26/02/2024
blossom and madness
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As spring awakens and stretches herself up into the fresh air, the cherry trees are producing buds, and some of these buds are blooming, into fine fragile flowers. early spring exhaling.
Cherry Plum is one of the first flowering trees to bloom. It is a medicine flower in The Bach range of flower remedies.
Under the cherry trees today the earth is graced with a sprinkle of pale petals. tiny, fine and translucent. just a few, the blossoming has only just begun.
Flower remedies carry the characteristics of a blooming plant, preserved in water. the unique and whole person of each plant resonates through the remedy, which captures their distinctive qualities at this peak stage of being. the flowering stage.
So Cherry Plum remedy holds the signature of the Cherry Plum flower, which is a blossoming tree.
This blossom could be described as soft, beautiful, transient, and all of these things are true. but those qualities are things we perceive looking at the plant, rather than an expression of being Cherry Plum.
The character and experience of this blossom shows us why the remedy works so well for the intense and disturbing fear of 'going mad'.
We are usually in control of our behaviour, minds and emotions, to some degree, but occasionally there are certain states of fear where we feel ourselves losing control.
Irrational feelings and thoughts, such as harming ourselves or someone else, can be very frightening to experience, so we become desperate to hold it together. But feel ourselves on the brink of losing it.
Just as Cherry Plum blossom is unable to hold itself together, even in a light breeze. From the moment of first opening these flowers are on the brink of falling apart.
They can collapse at the slightest touch. They may appear to be a flower but they are in bits. They float around in scattered pieces. Cherry Plum understands ‘losing it’ better than any other plant.
This is often a desperate state to find ourselves in mentally. What a blessing then to have Cherry Plum remedy to hand, dissipating the tension, restoring peace and mental strength.
In Japan there is an annual event of ‘flower viewing‘ of the cherry blossom and plum blossom trees. Hanami is an ancient custom and is it forecast each year when the trees will blossom, so people can organise their parties under the blossom trees.
I would love to turn on my radio and hear the blossom forecast. Blossom is beautiful and brief, when we miss it we have missed out on a natural event. Blossom is a moment in our springtime which deserves celebration.
In Japan the trees are planted together with future hanami parties in mind. Cherry blossoms and plum blossoms. Heavenly park spaces thick with blossom and drifting petals.
People come early before the party, to set up in the best spots, some come the night before and the party goes on through the night under huge blossoming trees.
These trees in full blossom last only a week. The date each year determines the rice planting.
So the acute and frightening state of ‘losing my mind’ does not persist continually, it is an occasional state bursting up from inner tensions. But these moments make a lasting mark in our emotional memory.
No one wants to feel close to losing their sanity. Noone likes losing their temper. It is a terrifying moment to be in. And yet losing it, breaking down and falling apart can sometimes be part of the human experience.
It is a wild state which the plants understand, especially Cherry Plum.
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Cherry Plum flower remedy is easily available to buy as it is in the Bach range of flower remedies. 38 flowers categorised by Dr Bach.
Cherry plum is one of the five flowers in Dr Bach’s Rescue Remedy.
