When the Stars Show the Way, but Our Emotions Hold Us Back: Bach Flowers and Vedic Astrology

Through Vedic Astrology, we gradually learn to interpret our inner dynamics with greater clarity. The chart can reveal an automatic response, a vulnerability, or a recurring pattern. It can help us understand why certain situations keep recurring in our lives, what qualities we need to develop, and in which direction it would be helpful to move.

But there is a very important transition between to understand something about ourselves and actually succeed in transforming it.

We may be looking at a crystal-clear card. We may recognize ourselves perfectly in what it shows us. We may even think, “That’s exactly right—this is exactly my problem.” And yet, when that situation arises again in real life, we find ourselves swept up by our emotions once more.

Fear returns. Anger takes over. We feel insecure, hurt, discouraged, jealous, impatient, and too emotionally invested. Or we know full well that we should act differently, but when the moment comes, we still can’t bring ourselves to do it.

It's a very human thing. Awareness is essential, but it's not always enough.

The map shows us the way, but then we have to walk the path

We can see in the Card a strong sensitivity to judgment and understand that we need to develop greater self-confidence, yet we continue to freeze up when we feel observed. We can recognize a tendency toward attachment and know how important it would be to develop healthy detachment, yet we suffer greatly when a relationship is called into question. We may know we need to work on impulsivity, the inability to say no, the need for control, communication, or the fear of change… and yet still find ourselves caught in the same automatic patterns when that part of us is triggered.

After all, this is where the real work begins.

Astrology shouldn't just tell us Who We Are. It should help us become aware of the forces at work within us, so that we can gradually learn not to be unconsciously controlled by them.

And this is even more true when we are going through certain planetary transits.

There are times when certain astrological configurations seem to strike exactly at our most sensitive spots. Fears, anxieties, anger, attachment, feelings of loneliness, a need for control, discouragement, old wounds, or emotions we thought we had already overcome may surface. Astrology, in these moments, can be invaluable because it allows us to to make sense of what we're going through and to view it from a broader perspective. But understanding why a certain emotion is arising doesn't necessarily mean you'll be able to manage it right away.

And it is precisely in this space—between understanding and emotional experience—that the Bach Flowers.

What are Bach Flowers?

The original Bach Flower Remedies system consists of 38 +1 remedies, each of which Dr. Edward Bach associated with a particular emotional state or inner disposition. The choice is therefore not based on a physical illness or diagnosis, but on observing the person and what they are experiencing emotionally at that moment.

This is one of the aspects I find particularly interesting about astrological work: the focus is brought back to the person.

Specific or vague fear, discouragement, difficulty making decisions, guilt, inability to say no, impatience, lack of self-confidence, repetitive thoughts, excessive enthusiasm, difficulty coping with change, resentment, tendency to dwell on the past… the Bach system seeks to distinguish with great precision the nature of the emotion we are experiencing.

This does not mean that an emotion is “wrong” and should be suppressed. Rather, the idea behind the method is to gradually rediscover a more harmonious inner state, in which that same emotion does not completely dominate us.

The Bach Center continues to teach the system in its original form to this day and emphasizes that the remedies are chosen based on a person’s emotional state, not to directly treat physical ailments. For any health issues, it is therefore important to consult the appropriate healthcare professionals: working with the Flowers can be considered a complementary approach, not a substitute for medical or psychological care when necessary.

Edward Bach: A doctor who gave up everything to pursue his research

Behind these 38 Flowers, there is also a figure who deserves to be known.

Edward Bach was born on September 24, 1886 He was a physician, bacteriologist, and pathologist. He studied medicine first in Birmingham and then at University College Hospital in London, where he also worked as a surgeon. He had a private practice on the prestigious Harley Street and conducted research in bacteriology and vaccines. He received his medical degree in 1912.

His story becomes even more interesting because Bach was not simply an enthusiast of herbs or natural medicine. He was fully immersed in the world of medicine and scientific research of his time.

And yet, something began to leave him unsatisfied.

He felt that focusing solely on the illness risked causing him to lose sight of the person who was living with that illness. This research first led him to homeopathy, at the Royal London Homoeopathic Hospital, and subsequently to the development of seven homeopathic nosodes based on his earlier bacteriological research. His work brought him a certain degree of recognition within the homeopathic community.

But even that would not have been his final destination.

In 1930, Bach made a radical decision: He left his lucrative practice on Harley Street and in London to devote himself entirely to developing a system that he believed should be simpler, more natural, and more accessible. He thus began to look to plants—and especially flowers—for what he was seeking. In the years that followed, he gradually identified the remedies, associating them with different inner states, until he completed the system of 38 Flowers.

