by David Jonas

I recently decided to go on a flower essence journey with 5 of the essences made by the wonderful Star, and I have called it A Journey to the Heart. Before I go into my experiences with the essences I chose, I would like to start by mentioning that, if you live near Santa Barbara (California), or if you are just passing through, I highly recommend visiting Star's pretty little cottage-office where you can sample all of the Star essences for free at her "Star Bar": it's amazing!

The essences I chose are: Emancipated Master, Doorway to The Heart, One Heart, Brave Heart and Radiant Sensuality. I was also sent a beautiful gift of the Body Spray, Love Lover Beloved, which I threw into the mix.

I started with Emancipated Master, because I felt that in order to really find my heart, the first thing I would need to do is let go of any addictions. Little did I know what was in store for me!! I thought that my main addiction was coffee; but the Emancipated Master drops, which are a combination of mostly Peruvian flowers, very gently made me aware that I had an addiction to the Internet! After taking them for less than 2 days, I both became aware of this addiction, and no longer had a compulsive desire to re-check my emails/baseball scores, etc. In fact, after just a few more days, I ceased my use of the Internet almost completely! I decided to give away my computer (which was getting old) and just go to a cafe twice a week. It was perfect. The Emancipated Master was, for me, really about freedom: the freedom to break-free from whatever is holding us back; or perhaps freedom from whatever "shadows" of which we are unaware.

Next up was the Doorway to The Heart.This is an intense and- some would say- difficult essence, which takes us deep inside our hearts. I felt that, before taking essences for relationships (such as the Love Lover Beloved spray, for example) it is important to go within.

I brought a bottle of the "Doorway" to my meditation group and we all chose to take a few drops before meditation. The effect was so profound that all 4 of us were drawn to lie down for the meditation - such was the power of the flower! It took us to a very quiet, still place; but it also helped to release any lingering sadness. Sometimes we delay going in to the heart because we fear processing heartfelt emotion: this essence goes straight to the heart of the matter! (In fact, we called the bottle Initiation of the Heartlight...).

Here is what I wrote in my journal about the Doorway to The Heart:

"Slowing down... going deep DEEP within... surrendering to the heart... knowing that coming from the heart is the only healthy way of negotiating with the outside world. Being in a quiet place where all wounds are healed by love. Letting go of the outside irritations as illusion... a Buddhic essence.... Like waves crashing on the shores of my heart. Raises our sensitivity to the love-vibration in music."

I suggest taking Doorway for at least a week.

Next up was One Heart. This lovely orchid opens our hearts to others, so that we feel connected to humanity and our soul-family. It helps us to realize that there is someone out there for us and it heals a sense of loneliness. It is a key essence for relationships - both intimate and friendships.

After taking One Heart for 4 or 5 days, I realized that I need to break through some old issues, so I started interspersing it with the Brave Heart essence. I felt that this essence helps us move forwards to the other side... go where we need to go and stand on our own two feet. Personally, I found it acting not so much on my heart, but on my solar plexus. It strengthens the will. Interestingly, during the week I took Brave Heart, I decided to move back to England!!

Next up was Radiant Sensuality. This is a fabulous combination essence which really helps open us up to new relationships. If you are feeling dis-connected from others, or unloved, or just that there is no-one out there for you, I can recommend Radiant Sensuality!

It's effects were immediate. I felt appreciated by others and open to intimacy in an exciting new way. It was like gentle waves along my body, especially in the tummy area, around the 2nd chakra. I noticed that I was attracting more women when I went out. (And I'm sure it works the other way around!) It opens us up to the delights and gentleness of a new relationship. Interestingly, I really noticed the Otter essence contained within it: perhaps this is why it is so delightful?

Around this time I had a dream in which the German film director Werner Herzog told me that I needed to take Divine Goddess essence to heal any lingering sadness. Luckily, I had a bottle in my cupboard...

