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http://www.healingherbs.co.uk/, http://www.edwardbach.org/, http://www.bachfloweressence.co.uk/, http://www.bachfloweres

Healing Herbs, Hereford (2026)

08/04/2026

On the other side of all change is a new daily reality and sense of identity.

We can become attached to our routines and the familiarity of people and things around us. When this is rocked in any way, the temptation is to cling to the old for security.

This rarely helps, for we need to let go to find our balance. Walnut is the essence on which we can lean in these times. It is the essence of constancy in ourselves.

https://www.bachflowerlearning.com/the-language-of-plants/walnut/

01/04/2026

Over the last few weeks, we have been tracking the stages of grief through the essences that can offer support.

Grief is a journey. Like all journeys it can be tiring. For some it brings exhaustion. Bone weary, deep exhaustion where the will to continue is barely there.

Olive is the essence for deep exhaustion that shows up after the shock has faded. Olive is one of the Seven Helpers. These essences focus on habituated patterns of response, where the Second 19 focus on in the moment support.

Olive is for those carrying their burden for too long but who are unsure how to put it down. This is not a temporary state from which someone has the ability to bounce back but the feeling that vitality is completely absent.

Nickie Murray describes Olive as the “great strengthener” that returns energy to the body.

https://www.bachflowerlearning.com/the-language-of-plants/olive/

25/03/2026

Bach’s career and work evolved through some pretty tumultuous times. He lived through World War I, the Great Depression, a global flu pandemic and the rise of fascism.

He saw grief in his patients and observed its impact on their wellbeing.

Grief is a heavy emotion that creates many patterns as we learn to carry it and put it down.

One of the essences that is perhaps most useful in preventing grief from consuming our spirit is White Chestnut. This is the essence for swirling, returning thoughts that interfere with your peace of mind.

When thoughts go round and round, or you replay things over and over in your head, this is the essence to help you break the pattern. It perhaps comes at the turning point when you decide that you are ready to consider letting the weight of grief go and discover who you are when you do.

https://www.bachflowerlearning.com/the-language-of-plants/white-chestnut/

18/03/2026

In times of distress or trauma soul personalities and responses are thrown into sharp relief.

Rock Rose is the original essence for traumatic situations to soothe and restore calm, but it is one of the Twelve Healers first and foremost – a soul type essence. The Rock Rose soul lives in fear of life.

Willow is one of the second 19 essences – for situations – for people who feel unjustly burdened by the weight of circumstances.

There are many similarities to be drawn between these two states of mind but the biggest similarity is in the behaviour of the plants themselves.

Rock Rose – a small and unassuming plant – grows to only 10cm tall. Yet its roots go deep, nearly 8 times as deep as it grows high. Rock Rose has a strong desire to experience life. The soul, like the plant, has deep reserves to respond to and embrace life.

Willow is a remarkably determined plant with a large root system. Take a twig of willow, drive it into the ground and it will grow roots. Cut it back and it grows back with renewed vigour. The seed germinates quickly on damp ground – this is a plant that is resourceful in responding to life, it is an affirmation of life.

The behaviour of the plant is more than symbolic, it speaks to its life force and desire to embrace life.

When you closely observe a plant, what does it say to you about the qualities it can share with you?

https://www.bachflowerlearning.com/contents/the-language-of-plants/

11/03/2026

The path of grief is never linear but it always has a starting point that is filled with shock.

Star of Bethlehem is one of the most significant essences in Bach’s entire system for its ability to calm the rocking of this moment. It is an essence that brings balance within chaos.

The essence brings balance in the chaos of life’s trauma.

The essence is part of the Second 19 – essences for sudden emotional events. These are mostly made using the boiling method. It might be felt that the gentle approach of the sun method would be more appropriate.

But the boiling method is a reflection of the emotional state. The sun method essences go deeper, for which a calmer approach is needed. The Second 19 deal with the disruption of patterns that shock instigates. The intensity of the preparation is a mirror for the intensity of emotional state.

In the case of grief, Star of Bethlehem is a grounding, calming force that helps to ensure the disruption does not spiral. This is why it is included in Five Flower, a combination for challenging and difficult times.

