LATIN NAME: Aquilegia chrysantha (Colville's Columbine)

GOOD FOR: Heart-mind connection flower essence. Able to link highly emotional people to their mental, left-brain sphere so they can think clearly and logically through crisis or life events instead of falling apart emotionally at a critical moment.

DID YOU KNOW?

To say the least, you are a mental giant. You think a lot--maybe too much. Your mind is sharp, curious, quick to jump and make up your mind about something. You do very well in academic surroundings. And you're good at memorizing things. Able to learn in classroom situations, you are a "book learner" type. Verbal by nature, you can communicate well in speaking as well as writing. Your world consists of using logic and rationalization. A prove-it-to-me kind of person.

THE HEALTHY YOU:

You're a gut-hunch kind of person whether you realize it or not. A lot of your decisions are based upon primal instinct which may or may not even tweak you consciously. However, you're a wonderful amalgam of rational mind (left brain) and right brain (instincts and intuition) IF you want to be. If you are truly in balance, you become very "whole-brained", utilizing both hemispheres of your brain to a very high degree. Not only can you know the answer to an Algebra problem before doing the math on it, you can also do the math to prove how you know the answer! That's a pretty neat trick!

THE UNHEALTHY YOU:

Insomnia can dog your heels because you are the one that gets the "gerbil running on the wheel" at night, and you can't shut off your thoughts. They just keep rolling along even though you'd like some sleep! You can get dogged, stuck and very stiff-necked about your belief system. Worse, you will be arrogant about it and you're right and the rest of the world is wrong. It's "my way or no way...." kind of blinders-on attitude. The old saying: You are cut off from the neck down, implies that you allow your logic and rational to rule you and you suppress your emotions--not a good thing in the long run!

ARTICLE:

COLVILLE'S COLUMBINE by Eileen Nauman, DHM(UK)

Copyright 1997 - 2004 Eileen Nauman
All Rights Reserved

COLVILLE'S COLUMBINE--DOCTRINE OF SIGNATURES

Columbines are a fascinating lot to me. First of all, because of their aerodynamic shape. Doesn't each bloom look like it's going to take off and fly? Maybe that's why the Latin name for them is Aquilegia or Aquila, the Eagle! In England, during Saxon times, it was known as Culverwort. "Wort" is a Saxon word for plant and "culfre" meaning a pigeon. They are from the Buttercup family. Some types of Columbine are absolutely picky about where they live. For instance, Jones Columbine or the Limestone Columbine is rare--but not endangered and lives only on limestone slopes, ridge tops or outcrops above the timberline. It is found in the Rocky Mountains from Canada down to Wyoming. This is one you can't
transplant to somewhere else--unless you have heavy limestone bearing soil.

HISTORY SURROUNDING THE COLUMBINE

I've always loved Columbine; and it has a rich and prestigious history. According to Barbara Walker, the Columbine was named after Columba, the Dove and was recognized as the symbol of Venus or Aphrodite. During the Medieval times, doctors believed that Columbine was a universal antitoxin. When the flower was picked, dried and then powdered as a drink it was said to "driveth away all poisons," according to one medical text.

From M. Grieve, she says of the Columbine that was mentioned by Tusser in 1580 as 'for windows and pots'. In 1629, Parkinson speaks of many varieties that were grown in the gardens of England. Clearly, Columbine has been a beloved favorite around the world.

FLOWER ESSENCE EXPERIENCES WITH COLVILLE'S COLUMBINE

According to the responses we've had from people utilizing Colville's Columbine, a pale yellow species, it is a "dove" of peace between the mind and heart connection. And as far as beauty goes, these showy flowers can be three inches across and they bear four 'spurs' which looks like a bird's tail to me. Sometimes, when I look at our Columbine in
profile, it looks like a rocket taking off!

That isn't far off the mark, either, because as a flower essence, Colville's Columbine doesn't waste any time going in and rebalancing things that are out of harmony with one another. It's fast and its effects are usually immediate within two hours of taking a few drops under the tongue.

