Roses petal medicine

ROSES!!!    🌹🌸🌹🌸🌹🌸🌹

Sorry for yelling.  But ROSES!!!!

A friend asked me today what can be done with roses that are in full bloom right now and I thought let's make a collective list!   What are your favorite rose recipes and potions??

*ROSE TIME ~ First of all, I highly encourage sharing time with roses.  Stop to smell the roses, sit with them, listen to them.  Last week I did this on the summer solstice and the deep pink rosa rugosa bush felt *very* different than the white one.  Totally different energy.  You can also draw it, photograph it, noticing who's gathering its pollen and who's growing nearby.  Notice the soft, gentle petals and the strong, fierce thorns and feel free to reflect on opening and protection and how this plant embodies both.  And so can we.

*ROSE BATH SALTS ~ Layer rose petals in a jar with sea salt to make lovely bath salts.  Simply pour in some salt, then scatter a very thin layer of rose petals {fresh or left for a few hours or overnight to wilt and dry a bit}, more salt, and on and on. i like to use plastic or glass lids, as metal ones can corrode from the salt.   Add these salts to your (foot)bath water for a special treat.

*ROSE OIL ~ Wilt or dry the rose petals and infuse them in oil.  You can use this as a soothing massage oil or create a salve or balm with it.  Instructions on making herb-infused oils, balms, and salves here::: (Im)migration and Lip Balms for Social Justice?!

*ROSEWATER (aka hydrosol).  Instructions here::: Do-It-Yourself Hydrosols - Making and Using Flower Waters for Community Health and Self-Care

*ROSE ELIXIR ~ Infuse fresh rose petals in brandy or vodka to capture fresh rose petal heart-medicine for all year round.   I like to add local honey or maple syrup to this.  If using honey, I pour it over the rose petals and stir it so that the petals begin to release their moisture and medicine right away into the honey.  This also helps incorporate all the ingredients, so they don't separate out {as much}.  Then I pour brandy in, stir or shake it up, and let it all infuse for an entire mo(o)nth cycle. {proportions-wise, probably add about 1-1.5 cups of honey to a quart jar that's half-full or full  - but not packed tight - with rose petals and then fill it to the top with brandy.  You just want to keep the total alcohol content about 20-25%}  If i'm adding maple syrup, I infuse the rose petals in the brandy or vodka for a month, and then add the maple syrup when I'm pouring it up into individual bottles.  This remedy can be taken by the drop or dropper full when needing some heart-support, such as grieving a loss, opening your heart, mending a broken heart, or exploring personal or ancestral trauma.

*DRYING ROSES ~  Having a jar of dried rose petals is amazing medicine, just looking at it, opening the jar and smelling it.   You can add these dried petals to tea blends, baths, as edible decoration for fancy cakes or to freeze into ice cubes, and for craft projects like adding to collages and dioramas or placing in tiny vials to wear as jewelry {just know that they will fade with time}.   Dried roses can also be added to local honey {with cinnamon or other herbs} to stir into tea or spread onto treats, or added to bath fizzies. instructions for making bath fizzies here: The People's Spa: Reclaiming Relaxation and Cultivating Collective-Care!

*HARVESTING ~  If you're gathering roses to make remedies for internal use, harvest them away from roads, railroad tracks, and other areas that can be sprayed with chemicals.   If there is a special rose bush you want to gather from that is right on the road, you can use those to place on your altar, to add to a footbath, etc. ///   I like to gather roses by gently plucking their petals, leaving the centers to grow and ripen into rosehips come autumn.

*OTHER IDEAS? ~  Please feel free to add your recipes, comments, and questions below...

