Rose

A rose is simply one of the most beautiful of flowers. A single rose in a simple vase weaves it’s own magic on those who look at it. To me it is the ultimate Fairie Flower. Beautiful beyond description, delicate yet incredibly strong, it’s perfume enchanting and mesmerizing, perfectly structured, yet Wild in a way no other flower is. If you sit down and gaze closely at a full blown rose, you will see why. It is delicate and soft, and it’s colour glowing like a magnificent water colour painting…but what makes it special is the wildness and voluptuous abundance in the arrangement of the petals It’s one of natures oddities, in that the pattern is not symmetrical. Most other flowers are set out in almost mathematical precision, whereas an opening rose is like a swirling vortex of colour and texture…It is one of the most well known and used flowers in perfumery, having a scent that is deep, light, refreshing and totally mesmerizing all at the same time. In Aromatherapy it is used for the treatment of depression, to calm over exited children and also for various bacterial and viral illnesses as it has strong healing properties. It is also a wonderful ingredient (if somewhat expensive) for soothing irritated skin. Both the petals and the rosehips are edible. Rosewater, made by distilling rose petals is used to make all kinds of delicacies including marzipan and Turkish delight. It is also used in cosmetics and makes a wonderful skin tonic as it is soothing to delicate skin. Rosehips (which are the seed pods formed after the flower has dropped it’s petals) are full of vitamin c. Some breeds of wild rose have huge hips you can eat like fruit, and the smaller European varieties can be made into jam and dried to be used as a tart, fruity tea. Rose oil is worth more by weight than gold. Two acres of rose bushes yield 10,000 roses which in turn yield one pound of rose oil! The Rose probably originated in Persia. Legend has it that when Mohammed was taken to Heaven, his sweat fell to Earth and became the original Rose. The country Syria actually means “Land of Roses”. Rose petals have been found in Egyptian tombs and in 220AD Athenaeus mentions tells of the strewing of rose petals eighteen inches deep when Cleopatra first met Mark Anthony and Nero is said to have spent vast sums importing dried rose petals to scent his rooms. Bedouin tribesmen still add rose attar to their coffee and arab women use it in eye cosmetics and in an unguent called “Urgujja”. Which also contains jasmine, sandalwood and aloe wood. Roses first found their way to Europe via Rome when the Romans conquered north Africa. Eros, the Greek God of Love and Sexual Desire, presented the Rose as a Gift to the God of Silence, which is where the term “Sub Rosa|, “under the Rose” for keeping a secret comes from. And of course the Rose is loved and sacred to Venus, Goddess of Love herself. In Indian mythology, the wife of Vishnu was discovered in a Rose, and ever since, Hindu grooms will give their brides attar of Roses. Back in Europe, Joan of Arc is said to have been given rose petals by the town of Provence in 1429, and the Rosy Cross became the famous symbol of the Rosicrucians. It is still widely used in modern day Folk Magic. We give roses to those we love on Valentines day, and the horticultural industry makes a fortune out of guilty husbands who try to get back in their missus good books by bringing home a bunch of roses. I often have a single Rose as a centre piece on my table, and as the petals fall, I collect them and dry them and then give them to loved ones…just a small way of giving them some of my love ….

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