COLUMBINE'S MANY COLORS

Columbine come in marvelous colors; sometime 'two-tones'. For instance, we have some purple-petaled ones with a creamy white center. And others are a bright red color with a yellow center. These remind me of Fourth of July fireworks. Yet others are one color, such as Colville's; a pale yellow, and the Limestone variety that is a deep purple color.

They are an early Spring flower; for instance, here in Sedona, Arizona where ours live, they are close to blooming and they will do so by the end of March! In other places, April and May, depending upon when the snow melts once and for all. Colorado has made it the state flower, and the Blue Columbine, which is a pretty periwinkle blue color with white
inner petals, is very feminine and fragile looking.

They come in pure white, a creamy white, two-tone, some brilliant, sassy, look-at-me types and others are less obvious--but all of them get your attention. The spurs on some of the Columbines are one to two inches long! They wave gracefully in the slightest of breezes and one is always struck by their feminine nature, their delicacy and overwhelming uniqueness in the wildflower world. To be a Columbine is to stick out. It can't hide in a crowd if you tried!

WHERE DOES COLUMBINE LIVE?

Columbine is a Rockies wildflower. Interestingly, the more north or west of the Rockies you go, the blue color of the Colorado variety, is less and less--until you get the white or creamy variety, instead. Columbines survive nicely from 6,000 feet to 11,000 feet in the mountains. And, the higher they grow, the more colorful, generally, they become--and
the less colorful at the lower altitudes.

Columbines are an important forage plant. Unfortunately, cattle ranchers have overgrazed areas where hundreds of Columbines would carpet a mountain meadow or slope and ALL species of this beautiful wildflower are become rare in these areas where they were once so abundant.

Columbines do not like direct sunlight on them all day--at least, here in Arizona. They are a plant that likes very nutritious, fertile soil along with be good and damp all the time. They are not water thrifty--except for the desert Columbine type. Colville's Columbine is not a desert variety.

Found from Idaho and Montana, down through the Rockies to Arizona and New Mexico, another type of Columbine is also found in Europe and to Mexico. It likes rock slide and outcrop areas, but also a shady aspen grove and ravines.

MEDICAL USES OF COLUMBINE

It is said, according to Foster and Duke for Peterson Field Guide of medicinal plants, that the Native Americans use minute amounts of the crushed Columbine seeds for headaches and also as a "love charm." It was also used for fever. To control lice, they rubbed the seeds into their hair. The root was chewed or a weak tea was made for diarrhea, stomach troubles and it was used a diuretic. The root tea was also used for uterine troubles.

This plant is potentially poisonous--so no one go out and try this! According to M. Grieve, Linnaeus noted it had been given to children with unsatisfactory results--the children having sometimes been poisoned by it when given in large doses. It is no longer used.

And Culpepper said that the leaves of a Columbine were employed in lotions for the sore mouth and sore throat. He noted that the Spaniards would eat the root in the morning and fast for days to help them when trouble with 'stone'. (I'm assuming they meant kidney stone). And, then seeds when taken in wine with a little saffron would remove obstructions
from the liver and was good for yellow jaundice.

STAGE 1 PROVING OF COLVILLE'S COLUMBINE

Fortunately, as a flower essence, one doesn't have to worry about being poisoned! Best of all, I feel after having used this NE for the last 2 years, that it's far more powerful in depth and breadth of action in this form or expression, than it ever was as an herbal tincture or herbal tea.

I made the mother essence from one our large yellow Columbine's that had bloomed on April 4, 1995. It was ten a.m., and it was New Moon time, and the transiting Moon was at 4 Gemini, conjuncting my natal Sun at 2:58 Gemini. I felt this would be an excellent time to make a Natural Essence. I wasn't wrong.

The day was sunny, the temperature a balmy, dry seventy-five degrees. As I placed the blossoms in the clear cut glass bowl, the direct sun on us, I wondered what this flower would do for humanity. It sat out next to the plant for five hours. When I brought it in, I was in a very high pitched mental state and I was upset. As I went through the motions of making the mother essence, there was about one-quarter of a cup left over.

