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 When people first discover flower remedies, the tendency is to want to take them all, because most of us identify with so many of the descriptions. In the Bach kit, for instance, there are at least six or seven having to do with depression and discouragement. When I first got the kit, having suffered with depression for many years, I was determined to end this problem forever and took all those preparations at once. The result was a horrendously painful catharsis that wiped me out for days. Do yourself a favor and avoid this "kill or cure" approach! 
How many is too many? Some teachers in the field say no more than four should EVER be given. Dr. Bach apparently also said that no more than five essences should be given. While this can be a useful guideline, in practice some individuals at some points in time can handle no more than one. Others can assimilate eight or more of the exactly correct choices at the precisely correct point in time. As mentioned in another article in this issue, some essences, like Bleeding Heart, for heartbreak, or Evening Primrose, for the person who felt unwanted as a child, are highly cathartic. In such cases and when involved in an intensive healing project centered on those issues, you would especially want to avoid using too many remedies at one time. The most important factor, in my experience, is to make sure the essences are not working at cross purposes to one another. It's possible for essences to work at cross purposes even when there are only two in the mix! To avoid this difficulty, check each likely choice with a pendulum, muscle reflex, or other test. Then check the final selections for compatibility by holding a hand over the group of bottles while testing. If the response to the combination is no, keep discarding and rechecking until you find a group that works well together. (See the articles from our back issues on selecting remedies by Paul Wyman and Deborah Bier.) 
What do you do if there are just too many excellent choices and the test is enthusiastic about all of them? It's tough when we could all use so many of them, but you simply have to set priorities. Choose those most relevant to the current concern, leaving long-standing but not acute issues until later. Also choose those which would seem to enhance one another so the mixture has a kind of theme to it. However, when two remedies are similar in nature, ask the pendulum if both are needed. For instance, Fireweed is for releasing old angers and Coriander transmutes emotions like anger into their higher equivalents. Sometimes you can get along with just one of such a pair, but sometimes the two together are even stronger than either remedy separately. Again, you wouldn't know this from reading the descriptions, but only from testing for that individual. There are individual differences in sensitivities to remedies and in the number of remedies indicated. In ongoing work with the same client, there are periods when the person can take many, periods when only one seems indicated, and periods when the client needs a break from taking any at all. Check the combination each time to determine the correct number. Most of all, trust the instincts of the person taking the remedies. If the mixture is taken faithfully for a time and then the person forgets it, loses it, or spills it, it is time to stop. Sometimes, too, a strong combination can be overwhelming, even the right combination, and the person will need to slow down and take only a dose or two a day. 
If you're still overwhelmed by too many choices, this can be a good time to take a generalist essence (one that serves a broad range of purposes), like Five Flower or Rescue Remedy. Use one of these for a couple of weeks and then reconsider your choices.
Sometimes the most potent number of remedies to take is ONE. Like in homeopathic practice, the essence practitioner who can identify precisely the remedy that is needed can make an immense difference. The right remedy at the right time allowed to work on its own without interference can be a great catalyst to swift healing. Sometimes this happens when you identify the person's type remedy, a gift that Dr. Bach himself had. As Annabeth Meister's previous article in Vibration pointed out, using one essence at a time is also useful when you are studying the essences, for it helps you learn them more vividly. In addition, as the articles in our Making and Testing Essences virtual Booklet point out, when you have made a new essence and want to test its effects, you can only get a clear answer if you don't muddle the test by trying several at a time. (For case examples of the effectiveness of giving a single remedy, see White Chestnut -- A Balm for the Worry Wart.) "One essence at a time," you are probably protesting, "But there are at least twenty I need in the Bach kit alone. At this rate, it will take me years to clear out all my unwanted patterns!" That's the bad news--and the good news. You HAVE years, and your work with the essences may go on for the rest of your life. If you've gotten this far, you are doubtlessly hooked on this form of healing and in it for the long run. Whether you take one, four, or fourteen, there are always going to be more essences to take and more growth that you can experience through this marvelously diverse healing modality. Furthermore, as our special non-flower essence issue amply demonstrated, flower remedies are just the beginning--there are many other fascinating kinds of essences as well, from gem elixirs to wild animal remedies to environmental essences and more. Take time to savor the process!
Art Credits: Clipart from Art Today.
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