by T. M. D'illon

Read four animal case studies from S.A.F.E.R.

Martin Scott and Gael Mariani are flower essence practitioners and teachers living in Wales, United Kingdom. They recently launched S.A.F.E.R., the Society for Animal Flower Essence Research, whose goal is to explore animal treatment using the entire international range of flower essences available.

Martin and Gael specialize in animal flower essence treatment, but also have a general practice that spans internationally. The major part of their work is done long distance — by e-mail, phone and letter. Gael and Martin have clients in the US, Canada, and Europe.

"Flowers are like a magic key that opens up the whole bigger picture of natural philosophy and religious symbolism and mythology. Perhaps even the key to the meaning of life. A huge scope!" they explained in a recent interview. "Flower essence philosophy makes some crucial, vastly important statements about Man's relationship to the environment, the planet, himself, and the animals, who have been nonchalantly aware of it from the very beginning."

Martin recalled that apart from having once been given some essences for heatstroke, he hadn't had much to do with flower essences until he started using them with his music pupils. "I was putting kids through piano exams and many of them were nervous under stress. I had amazing results with the Bach remedies, and started getting more demand for them from parents than for piano lessons. My teaching skills couldn't compare with flower essences! And it just grew from there. What really blew me away was the tiny quantities used, and the fact that there was really ‘nothing' in them. That got me hooked."

Gael first discovered essences years ago in Italy. "I had a dog who was paralyzed by a drug overdose, and we brought him back with Rescue Remedy. I put some drops on a dog biscuit. That was my first ever experience of flower essences, when I still didn't know much about them. I thought, Wow! And the vet couldn't believe it, either."

Gael and Martin publish an extremely informative and well-written quarterly newsletter. They also write a monthly, 2-page, holistic column for a popular, national "mainstream" magazine, Dogs Monthly. (There is a link to Dogs Monthly from the website of the Animal Care College, at www.animalcarecollege.co.uk)

"The Animal Care College is a well-known establishment that has been offering courses in all aspects of animal management for 20 years. Our Complementary Therapies course is up and running and we have students signing up. Some schools, unfortunately, only make their students aware of the very tip of the iceberg when it comes to flower essences. Even at an introductory level, we try to make students aware of the deeper issue of flower essences and nature."

Gael, who in the past has studied animal behaviour, particularly canine behavior, under some of the UK's top behaviorists and trainers, was once offered a place to do a Master of Arts in Jungian Studies (tied in with flower essences) at Essex University, but has been too busy with book-writing commitments. "In any case, I prefer to be at home in the country, being with my animals and making essences," she confessed.

Both hail from Celtic backgrounds (Gael from Northern Ireland and Martin from the Scottish coast), and are former Fellows of the British Institute of Homeopathy (BIH). "I started with homeopathy and brought flower essences in as a secondary thing," Gael said. "But I felt more drawn to the flower essences for their ease of use. The first real case I conducted using flower essences exclusively was when I treated someone for a fear of horses. It was a lady who had been thrown from a horse and had been injured, leading to a phobic and depressed state. The most predominant essences used were Star of Bethlehem, Mimulus, and Gentian. Details of the case are in our book "Bach Flower Remedies for Horses and Riders." (Published by Kenilworth Press and distributed in the USA by Half Halt Press.)

While studying at the BIH, Martin took their Bach practitioner course. "I taught a class at Carmarthenshire College of Technology and Art in Bach flowers. I also ran courses at a health center, and have given a lot of talks, some with Gael, in hospitals and such. At one mental health center, I advised a man who had been chronically ‘mentally ill,' and on cartloads of drugs, to get some Pine - and he was cured in three days! It was almost sickeningly easy - this poor guy had years of poisonous allopathy and a few drops of Pine made such a difference."

Gael and Martin use only natural methods in their practice. Besides flower essences, their healing palette includes crystal and gem essences, homeopathy and aromatherapy. "We are not terribly herb-orientated. It's too much of a material science! We have additionally started making some flower and gem essences of our own - the ‘Pengraig Essences,' named after our country home Pengraig Fach (which is Welsh for "head of the little rock" ) - but we like to proceed slowly in these things."

Martin's first case in which he used only flower essence therapy involved a young woman with history as a victim of sexual abuse; her background also included drug use and depression. "It was quite a plunge, after all the easy bookwork of studies and the simple music-exam-fear cases I had been involved with before, to be working with a real, chronically-suffering person," he admitted, "but the flower essences turned that lady's life around, and I was completely inspired. The key essences I used were Crab Apple, Star of Bethlehem, Willow, and Larch. Her recovery was really startling!"

Their work has gone down two major roads. Working with animals brings Gael and Martin into the domain of animal lovers and pet owners; they get involved in their family lives and often end up treating them. The other major area is human relationship work, which formed the basis of their book, Flower Essences for Relationships, published by Findhorn Press.