And if you love ROSES feel free to visit my online Dandelioness Herbals shop and check out the ROSY REMEDIES there such as *Love It Up! breast and chest massage balm, LionHearted, Heart Elixir, Calm the Rage, Crampease, Restorative Moons, I Kant Slep, Replenish, Thorn Essence, Protective Ocean Essence, Heart Centering Blend (aromatherapy roll-on), Global Citizen herbal salve, Relaxation Rose Bath Fizzies (in the Self-Care Kit: for emotional first aid), and Calendula Violet Eye Serum*

Please click here for the Rose petal medicine slideshow or press play in image below:

                    

Thanksgiving, Day of Mourning, Ferguson, Black Friday, and supporting ourselves through these times

I've been thinking ahead to next week and the events taking place.  This time of harvest, feasts, and grief.  Here in Vermont, US the leaves have turned their fiery autumn colors and fallen.  Now it's the snow's turn to fall.  Halloween, Samhain, and Dia de los Muertos have passed and though we may have taken down our personal and community altars, we may be holding our ancestors and other loved ones who have passed a little closer to us than at other times of the year. 

Like in years past, next Thursday many families will be gathering from near and far to feast together on local/traditional foods.  Many will be observing this day as the National Day of Mourning, organized by the United American Indians of New England, there at the event in Plymouth, MA, and attending the potluck after, or in spirit from wherever we may be.  The next day, only one day after giving thanks for all that we have and/or for mourning the generations of racism and genocide that have poisoned this land,  hordes will push and shove and grab (but hopefully this year not trample to death and added to the lives lost from the mayhem of previous Black Friday) to buy stuff.  Stuff probably made in sweatshops and sold at stores owned by corporations that refuse to pay their workers a living wage, while making gazillions of dollars and not paying a cent in taxes.  Others will be gathering in front of said stores celebrating Buy Nothing Day, in support of said workers and protesting said corporations  and the vicious cycle of capitalism (devaluing workers, buying elections, destroying the environment, etc).

This year, Ferguson and communities all over the US also await the verdict to see if the police will finally be held accountable, or if yet another white officer walks free after murdering a person of color.  Events are planned all over the country.   In Mexico, our compaNer@s continue the search for their loved ones in Guerrero.  Elsewhere, and all over the world, people are organizing for justice too.  

There's so much to celebrate and so much to grieve.  And it's so important to come together in these times to support and feed one another.  Figuratively and literally.

However we pass this coming week, may it at least in part be a time to remember the foundation of the US - genocide, racism, stolen land, slavery, exploited labor - and to recommit ourselves to working for justice, in solidarity across lines of color, gender, nationality, ability, age, class, etc.  And for those of us born into privilege, may we reflect on how these dynamics still play out and how we contribute to them.  (This time of year is one of retrospection about my ancestry, being a descendant of two who came over on the Mayflower and enslaved the indigenous peoples upon arrival, setting up a precedence for violent racism, land theft, and (Northern!) slavery that white people still benefit from today.  Being at the Day of Mourning at the site of their arrival felt like it was part of healing some ancestral wounds.)  May we take the lead from the communities most impacted by injustice, and recommit ourselves to unlearning the racism, white supremacy, and other forms of oppression that seek to divide us.  May we speak up both during mainstream Thanksgiving white-washing of history and in our daily lives in general when indigenous people are ignored, made silent, made fun of, disrespected, depicted in degrading/cartoonish/dehumanizing ways, and invaded - both literally on their land, like at Black Mesa, and also their sacred cultural practices ~ plant medicine traditions, healing practices, and sacred ceremonial objects.

As we wait, feast, grieve, protest, and organize, may we call on the plants and the ancestors to support us in these times.  Here are some ways that we can practice self-care and collective-care, in solitude or in community.  For clarity: these are not shoulds!  These are suggestions intended to be supportive.  These are notes to myself too, for when I forget.

Take time to make tea with nourishing and relaxing herbs like Milky Oat Tops, Chamomile, Lemon Balm, Tulsi (Holy Basil), Skullcap, and a pinch of Rose petals and Lavender flowers.  Many of these herbs not only calm the body, they also help heal the heart, support digestion, and lift our spirits.   You can get boxed tea, but if possible make your own tea blend where you can see the leaves and flowers and roots.  This is part of the medicine.  Add some honey if you need some sweetness.

