It is the height of summer and in between the showers the balmy scent of the rose is calling me like never before.
I have had a connection with her from a young age as my grandmother loved her rose garden. My first concoctions were crushing smooth, pale peach, petals for rosewater potions. I remember feeling slightly cheated as the petals browned and lost their beauty over time.
Roses have a long and colorful history. They have been symbols of love, beauty, war, and politics.
This year I seem to be re connecting with her on a very deep level, hardly a plant I pass without needing to go have a chat, sniff and stroke. I have been amazed at the sheer diversity of roses growing in my little village alone. . In nature, the genus Rosa has some 150 species spread throughout the Northern Hemisphere, and then there are the entire hybrid created for our gardens, apparently there are over 30,000 varieties leading to the most complicated family tree of any known flower species. Garden cultivation of roses began some 5,000 years ago, in Asia. She truly is an ancient ancestor, according to fossil evidence aging her at 35 million years old.
Included in her vast family Rosacea are hawthorns, Apples, plums, raspberries and Ladies mantle to name a few, most having astringent cooling qualities as medicines.
The rose is a rose,
And was always a rose.
But now the theory goes
That the apple's a rose,
And the pear is, and so's
The plum, I suppose.
The dear only knows
What will next prove a rose.
You, of course, are a rose--
But were always a rose. –
by Robert Frost 1874-1963
There has been one rambling rose with pinky peach petals that has been attracting me; she sits on the corner of a valley on our walk to and from school. So enticing in her magic, we have been late a few times. She has been teaching us the joy of being soft, delicate and approachable with clearly marketed boundaries, over step them and you’ll get a sharp reprimand!
Rosa Heartspetal we call her and in spirit she is the elderly midwife, who has seen and birthed so much with generosity and kindness, never taking any nonsense, full of gifts of nurture and infinate knowledge.
Her delicate petals perfectly heart shaped in our native Dog Rose (Rosa canina) providing real heart support, cooling anxieties and steadying the nerves. We make a tincture out of the petals, roses are under the domain of Venus so a Friday (ruled by Venus) around the full moon, so that all the energies of the plant are up in the ariel parts, we harvest the petals on a dry bright day, filling a jar to the brim with the petals, asking or setting intentions for what the medicine can gift us then covering with good quality vodka, we then leave it in a cool place for a lunar cycle to brew. Strain out the petals and you are left with a Powerful brilliant Rose Petal tincture.
We have long used her sexy, deep red, fruits, the rosehips to make syrups pack with valuable nourishment in the form of vitamins & minerals, tasting delicious. The content of ascorbic acid/Vitamin C in hips is ten times more than in blackcurrant, 50 times more than in lemon and 100 times more than in apples.
There have been plenty of studies documenting how the hips have given numerous folks relief from Arthritis. And we use Tinctures and powders for this and also heart conditions very effectively.
One of our favourite remedies are our Drops of Love made from – rose tincture, rosehip syrup and peppermint tincture mixed together…
These beautifully cooling and centring drops gently nourish and support the nervous and digestive systems.
Peppermint helps to clear a fuzzy head and calm digestion thus aiding the free-flow of all mental processes. The word "mint" derives from the Latin for thought.
Rose has an amazing history as symbol of mystical or divine love. It is used here for its uplifting, calming properties. The binding nature of the tannins found in rose gives the potential for containment of nervous energy and erratic patterns.
The delicious, nourishing rosehip syrup is made from the wild dog rose. Its vastly nutritious make-up provides a wonderfully nurturing support system for the whole body, mind and spirit.
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