Meg was expressive about the deep pain she felt in her relationship with her father — as a traveling salesman he was frequently absent during her childhood and engaged in an extra-marital affair that brought much anguish to her mother. Meg’s parents and other family lived a great distance away in the eastern United States. They had many expectations for her and disapproved of her current lifestyle and artistic aspirations. Her goal was to affirm her own unique identity and talents, especially to find renewed energy and inspiration for her career as an artist and photographer.

Primary Flower Essences

The following are the major flower essences used during therapy with Meg. These remedies were used in various formulas and at different intervals:

Nicotiana — To help Meg transform her addiction to nicotine, and reduce anxiety by giving her a positive, grounded relationship to her body and to the earth.
Sunflower  — This was the core archetypal remedy that provided the foundation for Meg’s healing, imparting positive masculine fire, and helping her soul build its own genuine forces of strength and solar radiance.
Baby Blue Eyes  — To heal childhood wounds and vulnerabilities regarding Meg’s relationship with her father.
Yerba Santa  — To cleanse congestion in her heart and lungs both physically and emotionally; to help her bring expression to long-buried feelings and emotional wounds.
Pink Monkeyflower — To address the wounding in the heart region  — to help Meg learn to take emotional risks with others, and to not “cover” her heart’s emotions through nicotine addiction.
Chestnut Bud — To help break habitual patterns that contributed to her ongoing addiction to nicotine.
Blackberry — To bring new vitality to Meg’s will forces; not only to heal her addiction to nicotine but to find new purpose and intention for her will forces.
Larch — To support a confident outlook on the world and to counteract doubt or hesitation, especially with regard to Meg’s creative abilities.
Madia  —  To support Meg’s focus on her new artistic goals and to overcome distraction or restlessness that could lead to resuming her old habit of tobacco.
Queen Anne’s Lace — To integrate psychic, sexual and emotional energies in upper and lower chakras, and to bring new spiritual insight, vision and artistry to Meg’s soul.
Iris — To open the creative portals of Meg’s soul so that her true artistic talent and creativity could manifest with vibrancy and joy.

Uncovering Deep-Seated Pain and Emotion

When Meg first began using flower essences, she noted that they “stirred up many deep seated pains and emotions which I was unconsciously aware I was harboring.” Meg kept a very detailed journal which helped her to begin to understand and witness the new feelings that were surfacing. A core theme in her journal work involved her relationship with her father. She began to realize, “how the whole thing [with my father] had affected me, how I turned the resentment toward my father toward myself.” These feelings were also being sorted out in relationship to her male partner.

After several months on flower essence therapy, Meg returned home to visit her parents. Meg had been absent one-and-a-half years and she was anxious about encountering her family. However, she reported that the “connections were clear, genuine and heartfelt … the flower essences helped me to maintain calmness, clarity and self-assurance.”

Overcoming Nicotine Craving

During this same time period, Meg began to reduce her smoking. She used a stock bottle of Nicotiana to help her with intense bouts of craving, reporting that “the craving was not as annoying.” Meg officially began her new business, reporting that she felt more confident and radiated more energy.

She then focused on a goal of complete smoking cessation. She frequently applied a cream mixture of flower essences directly to her heart and chest area (Self-Heal Creme with Nicotiana, Yerba Santa), along with stock doses of Nicotiana to offset specific cravings. A formula of Nicotiana, Yerba Santa, Chestnut Bud, Queen Anne’s Lace and Iris was also used during this time period to provide emotional support and positive direction.

Bringing New Fire To Her Soul

After Meg had entirely quit smoking she noticed that her artwork was more vibrant and visionary. She also observed that her physical energy was more stable. “When I started smoking six years ago, I had a lot of energy… I am getting that energy back and making a fresh start. I didn’t realize how ungrounded I was. I thought that’s what the cigarettes were doing” [making her grounded].

“I can affirm that what I read of the research for the Nicotiana flower essence is true. I used tobacco for a loss of connection to the earth. I began smoking at age 21 when I was living in a city in Europe and drastically removed from nature,” Meg wrote in her journal.

In a ritual signifying the completion of her old way of using fire, Meg made an offering of her last supply of tobacco to an active lava flow on the Big Island of Hawaii. This act brought her into communion with the land that was now her home, and helped her to affirm a new way for her fire to be brought to the earth.

Follow-up: Meg has remained tobacco-free and the business which she founded to market her artistic products proved to be successful. Most importantly, she is healthy and radiant, and has given birth to her first child. Meg and her partner are enjoying being parents. 

About Wendy Jyothi Rundel

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