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©2007 Dr. Arthur Bailey, Bailey Flower Essences I have been finding and making flower essences now for over 40 years, which possibly makes me something of a vibrational veteran! Many people have asked me over the years how I find and classify my essences, perhaps expecting a tried and tested formula, but in truth, no two of my journeys of discovery have ever been the same. Sometimes I use dowsing, sometimes my own direct intuition, and sometimes flowers simply present themselves to me; interestingly this is often when there is a particular need, with no obvious flower essences being available to help. One such essence, called "Grief," was created for a close friend who suffered a sudden and unexpected bereavement. The morning following the news I went for an early morning walk on our local Moor. I was not expecting to make flower essences, but during that walk four different flowers stood out, so I collected them and made an essence when I arrived back home. This was made originally for my friend, but it proved to be of universal help for those suffering sudden and irrevocable life changes. The same story applies to Sea Campion (flower, above right), although on this occasion, the needy ones happened to be kittens! In this case I saw the flower and made the remedy because something simply compelled me to do so. I had absolutely no idea what it was for until I was asked if I had a suitable remedy for two very young kittens who were peeing everywhere. I dowsed and the remedy (which I now understand to be for those who suffered separation from parents early on in life) came up for both kittens. After a single dose, both became house trained within 24 hours! Flowers have presented themselves to me in a number of ways over the years. When I see ordinarily quite rare flowers in surprising abundance (as I did recently with Giant Bellflower), I know now that they have a healing property that is just shouting to be discovered.
Finally, some flowers have come to me in dreams, like Bistort (flower, below right). I saw this plant in a vivid dream and almost gave my wife whiplash by slamming the brakes on my car when I saw it growing at the side of the road. Bistort is a classic supportive remedy, and one homoeopath told me that she virtually built her entire practice on the use of Bistort, so powerful did she find it. For me, finding and identifying essences is about learning to communicate with, or tap into the vibrational energy rhythms of the flowers. Sometimes I feel drawn to a flower but I struggle to tease out the meaning; as if it is floating elusively around the edges of my mind, but not quite in reach.
With a new essence I usually start with rather vague feelings about its properties, and sometimes an image of someone who would benefit from it. Yet to determine accurately the properties of the essence can take quite a long time. It is rather like opening up a channel of communication between the flower and myself, and running through ideas and words until an agreement takes place. Like fitting a key to a lock, when the right images or words appear, my mind knows when I have hit on the correct interpretations. Intuitive skills are notoriously difficult to explain to others and very difficult to teach. After all we are dealing with the creative intuitive mind which does not understand logical teaching methods. Equally, it is virtually impossible to convince anyone of the reality of these dimensions who is rooted firmly in left-brain logical thought processes. Dowsing is equally an intuitive skill. By using a pendulum or other dowsing instrument I can understand much of the world that is otherwise hidden from me, but there are no logical explanations as to where this information comes from. When using a pendulum the most difficult thing is finding the right questions to ask. Knowing that a flower has healing potential is one thing; determining just what those healing properties are is much more difficult.
The great thing about these differences though, is that they create incredible diversity. In the UK there are now over 4000 different single essences, all with an important healing purpose. I do not feel that any of them are more or less effective than mine -- they are simply targeted for different needs. We are diverse creatures and a diverse range of essences are clearly needed to help us to target, with precision, the most suitable essences for any one person at a given time. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: As an expert dowser (and past president of the British Society of Dowsers), Arthur Bailey, PhD, (photo above, right), was inspired by the work of Dr. Bach, and began developing his own flower essences in 1967. Lovingly made by hand in the Yorkshire Dales, the Bailey range now includes over 100 single essences and 20 composites.
DESIGN CREDITS: The art used in the border for this article is with permission of
Pacific Northwest Native American artist, Lillian Pitt. To see more of her art, visit her
web page. All other photos are by the author.
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.    ©2007 Vibration Magazine/The World Wide Essence Society
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Last year, a single poppy (photo at right) sprouted in a corner of my greenhouse, and I assumed it was simply a red one of the common garden variety. To my surprise, when it flowered I realised it was a poppy that doesn't grow anywhere nearby. I knew instinctively that it was not coincidental, and it had properties that needed my attention. The message that came to me was that this essence could break up addictive dependence, or indeed act in the opposite direction of taking too much Poppy extract. I have since combined it with three other Poppy essences (Red Poppy, Apricot Poppy and Welsh Poppy) to make an effective combination essence called Acute Dependency. 
Flowers speak to me in their own way, and in turn I listen to them, but no words are ever spoken between us. The difficulty lies in getting the feelings and images suggested by the flowers transcribed into the spoken word. Language is needed to describe the properties of the flowers, yet that conversion between the two hemispheres of the brain is not at all easy. The problem lies in that the messages come into the right or intuitive part of my brain, which mainly deals in feelings and emotions. It doesn't understand words, only the feelings they evoke, and so I must somehow translate what my intuition is telling me.
Someone recently asked me as a dowser whether I thought my approach was more accurate than consulting Devas or spiritual guides. I replied that I don't believe it's a question of whether devas are better than dowsing or the other way around, just that different people communicate in different ways and the messages we get are about who we are and what we can accept. There will never be a perfect formula because of our emotions and our different personalities, and in that sense, we are all prone to tuning out certain healing aspects because they do not fit with our beliefs.