When you hear about Plant Medicines, you may learn about - the scientific properties, nutrients, alkaloids, minerals, and actions on the body that a specific plant may have, but there’s a lot more to the practice of healing with plants than what science alone tells us.
For shamans, herbalists and healers, it is also the spirit of the plant, imbued with the intelligence of nature and the plant’s very own unique personality and characteristics that does the healing. In shamanic cultures, science is simply a reinforcement of what ancient, indigenous wisdom and peoples have known and practiced through embodied connection and relationship with the intelligence of plants.
Plants are spiritual beings in physical bodies, just like you.
If you’ve ever worked with entheogenic plants in a ceremonial context, such as Ayahuasca, San Pedro, or even Psilocybin, you likely know this in your cells and bones. And if you haven’t worked with these more audible plants, you may understand this intelligence through how you simply feel better after spending time in nature, or after sitting at the base of a tree or lying on the earth. You may even notice how you feel calm after inhaling the scent of lavender, or more alert after breathing in the smell of peppermint or coffee.
These ways of communication between you and nature, you and the plants, are how our bodies and plants connect and communicate. While these methods of communication fall outside of our ability to speak and logical awareness, they're interacting with our body’s wisdom and spiritual intelligence through our five senses just the same.
In much the same way we create relationships with human beings, we also create relationships with the sentient beings in nature.
~ Rose Medicine~
A beautiful and soulful ally for our physical health and well-being, Rose is one of the most ancient and revered plant allies known to humans.
Across spiritual traditions, religions, myths, lore, and even tarot, the rose has held a special place of honor.
As you envision how the rose may assist and support the healing process, consider some of the symbolic meanings of the rose, many of them are likely familiar to you already.
Rose is often associated with:
Love and romance
Beauty
Passion
Devotion
Sensuality
And Rose Medicine operates on our physical, emotional, spiritual, and energetic bodies with profound depth.
Using Rose as a tea, in tinctures, syrups, healing skin balms, and even as aromatherapy can provide us with a beautiful, soulful medicine for our physical health and well-being.
On the physical level:
Rose is such a blessing. It is safe to use and won't harm anyone. In fact, it is often used to treat babies in everything from digestive upset to pink eye, to diaper rash. Rose is an astringent herb and can draw out from or shrinks tissue which helps to create a protective barrier. It’s helpful for fevers, excessive menstruation, or postpartum bleeding and can be used to treat a sore throat, infected sores or cuts, and even sun rash.
Rose is extremely nutritive, high in Vitamin C, and contains a lot of iron that is readily available in terms of absorption. Rose is an aphrodisiac, calms the nerves, and is anti-inflammatory and cooling (which is why it’s often used for skin conditions). Rose can even help heal wounds.
On the spiritual & energetic level:
Rose is a heart opener and a protector. An ally for self-love and compassion, Rose supports us to honor ourselves and reminds us of the healing that nature’s beauty and our own inner beauty can provide to us.
Rose supports the resilience of the heart and promotes courage in love and romantic relationships, particularly after a broken heart or romantic loss, and is often used as an ally for people who have had sexual trauma or womb injury.
Perhaps some of the most important lessons Rose teaches us are around discernment, boundaries, protection and that softness and strength can co-exist.
When you look at a Rose, you see the stunning beauty of Rose’s flower, but you also see the thorns. The thorns of a Rose bush provide protection and teach us discernment.
Rose’s thorns remind us to hold our boundaries in place while also inviting us to balance our kind, loving hearts with a strong awareness and discernment of who or what we invite into our most intimate spaces and places.
The beautiful herbalist’s blog “The Everything Jar” shares that:
“Even when we are caught in destructive patterns, rose can reach our better self.
Sharp thorns serve as protections, entanglements and also to pierce…. to wake us up. But scent pierces also, as an ethereal healer to remind us of our abilities. It is with gentle, calming power that rose heals our wounds and untangles our entrapment.”
You can work to build a relationship with the Rose by sitting in meditation with her. You can even bring an embodiment of the rose into your space to remind you of her teachings. Consider incorporating one of the following into your spiritual practice:
Anoint your heart with Rose essential oil
Burn Rose incense during meditation
Bring Roses into your bedroom or workspace with the intention to remember your inner beauty
Meditate while holding Rose quartz
Work with dried or fresh organic rose petals steeped in hot water as a tea or herbal infusion to feel the properties and energy of the rose.
If you’d like to explore working with rose medicine more deeply, check out the beautiful breathwork experience, Embodied Love: A guided Breathwork Journey with the Spirit of the Rose.
This guided audio journey was created with the intention to support the expansion of your heart, and to build resilience within your nervous system, so that you may live and lead with a kinder, more open heart.
If you’re longing to ~
+ Heal grief and heartache
+ Foster deeper self-love & compassion
+ Welcome more love into your life
+ Release anger and sadness
+ Cultivate forgiveness
+ Give your heart more kindness and nourishment during trying times
+ Practice greater self-care
Our journey together will explore how to build resilience within your nervous system so that you may live and lead with a kinder, more open heart.
A review of the Journey with the Rose transformational breathwork audio:
"I loved this so much. Every bit of this resonated with me, from your guidance to your playlist. I feel like I have a new tender, resilient divine spirit guide to work with, and that relationship is just starting. Beautiful work – thank you."
-Andrea St.Amand
Connect deeply with rose spirit medicine and explore the healing rose can provide through this transformational breathwork audio journey here.
Comments