Certainly the Radiant Sensuality is good to take when you are ready for a relationship - and to face whatever blocks you may have in that area. I am glad I took it after taking the One Heart !

After a few more days, I started the Love Lover Beloved Spray. Just the act of spraying it over my body after a shower really helped my sense of body appreciation. It has an earthy smell of patchouli and sandalwood. For me, it was really about loving my body and the way I look - and also appreciating the bodies of others. A perfect spray to take at the beginning of a new relationship... or when our sex-life needs some sparkle! The effects of the spray are more physical than the Radiant Sensuality bottle. It is a spray that you can take wherever you go, whenever you want to give yourself a dose of self-Love!

Love Lover Beloved certainly helped me acknowledge the importance of being in our bodies and of really appreciating the physical world. It was the icing on the cake.

David Jonas is a flower essence Practitioner living in England. He can be reached by email: davidjonas2@hotmail.com.

I was walking my labyrinth at first light on the Solstice. The St. John's Wort began to talk to me, and asked me to make it's essence on St. John's Day.

The St. John being referred to is St. John the Baptist. (I had to look it up.) Jesus once said of his cousin:

"Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist"

- Matthew 11:11

(I especially love the 11:11 part- always loving the signs... )

St. John's day is June 24. That day is also the day of the Inti Raymi in Peru- a huge festival honoring the Sun. We made the St. John's Wort flower essence on June 24, also called Midsummer's Day. In ancient times, midsummer's day was an occasion to pay homage to water, fire and plants. It was also a time to cleanse one's soul as well as to celebrate the summer solstice.

The new St. John's Wort essence is christened "Be Happy."

by Ronnie Williams

In the late 1970s when the emerging field of holistic medicine first exploded into my life (thanks to my Dad who gave me a copy of The Magic of Findhorn, by Paul Hawken), I began opening my mind to the vast mind/body/spirit arena.

I was comfortable with the notion that working with pressure on reflex points in my feet could have a beneficial effect on my body and might help a wide range of symptoms. On a weekend healing course at Runnings Park in West Malvern, Worcestershire, I met Christine Jones who had set up the Midland School of Reflextherapy. Trained as a physiotherapist she came from a medical background but through her own experiences had discovered the power of reflexology, and had widened her outlook to embrace the understanding of traditional Chinese medicine. Hearing her talking at dinner about how she would cup her hands around a patient’s ankles and, doing “nothing”, just allow the energy to flow through the body, I knew without doubt that I had found my teacher. I signed up with her for a practitioners course in 1984, gained my practitioner’s certificate, and became a member of the Association of Reflexologists in 1985. I’ve been in practice since then, adding flower essences, Reiki and EFT to my “bag” as the years have gone by. I’ve taught reflexology in adult and further education and it’s given me great pleasure to turn others on to the power of this popular complementary therapy.

The earliest documented records of what we now call reflexology were found in the Physician’s Tomb at Saqqara in Egypt where there are step pyramids older than those at Giza a short distance away. Wall paintings clearly show the feet and hands of Egyptians receiving some sort of treatment from dark-skinned Nubians. These depictions have been dated to around 2,500 B.C. From those times we can trace a continuing history of people in different continents- Africa, the Americas, China, Asia, Scandinavia and Northern Europe- understanding the benefits of applying what came to be known as reflex zone therapy to all areas of the feet.

It was Eunice Ingham, a remedial masseuse working with Dr. Joseph Shelby-Riley and his wife Elizabeth in their practice in America in the early 1900s, who came to be known as the Mother of Reflexology. She drew the earliest foot charts, devised a method of walking around the feet using thumbs and fingers to apply an alternating pressure technique, and went touring round USA to teach what she knew not only to Doctors and medical workers but also to people like you and me, eager to learn something natural that could be used at home to ease simple ailments and improve overall health. Through Eunice Ingham a “lineage” of teachers was established in the early 1970s, Christine Jones and the Midland School of Reflextherapy being one of these.

