The Magic of Flowers: A Guide to Their Metaphysical Uses & Properties - Tess Whitehurst 2013
Black-Eyed Susan
The Flowers
For a summer flower so evocative of sunshine and brightness, black-eyed Susan can sure seem a little spooky. Just as the peak of summer heralds the reaping time and the quickly approaching dark half of the year, her sunny disposition has a dark side and reminds us to integrate all points along the wheel of life and death.
While there are a number of flowers known as black-eyed Susans, this entry focuses on the one most commonly known by that name, specifically Rudbeckia hirta.
Magical Uses
Cleansing and Releasing
Black-eyed Susan’s unique wisdom and healing vibration can help aggressively clear away what is no longer serving you on the emotional plane. What I mean by “aggressively” is that the dynamic isn’t exactly gentle and gradual: it’s more like an energetic purgative of nonphysical (i.e., emotional and spiritual) toxins, which can cause some upsets as our lives shift to meet our newly cleansed outlook and mental state. While this may be ideal in some cases, in others it may not be, so tune in to your intuition to be sure. For this purpose, try employing the flower essence or just spending time with some blossoming plants. To help clear and shift your energy in a quicker and more efficient way, you might also add a single drop of her essence to another essence as an activator.
Grounding
Black-eyed Susan can help us stay grounded, calm, and energetically healthy, especially when we feel beset by harsh or challenging environments or situations. For example, if you’ve recently started a new job that involves heartbreaking aspects such as violence, illness, or death, black-eyed Susan can help you to look any and all situations in the face while staying effective, calmly energized, and deeply connected to your intuition and guidance. For this or similar purposes, try employing the essence or misting yourself with spring water containing ten to twenty drops lavender or geranium essential oil and two to four drops black-eyed Susan essence.
Integration
Just as none of us are always happy or always sad, we each contain many dimensions and aspects of both light and dark. And if we’ve been feeling lopsided in either direction or unable to integrate our bright and shadowy aspects for any reason, black-eyed Susan can help. She steadies us energetically and shows us that even seeming opposites can coexist harmoniously with one another in our psyches, relationships, and environments.
For this purpose, try adding a drop of black-eyed Susan essence to any other essence or essence blend. To encourage grounding and integrating energy, add two to four drops of the essence and one cup sea salt to your bath water or add four drops to a mister of spring water, along with ten to fifteen drops vetiver essential oil.
Mediumship, or Connecting with Transitioned Loved Ones
If you’re a medium or if you intend to become a medium, black-eyed Susan can enhance your powers by helping you to see through the veil and shine light into the seeming darkness of the otherworld. Similarly, if you feel drawn to connect with a loved one who has transitioned to the other side, black-eyed Susan might be a good ally to enlist. For either purpose, spend time in quiet contemplation with the blossoming plant, allowing yourself to receive a silent, wordless lesson on the dynamics of mediumship and peering beyond the veil. Alternatively or instead, imbibe the essence before endeavoring to connect with the otherworld in any way or before bed if you’d like to connect in your dreams.
Magical Correspondences
Element: Earth
Gender: Female
Planet: Pluto