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When it comes to flower essences, not every bottle is the same! There are actually three main dilutions that we work with, and each has a slightly different role. Here’s a short and sweet guide to help you understand and choose the best flower essence options for you!
The Mother Essence
Flower essences are made by infusing spring water with the energetic imprint of fresh plant material, and then preserving this mixture with alcohol. This original essence is known as the Mother — because it births all the following essences :)
The Mother is the most potent essence. It contains the strongest energetic imprint, and is preserved at a 50/50 ratio of water to alcohol. Traditionally, brandy, which is 40% alcohol is used, though I often use an organic grape spirit instead.
Rather than ingesting essences directly from the Mother, we use this original blend to create stock and dosage bottles…
Flower Essence Stock Bottles
Stock bottles are the next level of potency when it comes to flower essences. To create a stock bottle, you take anywhere from 7-13 drops from the mother and add this to a neutral blend of spring water and brandy. Some people like to keep a 50/50 ratio, while others will use 75% water and 25% brandy for stock bottles.These essences are ready to use — you can take them directly on your tongue, add them to water, or turn to other creative uses.
Pretty much any flower essence you buy, from any reputable company (including Alchemessence), will be a stock bottle — but do your homework. If a company doesn’t specifically say that it offers stock bottles, they could be dosage bottles, which are a bit different as you’ll see below.
Flower Essence Dosage Bottle
Dosage bottles are the lightest dilution of flower essences, but no less potent. To create a dosage bottle, you’ll add 5-9 drops from the stock bottle to a neutral blend of spring water and brandy. While the Mother and stock bottles have a shelf life of many years (really, they can last over a decade when stored correctly), dosage bottles fade in potency after a few months. Since they aren’t meant to last as long, they’re usually made with a blend of 80% spring water and 20% brandy.
So what’s the point of a dosage bottle, and why would you choose this over a stock bottle? Dosage bottles are meant to be used for taking your daily dose of flower essences :) By creating a dosage bottle, you extend the life of your stock bottles. Plus, if you’re taking a custom remedy of many essences, it’s often easier to combine several stock essences into a dosage bottle for ease. Some people even find that their systems even respond more to dosage level essences than stock essences.
Alchemessence Flower Essences
Alchemessence single flower essences, combination formulas, and custom formulas are all stock bottle strength, meaning that you can either take them as they are or dilute them on your own to create dosage bottles.
And I have to say, it’s a bit unusual to find custom formulas offered at stock strength rather than as dosages. But this is what I prefer so this is what I share! You can learn more about receiving your own custom flower essence formula here.
Explore Alchemessence Flower Essences
ASTROLOGY | RECIPES | REWILDING | SACRED AROMATICS | SHAMANISM | SPIRITUALITY | WELLNESS
Juniper Stokes is a certified coach, mythoanimist guide, alchemist & artist.
Ghost Pipe · Pine Drops · Gnome Flower
Monotropa uniflora · Pterospora andromedea · Hemitomes congestum
FED FROM BELOW
Indications: receiving support, relaxation and dreamwork, interdependence, connection with earth spirits
None of these three plants makes chlorophyll. Ghost pipe, pine drops, and gnome flower draw nourishment through fungi linked to the roots of surrounding trees, living on gifts passed from tree to fungus to flower beneath the forest floor.
Ghost pipe, white as candle wax, helps our nervous system relax and opens us to dreamwork. Pine drops sends up a sticky rust-red stalk that stands through the winter, helping us receive support from community, land, and unexpected sources. Gnome flower grows in low pinkish clusters half-buried in the duff, and as the name suggests, helps us connect with the spirits of the earth.
Together, these essences help us receive without shame, the way every tree, fungus, and flower in a healthy forest gives and receives. For anyone in a fallow or depleted season, these three are kindred company.
I hand-pour every essence to order. Please allow one to two weeks for orders to ship.