Recipe for Love

In our gardens we house twenty-seven lovely rose bushes-- and while we enjoy their beauty outside very much, it also means happiness that these beauties need to be trimmed and loved to keep shining their glory.

Roses mean Love in all sorts of grand ways to many people-- the Victorians were quite serious about their Language of Flowers... Floriography.

In folklore and Herbal Craft, roses have long been used in love mixtures, owing to the flower's associations with the emotions. Rosewater is added to love baths. A rosewater saturated cloth laid to the temples will relieve headache pain. Rose petals sprinkled around the house calm personal stress and household upheavals. Roses planted in the garden attract faeries, and are said to grow best when stolen*.

Our gardens at the moment are bursting with these beauties, so what to do, except to bring their magic indoors?

A Recipe for Love, then.

Red roses symbolize love and respect.
Burgandy means simple pleasures.


Orange and Coral - Desire.


Versicolor - Mirthfulness


Lavender (also called Blue) - Sweet thoughts, gentility, grace, and majesty.


Pale Pink and Peach - Friendship


Pink - Appreciation and Gratitude


Yellow - Friendship and Joy


White - Reverence

For these purposes, we'll make ours mainly for a lovely room and linen spray.

We choose to cut roses is in the morning when they're well rested and not over-heated.
We collect ones that are their fullest, but that haven't started to deteriorate, yet.
We put the petals in a strainer with large holes and rinse them.To make sure we stay in good standing with Mama Nature, we do this outside with a gentle shower to rinse off any insects so they might go back to the ground.

Today we pressed as many petals as we could into a large jar
and then poured over them boiling water, stirring to release the air among the petals.

The lid gets screwed on tight, and we let the rosewater sit for twenty-four hours.

When it's done, we strain it.
This recipe will only keep for two weeks on the shelf before it starts to ferment, and a little longer if refrigerated.
(Lisa at 5 Orange Potatoes has posted two other rosewater recipes that are more involved and will keep for longer.)

Nothing makes a tidy space feel special like fresh cut flowers... and then a spray about the house with rose magic.

Connecting with The Magic Onions for Friday's Nature Table on June 24, 2011

Reference:
This rosewater recipe comes from A Victorian Grimoire by Patricia Telesco
*This paragraph is information taken from Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs.