individual essence. This included each one's unique quality and message that it wanted to convey to me in order to be shared with the rest of the planet for everyone's benefit. 

Firstly I was introduced to how the flowers appeared within the year, month by month, then where they were located within the landscape, next how they related to one another and finally how they connected with synchronistic events that were happening at the time, had occurred in the past or, as it turned out, would be experienced in the future.

This was all designed to make me pay more attention to the essences and the level of healing ability they were capable of both for the individual and that of the collective. All the time however I was being subtly shown how they related to the lunar and solar cycles too, which opened me up to a whole new level of learning.   

My first essence I ever created was the Blackthorn which was gathered on a New Moon at the start of the financial year in 2019. Three weeks later I was being prompted to collect the Bluebell on a Waning Half Moon. It was soon being made obvious to me that there was a pattern of collection for me to follow working with the moon phases, not necessarily in the normal chronological order. I would then be tasked with the sun phases too.

This sequence I believe was to help disguise, at first, the depth of meaning held within the particular lunar cycle I was working with and how they were all ultimately connected. This revelation only started to dawn on me towards the end of collecting all of the initial seventeen essence range. Some quite interesting commonalities started to come to light within each individual, New Moon, Waxing Half Moon, Full Moon and Waning Half Moon essence as I began to bring them all together, let alone within the Solstice and Equinox essences also. 

For instance when analysing all the New Moon essences I began to discover that if the Blackthorn's message was 'Knowing The Way', the Ox-Eye Daisy's was 'Bright Eyes' and the Dandelion's 'Keep The Faith', then together they would be assisting us in 'Knowing Our Purpose'. This is because their individual qualities of direction, vision and trust, when combined, point us towards a new quality of assurance. 

Similarly if we look at the Waxing Half Moon essences of Foxglove, Hedge Bindweed and Wild Daffodil we begin to discover that these are all essences that bring us more 'Aware Of Boundaries', whether this is guarding our threshold, reaching out beyond it or preventing people encroaching within it. We become more vigilant when the qualities of protection, resilience and discernment are unified.  

With the Full Moon we combine the essences of Red Campion, Montbretia, Snowdrop and indeed Red Valarian, as the thirteenth flower essence. Their respective qualities of connection, courage, determination and truth give us a new resolve for our life. Here we can 'Search For The Hero' within ourselves, find out 'Where There's A Will' there's a way and thus finally how 'To Thyself Be True'. By all doing this we begin to establish that 'We Are The Campions' and find out that we have discovered 'The Drive Of Our Life'. 

For the Waning Half Moon it is more about 'Loving Yourself'. When we combine Bluebell's beauty, Nodding Thistle's confidence and Yarrow's acceptance we begin to truly bring the quality of peace to our being where we are able to gain an 'Inner-Sense' of who we are, acknowledge 'It Is What It Is' at the end of the day and thus begin to 'Be The Best Of The Best' as far as we are concerned. 

As for the Solstices and Equinoxes then the flowers of the Wild Rose, Meadowsweet, Daisy and Primrose begin to bring us 'Fully Present' bringing our attention to every second of every day. They teach us to both seize and enjoy the moment whilst being responsible for it and treating it as if it was our first ever upon this Earth. That way we are able to be happy living our lives in a constant state of renewal, where new beginnings can be initiated forever more. 

If you wish to experience the Lunar and Solar Essence blends for yourself then why not check out the Allies Of Nature range of flower essences today and begin to live a happier life yourself too.

If you care to comment on this blog with regards to any issues or feelings it brings up for you please feel free to do so below.

When Dr Edward Bach created his now famous range of Bach Flower Essences he dealt mainly with negative indications, poor emotional states of mind that he would encounter before finding the particular quality he was looking for from the plants he was dealing with, in order to restore himself to a state of parity from that malaise. It is no different for the Allies Of Nature range of flower essences too. 

