DIY: Spring Equinox Flower Bath

Strength for New Beginnings Cleansing Flower Bath

One of my most favorite ways of wearing my medicine is through floral bathing. Flower baths are a ritual or religious practice used in many cultures to heal with plants by purifying and clearing energies. This practice was introduced to me during my first immersion in Peruvian herbalismo in the Amazonian Rainforest about ten years ago. Since that time, I’ve learned slight variations in the practice and purpose of bathing this way from Caribbean, Hawaiian, and Ecuadorian cultures. The directions below are a combination of those variations I’ve incorporated into my own practice taken from all four cultures.

My intention for this particular bath offering is to facilitate cleansing for spring with protection and strength for new beginnings and renewal. Currently I’m in the Pacific Northwest and have access to these fresh plants growing right outside my window, but if you are unable to harvest them yourself, purchasing the organic dried versions of the plants, or using what you can find nearby and looking up the meanings to craft your own healing bath works great too! Purchasing the fresh cut flowers or plants from the store isn’t recommended as most of them are sprayed with chemicals.

For this bath, I’m using Nettle Leaf, Daffodil Flower and Dogwood flower. Nettle Leaf brings protection, grounding and strength. Daffodil is synonymous with spring and facilitates birth and new beginnings. Dogwood has a similar use in helping us usher in new beginnings and renewal in addition to giving us protection, strength and strong will. Agua de Florida is a shamanic tool used for a variety of reasons, but generally is used to clean the energy field.

Included at the end of this post is a well-written explanation of the floral bathing practice of the Peruvian Curanderos I first learned from from Revista: Harvard Review of Latin America Kyrah Malika Daniels for those interested in more information.

MATERIALS:

• A gallon bucket
• Purified water. If you’re able to capture water from the rain or a clean river or stream nearby: BONUS!
• Agua de Florida or organic non-phytosensitive essential oils of your choice.
• Nettle Leaf, Daffodil Flowers, Dogwood Flowers, or plants of your choosing.
• Clear intention or Prayer

Read More: Nature Therapy: It’s a thing….

SUGGESTED DIRECTIONS:

* This is not an exact science so listening to your intuition and adding anything you feel so called to do is encouraged! 

• Fill Gallon Bucket with purified water.
• Gather enough plant and flower material to create about two or three handfuls of plant material. Thank or acknowledge the plant from which you are collecting for offering its medicine. (Sometimes I offer sacred tobacco, but I also find a simple “thank you” suffices, but more on this in another post).
• Pick, or “grapple” the leaves and petals from the stems of the plants and add them to the water.
• Add about a half cup to a full cup of Agua de Florida or 20-30 drops of your chosen essential oils to the water.
• Stir with your hand or a stick.
• Bless your floral bath. This can be done by connecting to the light and medicine of the plants in your bath by acknowledging, thanking and voicing your intention for healing into the water and then blowing your prayer or intention into the bath (mine is below- feel free to use).
• Get Naked!
• Take a deep breath and slowly pour the water over your naked body starting from your head and shoulders and letting the water and plant material run down your body. If the bucket is too large or cumbersome, using a small cup or container to scoop the water out of the bucket and then pouring over your body is great too.
• When complete, it is important to air-dry and not towel off or get dressed right away. Letting the energies of the plants immerse themselves in your energy field. Washing your hair, showering or picking off the plant material are not recommended. Let the plants dry on your skin and fall off when they’re ready. Get dressed afterward and enjoy the amazing clean feeling.

I call in, and connect to, the light and medicine of my plant spirit allies to assist me in cleansing my mind, body and soul. At this spring equinox, may I recognize the promise of rebirth and renewal both within me and around me. May I have the strength to acknowledge my darkness and the will to see my light and honor both for their gifts.

RESOURCES:

To find meanings of plants growing around you, my favorite resource for those I don’t know, is:

http://www.languageofflowers.com

Click here for the full article written by Kyrah Malika Daniels on Floral Bathing in the Peruvian and Haitian Cultures for Revista: Harvard Review of Latin