by Anne Rocha (Dickerson, MD)

Editor’s notes:

Anne Rocha is an artist and flower essence therapist who uses various artistic processes to help unfold the soul's healing. (Anne's photography and paintings are featured in this piece.)

The following case is especially noteworthy because the client was able to completely discontinue taking two pharmaceuticals – Alprozolam (Xanax, an anti-anxiety medication) and Escitalopram (an anxiolytic) – that had been used for nearly a decade. These medications were first prescribed when the client’s mother died and she was in panic and grief. In the case report described below, the client was gradually discontinuing use of the pharmaceuticals. In a follow-up report, the client is now completely free of them, and does not want or miss them.

Please note the following therapeutic highlights of this case:

a) It is gradual (i.e., flower essences are not a replacement for the drugs – they are a way of helping the soul retrieve the originally submerged emotions).

b) One sees during the time of therapy a reclaiming of the deadened parts of the soul and the body – a process so important for being able to successfully wean from chemicals. For example, H reports the quality of her sleep improves, and she is beginning to recognize and observe her behaviors.

c) At this same time, the client is also realizing the positive role of the flower essences : “I am not going to quit taking the flower essences, because for sure I am searching for my own spiritual transformation and I feel that the flower essences are helping me.” In this case, in addition to the trauma of her mother dying, is the earlier trauma of abandonment by her husband. "Thus I understand I used to complain of everything that disturbed me and I did not want to see the truth, so I wouldn’t suffer...” Bleeding Heart is a pivotal one in this awakening, along with Star of Bethlehem .

d) As time goes on, there is even more progress – the client feels as though she is cleansing her system of the drug residue – this is the role of Crab Apple . Her genuine emotions are beginning to be clearer to her – the role of Agrimony (and also Bleeding Heart from a prior formula still working): “The flower essences made me realize how immature, needy and dependent I was on my parents and children. Especially always asking back all the love I would give to them...”

Clinging Bleeding Hearts

A soul full of past traumas, struggling with difficulty through life, trying the best possible to live in peace and harmony with her soul’s pain

Addressing anxiety, her busy mind, and the excessive worry
and attachment to her father’s condition

Feeling her father’s love and compassion towards her;

feeling the love and her importance in his life

Understanding her soul process, and allowing the situation to become what it is;
thinking more positively and having more enthusiasm and humor

Cleansing the Soul

Healing the Child Within

About Anne Rocha

A soul full of past traumas, struggling with difficulty through life, trying the best possible to live in peace and harmony with her soul’s pain

H is a retired elementary school teacher and is full of energy; she was always on the go. She couldn’t seem to stop to reflect on her soul because her pain was just too strong for her to experience. She was constantly remembering “sad and bad” situations that happened in her past. Her present and future were lived in her past memories and emotions. Her present was running around all day long, going shopping, going to events and trying to help everybody around her so she could escape from the present moment. She was constantly running away from her emotional pain. Eventually flower essences guided her to a more peaceful way of living. H began to be interested in meditation, relaxation, and creating a quiet space to pray.

The over-arching goals included helping to bring H to the present moment, to focus on her present soul needs; to nourish the present, to heal her past wounds. The flower essences used to address those areas were Baby Blue Eyes , Chicory , Mariposa Lily to help her with her mother issues and feelings of abandonment and to bring freedom to her soul. Agrimony helped to unleash her true self. Crab Apple was used to cleanse her body, mind and soul from all her years of toxicity.

At the beginning of flower essence therapy, H was taking care of her 96 year old father. She was very busy, since she chose to take care of him in her home, not allowing her family to place him in a hospital. Her situation was very stressful and she was very concerned about her father’s health and well-being. She was responsible for organizing all of his care.

H’s first husband died when she was in her early 20s. Then she “remarried,” but it was illegal at the time to remarry her second partner. They had two children of their own and after two years, he abandoned her pregnant without any explanation. She came home one day after work and he and all his belongings were gone. Later when she was in her late 50s, she was very depressed after her mother’s unexpected heart attack death.

H’s symptoms and issues were looking for inner life transformation. She had feelings of being “dead” without any positive feelings about life. H’s psychiatrist suggested she take flower essences to help her improve her emotional situation.

Goals for H’s healing process included bringing light to her heart, happiness, and patience for her situation with her father’s illness. It was hoped that she could bring out her childlike soul, that she had locked up in her heart. It was thought that Mariposa Lily would resolve her feeling of being an orphan, along with Baby Blue Eyes , to help H recover from her disagreements with her parents and the masculine figures in her life.

The goal was to have H concentrate on activities that bring joy to her soul, and not so much trying to fix the world. H was constantly trying to solve others’ problems, while hiding her own.

In addition to flower essences, corresponding flower affirmation cards, and guided meditations, self-help inspirational books were recommended for reading. H did yoga, walking, and dancing. She was encouraged to write about her thoughts and feelings in regard to the past. Most of H’s soul process was developed through her journaling, prayers and dancing.

Addressing anxiety, her busy mind, and the excessive worry and attachment to her father’s condition

H is very sensitive to her environment, including smells, shampoos, detergents, and perfumes. Therefore, the flower essences worked very well with her, because she is very aware of the changes and their effects on her. H described feeling a beautiful light, bonding her and her father, and it was thought that it was the Star of Bethlehem , bringing that light between them. H reported being calmer and having more patience with the nurses and doctors around her house.