Here, my own essences are designed to help you overcome bullying to discover your true identity. Thus, it goes without saying that each individual essence, from the 17 in total, will highlight a negative indication that you will have felt within a bullying type scenario. It will also make you aware of the positive indication that you require in order to counteract this and help you come back into a state of balance. 

Bullying can be a very debilitating circumstance to deal with in your life and also to be able to evolve from without help. If we are bullied, we can feel lost, unloved, unsure of our purpose, be vulnerable and feel very apathetic towards life. 

These are just a handful of negative indications that we can be suffering from that I have selected from the first five essences in the Allies Of Nature range, the Blackthorn, Bluebell, Red Campion, Foxglove and Wild Rose to illustrate the point.  The same could be said of the other essences in the range too had I gone through the other 12 bottles and their negative indications also.   

The negative indication is the thing that we most recognise that we need help with, it maybe for instance that we are not happy with the way that our life is progressing at this moment in time, we maybe coming up against all sorts of rules, regulations and restrictions, all elements that we might be encountering under a Covid - 19 bullying set of circumstances from our government.

The ideal flower essence to counteract that negative indication from my range would be Yarrow, for it deals with all of those feelings of frustration with the positive quality of acceptance. Once we learn to accept this scenario we soon find we can carry on with our life as per normal as 'it is what it is' at the end of the day.  

Similarly we might be feeling a degree of despair within our life, having a feeling of loss or separation, being distant from others. Both Coronavirus and bullying can do this to us, to make us go inward. This is the negative indication associated with the flower essence Montbretia. This flower encourages us to 'Search For The Hero' inside of ourselves and to rediscover our courage, connecting us with our own inner fire and lighting a beacon within not only for ourselves to follow but others too possibly. 

I maintain if one is prepared to follow the whole calendar wheel of flower essences with myself and the Allies Of Nature range you will gradually bring yourself back into a state of wholeness by adding each individual quality that you maybe lacking, or need work on, from month to month. That's if you truly wish to be able to become the best person you can possibly be. 

So my advice to you, if you have ever suffered from any bullying before is to look at my range of flower essences in my online shop to see how best the flowers can help you with the negative indication that you might be feeling at this moment in time and let the essences start to work their magic on you. Then, together with my other shamanic practices we can take you on a journey to help you be the person you were always destined to be in your life. The true adult butterfly. 

If you care to comment on this blog with regards to any issues or feelings it brings up for you please feel free to do so below.

When walking the fields around my home recently, in the late evening, as the sun has begun to set, under lockdown, I have come across a phenomenon in the sky, that I am not sure everyone is aware of. 

It happens when the sun reaches a certain angle to the Earth where the solar rays are refracted by ice particles contained within the cirrus or cirrocumulus, high clouds of the upper atmosphere. Here a rainbow effect starts to appear with a full halo or partial arc around the sun. 

Seeing this prism effect within the clouds prompted me to revisit a book that has lain idle upon my bookshelf since the time I first read it back in 2017, when I was in the middle of my shamanic training, it is entitled 'Legend Of The Rainbow Warriors'. 

In the book a whole chapter is devoted to the time when this phenomenon, known as the whirling rainbow or sun-bow, is seen on a more regular basis within the skies. It is said to be a herald of a new age that comes with 'the promise of peace among all nations and all people'. 

It is a time where 'the Secret and Sacred Teachings (of the First Nation people) are to be shared with all races. Enough Children of the Earth will be awakened by then to carry the responsibility of the teachings and the healing process will begin in full swing'. 

Some elders say that the sun-bow 'can be understood as a sign to the people of a necessity to live a life in respect and harmony with all the creations that make life possible: plants, animals, waters, minerals, winds and other human beings'. As this starts to happen so the spiritual ideal of the Sacred Hoop begins to be restored to wholeness. This is when people of all the colours of the rainbow, all the four directions of the Earth begin to come together to create lasting peace with all the other inhabitants of the planet. 

