Like any new convert, new flower remedy users want to share their wonderful discovery with everyone they love. Now you know exactly what to do for your daughter's shyness, your aunt's hypochondria, your mate's grumpiness, and your best friend's lingering depression. Too bad they don't see it that way!

Over the years, it's gotten clear that there are several kinds of people who really don't do as well on the remedies as others. There are also certain types whose bottle grows green things in the refrigerator because they won't follow up on taking them. Here are the seven main groups you might hesitate to give remedies to, especially in the beginning:

PEOPLE WITH SERIOUS HEALTH PROBLEMS or whose health is delicately balanced due to a sensitive constitution. These individuals need to work with a qualified and licensed health practitioner. Alternately, an experienced flower remedy practitioner could work closely with a health professional.

PEOPLE WHO PRIMARILY SOMATIZE THEIR EMOTIONS. Here are included those whose emotions and conflicts are persistently expressed through psychosomatic illness, because they don't know how to deal with them more directly.

These are people whose bodies are doing for them what they will not do for themselves, like say no. A skilled practitioner, one with a medical and psychotherapeutic background, may be able to use the remedies with them. The newcomer, however, would do well to pass them along to someone with the right qualifications.

PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN THROUGH TOO MUCH LATELY and therefore are extremely stressed out or fragile--for instance, in the midst of or directly after a serious life upheaval or health crisis. Here, supportive remedies like Rescue Remedy, Self-Heal, Aloe Vera, or African Violet can mend and release the current stress.

PEOPLE WHO ARE HEAVILY ADDICTED OR ON POWERFUL TRANQUILIZERS may not respond well to the essences. The addicted person may drink or drug even more heavily to deaden the emotions that come up, since they are addicted, in part, to avoid feeling in the first place.

Although this is not always the case, people on powerful tranquilizers or antidepressants may either not respond, or the response may be unpredictable. Leave them to the care of their physician. If they really want to work with the remedies, suggest they go to a holistic physician who works with these preparations.

PEOPLE WHO AREN'T READY TO CHANGE. This may be the case early on in a process, when they're beginning to notice that the old way isn't working but are digging in their heels and refusing to consider that there might be a better way to operate.

They may ultimately become ready, when not changing gets to be more difficult than changing, but they are giving you every indication that, at this point, change is not a welcome idea. Respect their process and hold off, though you might let them know what's available.

PEOPLE WHO ARE IN LOVE WITH THEIR PROBLEMS. These are the folks for whom a chronic problem constitutes The Beloved Affliction. They are attached to it because the benefits of having the problem outweigh the rewards of getting well. They may get attention and nurturing they wouldn't get otherwise. Or, they may find it makes them important or enables them to manipulate and control others.

You can know them by the glow they get when they tell you all about Their Problem or the self-satisfied smirk when they explain why all your suggestions just won't work for them. Bach's Chicory is tailor-made for people like these, if you can think of a tactful way of explaining it! (See the article on Chicory by Rupa Shah elsewhere in this issue.)

PEOPLE WHO AREN'T ASKING FOR HELP. Sometimes a client asks for a mixture for a troubled and recalcitrant lover, family member, or friend. That person is not, in fact, asking for help, and the one who requests the remedy intends to give it secretly in their coffee or food. This highly questionable practice is invasive and constitutes spiritual malpractice.

So, yes, there are some kinds of people who may not respond well to the essences, at least without expert guidance. Many experienced remedy practitioners, of course, can deal with these types skillfully, but in the beginning you would do well to pass them along. The majority of people who are receptive to the idea and who want to improve do very well, but temper your enthusiasm or this newfound tool when you run across people like those described above.

DONNA CUNNINGHAM, one of the editors of this e-zine, has a master's degree in social work from Columbia University and is also an internationally-respected astrologer, the author of twelve metaphysical books. Her FLOWER REMEDIES HANDBOOK can be ordered on our book page. Click here to visit her web page or to send her e-mail.

A NOTE FROM EDITOR DEBORAH BIER: The plant featured here is False Solomon's Seal, which doesn't seem to have been made into a remedy by any of the companies, but it is so lovely I created this border from it. In my yard, it often grows at the base of trees with little underbrush or along the marginof our little wooded areas (on the edge toward open land). For some reason, we have a ton of it on our land, but not so in other places in the neighborhood--and it's reproduced like crazy the last three years.

As I asked the plant what its energetic contribution might be, it told me it is about joining up or modulating between people who feel themselves to be quite different from each other, just as on my land, it forms the margin between two types of plant life: wooded and open. Perhaps it grows so well in my immediate area because modulation is one of my functions and purposes as well.

ADDITIONAL DESIGN CREDITS: Wagging finger by The Animation Factory.

The World Wide Essence Society does not mean to imply any recommendation of nor give certification to any individuals or companies above. This article is provided purely for informational purposes. We ask consumers to make their own determination as to quality of the services and products offered above. This article is not meant to be advice, and the information is not meant to replace medical or psychological treatment.

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