Just when I thought all the flowers in the garden had given way to winter, I noticed the wild mustard (charlock) that Bach’s mustard flower remedy is made from. Flowering since May, these four-petalled yellow flowers are still budding with new growth and that makes me smile.
The mustard flowers have been the light bearers through the winter, shining lemon-bright in the garden when everything else was hiding and that is so very apt.
Mustard flower remedy is often needed at this time of year in the northern hemisphere when people struggle with the lack of light. As Edward Bach said “this remedy dispels gloom, and brings joy to life”.
Mustard flower remedy is one of a handful of Bach Flower Remedies used for depression (gorse, gentian, wild rose and sweet chestnut treat other aspects of depression).
Mustard is for when there’s no logical reason for you feeling down. You feel heavy headed, slow, unmotivated and melancholy – as though there is a soul deep sadness that you can’t quite express. You feel separate from the world, locked into a heavy gloom that others don’t understand and you just can’t put a brave face on it.
Bach described mustard for “Those who are liable to times of gloom, or even despair, as though a cold dark cloud overshadowed them and hid the light and the joy of life. It may not be possible to give any reason or explanation for such attacks. Under these conditions it is almost impossible to appear happy or cheerful”.
People who experience this state are usually incredibly sensitive to the energies of others and to planetary energies like moon phases and solar flares and global events.
It’s as though you are less able to filter out these experiences than other people, so you absorb all the negativity unconsciously and it lowers your vibration. When your vibration is low, your energy levels are low and it becomes almost impossible to find the motivation to do the very activities that will top up your levels of inner light.
You know that spiritual practice or exercise or healthy food or fresh air would help but it feels too much and you just can’t motivate yourself to do any of these things, so you become paralysed in your own darkness, unable to move through it.
On a Soul level, this can be an important initiation: sitting in the dark and meeting the parts of your personality that hide in the shadows. Whenever we embrace the gloom we move closer to the light.
Taking mustard flower remedy floods your energy field with the vibrations of light and joy so that the flicker of inner light that is always inside you (even when you can’t see it) begins to grow bright again. The bright light of mustard dispels the gloom like the sun coming out from behind a cloud.
If you’re in this gloomy dark state at the moment here’s my tried and tested list of what to do:
- Take mustard flower remedy. I buy mine here.
- Give yourself permission to feel exactly how you’re feeling. It will pass.
- Write Morning Pages: learn more here
- Exercise – dance, running, walking, martial arts or anything else that you actually quite like will get those happy chemicals flowing in your brain.
- Spiritual practice – yoga, meditation, shamanic drumming, prayer, ritual.
- Eat leafy greens like kale and spinach because they are full of chlorophyll so, in essence, when you eat leafy greens you’re consuming sunlight.
- Get fresh air – there is evidence that even 5 minutes a day boosts mental wellbeing.
- List the things you’re grateful for every day – there are days you might struggle to think of one thing but try, really try and you’ll find something.
Gradually you’ll feel more resilient, more joyful and part of the world again. Your soul will find its way back home and your inner light will glow bright again.
Rainy Friday Giveaway – Win a Bach Flower Remedy Combination + Gorgeous Bach Flower Print
Interested in winning your own personalised combination of Bach Flower Remedies? You might be feeling gloomy today or you might be interested in taking Bach Flower Remedies to boost your confidence, help decision making, release anxiety or improve your relationships. Whatever emotional support you’re looking for, there are Bach flower remedies to help.
You can win a free Bach Flower Remedy Combination for you, your child or your pet accompanied by a print of your favourite Bach flower from this gallery of Bach Flower Remedy images.
How to take part: Sign up to the Flower Spirit mailing list on the right hand side of this site and leave a comment below stating that you want to participate in the giveaway. If you’ve already signed up to the mailing list, that’s OK you can still take part by leaving a comment. N.B. If you’re on the Essence of Wild mailing list you won’t be entered in the draw unless you sign up to the Flower Spirit mailing list too.
I’ll pick the winner and announce it here on Friday 27th January 2012.
I’d love to participate in the giveaway please! A really interesting post. I am definitely sensitive to other energies. So it’s very helpful to read about the mustard flower remedy. Thank you for another great post.
Nicola recently posted..simplicity and a Maya king
Hello,I would love to win Keen of Light giveaway. I am already on your other mailing list now I on this one too, so cool! Hope I win!
Natalie recently posted..Bad, bad, day after all.
Oh, this is too funny! When I was choosing the soul blend I recently purchased from you, I dreamt that I was sitting besides clumps and clumps of these little yellow flowers, and when I woke up and checked online, I’m pretty sure it was mustard I was dreaming about! I hadn’t thought of that until just now….
I’d love to be entered!
Ruth recently posted..creating a vision board.
Beautiful post and some wonderful, gentle ways to keep our spirits high this time of year. I would love to take part in the giveaway!
Michele Fischer recently posted..Candid Part 2: Poetry E-Book Update
Fascinating post, Jackie. Even though it’s high summer over here in New Zealand – there’s some stuff going on that means I sometimes get exactly this kind of gloom reaction!
So I’d love to register for your giveaway too – thank you so much for holding it!
Blessings – TANJA
Tanja @ Crystal Clarity recently posted..Announcing: Crystal Clarity Copywriting launch + AWESOME competition
Oh those pics of those flowers are gorgeous…what a way to brighten up a winter day
.