Astrologers name this time as the Age Of Aquarius, Buddhists recognise it as Shambhala, Christians the Great Tribulation and 'Legend Of The Rainbow Warriors', believe it or not, refers to it as the Age Of Flowers. 

Steve McFadden, author of the book, writes 'In this prophecy, these people would wear feathers and beads, and communicate with the flowers. The flowers, it is said, would guide them and support them as they walked their life paths. Once you learn to communicate with the flowers, you will be lead from flower to flower to help you eliminate prejudice and hate from your life.'

I was amazed when I reread this book, for I was sure on my first perusal that there was no mention of flowers or flower essences within the prose, and yet it would seem as if this is one of the main features of the book, pointing the way forward to a new way of being in the future. Once more it seems to give an explanation to me of my most recent journey, arguably making sense of my entire life to date.

How could I have missed such valuable information before I wonder? I obviously wasn't ready to receive it then, being in the middle of my course and not yet having been introduced to the significance of the flowers within my true vocation. Only now perhaps when my study is complete does it all start to make sense. 

I believe that the time of the Rainbow Warrior is now, for me at least, as I begin to see the sun-bows in the sky more often. Believing it to be a portent of a time where anyone that cares about nature and loves the creatures of the Earth begins to stand up within society across the globe to create lasting change. 

Maybe the onset of Coronavirus has brought this state of awarenesses to the fore as under lockdown our connection to nature has been heightened. We can but only hope that this is truly the case. 

I will continue as best I can in doing what I am most able to do to cultivate change endeavouring to win over as many hearts and minds as I can with my shamanic and flower essence practice and my poetry too of similar ilk. I'm sure all fellow like minds, other Allies Of Nature are attempting to do the same thing too. 

So let us get prepared to come together, in one large collaborative effort and start to make peace, bringing this world back into balance after Covid - 19 as the prophecies are seemingly urging us to do. It feels like the time to act is now in any case. 

If you care to comment on this blog with regards to any issues or feelings it brings up for you please feel free to do so below.

In the Allies Of Nature range of flower essences the 'Flower Essence Of The Month' for June is the Foxglove, it brings with it the quality of 'protection' and the message of being 'The Guardian Of The Threshold'.

However, the Chalice Well also has a Foxglove flower essence within its range of flower essences too, bringing with it the quality of 'alignment' and the message to 'Stand Tall And Be Counted'.

When we come into contact with both ranges how can we decide which of the two essences is most suitable for us? Why is there a difference in the qualities that they offer and messages that they wish to bring? Where can commonality be found and the meaning of the two essences bridged?

At first glance there may seem to be quite a disparity between the two Foxglove essences within their respective ranges, however on closer inspection the mutual theme starts to become more apparent.

Within the Age Of Aquarius, the age we are entering now, more collaborative ways of working is said to offer the best way forward for us all. When attending the Accredited Chalice Well Practitioner Course in 2019 I learnt through that study that this spirit is very much upheld within the Chalice Well way of making essences. 

When capturing an essence in a collaborative way, many students or practitioners are all interpreting the message that the flower wants to bring to them independently. The insights that they receive about the essence will be very different. The beauty of the essence creation is only portrayed when people are able to communicate the enlightenment that they personally have been given, only then can the common themes be picked up on. It is through the weaving of the strands of the web where the meaning behind the essence is ultimately established. 

Of course essences of the same flower can be gathered under very different circumstances, in daylight, after dark, on different moon cycles and having various contrasting events going on within the field, within the wider world, so subtle nuances may always be apparent between essences. 

However when you take these two examples of the Chalice Well essence and that of the Allies Of Nature essence too, a bridge indeed can be formed between the ranges. 

The Foxglove carries with it the colour of magenta. Magenta is a colour that is a cross between both red and violet. Red is associated with the base chakra, violet the crown. In the words of the Chalice Well 'the Foxglove essence helps to create greater alignment of body and soul with higher energies. The life force then flows from crown to base'. 