I always drink what's left, sit down, try and still myself. I have a notebook and pen ready and close my eyes and try to 'tune-in' to the subtle effects of this flower essence. Being a Gemini, I have extreme mental activity. I've always said: "We're all head and the heart gets left behind." This is not to say we are heartless; far from it. But in Gemini folks case, they lead with their head instead of listening to their hearts FIRST--it's always last. The other thing Gemini's and other air
signs, such as Libra and Aquarius (and Virgo) do so well is listen to their yammering heads and not their heart/intuition/gut calls.

And, as I drank this mother essence, I was in just such a space. I don't recall now what I was upset over--something had happened--and I wasn't really in a good mood as I gulped the water down. And, I was in a hurry. I was under a lot of demands and pressures at that time and my mind was bounding ahead by about ten other things I had yet to do.

In fact, all of that shoved me to my feet, and I didn't even try to sit there, get quiet and tune-in. In the next half hour, a very strange (at least for me) thing happened. My racing mind stopped racing. My hurry, hurry, hurry and list of activities that I was feeling a lot of pressure about, just sort of seem to DISSOLVE very quietly but very definitely.

I suddenly came to a screeching halt in the office when I realized that I did not feel out of sorts, not half as pressured, my mind wasn't churning like a gully washer flood and marvel of all marvels....I was REALLY a hundred percent in touch with my emotions, as well! The more I realized that I now felt an incredible sense of balance between my heart and head, the more I marveled at what had just taken place.

I knew right then it was the Colville's Columbine mother essence I'd drank. At that point, I just sat down, dumbfounded by it all. Could some mere little, pretty plant alter me THIS MUCH? I really liked the feeling running inside of me; this sense of constancy. I was in direct touch with my emotional nature (a rarity when I'm in mental high gear) and yet, simultaneously, my mental side was there too--but not overwhelming, obtrusive or hogging the limelight in me.

My next thought was: Well, if it can tame my nuclear powered mental/mind stuff and bring me into balance where I'm clearly in touch with my emotions simultaneously, could this Natural Essence also do the same thing for someone else who was always 'in their head' too? Or was this just a fluke? An accident?

I had to try this out. I was very excited about its possibilities; but one experiment on one person did not make it a fact--not by a long shot! Many of my friends are 'head trippers' like me; who get lost in their mental 'knots'. And a number are academia types where colleges/universities push 'mental' intelligence over 'emotional' (heart) intelligence. I ask them to try it and get back to me with what happened; if anything.

Every one of them reported a slowing down of their thought processes so that the mental wasn't any longer a priority. Rather, they found a calming, soothing sensation where they felt very much in harmony with their mind and emotions.

Excited, I wondered next, if this remedy would work on the opposite: someone who was stuck into their emotional framework and unable to 'think' sufficiently along with the extreme emotional response to life in general. At the farthest end of this spectrum are highly emotional people who have super intensity of their feelings. And then, there are the
'drama kings and queens'.

I found that Colville's Columbine worked spectacularly on anyone who was buried in their emotional framework and who weren't using their mental equipment to the degree that they might engage it. What Colville's Columbine did in every case was: If the person was too much 'in their head', it would forge a powerful and obvious connection to one's heart and feelings--so that they were equally 'on tap'. Or, if the person (usually a woman, or a teenage girl or a little girl) was stuck
in their emotions, the NE would forge the connection to their mental realm so that they were no longer buried in their emotional upheavals--but could think clearly throughout the 'drama' or whatever was triggering their volatile feelings.

It also could allow high emotional states to exist--but the beauty and gift of this NE was--one was also thinking clear-headed too. This flower essence helped someone who liked to "look before she leaped."

POSITIVE HEALING PATTERNS OF COLVILLE'S' COLUMBINE

Colville's Columbine flower essence is able to defuse highly emotionally charged states and allows a person to think clearly and logically through it. It also does the opposite. If someone is too stuck in their mental apparatus and they suppress/repress or simply aren't used to including their emotions into any processes (and many men are like this), the flower essence will forge the heart/right brain/feelings right along with the left brain/mental task.

Over all, it's an incredible balancer between the right-left hemispheres of the brain. It stops one from becoming an extremist in one way or another. It helps to equalize an imbalance in ourselves. For overly emotional people it makes them calmer, feel more 'together.' Their feelings become low key, not blasting them apart any longer.