The theory of reflexology is really quite simple, especially if you have an understanding of yin and yang, energy flows and meridians. Imagine making yourself very small and placing yourself over your feet, the two big toes together representing your head. The instep of each foot, from heel to the base of the big toe, links with your spine. The map of the body is then laid out in similar very small areas in each foot - the liver on the right foot, the spleen on the left, with other digestive organs, small and large intestines, traversing both feet. The soles of the feet link with all the soft, internal organs, the fronts of the feet with the front of the body. The sides of the feet link with the limbs and joints- shoulders, knees, hips etc.

The key to a successful reflexology treatment is knowledge of the map of the feet, understanding how to apply the technique, and precision. The size of a reflex can vary from a tiny area, the size of a pin-head, to a larger area representing, say, the stomach, or liver. But to have any effect each reflex area needs to receive some pressure, or at least to be touched. Walking round each foot with the thumb or fingers, using a creepy-caterpillar movement, pressing and releasing, and observing the client’s reactions, may take some time. Wherever there is discomfort indicates imbalance in the related area of the body - not necessarily Disease- it could even be “echoes” of an illness or condition going back a number of years- and these areas need to be worked until the discomfort in the feet subsides. The feet will “talk”, and love to do so, once they realize the opportunity to communicate that is being presented. Change happens both during a treatment and afterwards: the most usual responses are relaxation, improved circulation, and de-toxification, benefiting a wide range of conditions. All age groups can be treated. There are some cautions/contra-indications to treatment - a qualified reflexologist will always explain these before giving a treatment.

So how might reflexology and flower essences work together in a treatment session?

Is it advisable, or even necessary, to combine the two? I have to confess I’m a bit of a purist, I’ve changed my treatment very little over 25 years and would say that less is definitely more when it comes to “extras” such as adding vibrational essences to a treatment. But the effects, which can be dramatic, can also be profound.

In 1998 I attended the first International Flower Essence Conference at Findhorn in Scotland, and went to a workshop combining Metamorphic Technique- therapy derived from reflexology in which the areas representing the spine are very gently stroked on the feet, hands and head- with vibrational essences. Drops of Delph Essence, a dolphin essence made by Andras Korte, an essence-maker from Brazil, were very gently stroked into the sides of my thumbs, from the heel of my hand up to the thumb-tip. Not only was it extraordinarily relaxing but that night I had a powerful lucid dream which I remember to this day, traveling inter-dimensionally through a doorway to who-knows-where. The next day I felt I’d undergone a huge shift, and it took me a while to get grounded again. I have to say that I have hesitated to try anything similar with my own clients, feeling that such an experience could overload someone unused to the energy shifts that might occur.

In astrology, the feet are seen as the realm of Pisces, a mutable water sign, sharing the connection with the water that we use to make vibrational essences. Working the feet is like working a pump, stirring up the mud at the bottom of a pond to clear the water and allow it to bubble freely again. Remember that we are more than 70% water! The realm of Pisces is also that of the subconscious mind, the repository of unprocessed feelings and emotions. In reflexology we talk about our feet being our UNDER-STANDING, and through our feet we connect with the Earth. We can absorb energy through the chakras in our feet - indeed, the therapeutic properties of crushed garlic, spread on brown-paper insoles and worn inside socks, will quickly be drawn into and through the body - the garlic will be out on the breath within about half an hour. Rubbing a well-known de-congestant preparation - essential oils in Vaseline - over your feet will have a similar effect.

So if you feel drawn to using vibrational essences on the feet or hands and have not done so before, I ask you to be sure you can explain what might happen to your “client” if they have a powerful response. The book Floral Acupuncture - Applying the Flower Essences of Dr. Bach to Acupuncture Sites by Deborah Craydon and Warren Bellows (The Crossing Press) is also very helpful. With this in mind here are some suggestions:

• Drops of appropriate essences can be chosen on the basis of the consultation with the client, and added to creams or oils, to be massaged into the feet or hands at the beginning or end of a treatment. A rescue/emergency formula would work well, or a customized formula.

