Duchess de Brabant Rose growing in my garden.
About five weeks ago, I embarked on my third official Rose diet. I began a structured relationship with the Rose plant spirit through dieting the plant back in 2013. My first two Rose diet experiences were quite different to this one, and as usual, I found that the plant works with you in regard to what is needed at this specific time in your life. It is rarely, if ever, the same experience – more or less- repeated, because plants are a living consciousness and evolve with us, they are not stagnant or rigid in their teachings. She called to me again recently as I entered a new phase of my life and quietly spoke to me of birthing old versions of myself again, in new ways.
My personal experience of Rose this time, is that initially my creative energy started to rise significantly, and I started making new tinctures and extracts again, after feeling quite devoid of energy for these activities for the last few months. I also started to fall in love with who was looking back at me in the mirror again. I’m a very task driven, focused person and sometimes I don’t even notice or look in the mirror for long periods of time, but Rose shows you your inner beauty, and I feel like I often start to glow from the inside more when I’m taking Rose. My appreciation for myself as a woman came to the fore and I felt connected to my body, and all the pleasure and happiness it could give me. I felt this connection as an innocent and natural experience. My senses became more awake and the feeling of the breeze on my skin, and these simple life pleasures became intense. I realised again that they are a beautiful gift, enhancing our experience of being alive, Rose was showing me that life truly is a gift.
After a week or so, some sadness and grief began bubbling to the surface and I started softly crying in the evenings, when I was left alone with my thoughts. I find Rose extremely gentle in her approach to healing and even my tears felt gentle and soft, not harrowing, gut wrenching grief. Simply a necessary and grateful release of old sadness, that had the energy of death about it. In my first and second diet, this same theme was present but in a much more physical way as I included long periods of fasting from food, and so had cell die off literally, whereas this I was just journeying with the plant, while living my normal life and I wasn’t fasting, so the emotional death was more internal and energetic rather than physically felt. My releases of grief gave way to feelings of being connected to the essence of the Great Mother of all, and the nurturing and deep compassionate elements of her. I am literally going through a phase at the moment where I am acting this out, and embodying this energy in my everyday life. The deep compassion for all beings, and a sense of being in service as a mothering energy to the whole world overcame me, that the Great Mother works through me, and this revelation bought me to tears many times over the course of the month. And even as I write this truth now, my spirit parallels my words with misty eyes and a swelling feeling in my heart.
Week three was a pronounced slowing down in my pace in the way I was moving through the world, taking time in each moment to feel present, and allowing reflection to come into my consciousness through doing things slowly and mindfully, sometimes letting my mind wander and then observing where it took me. This slowing down resulted in several ‘aha’ moments where I saw old patterns of behavior playing out in my actions, especially around how I didn’t feel ok about slowing down. Rushing and busyness is always applauded, constructive use of time valued and praised, therefor the slowing down process was bringing up guilt. A feeling of uneasiness about taking each moment gently, connecting to my personal rhythm, I felt too slow and that I was being indulgent, and a part of my conditioning started trying to tell me this was not ok, so that needed to be healed as well. I found the Rose really helped me to put the hand break on my life, and reflect deeply, and see clearly into what I was unconsciously playing out. I have a tendency to fill up my life with many projects, often becoming full to overwhelm, or always functioning just below overwhelm, in order to feel useful and valuable. Feeling productive was giving a false sense of self-esteem I realized, and this couldn’t continue as I needed to slow down in order to rest, heal and regenerate. I was having trouble with that, and Rose was showing me where I was unable to receive in this way, and give back to myself, after giving so much to others as a therapist and in my animal rescue work. Learning to receive and open to the feminine energy of flow, is one of the most foundational teachings of the Rose energy. It helps us to discover how we personally block that, in our own story. Physically speaking, Rosa spp. as a herb, removes stagnation in the body in a gentle way, and moves stuck energy, so it makes sense that as an emotional and energetic experience, it would do the same. I spent quite some time unpacking and releasing the stories and emotions attached to my needing to feel busy to be of value, and shed a few tears, and had a few different revelations along the way as to the origins of these feelings. It was all a very flowing and natural experience, I have learned over the years to just ‘allow’ this to happen during a plant diet. Healing is natural if you just go with it, and when something presents itself to be felt and acknowledged, with the help of the Rose, it just releases and disperses, making way for a new day, and a new self to emerge.
Lastly, a sense of softening in my body and energy came over me. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly, but I just felt as though some hard edges that I had built up around me had softened. I think, over time, in between these focused exercises, a sort of worldly callous of protection can build up in my energy that can be a result of my own thoughts, plus holding onto things that are sad, and a protection then needs to come into play, so I can keep going in the world while carrying that sadness. I feel like doing regular processes like the Rose diet and other plant cleansing, helps to keep things balanced so these feelings don’t take over and take me to a place of hardened negativity.
So, all in all, I feel I filled my cup up with a sense of self value, nurturing softness, and released some tears and thoughts that were creating some chaos in my life that I didn’t need to carry.
If you have any questions about starting a Rose diet, or beginning a relationship with another plant teacher, please contact me for more information. And you can read the ‘About’ section at www.seahorseoracle.com where I have more information about plant work and guidance that I offer in my practice.
Rose blessings, Cacey.