Sea Essences Workshop Recap
(Paris workshop - October 27, 2001)

Sabina Pettitt gave her first workshop in France on Saturday 27 October. Although Sabina also makes a full range of flower essences it was her 24 sea essences that were the focus of the workshop.

At the beginning of the day slides of all the sea essences were shown and we were asked to note which pictures we felt particularly attracted to and which ones we found particularly unpleasant. Towards the end of the day Sabina introduced everyone to muscle testing and asked us to pick an objective, in the form of an affirmation, that represented something we wanted to work on or change in our lives. We then proceeded to see which meridian was not supporting this objective, and find the sea essence that would correct it. It was surprising to note (or maybe not surprising at all) that in most cases the sea essence to which we had been attracted at the beginning of the day was often the one we needed to support our objective!

As an acupuncturist Sabina has developed her essences in the context of traditional Chinese medicine. So each essence works on a particular meridian and corresponds to one of the 5 elements. Dominique le Bourgeois, who organised the workshop, invited one of her clients in the afternoon for a consultation with Sabina. It was interesting to see firsthand how Sabina conducts a consultation using her knowledge of traditional Chinese medicine to assess the clients symptoms and then using kinesiology to confirm her choice of essences.

The first twelve sea essences each correspond to one of the 12 meridians of Chinese medicine. Anemone, for example, corresponds to the Liver meridian. It is good for any situation where there is resistance, resistance to physical pain, resistance to life lessons, feelings of victimisation in general. Barnacle is connected to the small intestine meridian. It helps up attune with our feminine aspect and can also be used as a birth remedy. Urchin is associated with the spleen channel. It is for safety and psychic protection. Emotionally it affects compulsive behaviour and addictions as well as panic attacks and other respiratory problems which result from not feeling safe.

The second twelve sea essences include many of the large mammals like dolphin, whale and sea turtle. Many of the sea essences in this second group help us to refine our nervous and electrical systems to expand into new dimensions of being. Diatoms is helpful in repatterning cellular memory, while Rainbow Kelp aligns the front and back brain. Dolphin helps us connect with the energy of the heart. Whale enhances our ability to receive and interpret impressions of a subtle nature leading to an expansion of human consciousness.

When asked if she had any new essences in the pipeline she replied "I prefer to continue to research and explore the 72 Pacific essences that already exist." As an addition to her book "Energy Medicine: healing from the kingdom of nature" she is planning to write a book of case histories which will illustrate the overwhelming anecdotal evidence of the positive effects of the flower and sea essences. She has also promised to write more on the essences and the 5 elements.