I find this phase of his life particularly striking. A man who had attained an important professional position gradually abandoned what he had built because he felt he had to pursue a deeper quest. He does not seem to have been interested in building an increasingly complex system; on the contrary, in his later years he continually sought to simplify it.

When he died on November 27, 1936, at the age of just fifty, he considered his work complete. His seminal work, The Twelve Healers and Other Remedies, brings the system together in its final form; as early as 1930, he had also published Heal Thyself, in which he explored the more spiritual aspect of his conception of health and the human person.

For those of us who study astrology, it will naturally be interesting to examine his birth chart as well and try to gain some insight into the personality and mission of a man who devoted the last years of his life to this pursuit.

There is, however, an interesting historical fact worth noting: during his career, Bach also explored possible connections between types of remedies and astrology, but in the end He decided not to keep them in the final system. The Bach Centre explicitly notes that he abandoned this correlation along with other early theories because he wanted to leave behind a method that was as simple as possible.

So we don’t want to artificially create a correspondence along the lines of “this planet corresponds to this flower.” The connection we’re interested in is a different one—and, in my opinion, a much deeper one: Astrology helps us understand the dynamics we experience; flowers can guide us in dealing with the emotions that those dynamics bring to the surface.

Bach Flower Remedies Are Also Used in the Study of Vedic Astrology

There is also another area where this work on emotions can be particularly interesting for our community: the study of Vedic astrology itself.

Anyone who studies it knows just how vast it is.

As we move forward, we encounter not only new techniques, new concepts, houses, nakshatras, dashas, transits, divisional charts, and new levels of interpretation. At a certain point, we also encounter ourselves.

We may feel stuck. We may feel like we’re not absorbing enough, that we’re forgetting what we’ve studied, or that we’ve fallen behind the others. We listen to a lecture again and say to ourselves, “What? I’d already studied this, and I didn’t remember it.”.

Or the exact opposite can happen. We feel like we have to rush. We want to read everything, keep up with everything, memorize everything, accumulate information, and quickly finish one module so we can move on to the next one right away. It’s almost as if knowledge could be gobbled up.

But Vedic astrology doesn't work that way. It is a body of knowledge that needs to be absorbed, observed, verified through charts, and, above all, experienced.

And this is when even more subtle emotions can surface: comparing ourselves to others, the fear of not being prepared enough, the fear of misinterpreting something, and discouragement when something seems too difficult. Or that inner voice that says: “I’ll never be able to read a chart,” “others are ahead of me,” “I don’t remember enough,” “I’m not ready yet.”.

And when we actually start putting what we’ve learned into practice, another fear may arise: “Who am I to help someone else using these tools?”

We can study for years and still feel like we're not good enough, not prepared enough, not confident enough.

In these cases, the problem isn't necessarily our ability to learn astrology. It may be the emotion we have associated with studying.

And it's interesting because it is precisely in our studies that we can discover some of the very same dynamics that our Constitution is teaching us to recognize.

Maybe we need to learn patience. Maybe we need to stop comparing ourselves to others. Maybe we need to have more confidence. Maybe we need to allow ourselves to make mistakes. Maybe we need to learn to slow down. Or, on the contrary, maybe we need to stop putting things off all the time because we’re afraid we won’t measure up.

That’s why we often say at the Academy: “Study at your own pace, and enjoy the journey.”

It's not just advice on how to study. It can become a true inner lesson.

Here, too, Bach Flower Remedies can therefore be a tool worth exploring: not to study faster, nor to magically learn astrology, but to work on the emotions that sometimes hinder our relationship with knowledge.

Sometimes, when we struggle with our studies, it's not just telling us that we need to review a lesson.

It can show us something about ourselves that's worth working on.

A New Tool in Our Community

That's why we decided to bring this tool into the Yoga delle Stelle Community as well, thanks to Kishori Priya, consultant BFRP – Bach Foundation Registered Practitioner, trained according to the Bach Center's original method.

The BFRP designation identifies practitioners who have completed the training program recognized by the Bach Center and who choose to work in accordance with its Code of Practice.

I like to think of the relationship between these tools using a very simple image:

Astrology helps us see the map, while
Working on our emotions can help us along the way.

We shouldn't fight against what we feel. Emotions are part of the journey and often contain valuable insights about ourselves. However, we can learn to recognize them, observe them, and work through them without constantly being swept away by them.

Because sometimes the stars have already shown us very clearly where we need to go.

The next step is to find, within ourselves, the freedom to truly begin walking.

For information on individual consultations regarding Bach Flowers According to Dr. Edward Bach's Original Method, you can contact them directly Kishori Priya:

Instagram: @kishoripriya
Email: fioridibhakti@gmail.com