It’s been over a year since I last wrote here and to say life has turned me inside out would be an understatement. My personal life unraveled like a seam in knitting and I had to learn to put myself back together again. Coming back from such undoing is a deep and vital work and it takes such an incredibly long time.
Healing happened in the silence and it is still happening. There’s no fast track through grief and pain, just steady steps: one at a time. I read, and studied, took notes, asked questions of mentors and kin alike. And I found myself going back to a form of herbal remedies I had last looked at in 2013: Flower Essences.
An ancient practice of the healing energetics of plants and especially flowers became one of my greatest supports. I was reminded of our human complexities and our emotional wellbeing. It all made sense considering the incredible power of plant medicine: from cuts to insomnia to wobbly stomachs – plants gave me answers.
Now flowers have returned to hold me in my darkest and most trying times as I work things through with a licensed therapist and journaled until I fell asleep. I found support for every shade of feeling. Learned just how much the body wants balance and wants that peace. All without having the Flower Essences interfere with medication.
So, I started preparing my own Flower Essences for Olea Apothecary because I know I am not the only one who needs to be held. Whether it’s the steady calm of Hyacinth for when in dark grief, the needed optimism of daffodils, or the rebirth of dandelions. Or most excitingly the protective love of violets for those of us who want to step out and socialize, but feel the overwhelm; I’ve seen that plants cover so much of our complex human selves.
All of my Flower essences are made from foraging and the blooms I grow on my tiny stretch of green space, here in Indianapolis that I call: ‘La Jardin des Fleurs’ (the flower garden). I’ll be adding the four I’ve made to the shop and will share more on the flowers (their energy and how they support).
Wherever you are, know you are surrounded by flowers and various plants that want you to more than just survive.
Olea Apothecary 