Prepare an herbal bath or foot bath ~ sometimes a messy herbal/floral bath is just what we're needing, where every part of our beautiful bodies is bathed with bits of flower petals, leaves, and evergreen needles.  Directions here for an herbal bath in a tub or shower.  Also, a foot bath draws stress and zingy energy that can keep us from sleeping well, and sends it away with the bathwater.  Giving myself a mini-foot massage with cream as I begin and end my day always makes me feel both relaxed and grounded.

Eat nourishing foods as a form of medicine what makes your body feel good, both when you're eating and afterwards.  For me it's chicken and rice noodles and sweet potatoes and greens and baked apples.  My body just says yes! when I eat these.  What does your body say yes too?  What has your body been craving lately?  Also, taking bitters supports our livers which work so dang hard, and help us to digest and absorb the nutrients from all that good, nourishing food.

Massage our bodies with oils to ground and relax us  with olive, grapeseed, coconut, sunflower, sesame oils.  See what kind feels good on your skin.  And there's no need to go buy some expensive body oil.  If you have these unrefined oils in your home for cooking, use 'em on your skin!  Remember, our skin is our largest organ and it's best not to put on our skin anything we wouldn't put in our bodies.  You can add a few drops of essential oils, or infuse your oils with herbs if you like, but just plain oil can feel sooo good too!  My favorite is a blend of coconut and sesame (untoasted, and infused with chamomile flowers!) oils.

Burn candles, herbs, and incense or spray floral waters to shift the energy of our physical space

Participate/Don't  If joining up with others for a Day of Mourning or anti-racism/police violence event will feed your spirit, do it!  If you're feeling a bit (or a lot) burnt out and need some rest and relaxation, do it!  We can't be everywhere all the time and events aren't just about having a body count.  If we're going to be drained from attending, maybe our time would be better passed doing some of the nurturing things on this list.  Or hunting or finger painting or whatever you feel like.  It's about being in it for the long haul, not pushing ourselves to physically be at every event.  That said, it can be really encouraging and inspiring to share space with others who are passionate about social justice, and just feel all the range of emotions we're feeling, with collective witness to the pain of injustice.  You make the call and just know that you made a conscious, self-care-y decision. 

Fill out your In Case of (emotional) Emergency Form a self-care/community-care form to fill out when you’re feeling grounded, supported, calm, inspired, etc. To read when you’re not.  You can find it here.

Unplug while I'm a big fan of the people's media and keeping informed, it's also easy to get overstimulated and overwhelmed in a way that depletes, rather than feeds and inspires, us.  Check in with yourself, are you present in your body and choosing what you let into your space or are you going on auto-pilot and getting bombarded with information and images?  Take some time to unplug.  Turn off the phone, computer, radio, whatever gadget is demanding your attention.  And do some of the practices listed above, if they sound good to you.

sweet, vanilla-like Chamomile tea

Dandelioness Herbals also creates remedies to offer physical and emotional support within a culture of self-care and collective-care.  While you can enjoy these remedies at home, they are also convenient for bringing with you to rallies, gatherings, potlucks, when traveling, and wherever else you may go, when you may not be able to make tea, prepare a footbath, and do other self-care practices .  Relaxation in a Bottle,  Calm the Rage, Heart Elixir,  Relaxing Bitters,  Stay Ready,  Mercury's In Retrograde, Again?!, Yarrow Flower Essence for clear and strong boundaries, and others.  I'm happy to make a custom blend that is especially for you, where you're at, and what you're dealing with and focusing on.

May we transform next week and this season into an opportunity for healing and growth and renewed solidarity.

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Photos by Dana L Woodruff/Dandelioness Herbals, from the top:  a wee bowl of Chamomile; Chamomile and Lavender harvest; basket of Lemon Balm; Milky Oat harvest;  Evergreen-Rose foot bath for the People's Spa; Make-it-as-we-go-along personalized Relaxation in a Bottle tincture and flower-infused oils for self-massage before bed/bathing from the Community Self-Care: Nourishing our Nervous Systems for the Long Haul workshop series; bee coming in for a Tulsi/Holy Basil landing; gathering Rose pollen; Yarrow for strong boundaries; and Chamomile tea.

Love & Migration: Migration is Beautiful & Natural. So is Solidarity.

