the Bach Flower Remedy:
Cerato

Cerato: Remedy from the set of the Twelve Healers

About this music

Realised in a performance for flute and piano only.

A simple through composed piece with a flowing melody in 4/4 time. Rhythmically very simple with flowing accompaniment. Centred on A.

Lyrics for Cerato

Cerato is an instrumental piece.

About Cerato, the Bach Flower Remedy

The uncertainty of Cerato types concerns self identity: these are souls who do not know who they are. Bach gave Cerato the archetype of the Fool and set the positive virtue as Wisdom:

‘Wisdom to comprehend the truth; judgement to define right from wrong and encourage strength and ability to keep on the right path when realised’

‘Always asking advice from different people but not following it, never feeling quite satisfied that they have the answer they require. Often wish to do things that seem foolish.’

Cerato was discovered by Chinese Wilson in 1907-8, who sent seeds back to Ellen Willmott. She succeeded in raising two plants from these seeds. All the Cerato plants now grown in Britain derive from these two plants.

A perennial woody shrub, Cerato is half-hardy: a strong frost will kill it off. Bach found Cerato growing in a private garden in Norfolk. At first Bach suspected he would need to find a British substitute for Cerato at some point, but he never did.

Cerato is a deciduous shrub without any direction or structure to its growth; it does not know where it is going, growing outwards in random bushy fashion. Leaves are bristly, rough and unpleasant to handle. While Cerato people are sensitive to their environment, there is a lack of warmth and empathy here. These are souls that do not fit easily into society.

‘They should be wise teachers and instructors, but they seem to listen too much to other opinions, and be too easily influenced by outside circumstances.’

Of all the Bach flowers Cerato is the only one specifically domesticated in England. It does not grow wild. Firstly, because the plant rarely sets seed – it is propagated by cuttings. Secondly, if it were to grow wild it could not maintain itself against competition with other species. Cerato children need to be protected against others who are stronger. They simply lack the drive to maintain the identity of themselves in life. A flower that does not produce seed does not know its future. Given that the plant is so far from home, should we be surprised? The pattern of experience in the seed which carries Cerato people into the new life is weak and half-formed.

The Cerato flower form is built upon the regular geometry of the pentangle. This formation of perpetual movement, the symbol of time and eternity, shows what deeper understanding can manifest for Cerato people.

Cerato flowers only last a day, often collapsing by noon in the heat. They deepen colour to purple as they close – again we see the changeable perhaps evolving nature of Cerato. As the petals close and the flower collapses they twist into a spiral and form a focus of indrawn energy and meaning. This is a plant which wants to learn and understand.

This account of this Bach Flower Remedy is based on the book Bach Flower Remedies : Form and Function by Julian Barnard.

For full information see HealingHerbs.co.uk→.

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