Gentian (Gentiana amarella)
From Dout to Trust
Key Symptoms:
Easily discouraged, hesitant, skeptical, doubting, despondent
Key Questions:
- Are you easily disheartened when faced with difficult situations?
- Do you become discouraged and depressed when things go wrong?
- Does your pessimism prevent you from making an effort to accomplish something?
Gentian is a biannual plant that produces a rosette of leaves in the first year and in the second year a short flowering stalk with small, purple, trumpet flowers. It grows on predominantly calcareous soils on dry, hill pastures where the grass is short. It will not tolerate farm chemicals.
As every type of plant grows in its locality not by chance but as an expression of that place, we can feel some of the qualities of Gentian from the fact that it seeks out hill top grassland in open country, nearest to the sky. Gentian grows alongside the trails where it is often walked on unwittingly and the seeds trampled into the earth, the young plants lie flat on the grass only growing upwards in the second year. Then the Gentian flower blossoms finally at the end of summer, from late August to early October. Almost too late one might think, the answer from Gentian is: it is never too late.
As well as the location, also the color and structure of a plant embodies a particular state. The bright purple of the flowers symbolize and lead into spiritual realms: it is the color of inner fulfillment, of majesty, of death and resurrection, the seventh color of the rainbow. Gentian is the Bach-Flower that is connected with the soul’s potential for trust and faith – the positive in life, in the existence of inner guidance and a higher order, or in your own inner strength.
If you’re in need of Gentian, you’d very much like to believe in a positive outcome, but you’re just not able to do so. You might see a glass that’s half empty, not half full. You unconsciously refuse “to go up to the hill and see the bigger picture”. The healing energy of Gentian is to transform our nar- row doubt into understanding. Gentian is The Belief Flower – From Doubt to Trust. It re- connects us with our confidence in our ability to overcome problems.
Gentian is very helpful in cases of depressed feelings, evoked by a specific incident. In that case the healthy skepticism turned into a compulsive need to question everything. This essence helps strengthen faith – not blind faith, but the conviction of a positive skeptic. With the help of Gentian you will be able to face difficulties without falling into pessimism. You’ll be able to live with conflict, realizing that for the purpose of the greater whole, conflicts have a necessary energizing function. You’ll not despair upon meeting obstacles, because you can recognize them as catalysts for something better to come.
Empowering Statement of Gentian are:
(The Encyclopedia of Bach Flower Therapy, Mechthild Scheffer)
- I am confident
- I expect the positive
- I know everything works out right