Mimulus vs Aspen
If you can finish the sentence I am afraid of, it is Mimulus. If you cannot, it is Aspen. That one test settles most cases in about five seconds.
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Why they get muddled
Both are fear, both sit in Bach's fear group, and both tend to be carried quietly rather than talked about. The feeling in the body can be identical: the tight chest, the dry mouth, the sense of something waiting for you. What separates them is whether the fear has anything attached to it.
The differences
What you are afraid of
Mimulus
Something you could name in one sentence. The flight, the appointment, the phone call, spiders.
Aspen
Nothing you can point to. The dread arrives on its own and does not come with a subject.
When it turns up
Mimulus
In front of a known event, often building for days beforehand.
Aspen
Out of nowhere, often in the small hours or in an empty house.
How you explain it
Mimulus
You could tell somebody exactly what the problem is, even if you play it down.
Aspen
You tend not to mention it, because it sounds strange said out loud.
What travels with it
Mimulus
Shyness. Going quiet in groups, blushing, sending the message rather than making the call.
Aspen
Foreboding. Uneasiness in the dark, waking with a start, waiting for bad news.
Which one to pick
Choose Mimulus if
- You can finish the sentence I am afraid of
- There is a date in the diary you are dreading
- You go quiet in groups and hate being the center of attention
Choose Aspen if
- The fear has no subject and you cannot supply one
- It arrives without warning, often at night
- You keep it to yourself because it sounds odd explained
What if both sound right?
Plenty of people need both, and the two sit together perfectly well in one mix. A named worry about Thursday and a background hum of dread are different things, and nothing says you only get one at a time.
Common questions
What if I am afraid but the reason feels silly?
It is still Mimulus. The test is whether you can name the thing, not whether the fear is reasonable. Dreading a phone call you know is harmless is exactly the Mimulus picture, and the fact that you can see it is harmless changes nothing about how it feels at eleven o'clock the night before.
Which one is for panic attacks?
Neither, on its own. Once fear has gone past nerves into full terror, Rock Rose is the one people reach for, and it is usually taken alongside whichever of these two fits the pattern underneath.
Can I take both at once?
Yes. Two drops of each into a 30ml bottle of spring water, then four drops from that bottle four times a day. Most people run a personal mix of three or four remedies rather than one at a time.
Keep narrowing
The pairs closest to this one, if neither of these two turns out to be it.
MimulusvsRock Rose
Mimulus is for fear you can live alongside. Rock Rose is for the moments fear takes the controls. If your body got there before your mind did, that is Rock Rose.
AspenvsRock Rose
Aspen hums and Rock Rose shouts. If the feeling is a background unease you have been carrying all week, that is Aspen. If it seized you and you are still shaking, that is Rock Rose.
Rock RosevsCherry Plum
Rock Rose is terror at something happening to you. Cherry Plum is fear of what you might do. The question to ask is whether the danger feels outside you or inside you.
LarchvsPine
Larch doubts what you can do. Pine blames you for what you did. If the feeling is I would not be able to, that is Larch. If it is I should not have, that is Pine.
Still not sure?
Read both profiles in full, or start from the feeling and let the quiz narrow it for you.