• The spinal reflex, running along the instep of each foot from inner-heel to the base of the big toe, or from the heel of the hand along the edge of each thumb up to the thumb-tip, is a particularly receptive area - the cream or oil, or even liquid drops, can be lightly stroked along this area using a “feathering” technique.

• The solar-plexus reflex, located centrally under the ball of each foot, is another receptive area: pressure here can help regulate breathing, soothe anxious states, and improve sleep patterns. Using a rescue/emergency formula here can be very effective.

• Using drops of essences placed with a little water in a small bowl, cotton wool swabs or q-tips can be soaked with the liquid then held in place over particular reflex points - this would work well over the kidney or adrenal reflexes, for example, for stress relief, or held under the shoulder reflexes to relieve tension.

• Make up a spray with appropriate essences, misting lightly over the feet and leaving to dry naturally at the end of the treatment. Also mist the room before a treatment with your own formula to create a relaxing and peaceful environment.

• Apply some cream or oil infused with appropriate essences to the area at the back of each ankle, then “cup” your hands around each ankle and just allow energy to flow - do nothing, just allow. After a while you may begin to feel the gentle pulse of the cranio-sacral system - stay with it while the energy and essences do their work. This can be a time of profound relaxation and realisation for the client.

• Just invite the energy of an appropriate flower or tree to join with you and flow with the treatment.

To conclude

• Keep it simple!

• Be prepared for a response, be able to explain what you’re doing and why.

• Try these techniques on yourself or a good friend first, and use with awareness.

The Chippewa medicine man Sun Bear had a phrase: “Walk in Balance on the Earth Mother.” When we are in balance and harmony within ourselves we can literally tread light, peace and harmony into our beautiful Earth with each step.

Ronnie Williams, M.A.R., B.F.V.E.A., Reiki Master, A.A.M.E.T.

[During the 2009 Peru Sacred Adventure] I went specifically looking for a particular Orchid that I kept seeing in my inner vision. Roger told me it was the Ellianthus capitatus Orchid. Roger knew it wasn't its real time to bloom, and we also knew that magic always happens and anything is possible. We began our search by looking in two different Botanical Gardens at Machu Picchu (places I had never been). We were looking to get an idea of what was in bloom (not to make an essence in the gardens...). What we found were many of the Ellianthus- ALL with very spent blooms... After seeing so many of them with last year's blooms, I felt the obvious message that essence wasn't happening. [It happened a year and a half later: click here to read the story of Making the Ellianthus Orchid Essence.]

The next day I went on a hike on the trail thru the Sun-Gate from Machu Picchu to Winay Winah to see what I might find. I stopped at a beautiful place with giant stones and did a meditation. I was told that "for everything there is a season" and this wasn't the season for the Ellianthus to bloom; that it would be good to get in touch with my own cycles; that Nature could create magic and miracles and I could find the Orchid blooming, and- it would be better to make it in its own timing... and that there would be a particular tiny flower blooming at the Chilca Lodge at the base of Ausangate Mountain where we would be going in a few days. I would know the flower- that it was a strong survivor growing there at 14,000 ft- and there would be signs- and - it would be for Post Traumatic Stress.... Yikes! It felt like very specific information...

When we reached the spot where we hike in to the Chilca Lodge it was raining. There was a choice of hiking or taking the bus at that point, and one traveler- Lori Ann, and myself decided to hike in the rain. She is a botanist (among her myriad other gifts) and we were looking at the flowers. There were 2 or 3 possibilities, and nothing that had an absolute yes.