WATER FROM THE MOTHER ESSENCE

Just sometimes does the water become tinted with the color of the flower. When I poured off the blossoms, I saw a faint yellowish tint to it. Usually, my experience has been if the flower is coloring the water, it's a pretty powerful substance. When I smelled the water, it had a faint, woody odor to it.

CHAKRAS INVOLVED

There is no question that the solar plexus is involved with all of its chaos of fears, anxieties, worries and emotional 'blow outs' that it can have rulership over. And, Colville's Columbine has an equal influence on our mental field of our aura, the third field out from our physical body. Sometimes, when a flower is yellow, it's an either-or situation, but in this case, Colville's Columbine holds equal sway over not only a Chakra but a specific field in our aura.

SYMBOL

This flower reminds me of an eagle or hawk in flight; although the history about it being a dove or a pigeon, can be seen in it, too. I'd prefer to think that the "dove of peace" is about this flower essence's ability to bring 'peace' between our mind and our heart and team them up into a fantastic, equal working partnership with one another which becomes
a decided advantage for us who are either too mental or too emotional. The 'spurs' or 'tails' on the Columbine remind me of a bird's tail or symbolic 'flames' from a rocket in flight. Colville's Columbine certain wastes no time in influencing the person. I've found the more out of balance we are with either our mental or emotional framework, the more
powerful and quickly this flower essence digs in and starts working to mend that disharmony.

REFERENCES:

1. Foster, S., and Duke, J.A., PETERSON FIELD GUIDES Eastern/Central Medicinal Plants, 1990, Houghton Mifflin Company, New York, NY

2. Grieve, M., A MODERN HERBAL, Volume 1, A-H, 1971, Dover Publications, New York, NY

3. Stickler, D., WAYSIDE WILDFLOWERS OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST, 1993, Falcon Press, Columbia Falls, MT

4. Stickler, D., ALPINE WILDFLOWERS, 1990, Falcon Press, Columbia Falls, MT

5. WALKER, B., A WOMAN'S DICTIONARY OF SYMBOLS AND SACRED OBJECTS, 1988, Harper, San Francisco, CA

ANECDOTAL CASES

COLVILLE'S COLUMBINE ANECDOTAL INFORMATION

Email #1:

When there is what I call "righteous anger" such as you have, as above, there is a repetitive cycle of stuffing anger, blowing up at inappropriate times (and at people who may or may not deserve your targeting), and this comes and goes, rears its head and then subsides; only to replay once again when triggered. First, one must learn healthy anger management--there's a lot of books out on this; Dance of Anger being one that I recommend

Or, getting help and guidance from a therapist who can cut to the chase on this and show you different ways of positive anger management. You see, the heart of this is that you ARE allowed to get angry and confront the person whom you are angry at. It is HOW you do that, first of all, and secondly, that you confront the person who is making you angry--not someone else who may have nothing to do at all with the situation.

That said, I really like either Colville's Columbine (gets you out of the emotional drama of anger and helps you THINK about what to do next--which, in anger management is a must--you must be thinking AND feeling simultaneously--but not letting your emotions run away and get the best of you. You want to think about who you need to talk with and also, what to say--to their face.

If you're not ready to face your accusers, then I'd suggest Petrified Sequoia to give you what I call a "time-out"--it truly lifts you above the emotional fray. It will, in 1 or 2 months time of taking it, also help you get a DIFFERENT perspective or angle on your situation where the anger is fermenting. And that means it helps you adjust your attitude differently
so that the same old knee-jerk responses you used to give in the family situation are no longer working to take a pound of flesh from you.

"Corrie"
3-17-01

Colville's Columbine (yellow) I am 99% certain this was the one I took after the amaryllis, but haven't got the bottle now. The heart-mind connecting essence, Eileen calls it in the catalogue and that is what drew me to it. If your daughter is finding it hard to balance the heart with the mind, how she feels with what she knows, etc., this one might be helpful. At the time, I didn't notice this one doing anything - I had to use meditation to focus on what the purpose of the essence was, to accompany it. In retrospect, after finishing the essence, I felt that it had helped. I felt more able to observe my emotions, and less subjected to them.