Creativity. Security. Safety and expansion. Feeling safe enough to expand and create. These are all virtues and properties of the beautiful, bountiful cultivar known as Hibiscus Syriacus Red Heart.

This is the first flower essence I have made since moving to New Jersey. It has been of utmost help to me the past few weeks and I am so excited to share its medicine with you.

#FlowerEssenceFriday - Hibiscus Syriacus Red Heart

This essence helps move fear-based blockages that impede our creative expansion and our creative energy. This is a very special and important essence for those of us with anxiety, as anxiety can impede our ability to make decisions, which often leads to never creating anything in the first place. This essence has been very healing for me in this aspect. It has allowed me to move through the fear of making "the wrong choice" and has allowed me to be creative with my food again (like making carrot-ginger soup, maple roasted lentils, and raw brownie protein bars), as well as develop a playful, less serious approach to my herbal practice (which has manifested in making decoctions that I've never made before and mixing a new, tangy bitters formula).

The first couple days I started this essence, I was buzzing with warm, energetic, and happy joy. I was falling in love with everything I saw. I felt creative, open, and like I could trust life and my ability to make decisions in it. I found myself journaling things like "I am valid & I am talented & I have things to offer to the world." Of course, this intense happy-go-lucky high did not last forever. I'm into week 3 of taking this essence now, and I realize that it isn't going to make me or anyone feel "in love with life" all the time - but it can help us look at life in a playful way, and from that playful place, we can feel free to experiment with our creations. At its core, this essence helps us feel secure and grounded in ourselves and our abilities so that we can expand, create, and share our gifts with the world and with ourselves.

Hibiscus Syriacus Red Heart broken down:

Name: Hibiscus Syriacus Red Heart
Actions: warming, opening, grounding and expansive
Indications: creative blocks, easily overwhelmed by decision making, insecure in one's creative abilities
Dosage: 3 drops, 3x a day for at least 3 weeks (preferably start on the new moon)

Like I said, this is a great essence for those with anxiety or depression, as both illnesses can make creative expression difficult due to not believing in one's abilities + struggles with decision making in general. This is a gentle, warming, and expansive essence that gets stagnant energy moving so that it can flow in and through us, and back out into the world. If there was one visualization for this essence that has stuck with me, it is warm, melty red energy starting in my forearms and flowing through my hands into a stream of white, radiant light.

This flower serves as a gentle reminder that the process of creation is healing in it's own right, and that our creations don't have to be "perfect" (or insta-worthy) to be valid and important.

In love and radiant Hibiscus energy,

Blaire