©2005 by The Vibration Gang

Since this issue is devoted to friendship, let's not forget to celebrate our friendship with the essences themselves. A friend is someone who is there for you when times are tough, who can uplift you and be a source of ready support and much-needed comfort and strength. A friend can act as a mirror to help you get a better, even a higher perspective on the things that are bothering you. When just now you're not doing your best -- maybe even sleeping on the job called life -- a friend is one who knows you're better than that, that you can live up to the challenges that you're facing.

If you've been using the essences for a while, you know that they can fulfill all these criteria of a true friend and more. In celebration of the friendship between essences and humans, the Vibration staff and some of the long-term writers we count as Friends of Vibration were asked to write about their own best friends among the essences. Here is what they had to say!

Vibration Editor, Donna Cunningham: Oh, goodie, I get to talk about Iris. As a writer and web designer, I need periodic infusions of Iris, the prime remedy for creativity. To tap into that wonderful energy, I even have a stained glass iris hanging in my office window to keep those creative juices flowing. Deborah is always reining me in, because I drool over iris photos and paintings and want to use them all in our art. Since I designed this particular page, naturally I HAD to use an iris theme. (To see the collection of stunning irises this photo came from, visit Schreiners Gardens.)

It's all very well for her, you may be thinking, she's a writer. If you don't consider yourself the creative sort, try Iris anyway. You may surprise yourself, for creativity isn't limited to the fine arts. You might come up with a creative new solution to your work blockage, or that rat's nest clutter in your family room, or even enliven your love life.

Over these past seven years, Vibration's other editor, Dr. Deborah Bier, has become one of my own treasured friends. Deborah, what is your best essence friend, would you say?

Vibration Editor, Deborah Bier: Well, my dear friend... I also became good friends with Cerato in the last couple of years. Following a head injury many years ago that affected my cognitive abilities, I had to trust my intuition almost exclusively, because for a year or two, I couldn't actually think my way out of a paper bag. After a number of years of intensive healing, I was doing quite well, but had come to mistrust the clarity of my thoughts -- to a degree inappropriate to my level of progress.

I can see this now, years in the future, but at the time, I didn't realize that this was, indeed, a large and pervasive problem. Eventually, I stumbled upon Cerato (intuitively, might I add), and began taking it. What a huge difference it made! In being able to start to reclaim and trust an important part of myself (my mind), I found it made far too many differences to list here. But let me say I keep a bottle at my desk, and will use it now and again either once or over a course of several days. I notice when I am feeling "not myself" that it helps bring me back to center all but instantly.

Deborah says, "Another person I have come to hold dear as we've 'played essences' together is one of our frequent contributors, Connie Barrett. Do you have a good essence friend?"

Connie Barrett: Special greetings to both Donna and Deborah, who've helped me enhance the self-esteem factor by seeing me as both a worthy source for articles and a teacher of Bach Flower Remedies. In connection with this, my special flower remedy friend is Larch, which I wrote about in the last issue of Vibration.

I have clients who say, "Self-esteem isn't an issue for me" (this statement alone can be an indication that it is), but I'm afraid to look for a new career (or a new job, new location, etc.) While Walnut, for transitions, can be very helpful, for me Larch is the core remedy when one is afraid to step out of the comfort zone where self-confidence is easily maintained. I first discovered Larch shortly after I'd left my 9 to 5 job and opened a metaphysical store in Manhattan's Greenwich Village. So far, it had been a rough, though exciting, transition. Larch made the difference. I found myself thinking, "Even if I never had a lemonade stand when I was a kid, I can do this." I decided I had the right to fire an employee I should have let go months before. I began to teach classes. Since then I've reached for Larch whenever I've found myself apprehensive about something I really want to do. In fact, I've set some projects in motion... Excuse me, I'll be right back.

Deborah says, "Mari Prackauskas is Vibration's steadfast proofreader. She is our Queen of Commas, our Duchess of Dashes, the Magician of Mangled Verbiage. A Bach flower student, she's a quick wit who's a delight to work with."