That night it rained a lot. (I love it when it rains before I make an essence, and everything is cleansed.) Then they got the first snow (purity of purpose) of the season... and as magic would have it the sun came out! I gathered the essence making stuff and we headed out. Nilo - our guide- was telling me about a flower he had been talking with the locals about: the Penka Penqa (as with many things in Quechua, it is spelled many ways- so I have chosen this way). They said it was for shyness and had other medicinal qualities. At that point I wasn't sure which flower was the Penka Penqa. We were walking along and Lori Ann called to me to check out this little flower with a bluish purple tint- that was RADIATING. Indeed- it was literally glowing!!! We had not seen this flower before! It had come out after the snow. Of course, this was the Penka Penqa- and as we looked around, they started popping up everywhere. Again, everything that could go right, went right. It was very easy and graceful to make the essence. We had two beautiful local gentlemen join us in the essence making (one named Santos- saint, and one named Cruz- cross...). 

After we made the essence, the sky clouded over again. It cleared for the perfect amount of time for our essence making. 

The Penka Penqa's scientific name is Gentiana sedifolia (thank you Lori Ann for botanizing and finding out who it is). We have christened it Brave Heart- which is the message that came from Betsy (thank you!) in our group. It is a happy survivor. The night I got home I was thinking about the trip and the essences and for some crazy reason I turned on the TV. In the 15 minutes I had the TV on, I heard the words "Post Traumatic Stress" three times. (That was enough TV- I got the sign- and turned it off...)

The Penka Penqa Brave Heart essence addresses Post Traumatic Stress disorder and supports flourishing in the face of adversity. It fosters courage, encourages confidence, and helps one to move forward feeling graceful, gracious, safe.

Much more is being revealed about this essence. Many of you will know much more about this (Post Traumatic Stress) than I do- as I am already finding out. I am hoping that someone will get a grant to work with returning soldiers. I feel this is a very powerful essence.

I take groups to Peru and I always tell folks that if there is something special they want to see or do- put it into Roger's consciousness and it inevitably happens. Roger Valencia is our awesome guide. He doesn't promise- makes no guarantees- yet inevitably whatever we have placed there (in Rog's consciousness) happens.

Such was the case with Gonzalo Medina. We were in Aguas Calientes, the little town below Machu Picchu. Roger was showing us some paintings done by his friend, Gonzalo. We were all very impressed by the paintings- which were quite cosmic. Someone in our group decided they really wanted to meet Gonzalo, so they told Roger.

A few days later we were driving along in the Sacred Valley of the Incas and suddenly Roger said, "Rudy, stop, pull over- there is Gonzalo!" (Rudy was our bus driver.)

Gonzalo was just getting into the back of a pickup truck (a form of public transportation in that area). Roger jumped out, got Gonzalo and brought him to our bus. He had a walkman and headphones. I took the headphones and listened and found out that he was listening to (in my judgment) some terrible rock and roll, terrible because it had yucky words. Gonzalo said (in Spanish) that he didn't understand the words, because they were in English; but that what he really wanted was some New Age music. Immediately a couple of people gave him some tapes- one being Michael Hammers ascension music. We told Gonzalo how much we liked his paintings in Aguas Calientes and he said (through Roger as translator) that if we would tell him the elements we wanted in a painting he would paint it for us.

Suddenly it rolled off my tongue: "So... Can he paint St. Germain?" (I feel St. Germain is often around me and the essences- and even though I know he is, sometimes it seems like such a fantasy and I always enjoy confirmation).

Gonzalo came back without a moment's hesitation and said, "And the Violet Flame?"

I briefly choked and said, "I guess he knows who he is."

