Your Cart is Empty
I discovered the Black Bat Flower in the Naples Botanical Garden in Naples, Florida. A flower that typically only grows in Southeast Asia, the Black Bat Flower is one of the craziest, most interesting flowers I’ve ever seen.
While gazing deep into the flower, I experienced many strange sensations. The scent is really interesting too—I remember taking a deep inhalation of the flower and then writing down notes to describe it. After the first whiff I literally wrote down “scary ... with a softness behind it.” The second time I smelled it, it was just all sweetness and purity. Black Bat helps us face a lot of facets of ourselves that would be scary—that’s part of the reason why it can be disconcerting to stare into the flower.
If you're attracted to the Black Bat Flower, you may be adapting too much—going with the flow too often—when what's truly necessary is for you to speak you mind and state your case clearly. Or there may be someone in your life who needs your support—a child, animal, coworker—who may not be able to speak for themselves, and needs your help. Advocating for yourself or others may be in order.
We only experience wariness of this flower when we’re afraid of the power behind our own anger. Black Bat Flower helps us discover the sources of our deepest anger and fears in a way we can see repeating patterns, thereby gaining insight + the ability to respond wisely. It shows us how to use the energy of anger for beneficial use, turning it into courage and strength.
Anger, though not a pleasant emotion, can teach us when others have crossed the line. It's okay to bare your teeth when necessary.
Just as Black Bat flower requires specific growing conditions, we require certain conditions for thriving. When we don't speak up, we may feel resentful or disappointed. Black Bat Flower wakes up a healthy sense of righteousness in us.
It catalyzes right behavior and virtuous accomplishing through baring our teeth to protect and honor ourselves and others. For example, it's a good flower elixir for new mothers, to develop protective strength and eliminate fear and insecurities around being a mother.
Black Bat Flower’s special quality harnesses the power of anger, dissolving the violent qualities and transforming it into elegance, or anger that’s purely motivated by fierce compassion and protection of what we love. It helps us project ourselves and our voice, awakening our fearlessness and readiness to be our own best advocate, protector and to stand up for ourselves and others.
Black Bat Flower gives us a burst of strength, confidence and the power to propel ourselves forward. We can use our life’s "madness" to promote goodness, and liberating our initial anger response can lead to profound insights, funneling the energy into communication, passion and drive. Anger can be used to get things done, make a stand and be a force for good in the world.
Black Bat also has a purifying element to its qualities, cleansing and expelling impurities and insecurities. It’s as if it consumes all of the poisons and toxins in your mind. One of my teachers has often said, “Poison cures poison.” Black Bat Flower is a poisonous plant, but its (homeopathically diluted) flower elixir has tremendous detoxing abilities, dissolving dread, fear, worry and emotional debris.
It even cuts through intense fears and panic like paranoia, phobias, fear of being seen, watched or exposed, fear of going crazy and fear of spiders and snakes. It also dissolves fear of public speaking and speaking up.
This flower is indicated for when experiencing the ‘dark night of the soul’ or our deepest fears and obsessions. It is a helpful elixir for hospice, as it can be indicated during transitions, especially if the person transitioning is experiencing a great deal of fear, panic or high stress.
The color and shape of Black Bat Flower (Tacca chantrieri) are super intriguing, with two large black bat wing petals reaching out to the sides and an array of long, skinny string-like "whiskers" coming out from the sides. In Asia, sometimes the flower is called Tiger Whiskers for that reason. In the center of the flower are little black protrusions that, when in full bloom, remind me of an eel with its mouth open and all the teeth bared.
I’ve never seen a flower that has elements of so many animals in it! I was curious about the symbolism of each animal and how that related to the Doctrine of Signatures. Here’s the summary of my research:
Bat represents seeing through an illusion. They are intuitive, aware, and sensitive to others’ feelings. Bats have strong family ties, and they teach us to love our enemies as ourselves and encourage us to kill our ego.
Tiger represents courage, willpower and personal strength. It also symbolizes the subconscious emotions of anger and fear within you or someone you know.
Eel represents a spiritual transformation so profound that even our families may not recognize us; one that takes us to tremendous depths of our being and helps us overcome great obstacles. Also, we may want to look at the relationship of giving and taking in our lives, as well as review boundaries, finding a healthy balance between tolerance and protecting ourselves.
The Black Bat flower originates from tropical areas like Burma, China and Thailand and is a very rare flower, listed on the endangered species list.
It’s also incredibly difficult to grow, because it likes consistently moist soil combined with a slight breeze, so these flowers don’t like greenhouses. Plant lovers who have worked with this flower say that it will not adapt to the grower or the growing conditions. They are not particularly demanding once they're given everything they need, but you must give Black Bat Flowers what they require.
"I'm so grateful for the opportunity of using flower essences. Black Bat is like magic, I love it because it does not rush anything, it does not push... it works with grace. I felt the fears, the limitations melt and almost taking me by surprise. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!" —Carmen Amato
"I struggle with my empathy and codependence taking over in many of my relationships. After reading about this elixir on the site and later in the Flowerevolution book, I became extremely drawn to the Black Bat's energy and appearance. It has not disappointed! It's really helped me protect my energies without losing the beauty of being an empath. So nurturing my ability to compartmentalize and set boundaries in a healthy way!" —Ali
"I think what this elixir gave me most of all was a renewed sense of confidence, and interestingly, the 'protective anger/ferocity' they mention in the description. I definitely felt more powerful and able to self-advocate." —Celeste
"I ordered Black Bat Flower Elixir when feelings of anger were beginning to come up regularly. Black Bat Elixir shed light on where the anger was really coming from. Bringing the source of anger into the open gave me the opportunity to examine and move forward in a healthy manner. Thank you!" —Kathleen
"I ordered this elixir and Fierce Compassion for my birthday to celebrate myself and growth. I usually am one that is shy to speak—and wanted to work on self-love at the deepest levels of dusty unconscious patterns. At the moment I am walking through a big transition in career and home life arenas—I needed to find my voice and speak it confidently and clearly. I was a bit unsure what was going to come out, but what did end up coming out of me was the ability to speak without agonizing over how to say something. It was full of brevity and humor while handling very real things. I was surprised and grateful—the courage to navigate communication in relationships was close at hand and the words came easily." —Rose
Magnifies: Strength, confidence, power to propel yourself forward; power to project your voice; advocate for yourself + others; fierce compassion, protective anger and productive ferocity
Dissolves: Rational and irrational fears; physical and mental toxins, impurities and insecurities; fear, panic, obsession or high stress; dread or worry
Infused with a bouquet of the most powerful flowers for speaking your truth,this powerhouse blend helps us be more confident to ask for exactly what we want, without fears, hesitations or insecurities about whether or not you "deserve" it. It allows us to be driven by our conviction & wish to benefit others and go after the things we've been "just thinking" about going after. It strengthens our ways of expression that enhances engagement with others and gives us courage to speak freely about what's inside of us.⠀
Love + flower petals,
