Cerato Flower Essence
I am only one person, and my writings are informed by personal experience and personal opinions. I hope that what I offer resonates with you, dear reader, but if it doesn't, that's OK too. Hopefully you are able to recycle what you receive into something helpful; hopefully you are able to compost some of my ideas to fertilize your own Life's Garden.
Cerato, the flower essence made from the plant Ceratostigma willmottiana, is one of Dr. Bach's 12 core remedies. These dozen essences address a basic, fundamental constitutional pattern. Not to say you can't take Impatiens in an acute setting - limping along in a traffic jam on a hot Friday evening, let's say- but the glory, the Light of these remedies really shines when we use them while doing our deepest, darkest work.
My little bottle of Cerato Essence says it "instills decisiveness when you question your own judgement and ask others for their advice". Bach states that this is an essence for those who constantly seek counsel and advice from others, and are often either mislead or don't even take the advice they received. There is a lack of confidence that is different from the discouragement of Gentian or the questioning of Scleranthus. Centaury is apt to ask for other's input but there is an escapism there, a need to disappear out of itself and into another's energy. The key here is that Cerato questions its OWN judgment - there is a judgment, there is a thought or idea or opinion *somewhere* in there, but it is questioned or doubted. I believe that's why it asks for other's input but is still unlikely to follow the given advice. I believe Cerato *knows*, it just doesn't KNOW that it *knows*. Or, it doesn't *believe* that it KNOWS that it *knows*.
Damn - aren't we all there sometimes? I mean, I think this definitely is a core constitutional (whether assumed or native) pattern some folks are imprinted with, but I think in the course of life experience we all end up Right here. We have the map, we look at the map. We know we know the right path - but for some reason there is a hitch. A doubt. Maybe it's not wanting the responsibility of the choice or outcome. Maybe it's not liking the reality of the matter. Maybe it's the outcome of years of dissociating from the self due to trauma, lifestyle choices or simply *not being in touch*. We ask the random stranger (or our very best friend, or our mother, or our therapist or lover or oracle cards or the stars) for directions - WHY? They answer, and we think, "Well, *that's* not the way..." and we keep wandering. *Rinse and Repeat times infinity* Each time, we get a little farther off the path. And The Way keeps screaming louder and louder inside of us, so we have to scream even louder about how "we don't know where we're going, kindly traveler, please direct us to the Right Path" and BOOM - - - Mental dis-ease.
There is a huuuuuuge amount of mental distress, dis-ease and imbalance that is caused by knowing the truth and being unwilling or unable to act on it.
Read that again.
We keep asking - but we already know where to go, or have an inkling. We already know what to say, or have the opening paragraph. We already know what needs to be done, or at least the first step. Even if we don't think we do. It's easier to say we don't know and that makes us critically ill inside.
I associate this essence with the sign of Leo (*everyone starts arguing at once*) and here's why. All of my studying of the sign causes me to believe that the main thing about Leos is that the See themselves and therefore able to BE themselves. Leos have this line pushed on them that they're overly dramatic or self-centered, and I wonder if that's simply because the rest of us are a little jealous of their ability to BE ("The Capricorn in me sees and sneers at the Leo in you."). Like the Sun rises and makes Day - makes life on earth possible, like the Lion dozes in broad daylight in plain sight in perfect peace. Is the Sun dramatic? Is the Lion self-centered? The Sun *is* the heart of our solar system and we all benefit from the light. The Lion *is* the apex of its food chain and knows this - it has no need to act any other way. One does not light a lamp and then hide it under a bucket. One does not create a Lion and then shame it for not acting like a meercat. We all need this Leo energy glowing at our core; the warm, radiating Light of Truth and Being and Seeing. When that energy is diminished, we - and all the world - suffer in darkness and doubt. I believe folks who need Cerato also need a boost in their Leo - their Core energy. The ability to SEE and KNOW and BE. The fire element is fixed in Leo, this is its peak expression. The Sun at noon and the Lion as King of its pride in full health and glory. Righteous boldness. Cerato settles in us and unlocks that energy, that ownership of ourselves as an independent individual. "I know what I must to", it says, "and I am prepared to handle whatever comes of it." We know we've looked at that stupid map enough times to have memorized it, and we know where we were need to go. Instead of muddying the waters with doubt and others' opinions, we KNOW. Seeking counsel and support concerning Truth we already hold completely changes the game. We are able to take what is offered and construct something solid on the foundation that is there.
Stop wandering in the forest like a goon (she says to herself).
Stop asking for someone else to do the work when you know what needs to be done (again, she says).
Stop waiting for the heaviness of what you KNOW to leave; it won't. It will get heavier and heavier until it crushes you.
Stop denying Who and What you are.
Summon your inner Leo and BE. Let who you are be seen, as the Sun is seen. We need your light in this dark world. Don't hide it with indecision and a erroneous lack of confidence. Stop throwing yourself into others' spheres of influence. Don't care for anyone's opinion more than the truth. And if you willfully shut your eyes and refuse to see, refuse to know, refuse to be, you will slowly weaken and atrophy and loose your usefulness in the world. You will become a Sun which has died, a lion without teeth or pride.
Buck up, dear reader, we need you.