I loved learning about this remedy Jackie…thank you for sharing……I know someone who could probably use this remedy….thanks!
gina recently posted..Your Five Senses: The Key to Managing Your Anxiety
Thanks for a great post — I often forget about Mustard as a remedy, but it’s one I potentially should think about more often!
Oh, and I’d love to enter the giveaway too, please.
Thank you for this post – I might have to print out your list and hang it on the wall for such days.
I’ve signed up for your newsletter, and would very much like to participate in the giveaway!
Jeanette recently posted..Poem: Horses in the Rain, by Astrid Hjertenæs Andersen
My goodness, can you see inside my heart?
I have been feeling so much soul melancholy recently, and it is so hard to explain to others, that you feel bereft for no reason. It is a blessing that these remedies allow for and understand that – I feel better just for knowing that it is so.
Jackie, can I ask you a question about morning pages, I have been trying to write them over the last few weeks but think they have been making me feel worse, as if some of the melancholy gets pinned down and fixed on the page, rather than flowing as part of the day.
It only seems to help if I am very deliberate about what I aim to write about (which is not how I’ve understood morning pages to be explained, but I might well be missing something).
Is this something you can cast any light on?
PS also, yes please for your wonderful offer
Joanna Paterson recently posted..Changing The Way That I See
@Nicola So glad you enjoyed the post! Walnut and aspen are other Bach Flower Remedies to consider for sensitivity to external energies – they work on different aspects of that pattern.
@Natalie Your name will go into my magic bowl for the giveaway!
@Ruth How powerful that yellow flowers have been calling to you from your dreams!
@Michele Thank you for such lovely feedback and for sharing this post
@Tanja We can all get the glooms at any time regardless of weather can’t we? Mustard is often only needed very short term to shift the state.
@Gina Thanks for your comment and yes the photos are stunning. Some people say that 50% of the healing can be absorbed through photographs of flowers.
@Heathwitch I often forget about mustard too as I’m much more of a gentian personality, but it’s a little darling.
@Jeanette Thanks for commenting – it’s good to have a reminder of the good stuff when we forget what good stuff feels like!
@Joanna There is such a relief in realising that how we feel is a recognised state and not only do other people feel it but there’s a remedy that recognises that exact pattern. With morning pages I see them as shining a light on all that stuff that would otherwise be lurking in the subconscious holding us back in ways we can’t even imagine. I would say that if it feels worse it’s because it’s coming to the surface to be really seen. So that you can befriend it, explore and release it rather than have it lurking at the edges of life. The link to the morning pages I shared above has Julia Cameron talking briefly on video about this.
Jackie Stewart recently posted..Keen as Mustard? Inner Light for Gloomy Days
What an uplifting post. Great list of things to bring on out of the gloom feeling winter in some parts of the world bring on.
Personally I love Bach remedies. This year is much different for me as it is my first winter on the Big Island Hawaii. The sun and the ocean have been very good for me. I love it.
I also use Bach remedies for dogs as well. Good stuff and I love learning about the different flowers and reasons why they work.
Aloha!
Jt Clough | Big Island Dog recently posted..Fear of Failure, Joyfear & The Dog
Jackie the essence sounds amazing and I would love to be added to the list for your giveaway. Thank you for sharing so many wonderful wisdoms with us.
Brightest Blessings
Thank you Jackie. I went back and watched the video this time
I do get the point about allowing room for those thoughts and letting them flow – it just felt / feels to me that the act of writing those thoughts is fixing them, and magnifying them, rather than noticing them and allowing them to keep flowing.
Maybe this is just me. I don’t know. I’ll experiment again some time and watch and notice.
Joanna Paterson recently posted..Changing The Way That I See
I can attest to the benefits of morning pages! Been doing mine every day for the last 6-7 months and it really does open up a portal for allowing magic to flow into your daily life. Highly recommended!
Ooh, and count me in for the giveaway too, please
Amy
xx
Amy recently posted..Living In Your Own Skin
think i am already on your mailing list Jackie but i have signed up again anyway.
i am really missing the sunshine too just now x
Oh this is so sweet!
I’m familiar with bach flowers but if I would win this, I would love to give it to my friend, if that is allowed… he has a depression and it would be more useful for him then for me I believe. Just to see him enjoy live again, would be such a great gift. I’m not sure if he is familiar with bach flowers but hey, if he wins it with a give-away, he should try it, right?
Thank you for this opportunity!
And I’ve signed up for your mailing list too, I didn’t knew your website before, but thanks to a friend I’ve found it through twitter.
Lindsay
Lindsay Drya recently posted..Stories of my Inner garden (A Dream Dialogues Review)
“On a Soul level, this can be an important initiation: sitting in the dark and meeting the parts of your personality that hide in the shadows. Whenever we embrace the gloom we move closer to the light.” Beautiful, Jackie. And thank you for the reminder to give oneself permission to feel the darkness, and then move through it.
So excited to participate in your giveaway. Blessings, Robin
Thank you everyone for taking part. I wrote out all the names and folded them up so we couldn’t see the names then my son chose the winner. The winner is… Rainbow Gypsy!
Jackie Stewart recently posted..No Posts Were Found!