Fern-leafed Grevillea flower essence (and my journey as a plant-medicine practitioner)

Fern-leafed Grevillea was one of the first flower essences I made, in my first few years of making flower essences. I was studying flower essences at uni, and we were about to move out of housing commission into our own home, when a friend of my mothers called Mhyrlyn took me under her wing and taught me how to use what she called ‘the psychic method’ for making flower essences. This is more widely known in the industry as the “no pick method”. 

The history of modern western flower essences began with a Dr Bach collecting dew drops from flowers to create a gentle medicine for emotional healing. This is my favourite realm to work in as a healer, and I come from a botanist family, so it’s no wonder I am so passionate about this form of herbal medicine!

For commercial reasons, it was more practical for the Bach industry to pick the flowers, and immerse them in spring water in sunlight for a few hours. Then the flowers are removed and the water becomes the essence, which is dosed orally via a dropper bottle, twice daily.

With the psychic method, we don’t pick the flowers. We leave them and make the essence in situ, by dripping water over the flower and catching it in a bowl. This doesn’t work for the average essence collector, because most are not psychic and are simply collecting from flowers whose uses have already been established. To use this method, you must be able to craft an empathic, energetic connection with the flower and hold dialogue with it, to convey your intention, seek permission to make the essence, and gather vital information about how the essence can help people. 

Mhyrlyn was a gypsy of Welsh-Australian descent, a well respected flower essence practitioner and teacher. I am so grateful for the blessing of her gift! I guess you could say I took it and ran with it… it’s been 28 years since she gave me that lesson, and I must have almost 100 essences I made since then, mostly from central Australia and the Top End (I shall endeavour to count them). 

When we moved into our new home, I was delighted to discover some natives were still intact. I’d had my work cut out for me during the house building process, trying to get through to the builders that no, I did not want the yard cleared. They obviously couldn’t understand why I’d want scrappy native bushland cluttering what could be lovely green lawn, and I kept losing large swathes of the block to bulldozed dust.

One of the survivors was a Fern-leafed Grevillea, in the top corner of our yard. This incredible being grew much larger than the average tree out in the wild. Eventually it died from old age, and while I do miss the physical presence of this magnificent plant-elder, I have the essence to keep me connected, and I can still feel-see ‘him’ when I stand near the mailbox and close my eyes. When he died, the fern-tipped tea tree growing up in his shade, suddenly had so much more light and room to work with, and now this tree has become our new elder, guarding the front gate.

So! Let me tell you about the plant-medicine of Fern-leafed Grevillea. A lot of people, when they use the phrase “plant-medicine” are referring to very powerful psychotropic plant-drugs that alter your state of consciousness in rather intense, drastic ways. These plant allies definitely have their place in healing and personal growth, but as a psychic who very easily enters altered states of consciousness to commune with nature and read people’s auras… I much prefer a more gentle, nuanced approach to healing with plant-medicine. 

My psychic identification work with Fern-leafed Grevillea began with spending time with this young tree, observing it, photographing it, and drawing it. Noticing how it changed with the seasons and interacted with its environment. Then I made the essence, meditating and conversing with the spirit of the tree, to gather information about its spirit-medicine. I tested the essence repeatedly on myself and psychic friends before then testing it with clients. Each test helped me refine my insights and gather further information about its uses.

Fern-leafed Grevillea is one of a small collection of essences I use for exhaustion and apathetic depression. As a naturopath, I usually combine this with herbal remedies, counselling and coaching to help my clients find balance, improve their self-care and develop self-awareness. And the beautiful thing about flower essences is that they can be safely used alongside prescribed medications (like antidepressants), without any concerns about drug-herb interactions, because they aren’t working in the classic biochemical way that standard herbal medicine does. 

Fern-leafed Grevillea is good plant-medicine for people who have a lethargic “can’t be bothered” approach to life, a kind of calloused numbness with fear of change hidden underneath it. These people can be incredibly stubborn and set in their ways. Some of them have slowly throughout life backed themselves into tiny corners, like little fishbowls within which they circle endlessly. It can be scary to risk change, especially when bad things have happened in the past. 

This essence can also be helpful for people who think of themselves (or are described by others) as ‘lazy’ or lacking initiative. These people might be genuinely exhausted by life and simply can’t muster the enthusiasm needed to embrace change, while others are scared that it will all come to nothing anyway – or go pear-shaped on them – so why bother? 

Sometimes when I’m reading the aura, I find a colour/pattern I call “Avoidance Purple” (a bit like a fading purple bruise) that can reflect a tendency towards self-sabotage. This is where we say, decide or intend one thing and then do the opposite. We trip ourselves up. Self-sabotage usually happens when we have an internal conflict. One part of us, perhaps the more conscious part of us, wants one thing, but another part of us - often a deeper more subconscious and hidden part of us - doesn’t agree. We might secretly fear the changes required, feel we aren’t deserving, or lack self-belief for example.

Fern-leafed Grevillea is the main remedy I reach for when I ‘see’ this colour/pattern. It helps us resolve the internal conflict, and to be more gentle with ourselves, so that our own expectations don’t demand changes that are too hard to reach for. This essence helps heal the underlying loss of faith and hope in ourselves and life, and the fear that negative past events will inevitably repeat themselves in the future. 

When I’m using Fern-leafed Grevillea to treat a fear of change, I combine it with Phalaria and Uraria (I also call this one ‘Temple of Prayer’ because it helps restore faith). 

When I’m using Fern-leafed Grevillea to address fatigue, I combine it with Turkey Bush, Banksia, Phalaria, Hibbertia and herbal adaptogenics from my liquid herbal dispensary, such as Elutherococcus and Codonopsis. 

For self-sabotage, I blend it with Lasiandra and my Aura Essence Authenticity Green.