Rock Rose vs Cherry 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.
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Why they get muddled
Both sit at the far end of Bach's fear group, and both arrive with real physical force. Neither is ordinary nervousness. People reach for them in the moments they would later describe as not coping, which is why the two get run together.
The differences
Where the danger is
Rock Rose
Outside you. Something has happened, or is about to.
Cherry Plum
Inside you. The thing you do not trust is your own reaction.
What it feels like
Rock Rose
Frozen, shaking, cold. Often unable to speak or think straight.
Cherry Plum
Pressure building with nowhere for it to go, and the sense that you might snap.
How it starts
Rock Rose
Suddenly, and usually with a cause. An accident, bad news, a nightmare.
Cherry Plum
Gradually, over a stretch where you have been stretched far too thin.
Who else notices
Rock Rose
Everybody. Panic moves through a room.
Cherry Plum
Usually nobody, because you keep it to yourself.
Which one to pick
Choose Rock Rose if
- Something frightening has just happened
- Your body reacted before you could think
- You are in the middle of it now, or helping somebody who is
Choose Cherry Plum if
- You are afraid of your own temper or your own mind
- There is pressure with no outlet
- You would not say this out loud because of how it sounds
What if both sound right?
In a real crisis they are often taken together, and both are in the traditional five remedy blend for exactly that reason. If you cannot tell which, take both. This is not a distinction worth worrying about while it is happening.
Common questions
Are both of these in the crisis formula?
Yes. The traditional five are Rock Rose, Impatiens, Clematis, Star of Bethlehem and Cherry Plum. Rock Rose carries the terror and Cherry Plum the fear of losing control, which tells you how often the two turn up together.
Is Cherry Plum only for extreme states?
No. It fits the everyday version too, the feeling of being stretched so thin that you have started watching yourself for signs of snapping. It does not have to be dramatic to be the right match.
How do you take these in the moment?
Four drops straight from the stock bottle, repeated as often as feels useful rather than on a schedule. The four times a day routine is for the slower patterns, not for a crisis.
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.
Cherry PlumvsImpatiens
Impatiens snaps. Cherry Plum is afraid of what it might do. If the problem is the temper itself, that is Impatiens. If the problem is that you no longer trust yourself to hold it, that is Cherry Plum.
MimulusvsAspen
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.
Still not sure?
Read both profiles in full, or start from the feeling and let the quiz narrow it for you.