Bach Flower Therapy is one of those so-called “alternative” therapies that have nothing to do with medicine and a great deal to do with esotericism. It was developed by the British bacteriologist and homeopath Edward Bach, who gave up his practice in 1930 and moved to the country following an “inspiration”. He felt connected to Hippocrates, Paracelsus and Samuel Hahnemann, whose work he claimed to be continuing. According to Bach legends, he based the development of his “therapy” on dreams and healed people through touch. Bach said of himself that he was a “sensitive healer” who “felt” what people were lacking. This is thought to have something to do with the fact that disharmonious information was perceived as “distorted vibrations on an etheric level”.
But what is the purpose of this therapy, how did Edward Bach envision it? Well, he said that it was not the disease that had to be treated, but the patient. And the atmosphere is important, the patient must be given peace, hope and joy so that he forgets his illness and strives for health, because it is about correcting the faults in his nature. According to this theory, the diagnosis does not depend on the physical condition, but on the patient’s “ability to correct”. The patient must have the desire to live in harmony with the precepts of the soul, for man is divine. This alone and the goal of “harmony with the commandments of the soul” should make us sit up and take notice, as these are clearly anti-biblical, esoteric approaches that believe that salvation lies within us.
According to Bach, it is our fellow human beings, the circumstances, that cause illness. Disease is the result of external interference. Health is achieved through the “true knowledge of what we ought to be”, because we are perfect as human beings, children of God (this contradicts his assertion that illness comes from outside; but above all it contradicts the Bible, which analyses us human beings in such a way that we are deeply corrupt, that evil comes from our hearts, Matthew 15:19). The long-term goal is “purity of soul”. What is right about his analysis is that many physical illnesses have psychological causes.
Only so-called ‘flower essences’ are used as medicines, supposedly imbued with ‘divine healing power’. They are said to open vessels in the body that allow more “light of the soul” to enter, so that the patient is flooded with “healing quality”. The method used to produce these “essences” is clearly shamanistic. Two methods known in this field are used: the sun method and the cooking method.
In the sun method, the flowers are picked in the morning on a cloudless day, with a leaf placed between the thumb and index finger as a “protection” so that the flower does not come into contact with the skin. Only so-called “wild plants” may be used, as cultivated plants no longer have the “healing powers”. The flowers are then placed in a bowl of spring water and left in the sun until the “subtle essence” of the flowers (their “soul”) has been transferred to the spring water. This is then bottled. This “flower essence” is said to have an effect not only when ingested, but also by simply possessing it or carrying it around in one’s pocket.
The cooking method is used for plants that flower at a time of year when it is not yet very warm. Astrology and environmental factors also play a role in the use of flowers. Comparing this with genuine herbal remedies, it must be said that these ‘flower essences’ can in no way be described as herbal remedies. This is because they are very different in terms of the principle of action and the extraction process. In true herbal remedies, the plants are crushed and then infused in water, alcohol or a water-alcohol mixture and boiled. The crushing is necessary to release the active ingredients of the plant – this is exactly what does not happen with ‘Bach flowers’.
The Bach Centre itself admits that there is no scientifically satisfactory explanation for the action of ‘Bach Flowers’. In fact, not a single molecule of the plant-based active ingredient can be detected in the ‘flower essence’.
How, then, can we explain the effect of the remedies? There are two basic explanations for this: Firstly, a number of diseases heal themselves through the immune system, without the need for medication. So if Bach flowers were used in this context, they had nothing to do with overcoming the disease. The other explanation is the placebo effect, which is all the greater the greater the belief in the effect of the ‘medicine’, especially when both the therapist and the patient believe in it. Bach claimed that the effect of the flowers did not depend on the patient’s belief, but today’s advocates of Bach Flower Therapy say just the opposite.
Bach claimed that his therapy was also for “mental health care”, “character development”, self-help with everyday psychological problems and the mental co-treatment of psychosomatic illnesses that would otherwise be treated by a doctor.
It is clear from the above that Bach Flower Therapy is not really a special form of medical treatment, but a world view that clearly borrows from Hinduism, spiritism and shamanism as well as psychotherapy. For Bach, God was merely a “powerful vibration of energy”, a “universal principle of life”. Visualisation (clearly shamanistic), yoga, breathing exercises and reading the I Ching, which is clearly occult, are also used to support Bach Flower Therapy. Ultimately, the aim is “self-healing”. Bach Flower Therapy is definitely part of the New Age and its environment and cannot be practised by a Christian, firstly because there is no real effect in the sense of positive healing through the essences, and secondly because it is a form of esotericism.
Source: Online article „Gesundheit um jeden Preis?“ (“Health at any price?”), Roland Sckerl
