In 2001 I did a workshop with Ian Watson on the Australian Bush Flower Essences. Ian started the class by having us each pick a flower from a bouquet. He asked us to choose the one that 'speaks' to us.

 I, of course, chose a red rose. I love them. I love the essence as well. The essence is used for the heart chakra, for compassion. I knew that, and had used it for that. There is something about real rose essence that is intoxicating.  It is the perfect example of how an imitation fragrance can never even approach a real essence.  Imitation rose is almost nauseating.  If you have never smelled the real thing go out and find some!  It is incredible.

In Egypt it is said that the angels smell like rose.  When ever you spontaneously smell rose there are angels present.  This experience I have had many times, and it is truly glorious.

Original painting by M J Leimart

The essence, which is usually an absolute not an essential oil, has very interesting properties.  Essential oils are distilled, Absolutes are solvent extracted.  This is done because of the low yield produced through distillation.  Although red or pink flowers are used the essence it’s self is yellow. 

In the workshop he asked us to just 'listen' to the flower and hear what it was saying.   At this point I still had not done my shamanic work with plants.  I was sure I would not be able to ‘hear’ anything but I tried anyway. 

I first put it on my third eye.  It gave me a headache. I then put it on my heart chakra, which was much better. Then I listened. And yes the flower did speak to me through the heart, our center of knowing.  The information I received was quite a surprise.  I understood that the flower was not just about compassion, but also about self-love (yellow the solar plexus) and that is what true compassion is all about. 

It was also through being forced into this experience (thank you Ian) that I learned that I CAN ‘hear’ the Devas, and went on to develop the Egyptian Flower Remedies.  I had made the Remedies the previous year, through guidance, but didn’t know what to do with them!  Not surprising that it would happen in this way as many years earlier when I met one of my spirit guides her name was Rose!  It all unfolds in Divine time.

On my own spiritual path I have done a lot of shadow work. Shadow work is about embracing your shadow side. The concept is that we each carry all the human traits good/bad, beautiful/ugly… but in varying degrees. The ones we like and value we embrace and define ourselves by.  The traits we don't like or accept about ourselves we put into our shadow side, just out of view, where we can’t see them.  The problem is they are still in us, drawing energy we just don’t see it, consciously.

Very often the traits we really dislike in others are ones that we dislike about ourselves and can be found hiding in our shadow side. In this regard we can actually use others as mirrors to reflect what is in our shadow.  If someone really annoys you look at that trait and see HOW (not if) it is a part of your self. Through this process we can come to know which traits we have placed in our shadow. 

Once we illuminate what is on the shadow side in is no longer in the 'shadow' it is in the light. When we can finally see the trait in ourselves and embrace it we can then begin to accept it in others, because then they become like us.  Not unlike us.  It is no longer an I/other dynamic but us, a part of both of us. 

Once these traits are illuminated they begin to lose their electrical charge because there is no energy of resistance or suppression going into the system.  This is true COMPASSION embracing all the traits, in ourselves, and in others. Not accepting, ignoring or allowing but by embracing.  The way to do that is by seeing that it is a part of ourselves, 'connectedness'.  Once we embrace these traits in ourselves we are then free to work with them.  We either embrace and accept the trait or transmute it into a positive aspect if it is not presenting it’s self in its best form.  Once we shift the energy in ourselves it often shifts in others.  Either way it is still one of our traits and we still have the connection to others having the same trait.

Like the sun (solar plexus) we (the ego) contain all colors of light (all traits). Compassion, in the form of self love/worth/respect resides in the solar plexus.  Or shall I say we are made aware of it through the solar plexus. It becomes personal or ‘human’ through the solar plexus.  We can embrace all of these qualities in ourselves, but in the solar plexus it is still in its polar form (good/bad, beautiful/ugly). It is only when it moves up to the heart chakra that it loses its polarity and becomes one/unified/'God-like' (rather than the 2, duality).

All the lower charkas are polar (earth plane, physical, dual). Once we move up to the heart chakra we move into to the one, unity. This higher vibration of compassion is Gods love, off of the earthly plane.  If we try to go to the heart directly with out moving through the solar plexus we are left without the necessary consciousness or awareness.  When on a spiritual path we must always remember that we have lower chakras as well.  It is through these chakras that we gain personal experience.  We ground and quantitate our experience.  This is why we live in a polar world.  Adam wanted to ‘know’ consciously through experience.  We quantitate through polarity, resistance, the interface between yin and yang. 

