the Bach Flower Remedy:
Willow

Willow: Remedy from the set of the Second Nineteen

About this music

Performed several times by flute and piano; also in version with bass added.

Three sections :

A in 3/2 time with improvisation in the Phrygian mode
B in 4/4 with open fifths accompanying syncopated flute melody
C in 3/4 with a plaintive melody

Form : A B A C B A coda

Lyrics for Willow

Willow is an instrumental piece.

About Willow, the Bach Flower Remedy

‘For those who have suffered adversity or misfortune and find these difficult to accept, without complaint or resentment, as they judge life much by the success which it brings.’

‘They feel that they have not deserved so great a trial, that it was unjust, and they become embittered.’

All the boiling remedies describe our responses to the trials of life – that is exactly what they are about. People who get caught up in the Willow state have more than a fair share of difficulties, or so they feel, and complain of injustice. They respond, said Bach, with:

‘less interest and less activity in those things of life which they had previously enjoyed’

Energy slows down and turns inward, concentrating like gall to a poison which permeates life so that inevitably matters get worse. Willow needs to learn to say ‘yes’ to life and to work with renewed energy to overcome adversity no matter how difficult the problem.

Willows are often found along the riverbank in damp, low-lying ground. They are often pollarded. This involves cutting the growing crown out of a tree, reducing the trunk to three metres. This stimulates regrowth just as in Olive.

The Willow, then, is pressed into man’s service. It is the very strength and vitality of the species which invites exploitation. And how does the Willow feel about it? Resentful perhaps? Willow’s response is to grow back with such vigour that it actually becomes an emblem for the affirmation of life. Break off a twig or cut off a branch and set it in the earth and it will strike roots and grow; Willow is so responsive to life opportunity. Most trees will not grow from such cuttings and none with such willingness.

And yet Willow has also been a traditional symbol for sadness and lamentation.

By the waters of Babylon there we sat down and wept
When we remembered Zion
On the willows there we hung up our lyres. (Psalm 137)

From this time on the willow appears never to have been associated with feelings of gladness… The link between willows and funerals is in the symbol of rebirth after burial in the earth. This is what happens to the Willow tree: bury a branch and see. The resentment of the Willow person is based upon a rejection of life as much as on a sense of unfairness. The vital concept is that in the Willow state the person has lost belief in the fairness of life.

Willow people are concerned with their success in the material world. The plant’s affinity with water shows how Willow people feed upon the emotional drama of complaint and blame. When in the negative Willow state people become emotionally congested and inflexible. The positive is illustrated in the flexibility of the twigs which bend without breaking, in the easy dancing movement of the leaves and branches when the wind blows. Most of all, however, the contrast between resentment and joy can be seen in the colour of the twigs. Willow stands at the first motivation of a love of life; without that things appear unjust, unkind, depressingly difficult and unfair. This love of life is in the golden colour of the winter wood.

Willow people are qualified and capable, although experiencing a great challenge. Only those who are able to carry much are given the greater load. Accepting that load without complaint, transforming the bitterness into sweet acceptance, makes a real contribution to the evolution of the soul consciousness of life on earth.

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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