Honeysuckle and Soul Nostalgia
[Plant Archetypes] Claiming valuable gifts from our past, while coming into fuller presence
It is possible this feeling had been there all along. At that time I could clearly sense this vague, ongoing, underlying feeling of nostalgia. The best way I can describe it is: a feeling that being here, in present time, was never quite the way I liked it.
This sense of nostalgia had a vague sadness to it, like I missed and longed for something, maybe a time in the past somewhere that I was unable to name. I lived steeped in this longing.
It is likely that this feeling motivated specific yearnings, that would magnetically draw me to certain places on long distance travels, and to certain objects, books….
During this time, I would travel to the UK for inspiration almost every year. There, I remember buying a book by Julian Barnard called “Patterns of Life Force” that now exists as a PDF Download e-book. In its cover I saw a picture of a Honeysuckle species different from the one I knew.
As described in a previous post, my first essence was impatiens and my experience with the Impatiens Bach flower essence was quite striking.
In considering the Impatiens essence, I began by observing the pattern in myself. After taking the essence, I was struck by immediate shifts, but most importantly, I was able to feel the gradual change in behavior and in awareness of myself.
This process of self observation continued, in the light of the Bach essence flowers, as I focused on feelings I had been carrying within. By reading the descriptions of each one of these essences I was actually learning about my own inner states, and asking myself what needed to evolve.
Honeysuckle felt like an essence I needed to take
When reading the Bach Flower essences description of Honeysuckle Lonicera caprifolium, for the first time I was able to reflect on this underlying nostalgia/sadness and I realized this was not a very healthy pattern. Oh, and there it was, Honeysuckle, right on the cover of the book I had bought.
“Spirit is free but the Soul is bound”
A core part of the teachings about the Soul I was studying and translating, as initially described in this post, said that: “Spirit is free, but the Soul is bound. The Soul is bound to its attachments to its past.”
This teacher described Spirit as the immanent Love that surrounds and permeates everything that is, and described Souls as having been formed in a great explosion, as individualized fragments of the Divine. Each Soul moving through a longer journey, propelled by its magnetic quality, drawn towards experiences needed for its growth and evolution, and magnetically attracting experiences that it needs.
I was reading about the Bach essences, and, at the same time, I was learning about the Soul Journey. This was a fascinating process of discovery!
Reflecting on the teachings describing the Soul as being bound to its experiences of the past, and learning that attachments magnetically propel the Soul in its movement, I could relate that to Honeysuckle and to other essence descriptions.
Honeysuckle Lonicera caprifolium
Positive qualities: Being fully in the present; acceptance of current life conditions
Patterns of imbalance: Nostalgia; emotional attachment to the past, longing for prior condition which seems more appealing
In much more detail and nuance, I was learning to name some of my own states and feelings. I could clearly recognize the Honeysuckle essence description and felt drawn to the possibility of awakening within me its positive qualities.
As a plant, its species (Lonicera caprifolium) is a hybrid native to the Mediterranean, growing vibrantly in wild cottage gardens in the UK. I could relate its gestures to my longing for places that I felt I needed to “revisit”, again and again, until perhaps finally getting enough of it.
For the essence, three stages of the flower are needed
Later I learned with Julian Barnard that for the preparation of the Honeysuckle essence according to Dr Bach’s instructions, one should collect flowers in these three specific stages: the fresh flowers that have just opened, the less fresh ones that are already fading and changing to a yellowish color, and the unopened buds. All three stages of the flower are needed for its preparation.
It made sense that the essence containing these three stages of the flowers, growing on stalks that point forward, can imprint water with life force information of a living evolutionary movement from states past, to present, and continuing to move towards what is yet to come.
How I experienced Honeysuckle’s healing gift
A gradual release of that underlying nostalgia, that sadness and longing, changing to a feeling of coming more fully into the present was for me the overall result. But there was more to it!
An awareness awakening in me showed me that what I had felt drawn towards was helping me reclaim qualities that my Soul was ready to retrieve. And that when this moved in healthy ways, I was becoming more present, owning gifts from my past.
In contemporary computer language, I can say that being drawn to the places, stories and evocative experiences I felt moved towards, was helping me “reawaken” qualities, almost like “software” that was already there but needed to be “decompressed and fully installed”. Now with the essences, when drawn to what I longed for, Honeysuckle was actually helping me retrieve Soul talents, skills, wisdom perhaps?
With these processes moving full cycle, in retrospect, I can tentatively conclude that I was retrieving of gifts that belonged to my Soul, while also being able to release the longing, that underlying sadness and desire to live somewhere else in the past.
For a mother who had long lost her daughter
Much more poignant was the appropriateness of the Honeysuckle Lonicera caprifolium essence for a client who came to me early on in my Flower Essence practice.
This woman told me she had a daughter that had died 10 years before, but until that day she had not been able to touch her deceased daughter’s bedroom, that remained as it had been before for all of these years. She said to me: “I feel I need to move on, but I need help, as I don’t know how to find the forces within myself to do this.”
The Honeysuckle Lonicera caprifolium Bach flower essence was given to her, for the ability to hold in her heart the precious memories and love for her daughter, while allowing her to move forward, changing her ways of relating to life, and transforming that room into a place where something else could unfold within the home.
And I would also add the Forget-me-Not Myosotis sylvatica FES flower essence, helping her establish a Soul to Soul relationship, as an ongoing inter-dimensional alliance of mutual love and support.
The stalks of Honeysuckle project the flowers forward
I am so grateful for this interweaving in my learning process, of understanding the Journey of the Soul through the language of Flower Essences. I feel this is truly a most precious gift to behold!
Thank you so much for sharing about Honeysuckle. When I saw this post, I immediately felt the profound relevance for these times collectively—Neptune and several planets all straddling that 29 Pisces—a time when we are grappling with letting go of what has been and being ushered into something else. But it can feel difficult to not pine for what has been. I feel Neptune and Pisces often bring up that nostalgic dreamlike quality. When I saw the title of your post several weeks back, it immediately signaled to me honeysuckle would be a beautiful ally for this transit and I took it for several days during neptunes transit into Aries. So grateful.