Floral Therapy are called flower remedies to a series of natural essences extracted from wild flowers, whose presumed healing properties were communicated by the English doctor Edward Bach between the years 1926 and 1934 . The “discoverer” explains in one of his works that this therapeutic system did not have to be the object of scientific criticism since it had been directly communicated to him by God. It has been said and repeated that this therapy was “recognized” by the World Health Organization in 1976, but there is no document from that organization where this fact is recorded; in 1999 the Ministry of Public Health made it official in Cuba .
Summary
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- 1 Origins
- 1 Edward Bach
- 2 Energy balance and elements of flower essences
- 1 Terpenes
- 3 Some features of flower therapy
- 4 Chronology of its institutionalization in Cuba
- 5 Sources
origins
Flower Therapy dates back to ancient times, in China there are mentions of it and Western philosophers such as Socrates and his disciple Plato . Also healing with flower petals was practiced by the Australian aborigines and by Paracelsus in the 15th century .
The Welsh doctor Edward Bach gives an account of this therapy in the present century. In the 30s, he testified to having carried out several experiences: at dawn he cut the most beautiful, healthy and strong flowers, which he placed in a glass container with spring water that he left in the sun for a few hours. Then he poured the liquid into a bottle and added whiskey, making “mother tinctures.” A few drops of these diluted and invigorated homeopathic use, and achieved the fluid that he claimed to have tested on plants, animals and humans. This is how he defined the healing properties of 38 flowers and what we know today as the Bach Flower System emerged. Then he poured the liquid into a bottle and added whiskey, making mother tinctures. A few drops of these diluted and energized them and obtained the fluid that he tested in plants, animals and man.
In the 1960s the issue came to light in Australia and other systems – currently about 15 – appeared in the world, such as California, San Germán and the Mediterranean.
Edward Bach
Edward Bach ( 1886 – 1936 ) was a British homeopathic physician, who developed his ideas primarily in the early years of the 20th century. with great sensitivity and intuition for flowers. At the age of 17, he worked with his father in a brasserie and believed he had realized the relationship between mental stress and illness.
I study medicine. He learned about Hahnemann’s Theory ( 1755 – 1843 ), which is based on the principles of the law of similarities according to which diseases are cured with substances that produce effects similar to their specific symptoms, dynamism of infinitesimal doses in By virtue of which the drugs would have so much more effect the more diluted, and individualization of the patient and the medicine.
Between 1928 and 1929 in Wales , Bach “discovered” the first 3 flower essences. It is said that it was based on the intuition of each day, which, with the passage of time, became stronger: just by touching or tasting them Bach knew for which negative mood they would be potentially recommended. Its conception is of deep religious mystical roots and alien to scientific thought. In 1935 he completed his system of flower essences – which includes exactly 37 “flower essences”.
The most expressive historical source of the mystical and pseudoscientific nature can be found in his own work. Specifically: in the introduction to his treatise “The healing through flowers”, he writes verbatim a text that reveals by itself the pseudoscientific nature (rather a sworn enemy of science) of the thought of this innovator: “This treatment system is the most perfect that has been offered to mankind since time immemorial. It has the power to cure diseases, and because it is simple, it can be used at home. Its simplicity, precisely, together with its healing effects of everything, make it wonderful. No science or prior knowledge is required, apart from the simple methods described here; and those who will get the most benefits from this gift sent by God will be those who keep it as pure as it is: free from science and theories, since everything in nature is very simple. This healing system, which has been revealed to us through divine channels, shows that our fears, our worries, our anxieties and so on are what open the door to the invasion of disease. ”
Energy balance and elements of flower essences
The basis of the treatment with flower essences is based on the idea that a so-called “energy balance” must prevail in the human body. It is stated that sometimes sustained or acute emotional disturbance breaks this balance and consequently conditions appear. The flower essences through a personified treatment would bring balance again. However, this allusion to the energies that would have to be balanced lacks any rigor, since the energies at stake are not defined, nor have they been measured, nor have the syllogisms implicit in these ideas, which appear voluntarily in the same mystical line as its creator.
In flower therapy flower essences are used, where:
- Flower: it is a highly modified branch for reproductive function.
- Essence (from the Latin assent): constitutes being and nature, which necessarily exists as the cause of the properties of a body.- Name of volatile and odorous liquids, abundant in the vegetable kingdom and also called essential or volatile oils, a they owe the plants their scent. Essences are mixtures of very diverse chemical compounds, which often include terpenes and their derivatives, they are almost insoluble in water, soluble instead in alcohol, ether, carbon sulfide, fats, they are generally extracted by steam distillation of Water.
Terpenes
They are a class of organic compounds, whose common structural feature is a carbon skeleton made up of repeating isopentane units:
C
|
(C — C —- C — C) n
They are widely distributed in nature and the lower terms of the series, monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes, are the main compounds of the essential or volatile oils of most plants. Diterpenes, triterpenes, and carotenes, which have 4, 6, and 8 isopentane units, are found among non-volatile plant extracts, and polyterpenes (natural rubber and wadding) are present as latex in some species.
The term terpene is strictly limited to hydrocarbons of the empirical formula (C5H8) and related derivatives called terpenoids.
Some features of flower therapy
- It is said that it is “a causal psychotherapy”, since it seeks to modify the origin of the symptoms and the true reasons and causes of the ailments. However, there is no evidence, admitted by science, that such a purpose is achieved
- It is a drug therapy but not pharmacological and that provides a set of vibrational remedies that do not have active, chemical or biological principles. Such a claim is irrational by itself. An argument based on the “vibrational” nature of a remedy has no logical basis and appeals to a totally diffuse concept since it is not known what vibrates or what is meant by it
- It has been characterized as “holistic”, because the remedies act on the entire body. In a certain sense, all biochemical intervention (even those that produce effects due to a placebo) is holistic, since the organism is a system and, as with any system, the modification of one of its constituent parts gravitates on the rest.