It can be noted that all the petals of a Foxglove have a very feminine receptive shape to them, whereas the overall appearance of the flower itself is very erect and masculine in demeanour. This plant seems to summon upon the energy of both the masculine and the feminine, through the kundalini, the twin snakes that spiral up the spine bringing the life force with it. 

I know from my own experience that when we start to tap into the kundalini it is like experiencing 'The Guardian Of The Threshold', because when you connect with it you begin to enter a new, more spiritual, realm. 

The kundalini is a benevolent force, one could say the protector of the sacred. Therefore when the Foxglove 'Stands Tall To Be Counted', when it is stood in alignment, we can see that this is one attribute it takes to be a guardian too. Hence we begin to see the link between the two essences become clear.

The essence journey can be a very interesting one, the flowers are great educators for life in general. When we see difference we are encouraged to seek commonality for a better understanding. In this instance of what it is to be a Foxglove. For people and their differences however we could be being encouraged all the time to find out  what the commonality is between us also and ultimately what it is to be human. 

If you care to comment on this blog with regards to any issues or feelings it brings up for you please feel free to do so below.

What I have found most amazing in my journey with the flower essences thus far is the ever deepening connection that they seem to have with myself in the messages that they want to relay to me. This happens most profoundly when not only one flower wants to communicate its insights in my direction but two or more at the same time, either in a blend of essences, or in a sequence within the wheel. 

Previous blogs have commented on the fact that I believe the Allies Of Nature range of flower essences is here, in part, to help us through the Coronavirus outbreak. That is certainly how I have reported things with the Primrose, Blackthorn, Bluebell combination at work. Something that hasn't lessened any more since the arrival of Red Campion into the mix, in fact it has probably only further emphasised this.

The story so far of the lockdown period according to the flowers could quite easily read something like this. Here comes a time of 'renewal', of 'new beginnings' (Primrose). There is now a need for 'knowing the way', a different 'direction' (Blackthorn). This will require us to go inward, gaining an 'inner-sense' of our own 'beauty' (Bluebell). Then we can establish a greater 'connection' to ourself and the rest of our community by rediscovering our life purpose and how it relates to a common purpose that we share with our fellow Allies. Our bonds will then become ever more substantial for 'we are the campions' (Red Campion).

When I started collecting my essences just over twelve months ago, the flowers made it obvious to me which ones needed to be selected when, based on my connection to them at the time or more nostalgic relationships. Occasionally they would appeal to my humour too. 

When I started my Accredited Chalice Well Practitioner Course in March of last year there was one flower dominating the landscape. It was awesome. I had never seen it in such abundance, drawing my gaze continually towards it. Whatever events I was attending personally in my life it was there in the hedgerow making itself known to me that an essence simply had to be taken from it given half the chance. That flower of course was none other than the Blackthorn. 

In April however there was never ever going to be any other plant to take an essence from than that of the Bluebell, for I just simply adore the beauty of this flower in its seeming innocence. Every year as far as I can remember I have made the pilgrimage to the same wood upon the South Devon Coastline, near Wonwell Beach, just to be able to spend one afternoon of three hundred and sixty five with it, sometimes two or three. There is something about that hue of blue and indigo that plays with the heart strings, like a melodic song that just pulls you back year after year in pure romance. It is quite unexplainable really apart from the fact it must be love. 

You'ld think in any range of essences that Bluebell would be a hard act to follow and yet, within Westcountry hedgerows, as April moves into May, so right alongside it comes the Red Campion just shouting at you. 'Don't leave me out! Don't forget about me'. It grows taller, straighter and more regimental than the bashful, more unassuming Bluebell. The Red Campion stands proudly in its community, many cerise blooms upon the one stem, beacons of pink pulsing away to grab your attention. They champion their own cause to be included as part of any alliance, as they begin to take over the ever greening verges.  

What is most mesmeric for me though is when they are in full bloom next to each other, as neighbours. Where swathes of ultramarine can be seen next to patches of magenta. This is a great way of working with the spirits of these two plants also in their combined message that they want to bring to us. 

This spring, having already realised how the flowers could be connecting with the circumstances taking place upon the planet, I was intrigued as to how Bluebell would relate to Red Campion. I wondered what their combined message might want to convey to us collectively, as well as with regards to my own life journey too at this moment in time. 

For I knew in my own circumstances, as with everyone else in lockdown, that I was being encouraged to go inward. The Bluebell, where it grows most profusely is in the woods. There, it is not so easy to see out beyond the trees, you have to stay present within the forest as to what is going on within your immediate vicinity. No different then to being forced to live within your own four walls at home. 

With the Red Campion, when I started out in May, I wondered how its quality of 'connection' would make me learn about what was needed at this time and in the lift of the Coronavirus restrictions, albeit in fairly small increments. I thought I had found the answer in our wish to be reacquainted with our fellow human being. However I have since realised that the real beauty of the 'connection' between Bluebell, Red Campion and ourselves is this inward journey that we need to take to re-establish our own life purpose. 

The more time we are left on our own and realise how much we enjoy this life compared to what we might have experienced before when commuting to work every day, under someone else's control, then we will only naturally want to start to question our future path. A desire to understand where we personally are heading in life will come to the fore, as we wrestle with the question of what our life purpose is all about.

For me, when being under the influence of both Bluebell and Red Campion, whilst I have been questioning my own path forward in life I have been presented with certain signs in nature that may well have only been viewable in my own backyard. When walking the fields next to my home, spending time in the garden or even inside the house, cloud formations, encounters with animals and birds, number sequences, dreams, astral connections and pointers towards reference material on my book shelf have occurred that most likely wouldn't have happened had my outlook been more expansive and I was busy doing other things. 

Through experiencing a sun bow recently, where the sun refracts through ice particles in the upper atmosphere to leave a halo effect three hundred and sixty degrees around the sun, I was steered back towards a book I have read a couple of years ago called 'The Legend Of The Rainbow Warriors'. In the book it talks about a group of people that begin to form like Allies Of Nature, all prepared to stand up for the Earth itself, as 'Rainbow Warriors', at a time when these sun bows or whirling rainbows are seen with more frequency within the skies. They herald a time where the 'Age Of Aquarius' really starts to kick in. Another name for this new age is the 'Age Of Flowers', where a greater understanding of the healing power of flowers begins to take place by way of their essences!!! 

I wasn't fully aware of this notion when I read the book the first time, the penultimate chapter may have phased me somewhat. It now of course makes perfect sense to me as to why my life path has been as it has been and why I have come to be a flower essence practitioner, such is the power of a Bluebell, Red Campion alignment it would seem and knowing one's own life purpose as a consequence. 

If you care to comment on this blog with regards to any issues or feelings it brings up for you please feel free to do so below.

The further I have journeyed with shamanism and flower essences in particular the more I have realised how I am being encouraged to work month by month, in all my personal development work, with what is happening in nature at the time and how this relates to the calendar wheel. 

To be fair shamanism is more or less set up for this in any case. The medicine wheel that accompanies shamanic tradition is often talked about in circles of First Nation people. It helps form the symbol associated with this particular spiritual path. It has four directions connected to it, East, South, West and North. These directions can have various meanings attached to them, the colours of gold, red, black and white or the seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter respectively. A fuller understanding of all the meanings and teachings associated with the four directions can take many years of study to become fully competent in. 

I personally however, seem to be being fast-tracked somewhat towards this knowledge through my association with the flowers and their devas (flower spirits). In a shamanic way they have become my teachers. At times they have been very kind to me, at others quite severe in the lessons that they have wanted to bring to me, dependent on what has been needed to be taught or learnt at the time. 

One by one they have introduced themselves to me in this month by month fashion. Starting in March 2019 with the Blackthorn and then offering up Bluebell when moving into April, the Red Campion in May and so on and so forth until the whole year was completed.

