Evening Primrose is a vigorous biennial, forming a rosette of basal leaves its first year, and then soaring as high as 5 feet the following year. Plants with strong earth forces often have a 4-fold orientation (such as the Lamiaceae family) and the Evening Primrose is also a vivid example, with its four petals, eight stamens, four-fold stigma “cross” and its vigorous re-seeding capacity.

On the herbal and nutritional level, Evening Primrose is valued for the oil derived from its seeds (primarily the Oenothera biennis species). This oil is an excellent source of essential fatty acids, particularly gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), with strong anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. One of the most outstanding uses of Evening Primrose oil involves its hormone balancing properties for the female reproductive system, especially premenstrual syndrome (PMS). A number of double-blind, placebo-controlled studies have shown that Evening Primrose oil significantly ameliorates breast pain, tenderness, swelling and various mood changes associated with PMS. It is also indicated for the same reasons to treat perimenopausal and/or menopausal symptoms.

Evening Primrose – A Bridge from Moon to Sun

The hormone balancing properties of Evening Primrose are a bridge to understanding its deeper soul qualities. The feminine reproductive system is intimately related to the forces of the Moon. The monthly menstrual cycle is truly how the Moon ebbs and flows within the woman’s body. As a night blooming flower, Evening Primrose is deeply attenuated to the Moon’s forces and opens in response to them.

The healing signature of each plant is revealed in such dynamic forces, particularly those of polarity. So although the Evening Primrose is resonant with the Moon, the yellow radiance of its blossoms suggests a strong solar emanation. Indeed, Evening Primrose forms a unique bridge from the Moon to the Sun, and it is this picture we must hold most vividly to understand its properties as a flower essence. If we follow the Evening Primrose through its diurnal cycle, first opening its blossoms in the evening and shining in the moonlight, we also sense how as daylight dawns, its golden flowers are offered as a gift to the Sun.

This bridge from the Moon to the Sun is a core alchemy also experienced by the incarnating human soul. Our first nine months of incarnation are in the mother’s womb – a fluid Moon sphere, wherein the incoming cosmic soul first begins to gently feel – within the loving embrace of the protective Moon Womb – its experience of becoming human on earth. However, if there is severe emotional and physical trauma at this time, especially the intense radiation of being rejected or unwelcome, an unconscious negative residue remains in the soul and impacts the body. Such individuals typically have an aversion to human warmth, and the ability to form social bonds with others. It is as though the day-radiant warmth of the Sun is hindered and the individual is still holding back, attempting to heal its Moon sojourn in the womb.

Evening Primrose Flower Essence: Healing Core Incarnational Trauma

Evening Primrose flower essence is one of the foundational flower essences used by Catherine Burns, a therapist who provides support to childbearing women and children beginning prenatally, through birth, breastfeeding, infancy and early childhood. As a doula, she helps women to have easier births, and as a craniosacral therapist and lactation counselor, she helps many more to recuperate from the intensity or trauma of birth. She particularly relies on Evening Primrose flower essence when a newborn’s condition is poor, and may be sent to Neonatal Care, thereby separated from the mother, and leading to further experiences of alienation and abandonment. Read the full article here.

Evening Primrose is equally beneficial in countless cases spanning from adolescence to all stages of adulthood. Here, even though the individual may have “patched” over these core incarnational wounds, they can still linger and have tremendous impact on body and soul health. An early case in my own practice involved a man in his late forties who was socially reclusive and had been unable to develop a sustained partnership with a woman, though he deeply longed to do so. A curious bodily feature was that he had a protruding abdomen that made him appear pregnant, despite his efforts to lose weight. Using the single remedy of Evening Primrose, he began to have intense dreams of being torn apart or attacked. A poignant investigation began of his early life and he learned that his mother had tried to abort him and suffered from mental illness during this time and his early infancy. In fact, he had never been able to form a close bond with his mother, and we also used Mariposa Lily in subsequent stages of his therapy. One of the most remarkable outcomes of his case is that the abdominal weight that had so plagued him began to melt away without any outer efforts on his part. He realized later that he was unconsciously simulating his own pregnancy. I also observed that he walked differently, his steps more firmly engaged on the earth than previously. This also spoke to the strong incarnational capacities of Evening Primrose, that we see in its fourfold geometry and vigorous growth patterns. I truly felt that this man was re-tracing and healing many of his early developmental traumas.

Distinguishing Features of Evening Primrose Compared to Other Flower Essences

Mariposa Lily – Evening Primrose is frequently given with or followed by Mariposa Lily, since both speak to the early mothering bond. However, Mariposa Lily is more specifically used for the emotional, nurturing bond, while Evening Primrose addresses core trauma in utero. Also, Evening Primrose addresses the incarnational capacity to feel and radiate sun warmth and social connection.

Shooting Star – This flower essence is also highly indicated for birth trauma. But in this case, it is the soul itself that hesitates or withdraws at the time of incarnation. It is as though a part of the soul wants to experience being human on earth, and another aspect within the soul identity wants to remain in the Cosmic Realm.

Dune Primrose – This exquisite desert flower is also in the same Oenothera genus and opens to the moonlight. Yet, its physical gesture is quite different, growing in the sandy dunes of the desert, staying low to the earth and arrayed in delicate white blossoms that blush to pink. Our ongoing research indicates that Dune Primrose addresses more specifically the prevailing emotional trauma of being unwanted not only by one’s mother, but larger aspects of the social fabric. This sense of being unloved and unwanted can turn – especially by the time of adolescence and early adulthood – into hatred and violence or other extreme emotions stemming from the core feeling of rejection.

Joshua Tree – This is another night blooming flower attenuated to the Moon. But with Joshua Tree, we are addressing the larger psychic fabric of the Family Tree that works as generational karma into the soul.