The grief blend
Grief is not one feeling but a weather system, and the tradition meets it with five remedies rather than one: the shock, the anguish, the pull of the past, the reshaping, and the flatness that can settle over all of it.
The five inside, and why each is there
Each one covers a different face of the same situation, and the blend is all of them together. Read any of them in full to see how much of it is yours, and buy them singly if you would rather mix your own.
Star of BethlehemFor the shock and the numbness, whether the loss was this morning or thirty years ago. The heart of every traditional grief mix.Check price on Amazon(opens on Amazon in a new tab)
Sweet ChestnutFor the anguish, the stretches when it feels like more than can be borne. It is a companion for the worst of it, and the worst of it does pass.Check price on Amazon(opens on Amazon in a new tab)
HoneysuckleFor living back inside the memories rather than alongside them.Check price on Amazon(opens on Amazon in a new tab)
WalnutFor the transition itself, a life slowly reshaping around an absence.Check price on Amazon(opens on Amazon in a new tab)
GorseFor the flat conviction that nothing will feel good again.Check price on Amazon(opens on Amazon in a new tab)
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When people reach for it
- A loss, recent or long ago, that has never really settled
- Anniversaries and dates that knock you flat each year
- Grief that has gone quiet on the outside and not on the inside
- The losses that grieve like deaths without being one, the divorce, the diagnosis, the friendship
How to take it
Two drops of each of the five into a 30ml bottle of spring water, four drops four times a day, for as long as it earns its place. That is the blend as it stands.
Grief moves, though, and the bottle can move with it. Star of Bethlehem tends to matter most early on, Honeysuckle and Walnut more as time passes, so it is worth reading the five again every few weeks and taking what fits now rather than what fitted at the start.
There is no schedule and nothing to get right. The remedies sit alongside whatever else is holding you up, and lean on the people who love you, because grief was never meant to be carried alone.
The mixing guide walks through the whole method, bottle sizes and all.
Common questions
Which Bach remedy is best for grief?
Star of Bethlehem, in almost every tradition. It is the remedy for shock and sorrow, and the old literature calls it the comforter. If the loss is recent, start there, on its own if you like, and add the others as you recognize them in yourself.
The loss was years ago. Is it too late?
No. Star of Bethlehem is traditionally used for old grief as much as fresh grief, and an anniversary that still knocks you flat is exactly the picture it describes. Something can be a long time ago and not over, and the tradition has always understood that.
Is it wrong to want to feel better this soon?
No. Wanting the pain to ease is not the same as wanting to forget, and nothing in these bottles rushes anybody. The tradition frames the remedies as company for grief rather than a way around it, which is also a decent description of what grieving people actually need.
Can I take it alongside everything else going on?
Yes. The remedies sit alongside whatever else is helping, and they have no opinion about what that is. A 30ml mixing bottle holds up to seven remedies, so there is room for the rest of your life in it too.
A blend is one answer for everyone
If what you are carrying is a pattern rather than a situation, a remedy chosen for how you actually feel will fit better. The quiz narrows the 38 in about a minute.