Febuary is here and with it, a month to celebrate Love in it's Many Forms.  While February is sold as the month for romantic love, there is no reason to limit ourselves to this one form.  There's self-love, community-love, family-love (chosen family &/or blood family),  community work/labor-of-love, and global/universal/solidarity-love, to name of few.  These forms of love are not separate and exclusive.  There's overlap.  Our romantic and/or family love can feed our community work/labor-of-love.  Our self-love is vital in order for us to be fully engaged and healthy in that community work.  And that global/universal/solidarity love feeds our day-to-day community activism love.  And there's so many ways to celebrate these all - ie. reflecting upon and appreciating the love in our lives, cultivating more, sending love notes to friends and family near and far, breaking bread together, creating a culture of love.  

I strongly believe in Khalil Gibran's quote "The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain."  I take great comfort knowing that a broken heart is an open heart.  And a vital way for my heart, in all it's battled and bruised glory, to keep open, and for me to be and feel fully alive, is being part of movements for social justice.

In celebration of Love in it's Many Forms, let's focus on the global, take-action! love.  We're beginning with migrant justice, a movement that's near and dear to my heart.  I am so heartened by the courage and creativity of everyone in this movement that are working not only to change policy, but to liberate our minds from racism, xenophobia, and other divisive forces that create a climate of violence, target communities, separate families, and break hearts.

Favianna Rodriguez is a fierce creatrix of community and art.  She's co-founder of Presente.org, is a national organization that amplifies the political voice of Latino communities (on Facebook here).  Migration is Beautiful: Voice of Art is a recently-released program that shows how artist-activists are creating a culture of resistance and transforming conversations and perceptions  around (im)migration in the U.S.

 Also, check out Dignidad Rebelde, a graphic arts collaboration between Oakland-based artist-activists Jesus Barraza and Melanie Cervantes, as well as the art of undocumented, queer artivist Julio Salgado.

I love when artists, actors, musicians, politicians and others use their influence to send a powerful message of truth and solidarity.  Wisin & Yandel take a romantic-love song, 'Estoy Enamorado' (In English: I'm in Love), and using powerful images, create a video that's a call to action.  While mainstream US culture often clumps all Latin@ cultures together, I think it's important to note that while the images in the video are most likely of people originally from Mexico and Central and South America, Wisin & Yandel are Puerto Rican.  Mainstream US culture often portrays Puerto Ricans in "those people" terms, and many people don't realize that Puerto Ricans, either living in the US or on the island, are US citizens.  Sometimes Puerto Ricans and other Latin@s with US citizenship/papers are pitted against others who lack documentation, or are perceived to lack documentation.  For this reason, Wisin & Yandel using the video to send a clear message about inhumane immigration law in the US is a blatant refusal of divide and conquer tactics and beautiful act of solidarity!




The message at the end of the video is: 
"Creemos en la protección de los derechos de todo ser humano. La Ley SB1070 representa una violacion de esos derechos y una injusticia contra la integridad de nuestras comunidades. En nuestra unión esta la fuerza. Unámosnos. Recuerda en este mundo TODOS somos iguales!"

In English: "We believe in protecting the rights of every human being. (Arizona) SB 1070 Law represents a violation of those rights and an injustice to the integrity of our communities. In our union there is strength. Unite. Remember, in this world, we are ALL equal!"


Activists and artists are making it so easy and so beautiful to become educated and get involved.  Through this movement, I am continuing to unlearn racism, reclaim my humanity, and know true solidarity.  As a white, English-speaking U.S. citizen, and with respect for my ancestors and their journeys from Ireland, Scotland, and England, I feel so blessed to be on the right side of history and part of such a creative, beautiful, loving, and fierce movement.  


Please see National Day Laborers Organizing Network's arts and culture page for more powerful videos (in English and Spanish).

image by Julio Salgado

Other good resources:
Drop the I-Word
No More Deaths/No Más Muertes
(Im)migration and Lip Balms for Social Justice?! blog post

Justicia Migrante/Migrant Justice 
National Day Laborer Organizing Network
Puente
Standing on the Side of Love

Heart Elixir: to open, heal, and protect the heart   Info here

Other Valentines-inspired blog posts:
Valentine's Aphrodisiac Recipes
Love is a Verb: A Valentine's Post
V-Day: One Billion Rising and Man Prayer (Un Billón de Pie y Oración de un Hombre)

HEART ELIXIR

An old botanical illustration of Hawthorn, Rosa Rugosa blossoms in Maine, Hawthorn in bloom Co. Clare, Ireland, and pouring Heart Elixir.

