Healing Well

Hello web wanderer, welcome back to the healing well

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This Summer Solstice weekend I made a splash in my soul with the Queen of Flowers;

The Rose.

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My first Rose Circle on Saturday was an introductory meeting with the Wild Rose and the Cultivated Rose

Dog Rose

The Rose Circle was intimate and relaxed ~ the roses brought healing, gentle but profound

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The beautiful space at Body Conscious Studios is full of light, between a glass wall and a rooftop garden.

The sunshine streamed in, while the wild breeze made the leafy linden tree dance through the window.

My recent rose harvest along the seaside hedgerows was inspired by the rose moon.

This weekend of sun celebration found me in the formal rose gardens in Belfast Botanic Gardens.

Rose medicine is a full spectrum patchwork quilt of flower healing, as roses grow in so many colours

In the rose circle we discussed the medicine of yellow rose, deep pink, light pink, orange, white and even the mystic blue rose.

Afterwards in the botanic gardens I watched the roses bring sweet smiling moments to people wandering through

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a mother walking slowly with her baby in a pram, a young man sitting quiet on the grass to enjoy the sun, another man taking pictures of roses on his phone, a laughing woman photographing her boyfriend under an archway of flowers – even a bride and groom, just wed, walking slowly towards their photographer (with red roses in her hair).

I took photographs as well of some irresistible blooming roses – the abundance of beauty was overwhelming

One white rose was blown open so that her petals were just ready to be carried away by the wind, so I reached out asking if these petals would like to come dancing with me and they fell into my hand. I brought them in my coat pocket to my friend’s summer solstice dance that evening and scattered them on her altar among the twinkle lights and yellow flowers.

During the dance I processed some of my personal suffering and felt the conquest of Night over Day at this transitional time of summer solstice. The dark moon enhancing the painful aspects of our ‘dark nights of the soul’.

There were tears again, flowing fast for me, and other dancers cried too during the solstice celebration. Brave hearts connecting to raw emotion, which can bloom at these peak times of the year.

I was crowned with flowers by Julia as the dance progressed, and a joyful emergence from pain into pleasure was a heartfelt gift for me, from the roses.

The rose circle was welcoming to everyone, but it felt significant that it was a women’s circle. Rose is an important ally for women and Rose medicine is supportive for women’s health particularly.

The sistership I felt in the circle and then from Julia at her dance continued to blossom on Sunday when I met with a handful of women for a solstice pot luck lunch in Scargle Nargle, Lisburn.

The rain and wind meant we couldn’t celebrate outdoors but we had sunshine in the warmth of friendship and tasty food. I made sun biscuits with honey, oranges, orange blossom water and rosemary and there were piles of strawberries, cherries, olives, cup cakes and a loaf of bread shaped like the sun.

Summer is an abundant time to share (food, laughter, concerns…) and I wish you some sweet summer moments of connection and beauty this year ~ may the roses fall at your feet and bless your journey, wherever you are.

Love and Sunshine from Lisburn, Catherine