by Richard Katz

This is a time when we feel threatened by physical and psychological contagions assaulting our health and well-being on many levels. Thus, it was with great appreciation that I joined an “Open Circles” Zoom session, hosted by Ruth Toledo Altschuler, discussing the Echinacea flower essence, especially as Echinacea now is in full bloom in our Terra Flora Gardens.  

We know the Echinacea herb as a tonic for the physical immune system, for our ability to create resiliency and strength in the face of infection and other stresses. A healthy immune system allows us to distinguish that which contributes to the health and integrity of our organism and that which is detrimental and should be rejected. The Echinacea flower essence extends that strengthening quality to include the whole interface of our emotions and vital energy, which impacts the integrity of our immune system. The significance of the body-mind interface in immune response has been extensively studied through the modern medical specialty of psychoneuroimmunology.

For example, Ruth Altschuler shared about one of her clients who used Echinacea flower essence to develop more autonomy and independence, as she recovered from an abusive relationship and learned to create healthy boundaries.  Read more details here.

Becki Cook, a flower essence practitioner and herbalist from Montana, was part of the Open Circle session, and shared her own experience using Echinacea essence after a traumatic mountain bike accident that reawakened feelings of trauma going back to her birth experience. It fortified her courage and strength to cross a busy street.  Read more details here.

In the “Open Circles” group, we discussed how Echinacea combines qualities of strength and ordered structure, with resiliency. One can see the complex beauty of the intersecting Fibonacci spirals in the inflorescence, a characteristic of many of the Asteraceae family plants. This plant family, which also includes such flower essence plants as Sunflower, Shasta Daisy, Yarrow and Cosmos, has complex composite flowers made of many individual disk florets and petal-like ray florets. It is the very picture of integration and wholeness, and all of the Asteraceae family flower essences deal with the way that our spiritual individuality can bring wholeness and integration to the many parts of our being.

Echinacea is an erect plant, with a fibrous, tough stem. The orange bracts look something like the spines of a hedgehog. In fact, the name Echinacea comes from the Greek echinos, which means “hedgehog.” However, you are in for a surprise when you press against these bracts, for while they are stiff, they are not rigid. They bend when pressed, only to spring back quickly to their original shape once the pressure is removed. They are a living demonstration of resiliency in action, the way the immune system restores equilibrium when subject to stress.

We also discussed the polarity within the echinacea plant of receptivity and strength, or we could say of yin and yang, feminine and masculine qualities. 

The flower head starts off in a cup-like or concave, receptive shape, and then metamorphoses into a more protruding, convex shape.  As well, we see the polarity between the stiff central part of the inflorescence, and the very soft, magenta ray florets that surround it. 

Thus, Echinacea demonstrates how outer strength has at its core a receptive, inner quality.  Please enjoy this plant observation essay and photo montage of the various stages of the Echinacea flower.

Ruth Toledo Altschuler brought the FES flower essences to Brazil 30 years ago.  She now lives in Vancouver, Washington with her husband Stephen. She is a master teacher, flower essence practitioner, and expert photographer. To learn more about her monthly Open Circles, please follow this link for the English version and this one for the Portuguese version. Read more about Ruth’s work here.

Echinacea flower essence is available here.

Echinacea is also part of some important flower essences formulas:

Yarrow Environmental Solution
Magenta Self-Healer 
Post-Trauma Stabilizer
Animal Relief Formula