Rose Medicine - Lore, Liberation, and Practical Application
This book is an offering to the Queen of the Garden - Rose - it meanders through fascinating ancient lore, stories of miracles, practical information on rose as a medicine and herbal ally, and loads of beautiful ideas and recipes for bringing her magic into your kitchen, medicine cabinet, body care routines, and ritual practices. Perhaps most distinct, is the earth-honoring, feminist, liberation-oriented lens through which we see both, her story and her offerings.
On the authenticating power of attraction and desire -
“When we know our desires or instincts as holy, we are less likely to accept externally-imposed bounds or limitations - we are less likely to settle for living by lies… Long before we have words for our longings, we feel them in our bodies. The Rose, as Aphrodite’s emissary, reawakens us to our bodily knowing and our sacred desires. She calls us into consciousness, authenticity, and direct relationship with earth’s astounding spiritual forces. Responding to our senses gives us pause, calls into what we know inside of ourselves, and grants us an opportunity for unbinding - an invitation into liberation of mind, body, soul, and culture.”
On what we leave in our wake as legacy -
“As we study and listen deeply to Traditional Ecological Knowledge, whether that be medicine practices of the Great Lakes Region, the food forests of Southern India, or fire management of Aboriginal peoples, we are reminded of our responsibility to honor what we know in our cells - the earth is wise beyond measure and we must work with, not against her, following her intelligent lead. I have come to see this way of life not as leaving “no trace”, but as leaving a beautiful trace. While colonizer culture and white supremacist patriarchy hold a wanton disregard for the earth’s inherent value and intelligence, and this unexamined worldview plays out even in the modern, white version of “conservation”, there are older, wiser, and more lasting ways of being with place and the family of creation. From a perspective of love and respect for the earth, the ways that we interact with and affect plants, animals, and the elements are not referred to as “management” (as in “land management” or “wildlife management”) they are seen as relationship. Our values determine how those relationships play out…
Moving through life with respect for the earth absolutely leaves “traces” but these traces may not be visible to the untrained eye. In the wake of love and respect for the earth, we see blooming roses, bountiful berries, clean water, happy creatures, and elder trees shimmering in the breeze. If we haven’t been taught to recognize the traces left by a loving touch - to know that our careful harvests build the health of plant communities and help them thrive - we could miss this entirely.”
This book is an offering to the Queen of the Garden - Rose - it meanders through fascinating ancient lore, stories of miracles, practical information on rose as a medicine and herbal ally, and loads of beautiful ideas and recipes for bringing her magic into your kitchen, medicine cabinet, body care routines, and ritual practices. Perhaps most distinct, is the earth-honoring, feminist, liberation-oriented lens through which we see both, her story and her offerings.
On the authenticating power of attraction and desire -
“When we know our desires or instincts as holy, we are less likely to accept externally-imposed bounds or limitations - we are less likely to settle for living by lies… Long before we have words for our longings, we feel them in our bodies. The Rose, as Aphrodite’s emissary, reawakens us to our bodily knowing and our sacred desires. She calls us into consciousness, authenticity, and direct relationship with earth’s astounding spiritual forces. Responding to our senses gives us pause, calls into what we know inside of ourselves, and grants us an opportunity for unbinding - an invitation into liberation of mind, body, soul, and culture.”
On what we leave in our wake as legacy -
“As we study and listen deeply to Traditional Ecological Knowledge, whether that be medicine practices of the Great Lakes Region, the food forests of Southern India, or fire management of Aboriginal peoples, we are reminded of our responsibility to honor what we know in our cells - the earth is wise beyond measure and we must work with, not against her, following her intelligent lead. I have come to see this way of life not as leaving “no trace”, but as leaving a beautiful trace. While colonizer culture and white supremacist patriarchy hold a wanton disregard for the earth’s inherent value and intelligence, and this unexamined worldview plays out even in the modern, white version of “conservation”, there are older, wiser, and more lasting ways of being with place and the family of creation. From a perspective of love and respect for the earth, the ways that we interact with and affect plants, animals, and the elements are not referred to as “management” (as in “land management” or “wildlife management”) they are seen as relationship. Our values determine how those relationships play out…
Moving through life with respect for the earth absolutely leaves “traces” but these traces may not be visible to the untrained eye. In the wake of love and respect for the earth, we see blooming roses, bountiful berries, clean water, happy creatures, and elder trees shimmering in the breeze. If we haven’t been taught to recognize the traces left by a loving touch - to know that our careful harvests build the health of plant communities and help them thrive - we could miss this entirely.”
This book is an offering to the Queen of the Garden - Rose - it meanders through fascinating ancient lore, stories of miracles, practical information on rose as a medicine and herbal ally, and loads of beautiful ideas and recipes for bringing her magic into your kitchen, medicine cabinet, body care routines, and ritual practices. Perhaps most distinct, is the earth-honoring, feminist, liberation-oriented lens through which we see both, her story and her offerings.
On the authenticating power of attraction and desire -
“When we know our desires or instincts as holy, we are less likely to accept externally-imposed bounds or limitations - we are less likely to settle for living by lies… Long before we have words for our longings, we feel them in our bodies. The Rose, as Aphrodite’s emissary, reawakens us to our bodily knowing and our sacred desires. She calls us into consciousness, authenticity, and direct relationship with earth’s astounding spiritual forces. Responding to our senses gives us pause, calls into what we know inside of ourselves, and grants us an opportunity for unbinding - an invitation into liberation of mind, body, soul, and culture.”
On what we leave in our wake as legacy -
“As we study and listen deeply to Traditional Ecological Knowledge, whether that be medicine practices of the Great Lakes Region, the food forests of Southern India, or fire management of Aboriginal peoples, we are reminded of our responsibility to honor what we know in our cells - the earth is wise beyond measure and we must work with, not against her, following her intelligent lead. I have come to see this way of life not as leaving “no trace”, but as leaving a beautiful trace. While colonizer culture and white supremacist patriarchy hold a wanton disregard for the earth’s inherent value and intelligence, and this unexamined worldview plays out even in the modern, white version of “conservation”, there are older, wiser, and more lasting ways of being with place and the family of creation. From a perspective of love and respect for the earth, the ways that we interact with and affect plants, animals, and the elements are not referred to as “management” (as in “land management” or “wildlife management”) they are seen as relationship. Our values determine how those relationships play out…
Moving through life with respect for the earth absolutely leaves “traces” but these traces may not be visible to the untrained eye. In the wake of love and respect for the earth, we see blooming roses, bountiful berries, clean water, happy creatures, and elder trees shimmering in the breeze. If we haven’t been taught to recognize the traces left by a loving touch - to know that our careful harvests build the health of plant communities and help them thrive - we could miss this entirely.”