Bach Flower Database

Botany: Ilex aquifolium
Preparation: Boiling Method
Represents: Generous Love

It is the positive holly state that facilitates our love for all people, no matter how different they may be from us. In this state, we feel the "universal love" that is so important to so many of the world's major religions. In a positive holly condition we celebrate the accomplishments of other without envy, resentment or any feeling of being "left out".

In the negative holly state, however, envy and resentment are the prime motivation. When a soul purposely rejects the love offered by the Higher Power, it loses the ability to give love, as well. Bach believed that the negative holly state was rooted in childhood. Children whose conception came as a surprise--and perhaps even as something of a burden--often go through their lives wondering if their parents ever truly loved them.

Imagine a young woman pondering exactly that same question. She's the youngest of four children and was born well into her parents' midlife. She is more than a decade younger than her siblings and well-meaning relatives often referred to her as the "surprise" of the family.

Secretly, our young woman has always wondered if her parents ever truly wanted her or if they bore her simply because the "had to". Even when she's able to satisfy herself that her parents care for her, she remains convinced that they never loved her as much as they loved their other children.

Later on, our young woman finds herself working as a secretary in a high-rise office building. All around her are happy, accomplished woman with successful romantic relationships, regular promotions and fulfilling careers. Outwardly, our young woman pretends to be supporting and happy but inside she is seething with bitter disappointment, simmering anger and a deep sense of jealousy.

This young woman is in a negative holly state. Because she has never considered the idea that she was really and truly loved, she has turned away from the universal love that allows us to take pleasure in other people's achievements. In the absence of that love grows the most useless of all human emotions--envy.

The Positive Holly State

In the positive holly state souls are ruled by the complete and generous love that permeates all things. Positive holly personalities care deeply for humankind and truly want the best for every person on the Earth.