The Journey of the Rose

Greetings, Lovers of the Green,
The wild roses are deliciously blooming on our land. I would like to share them with you and
also this article I wrote for my column The Wise Woman's Garden in The Beltane Papers,
Journal of Women's Mysteries in Spring 2004. You can visit www.thebeltanepapers.net for more info. The pictures were taken on our land on Whidbey Island. You will see wild roses and also other rose family plants.

Green Blessings,
Julie
















Rose
petals and pollen
of Goddess
kiss my senses
so sweet
allure me
so deep
infuse my womb
with love

Rosa nutkana, Rosa rugosa,
Rosa damascena, Rosa canina, Rosa gallica,
Rosa sancta...

Rose lives in a world of peace.
Follow me through the garden gate as we experience the world of Rose...
The journey unfolds as we forgive ourselves and remember who we are...
the journey unfolds as we let go into the void and feel, smell, taste,
see, hear ourselves in every moment...
the journey unfolds as we emerge once more into
a world of sensual wonder.
Forgiving ourselves and re-membering who we are...

Rose nourishes and protects our skeletal structures, our blood, circulation and heart supporting us to re-member and love ourselves. She nourishes feminine power, helping us modulate hormonal surges and mood swings and offering grounded support for our journey of reclamation.

Letting go into the void...
Rose’s incredible nutrients nourish our emotional body, calming nervous tension, uplifting the spirit and easing depression. Rose is antibacterial and antiviral acting gently to encourage our physical body to release colds and flu.
Rose is nourishing to the kidneys, the place where chi originates, and thus can be called upon to nurture our spiritual bodies. Rose enhances the amazing
interplay of life forces stirred by erotic connection.
And we are full-bodied once again, at one with life.

Emergence into a world of sensual wonder...

The world we greet in the morning and the one we close our eyes to at night is a world of our own creation. Love is ever present for us to gather. As we deeply nourish our full-bodies with Rose and other whole and wild foods
there is nothing but Beauty to behold.
















From the Wild Rose thicket to your bountiful table...

There are so many ways to prepare roses for our nourishment and enjoyment. I use Wild Rose, Rosa nutkana, as she is abundant where I live.
You may substitute garden rose petals and
Rosa rugosa rose hips in any of these recipes.
Here are a few of my favorites:

Wild Rose Hips Nourishing Herbal Vinegar is made simply by collecting wild rose hips in a basket or cloth bag. (If you wait until after the first frost to gather they contain more Vitamin C.) Take these home and sort out the best ones to place in a glass jar. Fill the jar with these beautiful hips and fill again with apple cider vinegar. Place a lid on this. Let this sit for at least six weeks, shaking often. Strain this through a sieve covered by a cloth and store in your cupboard. Consume this freely on cooked greens and salad (with olive oil) or
add to water for a refreshing, daily tonic.

Wild Rose Petal Infused Honey is made in a very similar way. Collect Wild Rose Petals in early June. Wait for a time when the sun has shone on them for at least two days. Collect the roses that have just opened. You can tell these because the stamens are pale yellow and not yet brown. While gathering, stick your nose right inside the flower and smell the aroma. Fill a jar once with the petals lightly packed and then drizzle local wildflower honey over this. Place a lid on it. After this has infused for a good six weeks, strain it. Sometimes I warm the honey slightly to make it easier to strain. This concoction is delectable and once you’ve tasted it you will understand much about
how rose enhances erotic connections.

Rose Hips Nourishing Herbal Infusion is most easily made with the rose hips you purchase from your favorite herbalist but can also be made from dried whole wild rose hips. Place one ounce of dried rose hips in a quart jar, fill this with boiling water and put a lid on it. Let this sit overnight and strain it. This brew you have created can offer you all the nourishment mentioned above. And after you have strained this infusion save the precious plant material to add to bread and muffin recipes. I, recently, made a wonderful corn bread,
folding in rose hips before baking. (the organic commercial rose hips work best here as the wild rose hips contain little hairs within them that may irritate our innards.)

Edible Massage Oil

Wild Rose Infused Olive Oil is created from Wild Rose buds and flowers picked in June. My favorite way to do this is to pick mostly rose buds and chop them and fill a jar with them. Then, like the honey and vinegar, I pour olive oil over this and shake and place in a cool dark place for six weeks. Strain this exquisite, aromatic oil and store in a beautiful glass bottle. Share this oil with those you love for foot rubs, sensuous facial massage and erotic exchanges.


















Rose Meditation
Offer yourself this meditation on the new moon from winter solstice to midsummer and on the full moon from midsummer to winter solstice.
Sit near rose in your garden or out in the wild
Observe the rose plant, noticing how it comes up out of the ground and how it twists and turns toward the light
Find the thorns and observe the thorns
If it is spring, observe the intricate patterns of the leaves, if summer notice the buds and flowers allowing yourself to detect the aroma, if fall observe the hips and their vibrant color and if winter notice the dark engaging color of the thicket of stems and the last remaining hips.
Begin to feel yourself take shape as a rose, which part are you?
(What’s the first thing that comes to your mind?)
Feel yourself become that part in all its intricacy, noticing many details
Now, ask yourself, “Where is love?” Take note.
Open your eyes and move and stand once again.
Give thanks to the rose.

The rose’s many gifts mirror the miraculous abundance before us.
May you seek and find these treasures within you.

Bibliography
I give thanks for the many books that offer wisdom about rose. Here are just a few that I used to inspire this writing.

Opening our Wild Hearts to the Healing Herbs, by Gail Faith Edwards, Ash Tree Publishing, Woodstock, New York

Peterson Field Guides, Pacific States Wildflowers, by Theodore F. Niehaus/Charles L. Ripper, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, New York

The Quest for the Rose, by Roger Phillips and Martyn Rix, Random House, New York

Common Herbs for Natural Health, by Juliette de Bairacli Levy, Ash Tree Publishing, Woodstock, New York

Bible Plants for American Gardens, by Eleanor Anthony King, Dover Publications, Inc, New York

Witches Heal, Lesbian Herbal Self-Sufficiency, by Billie Potts, Cohosh Corners Press, New York

The New Menopausal Years, by Susun S. Weed, Ash Tree Publishing, Woodstock, New York














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