"The rose is a flower of love. The world has acclaimed it for centuries. Pink roses are for love hopeful and expectant. White roses are for love dead or forsaken, but the red roses, ah the red roses are for love triumphant."
The rose, “The Queen of Flowers”, according to fossil evidence, 35 million years old and for thousands of years, many cultures around the world have revered the rose for its mind, body and spiritual healing benefits. It has been used to relieve heart, depression, anxiety, psycho-spiritual related imbalances.
Vishnu, the supreme God of India, formed his bride, Lakshmi, from 108 large and 1,008 small rose petals. Thus, the rose early became a symbol of beauty.
Persians, in their poems and paintings, associated it with the nightingale. Once the flowers complained in Heaven that their Queen, the Lotus blossom, slept by night. In order to bring about a reconciliation, Allah named the white rose Queen of Flowers. The nightingale was so enamored of the beauty of the rose that she flew down to embrace it, and thereby pierced her breast with its sharp thorns. From the drops of her blood falling upon the earth grew new roses and from that day there were red roses in Persia.
According to one Moslem legend, the rose sprang from the beads of sweat of the Prophet Mohammed. In another, they came from the perspiration of a lady named Joun whose appearance was white at dawn but rosy at midday.
Roman mythology says that the word “rose” originated from the name of the Goddess of Flowers, Flora, when, in pain upon being struck by Cupid’s arrow, she was unable to properly pronounce the word Eros and instead said “ros”. From this, the word “rose” becomes a synonym for Eros; to the Romans and Greeks it is the symbol of youth, vitality, love, beauty and the fruitfulness of nature.
In several other stories:
Flora found the dead body of her dearest and most beautiful nymph; inconsolable, she begged all the Gods to come to her aid to change the dead body of her loved one into the most beautiful flower which would be recognized as Queen of all Flowers. Apollo, God of the Arts, gave her the breath of life, Bacchus bathed her in nectar, Vertumnus gave her fragrance, Pomona fruit, and Flora herself finally gave a diadem of petals, and thus the rose was born.
The God Zephyrus, God of the West Wing, loved Flora so much that he changed himself into a rose because the Goddess had no interest other than flowers. When Flora saw the rose, she kissed it and thus fulfilled Zephyrus’ wish.
To the ancient Greeks, Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love, was seen as the creator of the rose. In one tale Adonis, her lover, was mortally wounded, when hunting, by a wild boar. She hastened to his side and from the mixture of his blood and her tears grew a superb, fragrant, blood-red rose. In another version, Adonis was more superficially wounded and Aphrodite, while running to him, scratched herself on the thorns of a rose bush. Her blood started to flow at once and the white flowers on the bush turned to red. Finally, there is a story which tells us of the origin of the white rose: Aphrodite was born of sea-foam and from this foam, wherever it fell to the ground, grew white rose bushes.
To the ancient Romans, the rose was a symbol of beauty and the flower of Venus, the Goddess of love; it was also a symbol of death and rebirth, and often planted on graves. Legend offers the following stories about the origins of the rose:
Venus was loved by Adonis, God of beauty and desire, but also desired by Mars, the God of War. Mars decided to have Adonis killed, but, at the last moment, he was hurriedly warned by Venus. In her haste, she let her foot slip in a rose bed, from the blood which flowed from the scratches onto the ground sprang up red roses.
Cupid, one of the Gods of Love, knocked over, with his wing, a bowl of wine standing on a table beside Bacchus, God of Wine; from this pool of wine on the ground came a rose bush.
When Christians adopted the rose as a symbol, it still carried connections with ancient mother goddesses. The flower became associated with Mary, the mother of Christ, who was sometimes addressed as the Mystic or Holy Rose. In time, the rose took on additional meanings in Christian symbolism. Red roses came to represent the blood shed by the martyrs who died for their faith; white ones stood for innocence and purity. One Christian legend says that roses originally had no thorns. But after the sin of Adam and Eve —for which they were driven out of the Garden of Eden —the rose grew thorns to remind people that they no longer lived in a state of perfection.
The Chemistry Of Rose
For centuries the terms ‘feminine’ ‘floral’ and ‘powdery’ have been strong associations, and certain species of rose also carry a ‘fresh’ hint of ‘citrus’ as well as ‘clean’ ‘masculine’ ‘woody’ and even ‘fruity’ notes. Every flower species is made up from over 300 different molecules including linalool, aldehydes, geraniol and citronellol.
Rose Essential Oil and Absolute
Roses are hand picked early in the mornings when the scent is strongest. The most well known producers are Turkey, Bulgaria, France and Morocco and their geographical location and weather can affect the scent and quality of the roses.
The rose essential oil (mostly Rosa centifolia aka may rose and Rosa damascena aka damask rose) are steam extracted the same day. The remaining rose water, which has a lighter fragrance is commonly used in desserts as well as being sold as hydrosols.
According to one source, to produce one 5ml bottle of rose oil, it takes approximately 252,000 individual petals (or 8,000 rose flowers, the equivalent to 42 lbs. of rose petals and is very expensive.
Rose Vs Geranium Rose - What's the Difference?
Geranium, from the Latin Pelargonium graveolens, means strong-smelling - but it’s not the flowers that carry its scent, it is the leaves! If you crush a geranium leaf between your fingers, you’ll smell citrus and fruity accents with a hint of spice and a rose.
| Rose | Rose Geranium |
Predominant Scent | Feminine - soft, powdery | Masculine - fresh, citrusy, lemon, herbaceous, woody, green |
Chemistry | linalool, aldehydes, geraniol, citronellol | citronellol, nerol, geraniol, linalool |
Perfume Note | Middle, Base | Top - fresh, slightly citrusy aroma with hints of sweet, rosy notes. |
Extraction | Steam Distillation | Steam Distillation |
“Take time to smell the roses.”
—Proverb
Bruce Tainio of Tainio Technology developed equipment to measure the bio-frequency of humans, foods, and essential oils. The vibrational frequency of essential oils are measured in megahertz (abbreviated MHz), which cycle at a rate much faster than electricity, equal to 1,000,000 cycles per second.
Rose essential oil vibrates at a rate of 320 MHz. It is associated with the heart center and emanates love, purity, and wholeness, connecting mind, body, and spirit.
We love these essential oils from Vibrant Blue Oils:
Rose™ is stimulating and elevating to the mind, creating a sense of balance in the body and helping to gently release anxiety and nervous tension and promote feelings of happiness.
Uplift™, from Vibrant Blue Oils promotes feelings of strength, courage, and protection and supports optimal energetic alignment.
These essential oils can be added to a bath, massaged into the skin or applied directly over the heart.
Enjoy a healing bath
Healing baths can help wash away stress and anxiety and create feelings of joy, optimism and relaxation.
2 cups Epsom salt
1 cup Baking Soda
3 - 7 drops Essential Oils
Mix Essential Oils with Epsom Salt before adding to bath water for optimal absorption.
As a gift from Vibrant Blue Oils, Click here to download the Vibrant Blue Oils Guide to Healing Baths with Essential Oils for optimal health and relaxation.
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