They were showing me all the time when each flower was appearing in the landscape, why they are located specifically there and how they related to each other and the lunar and solar cycles too. This was before any synchronistic events that might be happening in the world came into being that needed to be considered also in the meaning behind their essences. They would seemingly stop at nothing just to be able to impart the messages that they needed to give me about their particular uniqueness. 

The wheel pictured above has sixteen equal spokes to it, all centred around a central hub. My flower essence range consists of seventeen different essences that can all be mapped to this particular wheel.

The range has four solstice or equinox essences associated with it. The Spring Equinox, Summer Solstice, Autumn Equinox and Winter Solstice can take up the positions of the four directions, the strongest spokes within the wheel.

The other twelve spokes can all be represented by one of the calendar month essences. However, as with the passage of the moon itself in its annual cycle from January 1st to December 31st there is always a thirteen lunar month within any calendar year. The hub itself can represent that thirteenth essence. In the Allies Of Nature range of flower essences. The Red Valarian is the thirteenth essence within the moon cycle, which brings with it the message 'To Thyself Be True'. What better message to have at your core being than that! 

The hub with its sixteen spokes can all support the outer rail of the wheel, all the qualities that we need to be a whole person in our lifetime. As with the picture above, we can experience the odd broken rail in our wheel as our life unfolds. In taking the respective essence that relates to that portion of the wheel we can restore ourselves to a more healthy state.

Once more in all the other parts of the wheel if we choose to take the respective essence for that part too, it can assist us in polishing up that quality within us, giving us a new makeover or lick of paint so we feel all the more better about our complete selves in the process too. 

This monthly cycle of taking the essences is now influencing my personal development offering as a whole. With any of the healing, coaching or guidance packages I advocate, the practices and exercises need time to soak into your being before they start to enact change. The type of transformation I offer should not be viewed as a quick sticky plaster to be placed on any gaping wound to try and make you feel better immediately, these practices need time to properly heal you.

This type of personal development is no short term hit of happiness, for that would be a very superficial way of looking at the way spirit wants to work with us in its many nuances and subtleties in our journey towards wholeness. Not to say that breakthroughs aren't possible, because they very much are, epiphanies and eureka moments can occur at any point in our voyage, we just need to be patient with ourselves as we go along. 

Any personal development work needs a period of percolation including when working with the essences too. Any particular issue we are going through may require a month, three months, six months, or a year to be properly worked through depending on what divine right timing is necessary according to the higher power in our healing journey. The flowers however and the shamanic teachings are here to help you negotiate that time, and I am too. We wish to assist you through every step of that personal development process.

Each month I will work with people on certain themes, bespoke to them, and the time of year that we are dealing with. We will be advised by the essences, investigating what synchronicity that will bring with what is going on in nature at the time and see how that can help you with your own progression. 

This is truly beautiful work I believe if one is prepared to engage with it and start to turn through the circle of the wheel as per what nature intended us to do. If you are ready to get started, why not check out my various packages now through the links below and let us get this wheel in motion. 

If you care to comment on this blog with regards to any issues or feelings it brings up for you please feel free to do so below.

This weekend it feels like the honourable thing to do is to acknowledge the inaugural, pioneering essence of the Allies Of Nature range of flower essences. For on the 6th April 2019 the Blackthorn flower essence was created. At the time, it was a Saturday, it was a new moon, it was the start of the financial year, the Grand National was taking place, and there was no hint of any global pandemic being in the twinkling of Mother Nature's eye, or any other eye for that matter also. 

As an essence the Blackthorn has proved to be a pioneer in many ways for me. The message it wanted to convey to me on capturing it was 'knowing the way'. Thus it has shown me how to collect an essence, educated me on how spirit wants to communicate messages through its flowers to me and taught me that not everything about an essence can necessarily be revealed at the point of collection. A greater depth of understanding needs to be accumulated about it over a period of time. 

