Flores de Florida | Episode 031
Flower Essences, Healing Plants & Ancestral Wellness with Michele Junta
Rooted in Reverence: Exploring the Potent Subtlety of Flower Essences
Nature’s Quiet Medicine
It can be easy to overlook the silent, unseen support that nature offers us daily—especially when it comes to healing. In Episode 31 of The Dean’s List, host Alison Dean sits down with Michele Junta of Flores de Florida to unearth the layers of meaning, history, and intentionality behind flower essences. The conversation meanders through alchemy, reverence, motherhood, and the fine line between cultural celebration and appropriation. If you’ve ever been curious about plant remedies that speak to the soul rather than just the body, this journey is for you.
The Birth of Flores de Florida
Michele Junta’s botanical journey began with curiosity about Dr. Edward Bach’s flower remedies, but it was her lived experience—rooted in her Puerto Rican heritage and daily life in Florida—that truly shaped Flores de Florida. Inspired by local flora and the centuries-old tradition of flower waters, Michele started making her own essences from the vibrant plants around her. What began as a personal exploration soon blossomed into a business when her partner encouraged her to share her creations on Etsy.
Michele’s process stands apart not just for its deep respect for plant intelligence but also for its celebration of “master plants”—those revered for their ability to shift consciousness and instill profound transformation. These include globally recognized plants like cacao, tea, and sacred medicines such as ayahuasca and Wachuma.
What is a Master Plant?
While “master plants” are often associated in mainstream culture with psychoactive or entheogenic properties (think ayahuasca, peyote, or San Pedro), Michele broadens this definition. For her, master plants are any botanical allies that dramatically alter consciousness or provoke introspection—even those as familiar as tea or chocolate. By making flower essences from both renowned entheogens and less-recognized yet potent plants, Michele invites us to reconsider what it means to “journey” with nature.
The Art and Integrity of Making Flower Essences
Michele’s reverent approach to crafting flower essences centers on authentic relationship. She explains: “Reverence is respecting from a place of awe.” Whether she’s harvesting flowers under the sun or structuring the water to retain vibrational memory, every step is infused with gratitude and presence. The process borrows from Dr. Bach’s original methods: using clean, filtered water under the flowers, avoiding direct human contact, harnessing solar energy, and stabilizing the infusion with brandy. Safety and respect are paramount—her careful dilution ensures that potent plants (some of which can be toxic as tinctures) are transformed into safe, vibrational remedies.
Michele urges buyers to be discerning and intentional, noting the importance of sourcing from practitioners who embody respect, care, and transparency in their craft.
How Flower Essences Work: Beyond the Physical
Flower essences target the energetic and emotional body rather than merely physical symptoms. Michele describes their action using Rudolf Steiner’s anthroposophical framework: essences influence the etheric (life force) and astral (emotional/intellectual) bodies, facilitating harmony and spiritual alignment. Unlike herbal tinctures, which address tangible ailments (think headaches or cramps), flower essences support emotional healing—whether that’s unprocessed grief, trauma, or simply a yearning for joy.
Practical advice is woven throughout the episode: newcomers are encouraged to approach essences with attention and openness. Michele advocates trying single essences first, getting acquainted with each flower’s signature before exploring blends or more complex remedies.
Flower Essences for Modern Life: Motherhood, Stress & Endurance
Michele’s motherhood journey provides a rich context for the use of essences. Cacao, she notes, is an invaluable ally for nurturing mothers—a gentle prompt to practice self-care and replenish energy. For stress and energetic fragmentation, Michele recommends Wachuma (San Pedro cactus essence), which she likens to a “pillar of light” restoring harmony to scattered emotions. During times of anxiety or relentless mind-chatter, the I-Aya Uma and chestnuts foster mental clarity and resilience.
These remedies don’t promise instant fixes but offer nuanced support to help us recalibrate in a world that often pulls us in a thousand directions.
Sourcing with Integrity & Listening to Nature
Michele’s message to anyone exploring flower essences is clear: choose products crafted with intention, transparency, and ethical practices. Whether you’re a skeptic or seasoned user, the real beauty of flower essences lies in authentic relationship—with the plants, with the earth, and most importantly, with yourself.
Coming Home to the Essence of Healing
As Michele beautifully articulates, wellness is harmony—within ourselves, with our loved ones, and with the living world that surrounds us. Flower essences are a gentle, subtle, yet profoundly transformative modality for those seeking to restore that harmony. By rooting into reverence and remembering our innate connection to plants, we expand our capacity for healing, presence, and joy.
Interested in Michele’s work?
Explore Flores de Florida on Etsy and follow Michele on Instagram for daily botanical inspiration and guidance. Let nature’s quiet medicine bring you home to yourself.
Follow Michele:
Instagram: @floresdeflorida
Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/FloresDeFlorida
Website: https://www.masterplantfloweressences.com/
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