By this time we had arrived at our hotel. Gonzalo said he would bring some paintings over for us to see later that night or in the morning. (He did not invite us to his studio, and later I figured out why: his studio is also his house.) I will interject at this moment and say that on this particular day our group was a bit agitated and less bonded than we had been. We had reached some all time highs on this trip and people were wondering now if everything was coming apart and whether we would ever get it back to that high level again. I woke up in the middle of the night and began to meditate and go to everyone on the inner planes. All was quite well. I realized that the one thing different about the day was that we hadn't taken any flower essences. Up until that day I had been passing them out quite regularly. I pulled out my box and took some Andean Orchid flower essences, including Xylobium with 24 karat gold (Freedom/Libertad). Suddenly I felt the room fill with the presence of St. Germain and I felt great happiness. Then my vision switched and I was watching Gonzalo paint a picture. (Note- this was 4am in my meditation.) I could see him painting St. Germain. I was excited and I decided I wanted to see what color his eyes were in the painting. My friend always says they are violet; I see them as brown, and I know it doesn't really matter- yet still- I was curious... Well- I just couldn't make them out and the harder I tried, the less I could see. So eventually I went blissfully back to sleep knowing all was well.

Around 7:30am there was a knock at my door and my friend was excitedly telling me Gonzalo was downstairs and he had brought 4 or 5 paintings. (We still aren't sure if he did them all that night- but we think so.) He just said, "More Hammer music."

When he pulled out the St. Germain painting (I immediately took a deep breath, and my eyes started watering), Gonzalo began telling me how I came to his room at 4 in the morning with St. Germain and so he painted him. So... If you notice the eyes- a very nice confirmation of that Merlinesque part of St. Germain- his eyes are shut. Oh what fun.

This is a very special painting. I consider it a gift from St. Germain. It is a transmission. It has a very beautiful vibration that carries through the prints. I feel that having the picture up assists in maintaining the violet transmuting flame. It certainly reminds us to call upon it.

Gonzalo explained the picture saying that there is the Violet Flame- and there is also the other colors of the spectrum- and most importantly, there is the flame you hold in your heart.

It was such an honor to meet this master artist who has a deep connection to the ascended masters and the space brothers and sisters. I am surely happy to say- I am so grateful.

The late Gonzalo Medina was born and raised in Cusco, Peru. His father was a well known artist and his brother lives in New York and is also famous. Gonzalo was a beautiful, sensitive, visionary artist. You can visit his murals all around the town of Aguas Calientes, at the base of Machu Picchu.

By H.H. Dr. Cleeretta Henderson Smiley

Every person, place, condition and thing has a vibrational essence. In Feng Shui everything is seen or considered as a "Chi" qualifier, whether harmonious or disharmonious. Today I shall confine my message to Star Essence Flower and Gemstone Essences considered as powerful enhancers of individuals and spaces.

In the Eagle News 6/21/2000 I wrote an article on New Medicine for a New Humanity. It has been said plants will become the medicinals, healers and teachers of tomorrow. We at Smiley's Holistic Feng Shui Institute have started viewing Feng Shui and Healing in a different light and in a new way as it pertains to healing of self and environment for goal attainment. Through research and search for the best curatives to yield the greatest return, we now realize the Star Essences- made and marketed by a pure natural nature Healing Channel, Star Riparetti of Santa Barbara, CA., and Roger Valencia of Peru- are powerfully supreme for the healing of self and the environment. The Star Essences are used internally and externally by individuals and sprayed in spaces, put in water for laundering of clothes, sprayed on plants, used for clearing crystals, or in any capacity that you use water. The difference here is the potency of the Andean Orchids and other plants used as curatives.

Star Essence has produced over [250] different channeled products that will assist one to get beyond any stuck area of life. For example, the Peruvian Flower Essence Collection consists of: About Face, I Am Generosity, I Am Gratitude, Integration, Purification, Master Teacher, Mango Paradise (Celebration of Life in the Physical Form), Strength and Chi, etc. The Ancient Lemuria Santa Barbara Flower Essence Collection offers Be Nurtured, Creation/Focus, Dance, Deep Breath, Early Bloomer, Emancipation, For Giving, Full Moonlight, God/Goddess Unity, Graceful Shift, Inner Guru, I Remember, Let Go and Trust, Light Navigator, Magic Healer, Pure Joy, Male Strength and Sweet New Beginnings, among others. Examples of the Gemstone Essence Collection are Green Tourmaline (very male), Lavender (borderless), Moonstone (Emotional Balance), Spinel (Good Luck), Tanzanite (Brain Vision of Love), Yellow Cat's Eye (Angelic Connection), and Yellow Tourmaline (Illuminating, Stimulating and Inspiring).