I love making, sharing, and taking Heart Elixir. I love that both Rose and Hawthorn have an affinity with the heart, soft & delicate five petaled flowers, nourishing red berries, and thorns for fierce protection. Sometimes our hearts need support so that it can open, sometimes it needs some protection so that we can heal.  Sometimes we need both.  I pass Heart Elixir around the circle when I teach menstrual and sexual health workshops *to bring sweetness to the circle,* when exploring potentially difficult/triggering/painful/ transformative topics and emotions, as I was taught by a fellow health justice community organizer.

Lebanese poet Khalil Gibran wrote in The Prophet, "The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain." Our heart holds so many emotions - the fluttering of new love, the comfort of connection, the heartbreak of the ending of a relationship, the deep grief of losing a loved one, the shock and trauma of violation and war. Though it's simple enough to understand how someone can respond to pain by closing our heart off to feeling any emotion at all, doing so negatively impacts us physically, emotionally, spiritually. I like to think of my heart, knowing the pain of losing ones I had hold dear, as a bit battered and scarred. I find tremendous beauty in this, a heart that seeks to remain open while fully knowing the loss that opening again could bring.

I have much gratitude for those in my life that intimately know grief and its many expressions, who are present and allow space for tears, laughter, numbness, anger, and escape. Unfortunately, much of the rich traditions of remembrance and honoring our ancestors have been lost or left behind in order to assimilate into being "(U.S.) American." Even still, in times of death, people go to the kitchen to create comfort food for those left behind, send sympathy cards, call, and visit. I'm thankfull to have a circle of friends who gather on Samhain with candles, photographs of ancestors, offerings of food, and bundles of herbs to celebrate and share stories about our loved ones who have passed on.  I'm thanksfull for those who understand that death is necessary for life, and that it still really sucks, and who can sit with the range of emotions this all brings,

This year, in addition to honoring Grammy and Pop-pop and the rest of my ancestors, I grieve the loss of Miss Beatrice Waight (Yucatec Maya healer from Belize, teacher, and friend) and Marilyn Jean Buck (U.S. Political Prisoner, poet, and white anti-racist activist).

In the summer, I visit our family farm and gather petals from the Rosa Rugosa rose bushes there. You can harvest the petals and still leave what will grow into the rosehip, for another harvest come autumn. You can find Rosa Rugosas growing wild, in gardens, and by the sea. Just be sure that you're not harvesting from a place that has a lot of cars driving by (exhaust, salt, etc.), big power lines overhead, etc. Once I gather the most vital petals into a basket, and stopping when the plant says "okay, that's enough," I thank the plant and place the petals into a clean glass Mason jar and pour in brandy.  I'm more of a pinches and handfulls cook/herbalist, rather than measuring everything to the T, but in general I suppose I fill the jar around 3/4 full and then pour the Brandy almost to the top of the jar. I usually place the jar in the sunshine for the first day, and then put it in a spot where it is both protected from direct sunlight and accessible enough so that I remember to shake it every now and then. I let this tincture infuse for at least a month. Truly, the petals are so gorgeous, even after the first day or so when the color drains out into the brandy, I often leave them in much longer than a month. Whenever you are ready, you can strain out the petals with a metal strainer or cloth (loose muslin or cheesecloth), composting - or nibbling - the petals and re-bottling the Rose-infused brandy. Be sure to label your creation with the ingredients, date, place you harvested it from, moon phase, whatever you'd like to include.

