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

Hello again website reader.

June is when the roses bloom, so the June full moon is known as the ‘Rose Moon’.

I’m preparing for my first Rose Circle in Belfast ~ diving into the rose mysteries so I can create soft temple space at Body Conscious Studios on Saturday 25 June.

Welcome to the rose circle

Details here: https://www.facebook.com/events/719755805837587

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This week’s rose (super) moon brought me to the ocean yesterday ~ at Crawfordburn and Helen’s Bay

Wild roses are abundant here, moving with the sea breeze and humming with pollinators.

The sun increasing power as we approach solstice, and the moon brimming with super fullness pulled me straight into the water.

Rose petal in hand. Roses at the gate, and along the path

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Rose is a cooling herb, and the cold water immersion of my whole body in the sea, my head heated from walking in the hot sun, helped me remember that plant medicine is an embodied experience.

How do you feel when looking at these images of Rose?

What does she open up in your thoughts and feelings, memories and body sensations?

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For me and for many, the rose is profoundly mystical.

Her shape, colour, form and fragrance speak to something ancient within.

As my love affair with Rose grows I like to eat her in as many ways as possible

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yesterday’s Rose bowl breakfast, after a beautiful rosy full moon night

Rose petal honey, rosehip syrup and dried rose petals, on porridge with warm strawberries and cream.

Summer magic in a bowl ~ Rose is a delicious charm.

Plant dieting is a powerful way to become friends with a plant.

Yesterday I harvested some petals and leaves from the wild roses and made rose body oil, rose honey and rose tea for the bath

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I will share more about this in the rose circle, and other preparations you can make with roses.

I will also bring the ‘rose elixir’ I made this month to help connect with the spirit of Rose

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As I’m a writer/ songwriter, my rose pilgrimage brought me to my pen and paper yesterday

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She rose

Rose

Rustled the centre

Of everything.

In the midst

Of everyone

She bloomed,

Fell

At our feet

So gently

No-one

Saw a thing.

Her fruit shone

And withered.

All she had

Left were thorns,

Tearing the centre

Of everything

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The Rose circle will include rose spirituality, flower medicines, and soft guided journeys to meet the spirit of rose, in her wild and cultivated forms

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12 – 2.30 Saturday 25 June at Body Conscious Studios, Botanic Avenue, Belfast

FB event details: https://www.facebook.com/events/719755805837587

I hope to see you there x

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I make flower remedies and am a budding flower therapist. I have trained with various plant medicine teachers and studied shamanic practice with The Transpersonal Institute at Dunderry Park, Ireland.

Hello from a cool June morning in Northern Ireland. The moon is full and the sun is hiding behind the clouds.

This weekend I held an ‘introduction to flower healing’ circle, at Scargle Nargle holistic centre in Lisburn.

Here is the wise woman behind the business Colleen, who is a healer and has been so supportive to me.

The centre of the circle is a focus for everyone to reflect and find common ground. On Saturday the flower for the centre was Elder.

She is in full bloom and filling my street with fragrance. She grows over the wall where children walk to school and seems to be reaching down to them, mostly over their heads but watching over them.

I went to meet her and the wind was being very playful. It was lovely to bring a head of elderflowers to the group.

I placed her in the centre in a bowl of spring water, to help demonstrate how flower remedies are made.

The group had many things to share about Elder flowers. There were common threads (or lace..?) of familiarity, recipes and feminine power. We were an all female group.

As we discussed death and birth I thought of one of my personal ‘elders’.

My great great grandmother on my mother’s side was the local ‘births and deaths woman’ for her area. Called on as a midwife and also to lay out the dead. I felt very calm and supported in the group.

I brought an elder flower remedy I made years ago and realised I haven’t used this yet for emotional healing, though I use her black berries (tinctured) and white flowers a great deal.

Her flowers and berries are both edible and highly medicinal (mind the stems!) Only ingest wild plants when you are confident in both plant identification and herbal medicine preparation.

Folklore says to doff your cap to the Elder… She deserves our respect, as she is a medicine tree!

It was a really special afternoon and there was laughter as well as emotional discussions.

We all picked a flower from two lovely decks of flower cards. This created a meadow of flowers, to reflect the emotional body of the group.

Flower remedies are vibrational medicines, made with water and sunshine. I brought a selection of flower remedies, made by myself and other suppliers.

The Bach range are very well known.

I shared the details of my Bach flower training (one participant has already signed up for level one!) and gave out flyers for Lucia, a local Bach flower practitioner who has helped me and is qualified to give consultations and make individual flower blends.

I highly recommend Lucia. See her website ‘Silent Beauty’ for more information https://bach-therapy.com/

My Elder flower essence helped me connect to my feminine beauty, the centre of the circle, and my own elders. I put it in my water bottle and made a mist (I love floral sprays) to prepare the space for the flower circle.

I shared my personal story of healing bipolar disorder and pharmaceutical addiction with flower remedies, and explained that I am developing a new range of floral mists from my apothecary…

More about these soon!

Thank you for reading and I hope there is a flower near you to bring you some healing today.

Love Catherine

Welcome to my web site said the spinning lady spider to the little curious creatures.

There is medicine spinning in the garden, in the dew drops which I string along my silk threads.

Bach Rescue Remedy is a well know flower essence, it is a combination of five flowers for emergency situations.

Dr Bach was a scientist fascinated with homeopathy and nature’s healing energies. He created his range of flower remedies using water and sunshine, inspired by observing dew drops on flowers …

Quiet, tiny medicine drops.

Flower remedies are used by adding a drop or two into your water.

Subtle medicine works gently, like finely tuning the orchestra of emotions within us. Tiny keys can open heavy doors.

Vibrational medicine does not harm the body, create addiction or have unpleasant side effects.

I hope to share more on this site about the magic of flower medicines. Thank you for dropping by!

Love Catherine