Roberta Shepherd Kemp, RSW, HHP
Edmonton Based Flower Essences Aficionado, Reiki Master/Teacher, Professional Foot Reflexologist, Independent Mom, Raw Human
I live, work and love on the sacred land of amiskwacîwâskahikan (Beaver Hills House) on Treaty 6 territory & in Métis region #4, now called Edmonton. This is the original land of the Nehiyawak, Tsuut’ina, Anishnaabe, Nakota Sioux, Niitsitapi, and Métis peoples. I am mindfully aware of the ways these peoples expressed relationship with and tended the land beneath my feet for generations before my ancestors arrived. Because I believe that reconciliation is inextricable from action, I am committed to continuous, vigilant decolonization education and action for the healing of this place and its peoples. This includes fostering genuine relationship and reciprocity with the land base and its peoples, listening to and learning from original peoples, de-centering myself and Whiteness as an ideology, using my voice and my body to stand in solidarity with Indigenous and other oppressed communities, and teaching my son decolonization.
In my professional practice and my expression as a human being, I hope – to the best of my ability – to encompass the following core values:
My Core Values:
1. Spirituality: connection to my spiritual practices allows me to live with greater surrender and inner peace. Spiritual connection is a lamp unto the path of my life: it imparts discernment, equips me to live forward my highest purpose, and allows me to operate within all other core values.
2. Humility: a recognition that we’re all equal and deserve equal rights and opportunities, and that I don’t get to “heal” anyone but me. As a practitioner, I am honored to hold kind, compassionate and safe space with clients for their own personal explorations and healing. I do my best in each moment with the resources that are available to me, refer out where necessary, say “I don’t know” when that’s the case, and solicit help for myself regularly.
“Humility: I live in grace, I am not separate, I honour all life with great respect and I see myself in others.” ~ from ‘Be The Change’ card deck
3. Reciprocity: that which I desire to receive, I also expect to offer. That which I give, I also desire to receive.
4. Freedom: the experience of no constraints upon my wildest and juiciest expressions of life. I deserve to live joyful and free and expect to also respect the freedom of others. “No” is always an appropriate response, changing our minds is allowed, and we never need do anything that we believe doesn’t serve us in any given moment. With freedom as the bullseye in the target practice of life, I aim for, and hope to help others aim for, that which keeps our combined sense of freedom in tact.
5. Honesty: first and foremost, with myself. Having the willingness and courage to look honestly at myself in order to stretch and grow as a human being. Also having the willingness and courage to be honest with others in a spirit of kindness and interest in the highest good of each person.
6. Holism: to embrace, envelop and exemplify a model of health and wellness that pays heed to all aspects of the human being: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.
7. Commitment: first and foremost, to myself. Commitment to grow and develop as a human being, which lends to a deeper commitment to hold space for the growth and development of others. Commitment to personal growth involves self-care, self-honoring and self-love.
Upon this life path, I carry my floral companions – a meaningful tool kit containing more than 170 of *3, combined Flower Essences repertories (see below for more information about these repertories). The Flower Essences call my soul to expand, facilitate its expansion, and fortify my efforts when my expression of these core values wanes – and it wanes, for I am human.
I am called by vocation to share these sacred plant spirit medicines with you:
*I am privileged to have access to and make professional use of a combination of Flower Essences from 3 repertories:
1) Prairie Deva Flower Essences, made primarily in the Canadian prairies, with home base at amiskwacîwâskahikan (Beaver Hills House) on Treaty 6 territory now known as Edmonton, Alberta, traditional land of the Nehiyawak, Tsuut’ina, Anishnaabe, Nakota Sioux, Niitsitapi, and Métis peoples. Conceptualized and created by my beloved Flower Essences teachers, Robert Rogers & Laurie Szott-Rogers. Sourced via Self Heal Distributing, Edmonton.
2) FES Quintessentials Essences, made in the northern Sierra foothills of Nevada City, traditional land of the Nisenan people, at the biodynamic Terra Flora gardens, which are the headquarters of FES, founded by Patricia Kaminski & Richard Katz. Sourced via Self Heal Distributing , Edmonton.
3) Healing Herbs Bach Flower Essences, made in Walterstone, England by Julian Barnard according to the precise specifications of Dr. Edward Bach (the founder of Flower Essences) himself. Sourced via Self Heal Distributing, Edmonton.
I am deeply grateful to all the creators and forerunners of Flower Essences who have given me the gift of opportunity to work with these sacred plant spirit medicines.
sences are NON-aromatic. In other words, Flower Essences are NOT aromatherapy. Rather, they are vibrational remedies that are ingestible by mouth.
In 1930, Bach abandoned his lucrative medical practice for the countryside and fields of England, where he intuitively discovered his remedies over a dedicated 4 year period. Bach’s discovery started with his personal experimentation of holding his hands over the flowers he was studying while in the throes of difficult emotions. In this way, he would connect to the energy of the flowers until he found the one that alleviated his emotional discord. In spring and summer, Bach psychically connected to plant spirit, and in winter, he treated patients for free. Bach discovered that the dawn’s sunlight could infuse dew drops on flower petals with the healing energy of that flower, so he began testing the remedies by gathering those potent dew drops and preserving them for ingestion. As this practice progressed, the amount of dew collected was not enough, so he suspended flowers in spring water and used a sun-infusion method that is still employed today.
Resonance is when vibrational frequency matches an endogenous state of being, therefore enhancing the charge of that state and allowing it to be brought to the forefront. For example, there is vibrational frequency associated with the quality of confidence – think about it: how does it feel to be in the presence of a confident person versus a person with low self-esteem? Feels different doesn’t it? Well, there is also a flower essence that holds within its water the resonant quality of confidence (there are a few actually). When you ingest that flower essence, the energy of confidence resonates throughout your cells, awakening your innate human capacity to be confident and amplifying that capacity, thereby drawing it to the conscious forefront of living. As these innate qualities get drawn forward with the use of Flower Essences, they also move through all the limiting beliefs that are keeping those innate qualities repressed. This facilitates profound awareness around the precise nature of such limiting paradigms and how they have been keeping us stuck.