About - How All Of These Essences Came To Be

It has been a long and winding road that has led to the variety of essences you find on this web site. I am Shabd-sangeet Khalsa and here is a bit of the story.

I fell in love with flowers from the time I was old enough to play outside in the garden. Pansies were my first love. I liked their happy little flower faces. My mom once told me that I told her I talked to fairies. In high school I was compelled to pick the roses that grew abundantly on the school grounds. I’d hold them and breathe in their fragrance throughout the day. I would often sip raindrops from the flower petals, as I lived where it rained frequently. I could felt deeply the natural world around me. I had the desire to commune with the oneness of nature. It was a strong, unrelenting ache at the core of my being, something I could not ignore and had to somehow attempt to satisfy.

Having become a mountain climber by age 15, I moved to Alaska in 1976 at age 19 to attend college and climb the snowy Alaskan peaks. I studied botany at the University of Alaska. In my freshman year I received an undergraduate grant to conduct a taxonomic survey of the wild plants in the UAF Arboretum. I was a plant nut, 100%. I marveled at the wild green orchids in the bogs; the carnivorous plants in the mosses, tussocks and ponds. I lived and breathed flowers. I spent much of my summers on my hands and knees peering with my hand lens or macro lens into the depths of the tiny tundra flowers. This was my heaven on earth.

Sometime in the early 80’s I came across a box of California Flower Essence Society essences (FES) in a health food shop. It was an amazing experience for me. I felt the pull of its contents as though it was a powerful magnet. I am not exaggerating. I looked at the contents to discover that they were flower essences, 24 in the box. I discovered some written materials to go with them to explain what they were about. I wanted them, I wanted everything they had in the store on them. I purchased the flower essences with all the written materials. I read them, explored the essences, and knew I had to begin making my own.

I made essences from the flowers in my garden to begin with: pansies, johnny jump ups, fuchsias, pansies and then ventured into the adjoining birch forest to make wildflower essences. I listened to the messages from the flowers to find out how they could be used for healing.

I was acquainted with listening to the silence. As a kid I would lay on the ground next to a waterfall to go into the silence beyond my thoughts, hear the music played by trees, and receive profound wisdom when I was “just being” while riding my horse.

I read Dorothy McLean’s “Findhorn Garden” book. I was inspired to take the time to listen to the nature spirits in my garden and in the woods. I was either inspired or consumed by a passion to go deeper into the nature of flowers.

In about 1983 mutual friends in Fairbanks introduced Steve Johnson and myself because we were both making flower essences and they thought we would enjoy meeting. We became friends based on our interest in making flower essences and other common experiences such as having both worked at Lake Minchumina, and loving Alaska’s wilderness. I had made a handful of essences and so had Steve. That was all there was when we met. Fireweed was the flower essence he talked about the most, that and Labrador Tea.

In 1984, the Alaskan Flower Essence Project was co-founded, co-directed, by myself, and by Steve. We started the business in my house where it lived and grew for 8 years. This is a key point. We co-founded, co-directed the Alaskan Flower Essence Project together. It was not founded by Steve with me joining him after the founding, not at all. We both made the essences, I made majority of the Alaskan flower and environmental essences during those years. I brought spiritual, feminine, intuitive, creative, playful, etheric, soft, energies to our work.

Since I have a botanical background I provided all of the information such as habitats, taxanomic identification and descriptions, much of the original flower photography. I introduced him to the concept that it was important to accurately identify each of the wildflowers that were used as essences a common names can apply to multiple species and even different genera.

We played with a variety of names and decided upon the Alaskan Flower Essence Project, A.F.E.P.. We had begun to make more and more flower essences, because I was highly inspired to do so. I made more essences from my garden flowers, from the surrounding boreal forest, from remote locations the high tundra in the Alaska Range, local bogs and just below the Arctic Circle near Bettles.

In the winter I made the Northern Lights environmental essence, summer it was Rainbow Glacier, Glacier River and so on. We made the Solstice Sun Essence together on the longest day of the year about mid-night with the sun shining brightly between two mountain peaks standing along the banks of the Koyukuk River just south of the Arctic Circle.

When friends were traveling to Antarctica and the true North Pole I asked them to make essences in those unique places, which they did, Winter in August made by Keri Petersen on the Greenland Ice Cap and Polar Ice at the North Pole by Doug Buchanan.

I often photograghed the mother essences as they were being made and I always photographed the flowers. I had been photographing wildflowers since I received my undergraduate grant to do a taxanomic study of the UAF Arboretum cover types and understory vascular plants. I photographed, identified, described, collected, and preserved over 400 species of vascular plants in the Interior of Alaska. In making flower essences I continued with documenting my work with the flowers.

I was inspired each summer to make essences. The experience took me deeper into the heart of nature. I found that as I peered into the depths of the flowers through my hand lens or macro lens the intensity of my focus drew me into the mystery of nature. I felt that I went through to the other side, into the heart of the flowers, into the heart of myself. My ability to commune with the oneness through nature was developing more deeply. To me making the mother essence has always been an amazing experience. I am open and in touch with my inner quiet, the field of silence where the mystery is revealed in the silence, to be heard by the receptivity of an open heart. This is how I learn what the flower essence qualities are. I listen, I write them in my journals or on sheets of paper. I find that as I feel the impulse of intelligence, I let it flow by writing. It feels like wisdom and information I have always known and yet often times when I read it over, after I have finished writing, I am aware that it was not something that I knew with my intellect, the infornation was accessable when I opened to my vast self beyond my individual ego.