Mari Prackauskas: My essence buddies -- the bottles that empty most quickly as we speak are Larch, Olive & Mimulus (I can be a bit fragile!), though I'm generally quite even-handed in my friendships. Some essences don't come out to play at all, and keep their overcoats on: Agrimony, Centaury, Chicory, Rock Water... I recently became aware, as did certain colleagues, how much I needed Vervain -- I was starting to fix strangers with my gimlet eye in the way of the Ancient Mariner and wax lyrical about which essences would change their lives. One day I noticed how Vervain had suddenly become the ground-cover in the garden round my home, and had no choice but to take the hint... it's worked, of course...

Donna says, "Joyce Mason is both a contributor of delightful articles to Vibration and other publications, and a well-loved personal friend. I first met Joyce in the early 1980s while teaching astrology and essence seminars. Here's what she says about her best buds:"

Joyce Mason: I am highly sensitive and feel things magnified, especially others' energies and emotions. My best friends are the essences that offer both a psychic shield and help me to sort my "stuff" from theirs, and those that help me with stimulus overload. I have already written about Dill and Yarrow, but there are two other buds I'd like to honor: Jojoba from Desert Alchemy and Violet from FES. Meant for sensitive types who find it hard to cope with the mundane, Jojoba is grounding, helping us to see our hypersensitive nature as an asset. Sensitivity can feel isolating and intense. It makes the daily To Do List feel like climbing Mt. Everest. Jojoba enhances feelings of capability and belonging.

While I'm no "shrinking violet," the swirling energy of big gatherings leaves me reeling, aching to return to my cave. I truly suffer at conventions and concerts without a little help from Violet. While I can be as outer as I am inner, I'm a true introvert as defined by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, because I have to recharge my batteries by being alone. While I don't hold back in sharing myself with others, as the FES Repertory suggests of the classical Violet archetype (in fact, I overextend myself), I still have the delicacy, refined perception, and fear of being swallowed up in groups. That's why Vi is the only roommate I'll have at my next conference. (I always get my own room -- too many vibes -- need escape!)

Another of Vibration's treasured authors is one we don't see often enough, retired Bach practitioner, Annabeth Meister. Here was her response to our urging that she share her best Bach friend with us:

Annabeth Meister: While I have many friends among the Bach/Healing Herbs collections, I'd have to say the single essence that has remained a true-blue friend since my earliest days of experimenting would be Oak, by Bach or Healing Herbs. I come from an impoverished family that has suffered generations of hardship, and I worked hard to get a college degree (the first in my extended family) and then a Master's degree. I lived for 25 years in New York City, not exactly an easy environment, and wound up making career choices that were anything but mainstream, and that did not provide a comfortable cushion for setbacks like illness or hard times.

As a result of these life choices, I often lived on the edge, and from time to time would crash with the sheer exhaustion of the life-long effort to make something of myself -- to be the best I could be and contribute the most I could to our world. When I would crash that way, I would wonder how I could mend my spirit, for I would be almost too tired to rest. Time and again, I would remember Oak, one of the first remedies I ever tried. It is for those stalwart souls who have had a long, hard struggle in life, and keep on trying until the time comes when they feel broken by it. My own keyword for Oak is SOLACE, an old fashioned word, and yet the only one that seems to convey how very deeply Oak is able to comfort and restore me after as little as a week of taking daily doses. Sometimes just thinking of Oak and the word SOLACE can remind me of that loving place that Oak seems to come from. Thank you, Oak, I don't know what I'd do without you!

This page is a creation of Donna Cunningham's Word of Mouth Web Design, a service that specializes in creating beautiful and unique sites to showcase the gifts of lightworkers, artists, astrologers, and practitioners of the healing arts. Graphic images from Clipart.com.

The World Wide Essence Society does not mean to imply any recommendation of nor give certification to any individuals or companies above. This article is provided purely for informational purposes. We ask consumers to make their own determination as to quality of the services and products offered above. This article is not meant to be advice, and the information is not meant to replace medical or psychological treatment.

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