Rose

The Power of Rose

_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 Sakti Tiamat, 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 represent 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!