Flower essences are gifts of nature, born of relationship with nature. Anyone who wishes to spend time in nature with an open heart and mind can access the wisdom and healing that simply is. The beauty of the flower essences is that they are nature made portable, they are a way to share nature. Many people don’t live in conscious relationship with nature. Many people are busy, they live in cities and want things they can buy in order to help them with their lives. To this end, they can buy flower essences.

Steve and I spent many, many evenings sitting together in my meditation room or at his bungalow in Bettles, doing attunements about the essences that we made. From 1987 - 1991 we traveled to Europe, the UK and Canada to teach workshops and speak at flower essence conferences. From this point it becomes another story.

The Sister Moon Flower Essences were created during the summer of 1990. I heard a calling from the flowers, from sisterhoods of collective divine feminine energies and so responded by helping to bring through the 7 Sister Moon Flower Essences. These are Alaskan Flower Essences made from my garden flowers.

By 1996 a series of events led me to the California Coast just south of San Francisco where I met Carson Barnes. Carson is totally passionate about orchids and has been since he was 14, when he purchased his first orchid. We met when we were both working for the largest orchid growing company in the country at that point in time. We walked miles each day in the course of our work through the many orchid greenhouses as we scanned for orchids that were in bud, developed enough to ship. We dealt with tens of thousands of orchids. Carson's passion for orchids makes him a super saleman. I was hired to create an organizational system within the orchid houses, with the shipping department and Carson to support his ability to sell. Within 9 months our team work increased sales exponentially.

My background was with the wild plants and orchids, while Carson knew volumes about horticultural orchids. Everything I know about domesticated orchids, I have learned from Carson. After 9 months we decided to start our own orchid business which we named Carson Barnes Orchids in order to be recognizable to the wholesale orchid customers we were hoping to attract.

Our greenhouse was located south of San Francisco next to a greenbelt, close to the Pacific Ocean, a perfect orchid growing location. It wasn't long before we had thousands of orchids growing, and shipping through our business. In the midst of the business frenzy the orchid nature spirits, devas, began to communicate, to request, and then demand that I make orchid flower essences. I felt overwhelmed with the growing business and I at that time could not imagine making essences in such close proximity to the sprawl of civilization. My resistance led to the orchid nature spirits communicating with Carson. One day he said to me that hearing orchids talk to him was not something he was accustomed to, but he said that because I was resisting their requests to make the orchid essences, they were now whispering more and more intensely to him. He said they want you to make essences from them, they were insisting more and more. I felt it too, I felt like I was being leaned on, like I was being yelled at by the silent voices with ever increasing intensity. I don't have any other way to describe this.

Finally, the insistence was so strong I had to relent, to agree to make flower essences from orchids. Often it was a bit comical. Here we were rushing about running our business and the orchids would whisper something to get our attention. Mostly I made the essences as it had been my 'thing' . Carson and I made some together and he made some on his own. Beside listening to the orchids about essences they began instructing Carson about how to best grow them if there was some missing bit of knowledge. They would speak up when we were selecting orchids where we bought wholesale, inviting us to simply request of them to produce the spike count we desired; that seemed simple, we did so and the orchids obliged. An interesting lesson in co-creation. Carson made Centered Love, Idiot Glee, Lucid Dreaming, at times we would both attune to the essences, it helped us to bring through complimentary energies.

The Dancing Light Orchid Essences were born of Devic intention. There we were in a greenhouse filled with spectacular orchids and with our hearts attuned to them. Carson and I often joked about who was really running the orchid business and we came to the mutual conclusion that we were serving the orchids, or serving together in a greater purpose than just running an orchid business. With their beauty the flowering orchids compel humans to admire them and often exclaim, "oh my!" We simply assist in them in infiltrating into people's homes and work places so that their beauty may inspire smiles, curiosity, heartfelt awe and much more.

Mackie's of Scotland used two of the Dancing Light essences in one of their frozen desserts, 'Vibrant,' for several years. It was the first time a flower essence was used in a commercial food product. Vibrant won awards, was sold in Korea, made the news in French and Canadian papers. It was sold in major grocery chains in the UK.

This resulted in numerous contacts from companies overseas who wanted to produce progressive product lines of their own. It has been difficult to communicate to them that flower essences are not simply an ingredient to add to a product, but that they are creative intentions which may be added  to enhance products, that dosage is important and that the producer who has the relationship with the essences is likely the person to act as a consultant to make sure the product being developed is being made with the most beneficial dosage for the purpose of the product. Mackie's took Vibrant off the market in 2005 because they felt it was not selling the volume they desired.

Mac Mackie and Shabd-sangeet at the Mackie's
dairy farm near Aberdeen, Scotland.

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In 2000 I returned to Alaska, leaving the orchid business to Carson. I spend time in the wilderness that fills me with joy and inspiration. In 2005 the inspiration came to develop another essence group, the Wild Divine Flower Essences. They are combinations of environmental essences, the wildness of Alaska, Alaskan flower and environmental essences, Sister Moon flower essences and Dancing Light Orchid Essences. They are a wonderful group of essences that are alight with playfulness, wildness, beauty, joy and the divine. I hope you enjoy using them as much as I enjoyed making them. They hold my heart within. This I share with you.  - Shabd-sangeet Khalsa