That Rose had a lot to say!  Thank God it comes as Knowing in a second rather than a long dissertation like I have written just here.  I would have spent the whole workshop interacting with the rose and missed what I ‘thought’ I was there for.

The second part of this understanding came during another workshop with Rita Hiri, Numerology and Spiritual Mindfulness.  In Rita’s work she uses Mandalas to access the vibrational levels of the numbers.  For each numerical vibration we draw a mandala, or should I say color a mandala because the shape is already printed on the page.  Needless to say what came out of that expression was the rose, right in the center of the mandala for the 3^rd light center.  As always once the door is open the information floods in.  Drawing or coloring a mandala is an excellent way to access the higher realms.  The clarity that I had was:

In ancient Egypt when a person died the Judgment ceremony was performed by Maat (Justice /balance/order) and Anubis (Scorpio/transformation).    In the ceremony the heart is weighted on a balance.  This ceremony the heart was not weighted for ‘goodness’, or how many ‘good’ things a person had done in their life.  That is a concept that is very much ingrained in western mentality.  But it is not based on wisdom.  It is often the ‘worst’ or ‘bad’ things we have done in our lives that have taught us the greatest lessons, so was it REALLY ‘bad’, or ‘good’? 

Satan is named Lucifer, from ‘luz’, light, the great illuminator.  He illuminates our impurities, guides us to our lessons.  That isn’t to say that anything goes, we are always responsible for our intentions, not the outcome.  When one focuses on this concept of doing only ‘good’ generally it leads people to justify any actions in the name of ‘good’.  Rather than facing and assessing what really happened and gaining the wisdom from the event, the mind twists it in order to maintain the illusion of goodness created by the Self. 

Wisdom and intention come from the heart not the mind.  In fact in ancient Egypt the heart and the other vital organs were embalmed.  The brain was thrown away, not considered a vital organ.  It was regarded, as it still should be, as a tool for the soul.

In the weighing ceremony the heart was weighed for balance and lightness.  How balanced was the person in their life?  On one side of a scale was the person’s heart, on the other side a feather.   The feather is well known as a symbol of spirit.  It is often used by shamans as a symbol of spirit and Light.

This becomes very obvious if you have ever seen a feather through Kirlian photography.  The feather holds a very interesting property.  Many objects under Kirlian photography will shine bright with white light.  The life force is very strong but usually only as long as it is connected to a living system, a tree, a body.  Once it is disconnected it begins to lose its strong light.  For example if a person dies their auric field diminishes over time.  This can be seen through Kirlian photography.  If a leaf is removed from a tree it will burn bright just after removal but in time the life force diminishes and we see less and less light in the photograph.  This is not true of the feather.  The lone feather detached from the bird burns with white light.  Incredible white light, that doesn’t diminish!   

This is why it is considered a symbol of spirit.   We can see it in the photographs!  Even when it is not connected to any ‘apparent' source it still burns bright.  It still maintains its life force or spirit.  Shamans know this even with out Kirlian photography, we need ‘proof’.

There is a Hadis about this as well.  The Hadis are the spiritual wisdom spoken by the Prophet Mohamed. (similar to the writings by the Apostles in the Bible).  He states that if there is even one spot of ego in the heart the spirit will be too heavy to ascend to heaven.  This brings up again the importance of the heart and it’s lightness, that we must clear our hearts of ego to attain that lightness.

When our heart is pure, with out one speck of ego then it will be as light as a feather, pure spirit.  The ancients were weighting the heart to see if the person had ‘lightened’ him self, transmuted the lower vibration ego into the higher vibration of the heart, compassion.  Jesus, setting an example for humanity, also had the same message.  We seem to be having a problem getting the message.

Interestingly enough we NOW live in the Age of Aquarius (the same message).  We know that Aquarius is about humanity.  But when considering any process, we always have to look at where we came from, the opposite end, what is pulling us.  Not just where we are going to but where we are coming from.  In this case Aquarius is on an axis with Leo.  Leo represents the ego or Self.  The spiritual lesson again is reflected in the age we are living in, moving from Self or ego to humanity, a higher vibration of Self.  So learn from the rose, take her as your teacher, and follow her to a higher vibration of Self.

©2005 Leslie Zehr