H had described her melancholic days and a dark cloud above her and Mustard helped to clear up that feeling, bringing her hope and inner light to her Soul. Mustard works in the fire of our interior world, bringing to the cellular level, faith, life, love and the will to live.

Star of Bethlehem was given to her for her soul traumas as a child and later as a young adult; her soul needed light and love.

Red Chestnut was used for the constant worry about her father and son.

Mustard was given for her feeling of depression.

Mariposa Lily and Baby Blue Eyes helped to bring harmony to her relationship with her parents.

Garlic helped her by giving courage and protecting her against parasitic entities. She mentioned many times feelings of having “bad entities” attached to her and around her house. And she wrote “I feel traumatized to think that I could have influences from a negative spiritual entity.”

St. John’s Shield oil was used on her face before going to sleep to anchor the Spiritual Sun as a source within, instead of a source outside herself. The oil would soak into her inner Soul during her sleep in a deeper dimension.

Feeling her father’s love and compassion towards her; feeling the love and her importance in his life

H began to consider quitting her medication and using only the flower essences.

Essences used with H were:

Star of Bethlehem , Gentian and Vervain - to strengthen her soul core.

Gentian - used particularly to bring her encouragement and be positive confronting her difficult and delicate situation with her family issues.

Mariposa Lily , Baby Blue Eyes and Red Chestnut – to surround her core like petals on a flower.

Baby Blue Eyes – because she was very insecure about her father’s love for her, and it would also help with the paralysis of her soul.

Mariposa Lily – because she feels rejected by her parents.

St. John’s Shield herbal flower oil – used on her face to “carry light into the dark well of the soul” (FES website).

Understanding her soul process, and allowing the situation to become what it is; thinking more positively and having more enthusiasm and humor

H had the insight that in her past she used to hide from her suffering, closing off all her problems. She realized that all the suffering kept hurting her from the inside out.

Agrimony was added to her formula (which included Star of Bethlehem , Bleeding Heart , Gentian , Vervain , and Mimulus ) to help H acknowledge her inner conflicts. Agrimony would also help H with her hidden problems, all the while showing a happy “mask” to the outside world.

Vervain was working very well in this situation, because H, at the beginning of the treatment, was controlling all of the nurses and caretakers for her father, telling them what to do or not to do. She had been stressing the situation even more. But now, the caretakers noticed that she trusts their care, and allows them to do their jobs without interfering with everything.

Spirit Blossom

Cleansing the Soul

H felt an enormous relief after the resolution of her negative and painful emotions when her mother died and her husband abandoned her. She realized how immature she was trying to have explanations from others for every event in her life and wishing her parents would always give more. H also saw hope in her future and wanted to go back to school to finish another university course to become a psychologist.

Honeysuckle was added to Vervain , Crab Apple , Agrimony and Mimulus to help H cope with her “living past.”

Crab Apple was used to cleanse H’s body and soul. She mentioned that she felt polluted inside from the medications she took, and she would like to clean her body and soul from those drugs. She even said that sometimes she would take three showers per day.

Mimulus was maintained in the formula for her fears.

Agrimony was used so that she would truly and deeply know herself, and also because the antidepressants made her “numb.” She was having a hard time to think deeply and solve her problems. As she said, she felt like “sometimes her heart had no feelings.”

Vervain stayed in the formula, to bring peace around her, what with so many caretakers walking in and out her house everyday. She would respect more their ideas and suggestions and not be so controlling of everything. She would understand when to stop, quiet down and not do everything up to the last second before going to bed.

Healing the Child Within

H was having great positive insights and changes. People in her daily life were noticing changes in her emotions and that she was less controlling. H felt her breathing was more relaxed when she meditated and did yoga. She was certain she wanted to quit her medications and that was a positive direction.

More thoughts about the past were surfacing, such as thoughts of when she was studying at the university. At the same time, these past memories were giving H strength to go back to school. Also one of her insights was that she visualized herself connected through an umbilical cord to her children, ancestors and nature, and she worried strongly for the suffering of others.

Essences in her formula were:

Chicory – for her needy soul in search of love from others, especially her father; for her neediness with a strong attachment towards her father and sometimes her son. Her soul had deep wounds in regard to the masculine figures in her life.

Mariposa Lily – H feels rejected by her parents and this would also help her with feelings of being abandoned by her mother. She mentioned a few times that her mother loved her little sister and not her.

Honeysuckle – because H blames everything on her past, even past events were blamed on “older past” events.

About Anne Rocha

Anne believes in sharing her joy of life with her friends, family, neighbors, students and clients alike. These values are reflected in her teaching and healing work with passion, excitement and a continued interest in the discovery of the healing spirit in all things.

Anne Rocha was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil into a family that used holistic medicine and homeopathy for generations. As a young child, Anne’s independent spirit and creative mind were expressed in her love for communicating with animals and plants and in her art work. She began her passion for helping others as a teenager practicing acupressure and massage and has continued in the healing professions practicing flower essences, Reiki and art healing for the past 20 years. She also enjoys practicing yoga, tai chi and meditation regularly.

Anne has been trained as an FES Certified practitioner, a Reiki Master and teacher, and a CranioSacral Therapist. She is a professional artist and graphic designer and currently works as an art educator for children and adults.

Anne lives in Maryland, USA and enjoys her home in the Agricultural Reserve with her husband and animal friends. Together they share a passion for kayaking, outdoors, organic gardening, and beekeeping. Anne particularly enjoys furthering her study of herbs and flower essences by growing and harvesting them for her special teas and uses flower essences in her paintings.

Visit Anne's website .