The perfect geometry of the flower and calm white leaves speak of its power to calm in the midst of distress.

https://www.bachflowerlearning.com/the-language-of-plants/star-of-bethlehem/

04/03/2026

One way to engage with the patterning of a tree is to spend time with it and try to sense its unique qualities.

Stand with your back to an aspen tree and you will feel the tension and subtle vibration in the trunk. It is as if it is a taut string resonating with the energy between earth and sky.

Julian Barnard shares his observations about the Aspen tree and the Aspen state in this video.

There are videos exploring all of the essences in our Educational Resource. Each video gives you an insight into the inherent messages within the plants form helping you to understand the healing patterns. They offer a wonderful way to deepen your appreciation of each of the essences connection to human emotions.

https://www.bachflowerlearning.com/the-language-of-plants/aspen/

03/03/2026

It is with great sadness that the team at Healing Herbs learnt of the passing of Glenn Storhaug of Five Seasons Press.

Glenn set up Five Seasons Press many years ago in Hereford, letterpressing publications himself. He brought an attention to detail that remains extraordinarily rare.

Glenn was a master of his art who taught himself how to letterpress and brought his unique interpretation of translating the spoken words into the written word with all the same energy and spirit.

Glenn and Julian had a deep friendship and collaborated on all of Julian’s books on Dr Bach and Bach flowers.

Their friendship was committed to bringing the words, thoughts and spirit of Dr Bach to a wider audience. Glenn typeset and produced some titles in several languages. For both Julian and Glenn good design was integral to clear understanding.

Glenn also accompanied Julian on his trip to China in his “Search for Cerato’ and can be seen reciting Libai's poem in the valley gorge.

Glenn Storhaug 1947 – 2026

https://www.bachflowerlearning.com/flower-essences/searching-for-cerato/

25/02/2026

Confidence to engage fully in life touches upon many hesitations and fears.

Faced with opportunity or challenge, you may consider yourself not up to the job or able to sustain yourself through the perceived trials ahead of you.

Are you good enough?

The question itself speaks to a lack of confidence. There are two essences that deal with different aspects of confidence.

The first is Elm.

The Elm type has a deep sense of purpose and sets themselves big goals. In fact, these goals are so big that the sense of responsibility makes them doubt themselves. A deep sense of feeling overwhelmed makes them consider giving up before they have truly begun.

Elm essence helps them to recover their faith in life and confidence to move forward.

Moving forward is not an issue for the other essence of confidence, Larch.

Larch is a pioneer species, it is built for the unknown. It is resilient and able to withstand inhospitable conditions.

But it lacks the sense of purpose that drives Elm.

It is not moving towards a goal but moving because it must. There are no affirming stage posts when you are a pioneer and this is what defines the Larch state – without confirmation the doubt creeps in. How can you know if you are succeeding if there is nothing to benchmark your progress against?

Larch essence will help to restore belief in capability and dissolve the sense of failure that builds up.

These two essences help to nurture confidence when circumstances conspire to trigger its loss. They demonstrate the many subtle nuances of any emotional state that can be experienced. Understanding how the emotion is responded to is so important to identifying the right essence in each moment.

https://www.bachflowerlearning.com/contents/the-language-of-plants/

18/02/2026

When beginning to work with Bach Flower Essences, it can be confusing to know where to start. It can even be confronting to our beliefs about disease.

Over the years, we have been asked just about every variation of the question, “where do I start?” The answer is always simple, come back to the person, not the disease.

In this introduction from A Guide to The Bach Flower Remedies, Julian Barnard explains the premise with a simplicity that can only come from a deep understanding of the concept and philosophy behind the essences.

“Although there are thousands of variations in physical illness the psychological causes are relatively few.

The Bach Remedies recognise 38 conditions, each specifically aligned to one of the states that generate ‘dis-ease’ within the psyche.

They are classified under seven headings: For Fear For Uncertainty For Insufficient Interest in Present Circumstances For Loneliness For Those Over-sensitive to Influences and Ideas For Despondency and Despair For Over care for the Welfare of Others Each category covers a range of mental and emotional states. Those concerned with fear, for instance, range from sheer terror (Rock Rose), to specific fears like a fear of heights or a fear of animals (Mimulus), to anxiety for the anticipated misfortunes of others (Red Chestnut). The remedies for despondency and despair range from a feeling of inadequacy (Larch) to a remedy that helps in that time of anguish that is sometimes called ‘the dark night of the soul’ (Sweet Chestnut).

