Rose carries the medicine of both softness & strength, two things that absolutely must coexist. They remind us that real power must always come with softness. I believe rose is a plant that shifts consciousness, and has the ability to take you out of patterns, habits, realities that are not for you.
I have been inexplicably drawn to roses my whole life. Their beauty, smell, energy. The ancient wisdom that roses behold is something that has given roses the title, “Queen of the flower kingdom.” I grew up going to the Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon every summer, it was always something I looked forward to. Even at a young age I knew the magic of roses. At the gardens, you can connect with and smell just about every variety of rose that there is, it is pure magic. I have been working and connecting with roses for a few years now since I started my herbalism journey. If you know me, you know I am obsessed with roses and they are my kindred spirit plant. My ultimate earthly guide.
Roses have a very intriguing long history. In todays modern world there are literally hundreds of thousands of rose varieties. Wild, domesticated, and everything in between. Traces of roses have been found in the fossil record of the Oligocene in the Northern Hemisphere that have been dated to 30 million years ago. Most people associate roses with royalty, love, and seduction. These themes have been true since the beginning of human civilization across every culture.
According to Greek mythology, the goddess of flowers, Chloris, created a new flower by breathing life into a woodland nymph who had died. Dionysus, the god of wine and plant life made a beautiful perfume of this flower and gave it to Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty and pleasure. Aphrodite gave the rose its name by rearranging the letters of Euros her son and the god of love and desire. Then the rose became symbolic of secrecy, love, and beauty. This story was carried on to Roman mythology and then the rest of the world.
The first rose species to be described for Western science came from fossil beds in Teller County, Colorado USA. In 1883, paleobotanist Charles Leo Lesquereux named this species, Rosa hilliae. The first species roses had five single petals as seen on the flowers of Rosa hilliae. These are now commonly known as wild roses. Long before Lesquereux defined the rose for science however, every culture across the world from India to China to Rome, etc. used rose medicine for many ailments. Heartbreak, stomach pains, nervousness, impotence, liver failure, colds and flu, the list goes on.
The process of turning the wild rose into a garden plant started long ago as early as 3,000 BCE in China, thus the domestication of roses ran ramped. Roses in ancient China were used in the making of rosewater and in perfumed oils, and for many medicinal purposes. The philosopher Confucius recorded that roses were growing in the gardens of the Imperial Palace in 500 BCE. China was known as the main source of yellow roses and all their present-day descendants, there are no wild rose varieties of yellow color.
The ancient Egyptians were known to bathe in rosewater and scattered rose petals to make their rooms smell sweetly when making love. The Romans grew roses all over their public gardens, and Rosa alba could be found in the gardens of nobles and monks in medieval Europe. Throughout many ancient cultures, monasteries had a botanist, cultivating roses alongside other plants and herbs to be used in religious ceremonies. Thus, roses began to spread across the world to almost every culture. Everyone began to cultivate roses as they saw fit; climbing roses, perennial shrubs, cut gardens, etc. The rapid hybridization of roses is the reason so many varieties exist. Every color you can imagine, every smell, and every size. The downside of this however is that not many pure rose species exist anymore and they are hard to find. Because of the thousands of years of domestication, most roses don’t even smell like rose anymore and not every rose species is medicinal. Most herbalists only use wild roses for medicine. This is evident with grocery store roses or even most garden varieties.
A soft delicate flower with thorns down her body. A reminder that holding firm boundaries do not take away from softness and vulnerability. Rose knows herself, and who she choses to let into her world. There is a saying that roses are good for “the skin and the soul”. I could not agree more. This flower works on about every body system. The medicine of the rose begins with the delicious intoxicating scent, which has the power to instantly calm the nervous system. Rose is antidepressant, a nervine, antispasmodic, astringent, an aphrodisiac, a vulnerary, a digestive stimulant, antibacterial, a blood tonic, and a sedative. Rose has also been long used as a woman’s herb because of her effects on the womb space. There really isn’t anything rose cannot aid in. Rose has been very popular throughout time for her nourishing effects on the skin, cooling inflammation, moving lymphatic fluid, and promoting deep cell repair. To this day, pure rose oil can be very expensive. Rose is part of the rosaceae family there for she is a blood mover, an anti-oxidant. She works to move stagnation in the body, opening up new spaces and portals that need extra support and softness. I believe this quality is what makes rose an aphrodisiac.
Rosehips, the delicious fruit of the rose plant are one of the most special gifts on this Earth, and very medicinal. Once the flowers and leaves have died, the plump rosey hips present themselves near the end of fall. As if they know that humans and animals need these fruits for winter warmth and wellness. They are full of antioxidants and high in vitamin C. Many studies have been done on the medicinal effects of rosehips for heart health, blood pressure, and cholesterol.
Using rose medicine: Most parts of the rose can be used for medicine but the most common is the petals and hips. When cultivating roses, it is important to find wild varieties that have not been sprayed with pesticides or anything else. You could use garden roses for medicine but most of the time they have lost their medicinal value due to hundreds of years of breeding, though this depends on the rose and variety. The best way to tell is roses have any medicinal constituents is if they have a pungent rose smell. When buying rose petals, again make sure they are organic. A tea and infused oil of rose is the most common usage, and very easy to make at home. Rosehips can be used in tea or made into jelly, honey, vinegars, wines, etc.
The feeling and essence that rose gives is truly hard to put into words, I would aquaite it to how it feels to swim naked and lay in the sun on a warm day. Or how it feels to be in communion with a group of beloved women. Or the feeling of taking a warm pie out of the oven. It is a feeling of deep intimacy and seduction with oneself and the world around. Rose reminds us of a women’s sacred ability to bleed and bring life into the world. She helps us to rediscover our earthly bodies, our mammalian roots, and our ancient wisdom.
~Bee