A year on for instance, we are in very contrasting circumstances to when the essence was collected. Coronavirus has spread across the planet, there are no sporting events taking place and we are all under lockdown. We are also at a very different point in the moon cycle it must be added too, somewhere between a waxing half moon and a full moon. This illustrates that when a 'Mother Essence' is created it is very much born out of the spirit of the moment and cannot be wholly reproduced in the same way ever again.

There will always be nuances between essence collections of the same flower. Other distinct scenarios will be playing out within nature and society at the time, new influences will be at work, one could be guided to collect the essence on a totally different day or phase of the moon cycle, the planets themselves will all be aligned differently. This will give a slightly contrasting accent to the language being communicated to the practitioner from the flower itself. 

Indeed alternative interpretations can be extracted from the initial flower essence collection when more than one practitioner is involved too. When studying at the Chalice Well we would often collect an essence together and each person's understanding of it would be slightly different. There would however be a common theme running throughout the process. Links and connections within the web of information being accumulated would be the same or similar and this would point to an overall knowledge of what the essence was ultimately about. A golden thread of understanding would then eventually come to light. 

Subtle differences can exist from range to range too when comparing like for like flowers or very similar ones. When I collected the Wild Rose essence last summer solstice and got the quality of 'enthusiasm' from it, it was very reassuring for me to know that when I came into contact with the Wild Rose from the Bach Flower Essences, some time later, that its quality was one of 'enthusiasm' too. This exact match however may not always be the case and our job is then to enquire further as to why such a difference may exist and see where the common ground lies. 

It is good to approach essence making with what we say in the shamanic tradition is 'beginners mind', i.e. we haven't totally drawn a conclusion at the outset of the essence creation, or the journey thereafter, as to what that essence is wholly about. We endeavour to remain open to other thought processes, inspirations and revelations that might come that are reflective of what is happening with the essence as the process unfolds, layer by layer. We will always then have an opportunity to deepen our understanding of what we are being presented with.

That said however, there will always be this overall theme, this golden thread within it, something 'special' about this particular flower and what its purpose is to be upon the planet at this moment in time. This is what the spirit of the plant or flower deva wants to convey to us in allowing us to connect with its unique flower essence in the first place. 

What I have found in my own journeying with the flower essences, and revisiting them for a second time through the calendar wheel, is that they only want to deepen their connection with us and help us understand the original information given about their essence more intimately. 

With Blackthorn, its message twelve months prior of 'knowing the way' had been illustrated to me by way of its pioneering spirit breaking new ground with its blossoms in an otherwise barren hedgerow. It was giving all the other plants 'direction' in so doing, as it would give ourselves 'direction' when we connected with its essence also. How then would that message be further ingrained within us in 2020 when visiting with it again?

On the Blackthorn Medicine Walk that I completed recently in my own back garden, due to the lockdown regulations, I was able to connect with the original tree I got the essence from again. I asked it the question as to what will give us the opportunity of 'knowing the way' forward given our current very restrictive Coronavirus circumstances?

The answer that came back to me seemed to be connected to finding our own inner peace, and then from that place being able to honour all of the other three peaces too, creating peace with others, our community and the planet. We cannot have peace in the world if we have conflict within ourselves.

This further message from Blackthorn ties into the message from the Bluebell as mentioned in my previous blog, that of gaining an 'inner-sense' of ourselves, it being the next essence in the sequence of the Allies Of Nature range of ​flower essences. This further emphasises the connection between the essences as they go through the year. There is a beauty to this unfolding, a poetry, where there is a story to be told which isn't always obvious when each essence is originally collected.

I feel that the spirit of Blackthorn in 'knowing the way' is continually with me as I learn more and more about the flowers and their essences, in how they are captured, manufactured and are then to be used at a personal or planetary level. I can always rely on Blackthorn to give me 'direction' throughout my entire essence journey. 

​If you care to comment on this blog with regards to any issues or feelings it brings up for you then please feel free to do so below.