Bull Thistle Flower Essence

Bite the Hand that Beats You

I used to walk on land that knew my name.
Every day, the same path, the same plants greeted me Morning and Evening. I’d watch them, speak to them, introduce them to my children and wait for them to be ready.
Every day, the plants saw me; watching, waiting until *I* was ready.
It became a prayer to me.
I was suffering and needed relief.
One day, in the middle of my path, there was a new Being - a rosette of prickly leaves tucked close to the ground. I stepped over it and kept walking.
Every day the plant grew, taller and taller, until I had to walk around it, out of my way, to avoid being stung.
It grew to be my height, broad and impressively adorned with violent spikes, and one day - it bloomed. Right at eye level, the most gorgeous, vibrant blossom I’d ever seen. I stood and stared at it in tears.
“I need this.” My heart was aching for it. They were so powerful. Couched in thorns, fiercely protected, and yet their seeds were sheltered in an impossibly soft looking, beautiful flower.
To be soft and beautiful while remaining safe and one’s own wasn’t something I was familiar with. That plant was radiating the exact energy I needed - the perfect match of positive to my negative. I harvested a blossom and placed it beside my bed.
I told a friend about the interaction, how specific and intense the connection had been. They suggested that perhaps I should begin visualizing my personal ‘boundary bubble’ as a hedge of thistles.
Every night, I fell asleep picturing myself and my Hope- my seeds- my sons, surrounded by a living barrier of thistles. I still do this!
Things began to shift in my life- not all at once and certainly not easily. But shift they did.
Even though I didn’t go through the process of making a remedy, I consider this my first experience working with a flower essence, quite literally.
I read somewhere -some time later- that bull thistle essence helps us to navigate our relationship with authority. Whether we’re rebels without a cause, or beaten down beneath abusive ‘Powers The Be’, thistle helps us create appropriate boundaries and responses to those who are (or would be) ‘over us’.