Later in the growing season the Hawthorn berries will be ripe enough to harvest. I remember first meeting Hawthorn when I was living at the Victory Gardens Project - a group based on the Black Panther Party's Community Programs and co-founded by U.S. Political Prisoners and Maine activists to grow food with donated land, seed, and labor, and distribute it for free in the rural Maine community where it was based and in cities through community organizations that had traveled to Maine to participate with the planting and/or harvesting. The Hawthorn berries were much appreciated by the little critters that ate them where I'd placed them to dry.  Ha!  Hawthorns are very sacred trees in Ireland. You don't cut them down - which is why a major roadway on the west side of the island goes far out of its course, because the road crew knew enough not to touch the Hawthorn tree that lay in its path! In May the hedgerows there are aglow with the vibrant white Hawthorn trees in bloom. In northern New England (United States), I've harvested Hawthorn berries mostly in September and early October. I find the berries that have a good red color and harvest carefully, avoiding the large thorns. As with the Rose petals, I place the Hawthorn berries in a clean glass Mason jar, cover them with brandy, and let them infuse for at least a month. In general you don't want to harvest herbs in the rain, especially if you're drying them!, as their volatile oils that you're usually wanting to capture can be washed away. But with berries (and the roots of other plants), you can give them a rinse if they need it.

When I'm ready to create a small batch of Heart Elixir, I pour into 1 or 2 oz glass amber tincture bottles equal parts of: the Rose petal-infused brandy, Hawthorn berry-infused brandy, and local Maple syrup. Then I add flower essences that I've made.

Flower essences are different from tinctures, they capture the essence, the lesson of the plant. The effects can be subtle, and also quite transformative. Each flower essence has a story - about the particular plant, the day it was make, etc.  The Heartsease pansy (aka Johnny-jump-up) is the five petaled edible flower cousin of Violets that grow in moist woods and yards. During an herbal class that involved a plant spirit activity (deep listening to the plants, listening with your heart instead of your brain) I was told really simply, and matter-of-factly that violets make your heart green. This message was in sync with my above vision of a battered, scarred up, healed/healing heart.

As a very emotional and sensitive person since small, I feel a strong affinity with Yarrow. This plant was the first to teach me that herbs don't necessarily need to be ingested in order to be a remedy. I carry this plant in my first aid kit (to chew up the dried flowers and leaves and apply to a cut, even a deep one, to stop the bleeding and disinfect the wound), rub Yarrow-infused sesame oil onto my abdomen to relieve menstrual cramps, and when I'm driving I visualize a shield of Yarrow around my car to protect me and others, including critters crossing the road. Yarrow flower essence helps those of us that are sensitive to our environments and the emotions of others to learn healthy boundaries. While empathy and sensitivity is a gift, it can also be draining for those who tend to "sponge" up the stress around us, and Yarrow teaches us to maintain ourselves.

I made a Hawthorn flower essence from the luminous tree at the bottom of my friend's garden in Ireland. I love the nourishing, heart tonic-ness of the Hawthorn berries and was happy to also add the flower's medicine to the elixir.

This year I've added Magenta Lotus to the Heart Elixir. This flower essence was made in Sandra Lory's Local Healers class on a magical day at the Garden of Seven Gables. There are quotes about the lotus growing up out of the muck, but I also think of the lotus' stem as a cord, connecting the blossom to its source. I find this concept of transformation really liberating, that through past experiences that may feel heavy and murky, we can still grow, thrive, and radiate, without losing that connection to where we come from.

I take Heart Elixir 1-3 drops as needed, or 1 dropperfull 3 times a day.  If you have questions about making your own heart remedy, let me know.  If you'd like to purchase Heart Elixir, you can do so here on my DandelionessHerbals online etsy shop. 

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Update 12/14:  I've reformulated Heart Elixir, replacing Hawthorn berries with Tulsi leaf and flower.  Tulsi, sometimes called Sacred or Holy Basil, is an amazing medicinal plant that not only has an affinity with the heart, but is also an adaptogenic herb, helping our bodies adapt to change and stress.  It has a multitude of other healing properties and I highly recommend folks getting to know this plant. Hawthorn is still contained in the Heart Elixir, in the form of hand-made flower essence.

Also, Heart Elixir is part of Dandelioness Herbals' Self Care Kit: For Emotional First Aid.