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Flor-Essence and Essiac History
Flor Essence Tea is similar but not identical to Essiac
here is a brief explanation of the Facts of the matter.
Understand this incredible story, think of an ancient healing knowledge
Knowledge gathered over the centuries and passed on via word of mouth
By shamans of the Ojibwa, North American Indians revered from the Spirit
Ojibwa Indians
Ojibwa in Canoe Source: unknown They knew their tea as "A holy drink that purifies the body and places it back in balance with the Great Spirit."
Ojibway Midewiwin (First generation version) Part of their wisdom involved a tea which was given to an ill woman, who subsequently recovered. Decades later in 1922, she also passed on the knowledge to Nurse Rene Caisse who along with doctors, researched the herbs in the tea, and created variations.
(Second generation versions) After coming out of retirement, Nurse Rene partnered with one of America’s most prestigious doctors of the time. Together they perfected and refined the tea, drawing upon years of previous research, administration, know-how, and application. The result was the most researched, most effective, properly proportioned, easiest to administer tea blend.
(Third Generation, perfected version) Today this final generation, refined formula is available with a higher potency than ever before utilizing modern herbal extraction technology. The Flor Essence Tea Liquids have now decades of brewing extraction refined perfection.
(Current Generation Flor-Essence Tea)
Historical Summary
Following is a little of the history of this remarkable tea which highlights the differences between the two:
• In 1922, Rene Caisse was not given a formula or a recipe. Rene wrote down a list of eight different herbs given to her by an elderly English woman under Rene’s care in Haileybury, Ontario, Canada. According to a recorded interview with Rene, the English woman received this knowledge 30 years before from an Ojibwa Medicine Man and had successfully used an herbal tea prepared from eight herbs.*
• In 1924, Rene helped her aunt using these eight herbs which were prepared in hot water and administered for over a year, with beneficial results apparent within two months. Note that Rene’s first use of the tea was in 1924, not 1922*; and she began with eight herbs.*
• Over the next few years, Rene and several doctors she worked with tried to discover which of the herbs were most effective in reducing the size of abnormal growths. They did this, looking for active constituents in the eight herbs, even injecting separately, and over time developed formulas whereby one of the herbs was given by injection to reduce the size of an a growth, and others were given orally to get the cleansing benefits needed. All Rene’s administrations over the years were known as “Essiac,” her last name spelled backwards
• A simplified, reduced version, that was easier to acquire than the full eight-herb version, was a ‘four- herb’ formula frequently used by Rene up until she decided to close her clinic in 1942. During this time “Essiac” was given orally, but frequently combined with a single herb injection.
• In 1958, upon invitation to come out of retirement, Rene brought to Dr. Brusch's clinic in Massachusetts the years of experience and knowledge she had gained administering the herbal formulas. Subsequently, after revisiting previous research and finding remarkable results, Dr. Brusch partnered with Rene and they continued researching and administering variations of “Essiac.” Dr. Brusch knew that the Ojibwa Indians had not done anything by injection, and also that Rene had started with eight herbs, and it was discovered through years of applied research and his staff of 18 physicians that the eight herbs when prepared in a particular proportion and given orally were the most effective of all the Essiac variations including the renowned ‘four herb’ formula! They even tried to improve upon the tea blend with additional herbs but returned to the eight herbs as it proved to be the most beneficial.
Interestingly, the four main herbs are included within the eight-herb version, which was determined to be the most efficacious. It is also amazing how close the Ojibwa had come to this “perfected” formula – even their oral administration was a superior method
• In 1977, when Rene sold a four-herb formula to Resperin Corp of Ontario, she retained the eight herb version, knowing it to be most beneficial.*
• In 1978, Rene passed on, leaving her business partner of over 20 years, Dr. Charles Brusch, as the only living person knowing the details of, and having the rights to, their remaining clinically tested formulas. This included the eight-herb tea now known as Flor-Essence.
In 1988, Dr. Brusch signed over the rights to the eight-herb formula, which he had sole knowledge of according to legal documents,* to Elaine Alexander, who had done extensive research on the subject of Essiac, including having Dr. Brusch as a frequent guest on her radio show. Elaine was so involved in helping people with the tea that she formed a company and after a three year search for a manufacturer, signed a contract with Flora, Inc. in 1992 for world-wide manufacturing and distribution rights.
That was when the name "Flor-Essence" was assigned to the eight-herb formula. Dr. Brusch also signed legal documents stating his sole endorsement of Elaine Alexander’s eight-herb tea. He legally disavowed association with all other (previous) variations of “Essiac” marketed by other companies, stating, “Others have imitated, but a minor success rate should never be accepted when the true therapy is available.” Since all Rene Caisse’s formulas prior to 1992, including the eight-herb perfected version had been called “Essiac,” it was important to clearly distinguish between the competing products in the marketplace.
• Currently there are only two "legal" formulas in the marketplace: “ESSIAC," a four-herb version, as manufactured only by Respirin, now called “ESSIAC of Canada” and "FlorEssence," the complete eight-herb version of Rene Caisse’s Tea, as manufactured only by Flora. Over the years there are many other imitations, but most of them are copies of a four-herb formula, or attempts to ‘improve’ upon the existing eight-herbs in Flor-Essence. Recall that Dr. Brusch, MD and Rene Caisse, R.N. already tried to improve beyond the eight-herb tea blend using additional herbs but without increased effectiveness. They had more resources, clinical experience, and knowledge than anyone else about the tea. It is important, when talking about the products, to clearly define the terms and names used.
Using the word “Essiac” when you mean “FlorEssence” may cause confusion, as there are multiple products in the marketplace claiming to be the original “Essiac.”
