Teachings from the spirit of the rose

Last week I was describing to my husband how the stems of roses tend to prefer being cut short when you place the flowers on a vase. He wondered about that, because after all long-stemmed roses have a reputation for being best. As we spoke, I heard the guidance of the Rose Spirit,  “Just as rose  medicine is wonderful for healing people’s hearts, the rose’s stem itself has the ability to heal immediately after a cut has been made.”

Memories of healing spiritual encounters

I had my first encounter with the plant spirit of the rose while I was studying Plant Spirit Medicine. Something had happened in my personal life and I was feeling stuck and emotionally paralyzed by a heartbreak. After my journey with the Rose Spirit, the whole situation shifted and lifted. It wasn’t an intellectual thing, it was a healing of the heart. My heart just felt resilient again and I felt courageous again in matters of love … or at least willing to remain open. And here we were, on the first week of a new year hearing the message, the reminder of this amazing and generous plant. To me, the timing makes perfect sense — so much is changing within all of us and around us in this cycle in our human story. It is tempting to close off, to close down but the way through to real change and transformation is only made clear when we can open our hearts.

When my mom visited us this summer (she lives in Portland, Oregon), we went to The Growing Place, our favorite area garden center. After walking around, she told me she wanted to buy me a rose plant so that I could remember her after she passed away. I sat on a bench at the garden and resisted the idea with all my might. I thought of many reasons why she should not do that. We really don’t have many sunny spots in our yard, it’s a big expense, sometimes roses don’t “take” in our area, not many of our neighbors have them, and on and on. And all of a sudden, my inner voice punched through and said,  “Wait a second, you LOVE roses. This plant wants to go live with you. Are you saying no? Who are you???”  And I realized I had closed my heart the moment my mom mentioned the possibility of her passing away. I did not want to “go there,” think about that or even pretend to enter into that drama. But actually the whole episode was another major gift, a healing from the Rose Spirit. A healing of my own attachment to life as I know it … and a deepening of my relationship with my mom.

Today the beautiful yellow rose plant is dormant in our garden.  Come spring time, I am sure she will gift us again with her joyful profusion of yellow blooms, her sweetness and yes, her teachings.