Mention has been made of 33 of the Essences available Channeled direct. There are many more to assist and facilitate any facet of life on any of the 100 or more senses a person might want to master for more harmonious living. As a Holistic Health Practitioner doubly Board Certified as a Health Care Expert I have been using the products of which I speak and have found them to clear out any memory from any facet of my being and environment when used as suggested and the way they are suggested. Health Care in the New Millennium is wearing a different Constitutional Make-up than in the last century. All curatives must be used in a balanced integrative way where they can find their center and be in one accord with the rest of the Chi in a space or a place.

We have learned how to integrate the face/body/space guas to validate the findings of blocked chi in the body and know what is the corresponding area in the home and what level of the home to check out and what gua on the level to balance holistically. This is the power of a search and a solution found in part in Star Essences and all of the other curatives used to restore health in the body and in the space to accomplish any objective or goal we desire. Through faith and intent goals can be accomplished as we expect as a result of right application and right placement of environmental curatives in spaces and on and in the body.

The Angel Rejuvenation Spray and Crystal Clear Spray are good for Sacred Space Clearing, before reading the house. They both are in a base of distilled activated healing water. The Crystal Clear Spray leaves the aura of the person and the home lifted to a higher vibration, unleashes clarity, smiles and angelic presences. The Angel Rejuvenation Spray makes the Angels more apparent in the environment. It is always good to spray the hands. It is always good to spray the hands after spraying the individuals and rooms.

As I said before there are some [200] other Star Essences to be investigated for body and space usage as Primary Medicinals to balance the Chi and create a harmonious flow of Heaven on Earth. What a safe way to remain healthy without negative side effects!

By Rhonda Parks Manville
Santa Barbara News Press Staff Writer

During her 14-year career in nuclear medicine, Star Riparetti worked with the unseen vibrations of radioactive isotopes. Now she works with the invisible energy of flowers.

The Santa Barbaran is the maker of Star Flower Essences, liquid infusions of flowers collected from plants in Santa Barbara and sacred sites near Machu Picchu, Peru. Bottled in blue glass and dispensed with eye droppers for placement under the tongue, the flower essences are said by those who use them to have beneficial powers that come from the plant's field of energy.

"There are some things you can't see, or feel or taste, but they are very powerful," said Riparetti, who takes a lighthearted approach to life. She wears loose, flowing clothing and short-cropped hair with long braids in the back, and she drives a Volvo with a bumper sticker proclaiming, "Bliss Happens."

"Nature is part of an unseen world that is willing to help us," she said. "When you think about how good you feel when you look at a flower or smell a flower, it makes sense. Everything has an energy -- science has proven that."

At 54, Riparetti has a life many people would envy. She lives and works not far from the beach in Santa Barbara, in a home surrounded by plants and flowers. Her small business is doing well enough that she employs several people. She works with spiritually minded people like herself, who use yoga, meditation, prayer and holistic health practices to keep their lives in balance.

Riparetti also leads annual tours to Peru, and she conducts workshops to teach people how to make essences for themselves. A one-ounce bottle of her essences sells for about $13 in New Age bookstores, on her website, and through mail order.

Humans have been making healing potions with plants and flowers for thousands of years. Similarly, almost all the world's major religions use holy water in rituals and anointments to signify healing and purity.

So while many people might scoff at the idea of flower water having healing powers, Riparetti sees her work as part of an important spiritual tradition that is being rediscovered. This awareness coincides with the coming of the millennium, she believes.

"I think that more of our senses are coming to life," Riparetti said. "It's why we can use something that is subtle like flower essences, because our energies are becoming more refined."

