Chakras & Bach Flower Essences for Despair

Chakras are the principle components of the human energy system. I see them as the Divine Life Force itself viewed as a prism. Because chakras are energetic, energetic treatment modalities are ideal.

For the next week or so, I’ll write about the chakra system, and the remarkable work known as The Bach Flower Remedies. Here’s an intro:

Dr. Edward Bach is the homeopath & M.D. who created the Bach Flower Essences. There are 38 in his set. Lots of other companies make flower essences, and you can even make your own, but the only ones I am familiar with and use are the Bach Flower Essences. Again, how and where they are manufactured matters. Caveat emptor.

Dr. Bach divided those 38 into seven groups. Did he mean them to be the chakras? No one knows. However, Anna Jeoffroy and Philip Salmon, authors of the only book I’ve found on Bach Flower Essences and the chakras, seem to think he did.

Dr. Bach wrote, “Disease of the body itself is nothing but the result of the disharmony between soul and mind. Remove the disharmony, and we regain harmony between soul and mind, and the body is once more perfect in all its parts.”

He called the remedies in each emotional grouping: The Helpers. Here is the list of the remedies which go with the First Red Root Chakra group; they address Despondency or Despair.

Crab Apple: Helps when you feel that there is something not quite clean about yourself. You may need to wash your hands often, find things dirty without any reason, you may find yourself ugly although others find you very attractive. This is a cleansing Essence.

Elm: Helps when your responsibilities overwhelm you. You feel depressed and exhausted and may lose self-esteem.

Larch: Helps you to regain self-esteem and confidence in yourself.

Oak: Helps when your inner strength wanes, usually because you are an over-achiever and will overwork and ignore your tiredness.

Pine: Helps when you feel guilt and self-reproach, often for other people’s mistakes or just anything that goes wrong. You are never content with your effort and results.

Star of Bethlehem: Helps when you experience trauma, serious news, loss of someone dear, the fright following an accident, etc. The distress and unhappiness feel unbearable.

Sweet Chestnut: Helps you at moments when the anguish is too great and seems to be unbearable. Your mind or body feels as if it has tolerated the uttermost limit of its endurance. It feels as if there is nothing but destruction and annihilation left to face.

Willow: Helps when you have suffered adversity or misfortune and find it difficult to accept. You feel sorry for yourself and are grumbly and sulky.

If you’re human — and I’m assuming that if you’re reading this, you are — we all have occasions where the world becomes just too much and can cause us to visit despondency and despair. Keyword: visit. Don’t buy a house. Don’t sign a lease. Dowse for a remedy, and find something beautiful to look at, listen to, touch, taste, or smell. The despair will lift.

How do I know? Been there, done that.