If you are familiar with the work of Flower Essence Practitioners you may have read in publications, both in print and online, that 'one should not add more than 5 - 6 Remedies to a Prescription bottle'. 
But is this true? And, who said so?

As an Advanced Qualified Flower Essence Practitioner with over 35 years experience I have never adhered to this rigid doctrine. The method I use, when choosing a selection of remedies for a client, is a combination of experience and dowsing (more about this here). In my dowsing it can indicate any number of required Essences - anything from 3 or 4, right up to over 16 different Essences! The preceding statement may be met with shock and surprise by some who believe that 16 Essences is far too many - about 10 too many to be precise.
There is a strong body of opinion within the 'Essence world' that one should never add more than five or six Essences to a Practitioner dosage bottle, and I have been met with this strong opinion from those who feel strongly about this. Yes, you will read in Flower Essence publications and articles that the number of Essences used in one bottle must be restricted, but Dr Bach himself - the man who discovered, nay invented, the Flower Remedies - never actually said so.

"As many as nine Remedies can be used in some cases"
Dr Edward Bach

In the early years when Bach was first discovering the Remedies he would say "...and in some cases even as many as half a dozen different herbs [Remedies] may be required"  [1]. Importantly, at that stage, he had only discovered 12 Remedies, of the 38 he was yet to discover. In later years, around 1935, once he had almost completed his research into the Remedies, he would state that as many as 9 remedies could be used in some cases. As R Souto writes: "At no time did he [Bach] establish that we could only work with one, two, six or even nine Flower Essences. On the contrary, his work was being adjusted not only according to the person's needs, but also according to the frequency in which he saw his patients". [2]

I continue to trust my 'trusty' dowsing pendulum as the results achieved speak for themselves (you can read some of my Personalised Blend testimonials here). If it says just 3 Essences are required then that's what I use; if it says 16 are required then, likewise, I trust my pendulum. It has stood me and my clients in good stead over the past 3 decades.

Jane Stevenson AP BFVEA
Advanced Flower Essence Practitioner for People and Animals
www.creaturecomforters.org

References
[1] Bach, E. Twelve Great Remedies, Feb 1933, Collected Writings of Edward Bach. Hereford, 2007, p. 108
[2] Souto, Rosana de Melo. Essence Journal, Spring 2012, BFVEA, p. 12 and 13.

The seaside town of Cromer in England, was once, during the 1930s, the residence of a very special man. A man who has influenced thousands worldwide; someone who has inspired hundreds of books, written in many different languages, and myriad websites, articles, leaflets, brochures and journals. An inspirational, some say visionary, doctor, homeopath and surgeon who - through great personal sacrifice and dedication - pioneered a new, alternative system of treatment that went-on to be revered around the world by those seeking a different, natural way to heal emotional problems.
His name was and is Edward Bach and, whilst living here he began his ‘journey of research’ into what became known as The Bach Flower Remedies...