The Magic of Flowers: A Guide to Their Metaphysical Uses & Properties - Tess Whitehurst 2013

Echinacea
The Flowers

With such a hearty, sturdy vibe, it’s interesting to note that echinacea’s name is derived from the Greek word for hedgehog. Although he reportedly received this name because of the spiny appearance of the center of his blossom, his energetic dynamic may also be accurately described by the comparison.

Magical Uses

Health and Healing

Employed as a veritable cure-all in herbal medicine (echinacea has been used to treat infections, colds, allergies, asthma, skin conditions, coughs, earaches, flu, fungal infections, and urinary infections, and as an all-purpose tonic and immune-system strengthener), echinacea’s magical properties are also conducive to health and healing. For example, you might take the essence regularly during periods when you’d like to activate your body’s natural healing wisdom and natural state of radiant health. Or you might sit in quiet contemplation with blossoming echinacea plants to allow your energetic field to resonate with their healing wisdom and receive healing guidance and messages. Additionally, consider charms, rituals, or mist potions such as the following healing mist.

HEALING MIST

Mist a healing room or create an environment conducive to healing with a mister of spring water into which you’ve added ten drops eucalyptus essential oil and five drops echinacea essence. You might also lightly mist the area around yourself or another person. Remember to shake before each use.

Fortification and Heartiness

Like the hedgehog for which he is named, echinacea can help us protect our soft vulnerability with a naturally strong outer armor. Provided you clearly intend it and magically direct your energy toward it, he can also lend strength and potency to any magical intention. For example, according to Scott Cunningham, some Native Americans employed echinacea “as an offering to spirits to ensure and strengthen spells.”

For added heartiness and fortification in any life situation, you might have a conversation with an echinacea blossom, letting him know what’s going on and how you could use an extra dose of strength. Then, if he gives you the go-ahead, lovingly gather the blossom, wrap it in a cotton cloth, and place it on your altar or carry it with you throughout the situation. You might also employ him in an essence, charm, or ritual.

Simplification

Because echinacea is adept at emphasizing helpful energies and conditions, he can also make it easier to recognize the energies and items that are no longer serving us. So anytime you feel overwhelmed and want to pare things down and return to a simpler, more grounded sort of life, echinacea can be an excellent ally. Try planting him in your yard, taking two to three drops of the essence first thing every morning or last thing every night, or spending time in quiet contemplation with him.

Support for Healers and Health Care Professionals

For holistic healers and mainstream health care professionals alike, healing can be a rewarding yet highly challenging gig. If we aren’t careful (or even if we are), we can sometimes pick up challenging energetic patterns from our patients and clients, or we can allow our own energy to be depleted as we heal. Echinacea can help with both these challenges by simultaneously strengthening our energetic protection and bolstering our natural state of well-being. For this purpose, I suggest taking the flower essence before and after engaging in healing work of any kind. Or you might prefer to take it in the morning and evening during vacations or weekends to recharge your healing batteries.

Success through Service and Joyful Work

Like a happily buzzing bee hard at work creating the golden sweetness we call honey, echinacea can help us dissolve joyfully and whole-heartedly into our work in a way that yields sweet success. So if you’d like to magically open doors to joyful work opportunities or fortify yourself for a productive and prosperous work period, employ echinacea. Plant him in your garden, bring his flowers into your workspace, take the essence regularly (until your goal is reached or you’ve sufficiently absorbed the desired energy), or mist your workspace with spring water containing ten to fifteen drops rosemary essential oil, five drops peppermint essential oil, and five drops echinacea essence. Or perform the following bath ritual to call in more work or a new job or to infuse your current job with more joyful productivity.

BATH RITUAL FOR JOYFUL PRODUCTIVITY

On a Thursday when the moon is between new and full, add three fresh echinacea blossoms or ten to twenty drops echinacea essence to your bath water, along with one-half cup organic clover blossom honey. Light a yellow candle near the bathtub and hold your hands over the water as you mentally direct golden-white light into the water. Say:

All doors are open for prosperous and joyful work.

I love what I do, and I irresistibly attract sweet success.

Relax as you soak for twenty to forty minutes.

Magical Correspondences

Element: Fire

Gender: Male

Planet: Jupiter