Rose Ceremony

Empowerment





The Power of Rose

I Am

Beauty with Power
And Power with Love
Rooted deep in dark Earth
Bathed in Bright Light above

Behold my soft-petalled blossoms
Filled with Essence Divine
Beware my fierce-thorned branches
Faithfully guarding what is mine

I heal, I empower, I break sorcery's spell
Learn from me balance and boundaries as well
I uplift the downtrodden, I strengthen the weak
Come embrace me if beauty, love and power you seek!

I am the Wild Rose!

Copyright © Avalon Lau, 22.01.2010



Power and Love
The rose is a very interesting flower. It is widely seen as the flower of love, yet its most outstanding property is power! These two forces: power and love, are often seen as opposites, yet they are really one. It has been said that the seeker of power eventually will find the ultimate love and the seeker of love will find the ultimate power. Because at the highest stage, which some call illumination or self-realisation, in the state of Oneness, you will feel pure love and in that love there is supreme power. It is only when we try to have one of these qualities without the other that things go wrong. Power without love leads to cruelty and corruption, love without power leads to victimisation, martyrhood and ultimately to destruction! It is therefore important to have these two forces, power and love, in proper balance.



Lessons of the Rose
The rose is a flower that embodies the lesson of love with power and power with love. Its delicate beauty and uplifting fragrance opens the heart to higher emotions. Its thorns show clearly that it will brook no insult and knows how to defend itself. Like all flowers it gives freely of itself, yet will not be taken advantage of. It is a feisty flower, whose spirit is held to be male! Yet it has qualities that are both male and female. Its delicate softness and sweet fragrance show its Yin or feminine nature. Its hardiness and thorny protection show its warrior side, the Yang or male side. Thus the rose teaches us to integrate our male and female sides, the lover and the warrior, and go beyond traditional gender concepts into spirit and our androgynous nature. By embracing within ourselves the opposite polarity of what we have chosen to express in our bodies we become whole.



Earth and Sky
The Rose shows us the way home, to balance and to Oneness. With its roots deeply immersed in the dark soil of Earth Mother and its shining blossoms turned towards the light of Sky Father, it embraces both light and dark, male and female within itself. And so the rose teaches us to embrace everything, to unite the pairs of opposites and become whole.

The shape of the rose blossom is a perfect example of a fractal (see Fractal Evolution) and has often been taken to represents the heart chakra, also called the lotus of the heart, which is our spiritual and emotional centre, the seat of our soul. Rose flowers can be used as an offering to the gods and their spiritual meaning is devotion. As a rose bud slowly unfolds under the light of the sun, devotion gradually opens your heart to the divine, so that it becomes a fit vessel for the light of God and the love of the Goddess.



Balance and Boundaries
The rose teaches us to keep balance in all things: to be loving and giving, but not to be taken advantage of. To stay grounded while we spiritually soar. To use our power with love, and to protect what we love with power. It teaches us to bring beauty to this world by expressing our inner selves fearlessly, sharing our beauty freely with the world around us, yet keeping boundaries so we will not be overrun and stifled by the weeds of takers usurping our space. It teaches us to open our hearts fearlessly, the way a flower opens to the sun, and let the light of illumination transform us. It also teaches us to close ourselves, to protect ourselves when exposed to a harsh environment, the way the rose closes its blossoms in harsh weather. The rose teaches trust tempered by wisdom.

Strength in Adversity
The delicate blossoms are in stark contrast to the hardiness of the rose. Even in the harshest winter the rose survives. It takes its power underground, back to the womb of Mother Earth and there it rests until the light awakens it again to yet another cycle of beauty and growth. Rose teaches us that there is a time for everything and to go with the flow and be attuned to the Earth. Rose is a survivor and teaches us to survive hardship and unfriendly environments and yet prosper and grow spiritually through those hard times. Rose teaches us to be flexible, to adapt and make the most of our environment, and through it all to keep growing! Rose holds the virtue of strength in adversity. Indeed, the rose is the most supreme flower, and there is much we can learn from it!



Avalon's Rose Ceremony
The entire ceremony, which is actually a mini workshop cum ceremony should take about four hours. It will commence with approximately two hours of teaching about the powers of rose and how to work with this flower for empowerment, healing and love. You will be made aware of the many ways you are losing power or giving it away, then learn the process of taking back power. There will be a practical part, with a meditation which once learned can help you to reclaim all your lost power from those who have taken it from you, whether these be individuals or groups such as authorities.

Using the rose flower in healing and for beauty will be another topic as well as opening to love and healing the heart with the power of rose. We will be focusing specifically on the manipura chakra (navel chakra) and the anahata chakra (heart chakra), the seats of power and love, which are the primary chakras affected by rose. You will also learn how to cut etheric cords that drain you and keep you trapped. The use of rose for spiritual protection and against sorcery will be discussed as well.

After finding your true intention and having prayed for healing and empowerment we will be taking a shamanically prepared rose potion together and allow rose to come to us and teach us its lessons, heal us on all levels and empower us. Sacred songs and power songs of rose will be sung while you journey with this sacred plant. There will also be a time for completely silent meditation so that in stillness the power of rose blends with your power. Towards the end the shamanka, that is I, will perform healing as needed and then ground the power into your energy field to make it permanent. You should come out of the ceremony fully empowered and healed on a soul level.



Unlocking the Power of Rose
The rose is my personal power plant and has taught me its song after a shamanic process called a plant dieta which you can read about power plant dietas about on the Power Plants Page. Because I have done this process and learned the song of this flower I can work with rose on a very deep level. The rose is also the sacred plant of a powerful Goddess whom I serve as a priestess. My rose potion will be prepared in a sacred shamanic way and with power. The importance of sacred preparation of medicine plants cannot be overemphasized. You can read more about this on the Medicine Ceremonies page. Only when a shaman has gained a sacred plant as a personal helper and learned its song, and only when the plant is prepared in a sacred way and the ceremony is likewise conducted in a sacred way, can maximum benefits for all participants of the medicine ceremony be achieved.



On Group Ceremonies
Rose ceremonies can be done as a one on one or in a group of people. I am happy to work with individuals, where appropriate and practical, but experience has taught that group ceremonies bring greater healing -- besides being more economic for the participants. When a group of people works together, they help each other to release trauma and issues much faster, in a spiritual chain-reaction so to speak! Similarly, the empowerment of one participant affects all others positively as well. By sharing we get more and grow faster! In sacred ceremony the group energy acts like like a spiritual pressure cooker and speeds up transformation.

Arrangements
Ceremonies will always take place in the evening as shamanic medicine ceremonies traditionally are held after nightfall. The night time is most conducive to getting powerful visions, and at night it also is easier to attune with plant spirits. If you live locally and wish to drive home after a rose ceremony it will be no problem. Rose is a gentle healer and shouldn't affect your ability to function. However, in case you live far away, or wish to rest or meditate immediately after the medicine ceremony, you may need to make arrangements where to stay overnight. Unfortunately I do not have guest facilities where I live at present -- unless the Goddess sees fit to give me the healing centre I have been dreaming of for so long!
Please e-mail me if you have questions or are interested in arranging or booking a rose ceremony!

Copyright © Avalon Lau, 24.01.2010