Impatiens Flower Remedy
I first met Saskia some 17 year ago at the flower essence workshop with Tanmayo maker of the Himilayan Flower Enhancers on the Isle of Gigha in the Inner Hebrides. It was a long time ago but I recall moments of intense bliss and immersion in the nature of that place – especially the bluebell woods at dawn brimming with birdsong and some huge phallic lilies that boggled the mind. Needless to say we all left with the potential for life long friendship, though in reality Saskia was the only one I kept in touch with.
Our meting here in Crickhowell feels somewhat miraculous – its at least 10 years since we last connected. It almost happened in Glastonbury at Beltane but we just missed each other. Then a few months later I was accompanying my partner to stay with his friend in Abergavenny and happened to notice Crickhowel the old stomping ground of Dr Bach nearby. So I invited Saskia and this is how our time together unfolded.
Research reveals that Dr Edward Bach (1886 – 1936) first came to Crickhowell to recover from illness, and it is here he made the first three flower remedies Impatiens, Clematis and Mimulus.
When Ssakia first arrives she shares a story of an unexpected consultation that morning. The story involved a young person expressing anger towards their responsible adult, and Saskia had prescribed Impatiens. We begin our time together as the Lion’s Gate marking the rising of Sirius happens in 2023.
As we set out on our first walk along the River Usk at Crickhowel, Impatiens is the first flower that we see. I was intrigued to discover some years ago that Impatiens is none other than Himilayan Balsalm a flower I myself have spent many an hour pulling out along rivers in Yorkshire where I was living up until recently. One of the main signatures of the plant is that it shoots its seeds out when they are touched and so it is very good as self seeding and known to take over areas stopping other native plants growing.
One of the first things we notice as we walk along though is that the Balsalm here has not taken over, even though we know it has been in this specific place around 100 years since Bach walked this same path by this same river. Is this due to certain other plants being present? Interestngly I notice that Mugwort is also very much present and perhaps on some energetic level her strong feminine ‘Elder’ presence contains the exuberance and dominant nature of Balsalm.
We stop to closely inspect the plant. The flowers come in a variety of hues from passionate purrple through to violet and white. Bach made the remedy from the white flowers apparently which feels to be to do with purity. The flowers are full of bees and actually the dappled back end of the flowers is quite insect like in appearance. There are tiny clusters of nodules which will later start to become little spiky flowers before opening up. Another amazing things about the plant is how it hangs on a single point perfectly balanced, even as the bumble bees moves in and out collecting the nectar there is a wonderful almost miraculous stability in this single point.
We notice part way along that we are on a path that is closed – not quite realising the date – and yet there seems no reason for the closure. The notice not making me sense we carry on but become a bit alarmed when we hear men whistling and shouting and calling from the river. I am pretty sure they are fishermen but are they calling to us to get off the path? We cannot see them through the summer foliage at all. However as we come close to one he shouts and asks whether we have seen a dog owner, as her dog is in the river chasing a duck downstream. At that very moment the owner appears and so we hand over.
We both notice our anxiety at perhaps breaking the rules and being told off regressing us to earlier parts of our lives. This is intriguing as this issue of authority has emerged again in relation to Impatiens as a remedy. In many ways it makes sense though because often it feels it is those in authority stopping things happening – like environmental changes but really it could be anything.
Tuning into myself and why I might need this remedy I come to the heart of it straight away as the cause of suffering in the weeks prior. My partner lost his wife some 18 months ago who was also my friend and he is still very much in grief. Sometimes the grief feels very heavy, like it might pull me down too rather than my support help him through. When the sadness comes for him it always comes for me too – I cant help it I just find myself crying.
If anything requires patience it is grief, and being with someone you love in grief is hard because you want them to be okay. Also if I’m honest sometimes in the thick of it I wonder if there is any space for our relationship and the present moment and that is hard too – thats when I become impatient. I want it to be over, I want to move on and for everything to be okay. But of course life isn’t like that, grief has to run its own course and if it is unaturally stopped or dammed it will cause even more suffering and possibly illness for the person involved.
1 Corinthians 13:4–8a(ESV) Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.
I think we underestimate how much this single emotion impatience causes problems in our lives and relationships. I feel this from my own life that Impatiens is a remedy that calls us into deeper love through patience, and to letting go of trying to control things perhaps it calls us also into faith that in the end everything is going to work out perfectly.