"With animals, the most common problem we work with is trauma and past abuse," they explained. "It is a terribly sad story, but the good news is it is the easiest thing to treat with flower essences. Animals respond miraculously to them. Then we get a lot of attention-seeking and dominance cases, and the occasional aggression case. Also separation anxiety and related issues. With people, we do a lot with pet bereavement. In our relationship work, we cover divorces, heartbreaks, rejections, seven-year-itches, and all sorts of family issues."

Gael and Martin carefully consider each case presented to them, combining a wide range of skills from intellectual mastery and knowledge of the essences to intuitive hunches and observations. With animals, "we go a lot by their behavior, and of course we try to find out as much about their past as possible. We carry out a lot of detective work, which is a real fun aspect of the job. We feel that a balanced approach is necessary. It is wonderful to be in tune with that endless pool of information that is the shared consciousness of the planet and everything in it. We are not opposed to dowsing with the pendulum. But there has to be a degree of scientific observation, or else there's a danger that it might all become too messily subjective."

For humans, they usually prepare dosage bottles, leaving it up to the client as to how to take the essences. "We aren't cavalier about this. But when the right essences are brought into use, it does not seem to matter how they are ingested or used," Martin stated. "The same applies to all vibrational modalities - homeopathy, crystals. If the remedies are right, they will work no matter how they are taken. I believe that after much experimentation. We let people settle into their own systems of taking the drops from the bottle, or adding them to drinks, tea, coffee, food.

They have also given people formulas for baths, and for topical application. Gael and Martin's credo is "Whatever is needed. Everything works!" With animals, they have had to resort to various methods of administration. "We use sprays a lot, especially with aggressive animals that can't be approached."

Once someone called the pair to help with a wild bird that she had found, which wouldn't fly and seemed afraid of everything. It had been checked by a vet but didn't seem to have anything wrong with it. A combination of Self Heal, Penstemon, Wild Rose, and Gorse made the difference. "Watching the little thing improve on flower essences, and flying back to its world of nature, just seemed to sum everything up," Gael described.

"Another case was a puppy from an illegal puppy farm that had been completely deprived of contact with other dogs. It had received no socialization whatever, and was scared of other dogs, and of people. In six days we had that dog back to normal, running with other dogs as though he had been doing it all his life. That is so rewarding." Cosmos, Quaking Grass, Mimulus, Larch, Dill, and Star of Bethlehem were selected for the puppy, Gael said.

With people, Martin and Gael have found their natural creativity returns to them, and they often become less uneasy with nature. Fear of wasps and bees lessens, for instance, and they take to exploring the countryside more, getting into recycling garbage, using the car less. "All of these changes happened to a lady we treated recently, who had been in a stultifying relationship. All she needed was the little boost from the essences to set her off, and away she went, discovering herself and her potential. Quite akin to the little wild bird, in fact. If the whole of humanity could be using flower essences, what a huge change could be made to the state of our societies!"

Fundamentally, they feel their role in using flower essences is to help people and animals to be put back in tune with nature. "This is not some vague or mystical concept; to be out of tune with nature is to lose contact with our entire higher self and any real scope for a satisfying and purposeful life."

Gael Mariani, B.Sc., DIHom, AMACC
Martin J. Scott, B.A (Oxon.), AMACC
Authors, Bach Flower Remedies for Horses and Riders, Dogs Misbehaving - Solving Problem Behavior with Bach Flower and Other Remedies, Flower Essences for Relationships, Crystal Healing for Animals
Co-founders, S.A.F.E.R

They can be reached at:

Society for Animal Flower Essence Research
Pengraig Fach Near Blaenycoed,
Carmarthen, Carmarthenshire, Wales, UK SA33 6EU
flower_essences@uku.co.uk

Read four animal case studies from S.A.F.E.R.

Brandy is a Springer Spaniel pup belonging to Mary, Gael's cousin in Ireland. When we started the case, he was about 4 ½ months old. Brandy's problems are very much behavioral, training issues.

This is the case of a Retriever named Jacques. This is one of our recent cases. It was carried out by distance consultation, the dog and owner being in France (showing that in this type of therapy it is not actually always essential to have personal contact with the client / animal).

Jessie is a three-year-old, female, long-haired German Shepherd, who has been in trouble with the law after biting a teenager five months ago. Under the Dangerous Dogs Act (UK) if she transgresses one more time she is at risk of being forcibly taken from her owners and destroyed. The owners have been cautioned and threatened with a criminal record. The owners requested a remedy "to stop her from doing this again."

At the time of this writing, Molly is in foal. However, her problematic temperament was causing concern as to how easily she could be approached and handled as the pregnancy progressed. This was the main priority for treatment, to "mellow" the mare into a more docile and receptive emotional state within the remaining month of pregnancy, for her own good, that of the foal, and for the safety of the handlers.