Bach found the remedies by searching the countryside for those plants which he instinctively knew were suitable to help specific psychological states. The classification of these states was arrived at by careful observation of human nature and more especially by observation of the way that different people react when suffering from an illness or when under stress.

They are of two kinds: there are the Type Remedies which relate to a characteristic type of personality and the Helping Remedies which deal with the transient mood of the psyche. The latter describe conditions which are not necessarily essential to a person’s character but which have developed a strong hold upon them.”

A Guide to The Bach Flower Remedies is available online in the Julian Barnard Library – free to read and download.

You can also find extensive learning resources in our free Bach Flower Learning Study Course which is linked from the Library.

https://www.healingherbs.co.uk/learn/julian-barnard-library/

11/02/2026

Light is a theme that cannot be ignored in learning about Bach Flower Essences.

Plants absorb and reflect different bands of light which becomes a key component of the message within the essence.

There are two different methods of making essences. The first 19 (The Twelve Healers and Seven Helpers) were created using the sun method, the Second Nineteen are almost exclusively made using the boiling method. The actions of these methods are quite different (see the image below) but still relate to the qualities of light within the essence.

In Light, a talk Julian Barnard gave in the early 2000’s, he says of the sun method,

“When we begin the process the water is reflective as you can see in the glass of the bowl. We wait 3 hours and during that time the situation changes. (It is also important to note that the temperature of the water rises in this time). - The light has now been slowly absorbed in the water and it is no longer reflecting, or not so much. This change shows more strongly with the coloured flowers and is less apparent with the white ones…

What I am pointing to is that light returns through change when using the essences.”

Light becomes a dynamic form of communication within the essences and we can learn a lot about their nature by observing the transformations of light in their making.

Light is available to read in the Julian Barnard Library. If you enjoy this short talk, we would recommend following it up with Bach Flower Essences and The Patterning of Water which is also available free to read online.

https://www.healingherbs.co.uk/learn/julian-barnard-library/

04/02/2026

The Story of the Travellers

Once upon a time sixteen travellers set out to journey through a forest.

At first all went well, but after they had journeyed some distance, Agrimony began to be worried as to whether they were on the right path. As they went deeper into the shadows, Mimulus began to be afraid that they had lost the road. When the sun set, Rock Rose became full of terror. In the middle of the night, Gorse lost all hope.

Oak on the other hand, though feeling all was lost said “I shall struggle on to the very last”.

Scleranthus had some hope but at times suffered from uncertainty. Clematis plodded on quietly. Gentian at times much cheered the party, but at others fell into a state of despondency.

Heather was very sure he knew the way, Chicory had no concern about the end of the journey. Cerato had not much confidence in his judgement and meek little Centaury so wanted to lighten the burden that he was ready to carry everybody’s baggage.

Rock Water was all afire to help but depressed the party because he was critical of what they were doing wrong. Vervain should have known the path well but although he had become a little confused held forth at length as to the only way out of the wood. Impatiens too well knew the pathway home so well that he was impatient with those less speedy than himself. Water Violet had travelled that way before and knew the right road and yet was a little disdainful that the others did not understand.

And in the end they all came through the forest.

Now they go as guides to other travellers who have not made the journey before because they know there is a pathway through and because they know the darkness of the forest is but the shadows of the night.

Extract from The Story of the Travellers 1934– from Bach’s Collected Writings

https://www.healingherbs.co.uk/learn/julian-barnard-library/

10/12/2025

Behind the scenes, the Healing Herbs team has been working on an exciting development online.

For years, we have operated multiple websites to host our educational materials, learning programme and our essences, books and supplies. We were very much aware that this didn’t present the easiest user experience and we wanted to make it simpler.

We are pleased to announce that the first phase of work to bring all these sites together is complete. You can now browse essences and books or watch our videos all from one website. For our international customers, it is now easier to find your local distributor too.

We hope this makes it easier to explore the world of Bach flower essences.

We would love to hear your feedback, so please do leave a comment below.
https://www.healingherbs.co.uk/

Healing Herbs

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