How Are Flower Essences Made?

Flower essences are powerful infusions that combine all the abilities, benefits, and energy of a chosen flower (or flowers) with the sun or moon. They are a potent homeopathic therapy, tuning into your body’s energy and environment. Flowers play an important role in everyone’s life by bringing joy, creating memories, and even soothing emotional and mental aches. It makes sense to harness that into something you can reach for and incorporate into your life every day. Flower essences do precisely that.

Fortunately, they’re also very accessible. There’s no gatekeeping with flower essences. You can purchase them or make them yourself. There aren’t many therapeutic tools that make that kind of claim. Follow these basic steps to create your own flower essences or understand those you buy.

Step 1 - Pick Your Flower

Choosing which flower to use in your essence is the first crucial step. You might have a plant growing in your garden or on your property calling to you. Perhaps there is a flower you need in your life and feel pulled toward. Some flowers are known for producing certain kinds of energy, like lavender bringing a sense of calm and tranquility. A few helpful and commonly used flowers are daisy, mallow, honeysuckle, and hawthorn.

Regardless of your reasoning, choose the flower you want to use and make sure you’ve correctly identified it. Flower essences are safe to consume, but take care when choosing and collecting.

Step 2 - Infuse

Fill a bowl or container with clean spring water and place your flowers on the surface. Place the bowl and its contents out in the sunlight for a few hours. Some flower essences are also made in the moonlight, depending on the energy a creator wants. Three or four hours in the sun or a full night of moonlight should be enough and the infusion is ready when most of the flowers are wilted.

Step 3 - Preserve

Once your infusion is ready, pour it or strain it into a sealable bottle or jar along with alcohol or glycerin. Brandy is a common choice for the alcohol. Aim for a 50:50 ratio for this step. You can also use vinegar in place of alcohol or glycerin. Regardless, this step will preserve your flower essence.

Step 4 - Label and Store

Correctly label your flower essence so that it’s easily found then store it in a cool, dry location away from sunlight. Flower essences can last for years if stored properly.

The original or main essence is often called the “Mother” bottle. Use it to create smaller bottles of flower essence. The method is similar. Take five to ten drops of the original essence and add them to a small dropper bottle, then fill the rest of the bottle with half spring water and half of your preferred preservative (alcohol, vinegar, or glycerin). Make as many of the small bottles as you want, either for personal use, gifts for others, or to sell to those interested. They’ll have the same benefits and energy as your Mother bottle.

Final Thoughts

Whether you want to harness the positivity of holly or the calming effect of impatiens, flower essences are an excellent way to keep the right energy close to you. They’re safe, simple to make, and are thoughtful gifts, so there’s really no reason not to give them a try. If you plan to purchase, knowing how the essences are created is helpful, too. Flower essences embody all the best qualities of the flowers they’re created with.

Bach Flower essences are created from very specific species of flowers.  They are harvested in a controlled environment and chosen for their specific properties.  By purchasing the essence or a formulation containing the essence, you can be assured that you are getting the desired benefit that you are seeking.