Sanctuary
Rose Oil
The rose, which is such
a
prevalent symbol for love in various cultures, in its form
symbolizes the great power of the feminine divine, layers within
layers. The rose is not just about
the sweet petals but also the thorns. It is not just about the lush
red flowers
but also the tough, woody roots that abide through the winter. With
this oil, I
wanted to combine beauty, toughness, and power of rose with myrrh,
which for me is one of the most
mysterious and
deep of all the plant resins. Myrrh stands for the dark
aspect of the divine feminine, the crone, cold and forbidding, stern.
Myrrh has a long association with the afterlife, since it is the
primary resin used in the ancient world for embalming. And there
are roses that are known to have the scent of myrrh. top
I was surprised to find that the rose also has a long connection with
death. The Romans had a festival called Rosalia where people offered
rosebuds to their beloved dead. The rose stood for eternal life because
of its perennial aspect - that it appears to die in fall (and there is
hardly anything more dead looking than a dormant rose bush) but then
comes back to life in the spring and blooms. Perhaps it is for this
reason that Hekate is sometimes depicted wearing a coronet of roses. In
Dark Age Egypt, roses were used in funeral wreaths. At that time roses
were also a tool for protection against attack by demons during ritual
magic. top
In Sufi Islam, roses represent perfect union with the divine. I think
of the layers of petals of the rose as representing the veils of being
or layers of knowledge one acquires while on the spiritual path.
Christianity adopted the rose as a symbol for Mary, but it was also
often a symbol of the death of martyrs, so it maintained its connection
with the afterlife. This connection of the rose with death and life is
even depicted on some versions of the Death card in Tarot, where Death
carries a flag showing a rose, symbol of life. top
Many consider myrrh to be the perfume of Binah, which represents the
divine feminine in the Kabbalistic Tree of Life system. Rose, in
contrast, is connected to Netzach. In this way I hoped to unite two
types - the welcoming, erotic goddess of a lush abundance and
reproduction and the stern, demanding goddess of death and the
underworld. I don't usually go for binaries, but these two just fit
together. top
Other ingredients in this oil are there to help the primary scents of
myrrh and rose to work together. They are turmeric, cinnamon, rose
geranium, opoponax, palmarosa, and balsam.
This oil offers sanctuary from the mundane, a stillness within
which one may explore the spiritual world. It is excellent as a
preparation for ritual work, since the rose scent is known to be
protective against spiritual attack. Consider it for working with the
Underworld, for protection from demonic forces while doing ritual
magic, and for honoring feminine aspects of the divine. top
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Sanctuary
Rose Oil
1/4 oz. (2 drams/7.5 ml) $16.00
Uses
in Witchcraft & Magic:
Honoring the
Feminine Divine
Working with the Underworld
Protection from Demonic Forces
Binah/Netzach Connection
Using Magic Oils
© 2007, 2018 Harold
A. Roth; No reproduction without permission
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