Are Bach Flower Remedies Homeopathic?

Though some Bach flower remedies are sold as homeopathic remedies, they do not fit the definition of classical homeopathic medicines. While they contain no chemical residue of the original materials used, and so are also considered vibrational medicines, flower remedies are not subject to succussion or dilution in the way that homeopathic remedies are.

Flower remedies in general do not qualify as classical homeopathic medicine, mostly because they do not share the issue of “polarity” and do not work according to Hahnemann’s “law of similars.” The Bach flower essences can never produce an unhealthy symptom. This was why Dr. Bach felt his discoveries represented a new kind of healing, as he broke with homeopathy founder Samuel Hahnemann‘s view that “like cures like.”  Bach felt rather that the opposite was true: that only by bringing in the opposite, or missing, quality was healing achieved.

Something they do have in common, aside from being vibrational medicines, is some shared philosophy in the “doctrine of signatures.”  Both Hahnemann and many flower essence practitioners, including Bach Flower Remedies: Form and Function author Julian Barnard, feel that a plant’s form, its appearance or “gesture,” holds the key to its healing properties. While I have some problems with the subjectivity of deducing a plant’s healing potential solely with this method, it is an engaging theory, and studying a plant from this perspective can offer fresh insight to the respective essence’s applications. Take, for instance, the correlatives drawn between the gesture of the Impatiens flower and its applications in this video by Julian Barnard and Nikkie Murray.