Honeysuckle
Living in the past, homesickness and nostalgia for how things were
What it feels like
The best part of your life has already happened, or that is how it feels. You find yourself back in the old house, the old job, the years before things changed. Photographs get looked at more than they used to. Conversations circle back to a particular period and you can hear yourself doing it. Homesickness belongs here, and so does the quieter version that arrives years after a loss, when you catch yourself living alongside someone who is no longer there. The present is not terrible. It just does not have your attention, because the past has it.
Signs you might need it
- You talk often about a particular period of your life
- You feel homesick, even for a place you chose to leave
- You compare everything now unfavorably with how it was
- You spend a long time with old photographs or old music
- You feel a loss as freshly as when it happened
- You find it hard to get interested in new plans
What it helps with
The past stops competing with today. Memories become something warm you can visit rather than somewhere you live, and the present starts to feel like it might still have things in it.
Not to be confused with
Clematis, which drifts into an imagined future rather than a remembered past. Star of Bethlehem is for the shock of a loss rather than the long ache afterwards, and Walnut is for the moment of moving on rather than the pull backwards.
Those who live much in the past, perhaps a time of great happiness, or memories of a lost friend, or ambitions which have not come true. They do not expect further happiness such as they have had.
The plant
The climbing honeysuckle of old hedges and cottage gardens, with cream and pink trumpets that release their scent in the evening. That scent is one of the strongest memory triggers in the English countryside, which suits a remedy about being pulled back into the past.
How to take it
The usual way is two drops from the stock bottle into a small glass of water, sipped through the day. If you are mixing several remedies, put two drops of each into a 30ml bottle of spring water and take four drops from that, four times a day.
There is no need to time it around meals, and you can take it as often as you like. Most people give it two weeks before deciding whether it is doing anything. The full guide to taking them covers mixing bottles, timing and the alcohol question.
Often mixed up with Honeysuckle
Often taken alongside
Blends that include Honeysuckle
Combinations mixed for a situation rather than for a person. Each one is shown with the reason Honeysuckle is in it.
Common questions
These are about Honeysuckle. The questions about the remedies in general, alcohol, children, timing, live in the FAQ.
Is Honeysuckle for grief?
It is used for the long pull backwards that can follow a loss, when the past holds more of you than the present does. In the raw early stage, Star of Bethlehem is the more usual choice, and many people move from one to the other over time.
Is Honeysuckle good for homesickness?
Yes, this is the traditional choice for it, whether that is a child at a new school, a student in a first term away, or an adult who has moved country and cannot settle. Walnut is often taken with it to help with the adjusting.
What is the difference between Honeysuckle and Clematis?
Direction of travel. Honeysuckle lives backwards, in memory. Clematis lives forwards, in daydreams. Both leave the present short of attention.
Not sure Honeysuckle is the one?
Choosing works by recognizing yourself in a description, so if this one only half fits, it is worth seeing what else comes up. The quiz narrows all 38 in about a minute, and the not fully here group holds the nearest neighbors.
Where to buy Honeysuckle
Bach remedies are widely stocked. If you are buying online, check the bottle says Honeysuckle and comes in the standard 20ml stock size.
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