Born and raised in Santa Barbara, Riparetti entered the world of flower essences after leaving a successful career as the chief technician and director of the School of Nuclear Medicine at the Cancer Foundation of Santa Barbara.

Working in the field of nuclear medicine "was frustrating, because you would have five people with the same disease, treat them all the same, and some would get better and some would die. I knew there had to be something else," Riparetti said.

After leaving her job, she opened a bar called Riparetti's on the Eastside, and she became a spiritual seeker, although she wasn't sure what she was looking for. She practiced yoga and Reiki body therapy, aromatherapy and herbology; she meditated and spent time in nature.

And then she saw a tiny ad in the newspaper that said, "Flowers for healing."

"It just got to my heart and I don't know why," Riparetti said. "I had always loved flowers. I wanted all the information I could get."

Riparetti studied the teachings of Dr. Edward Bach, who popularized the use of flower essences for health in the 1930s. Riparetti became a practitioner, but the work was not as rewarding as she would have liked. So she kept an open mind about what she was to do with her new knowledge.

In 1988 she went to Peru for the first time, and hiked the famed Inca trail leading to Machu Picchu, the ancient Inca city in the Andes. On the way, she was introduced to Andean orchids, and a light went off in her head. "I thought, 'Andean Orchid essences,' but I knew I'd never make them without a Peruvian. It was not my country."

Riparetti continued to travel to Peru in the following years, and the thought of making orchid essences nagged her. Then she met the man who would be her partner, botanist Roger Valencia of Peru, an orchid expert and guide who speaks five languages and has a nonprofit organization that plants trees. With him, Star made her first batch of "mother essences" from several varieties of wild, non-threatened orchid species growing near Machu Picchu.

From this, Star Flower Essences was born.

Using orchids is significant, Riparetti said, because they are a highly evolved plant, comparable to dolphins in the animal kingdom. And they are beautiful, "demonstrating a profound understanding of natural laws," according to company literature.

There are now 74 essences available through the company, 23 from plants grown in Santa Barbara. Several are blends and some are essences from gems. ("They also have a frequency, just like colors do," Riparetti explained. "Some materials, like radioactive cobalt, have a frequency so strong and dense scientists use a Geiger counter to measure it.")

Some essences are made to coincide with important planetary events. On Aug. 11, during a cross-planetary alignment, Riparetti and her students made a Lotus essence, harvested from Lotusland in Montecito.

Riparetti's essence-making process is imbued with spiritual ritual and mindfulness. Prayers are said before an outing begins and when flowers are harvested. The essences are made by leaving the flowers to soak in the sun, in water taken from a sacred ceremonial fountain of Inca ruins. Then this "mother essence" is diluted and preserved with a bit of alcohol. Before the essences are bottled, Riparetti and her staff bless them with prayers.

Joy Bondy, who works at Paradise Found bookstore, said Star Flower Essences changed her life. She's been using them for three years.

"I did a three-day workshop with Star and I had a spiritual awakening," she said. "I could see that I was functioning in a way that was not working any more. I went from being a suburban housewife to a person on a spiritual path. It opened my eyes to new possibilities, to a healthier, more spiritual life."

Bondy said that using the flower essences is a way of seeking the higher intelligence of nature.

"There is a mystery involved. I can't say how or why it works exactly," she said. "But then, do we know why some Western medicines work? The answer is 'No.'

Riparetti gives her Star Flower Essences names and suggestions for their use. From the Santa Barbara collection, for example, "Pure Joy" is the name of the orange blossom essence, which she recommends for "renewed enthusiasm" to be "happy for no reason."

Riparetti views flowers as teachers and healers, whether people enjoy them through gardening or by spraying flower essences on their pillowcases at night.

"The flower is the highest state of the plant's expression," Riparetti says in her brochures. "Flowers are gifts from Mother Earth, telling us how much she loves us."