One of this weekend’s Reiki Drum students brought in a beautiful Rose to the class. Its scent was alluring.  Roses are blooming in my garden as I write and it is a joy to pass by them every day, not only because of their exquisite beauty, but because of their evocative scent.

Rose is the Queen of the Flowers, symbolic of love both human and Divine, acceptance and purity. For those of you who have trained with me in the past, you will know how much respect I have for plants and their energetics.  I use both smudge and essential oils in all of my classes to create sacred space and produce a positive healing effect on a person’s energy field. By doing so, we connect with the Spirit of the plant in the case of using the smudge mixtures and work with the concentrated life force of a plant when we use it’s essence with essential oils.  We can smudge a room or a person with the sacred smoke from a plant, or burn essential oils in a room.  Another way of bringing in the energies of a plant is to place a drop of the relevant essential oil on your hands prior to giving Reiki. The energies and aromas of the plant work at a subtle level on the energy body, giving way to a branch of aromatherapy known as subtle aromatherapy.  Using essence is one of the most powerful and effective ways of accessing the limbic system of the brain, that part of our brain which houses our subconscious memories and behaviours.

So what energetic value does the beautiful and much revered Rose have?

Rose works on the Heart Chakra, the energy centre where we house our joy, love, forgiveness and compassion. I often use this oil on someone’s energy field if I feel their Heart Chakra has closed due to perhaps sadness or negative life experiences such as hurt and rejection. It is a wonderful oil to use if someone has problems in expressing their grief, and cannot cry.  The loving, nurturing energies of Rose allow people to take off their masks, open their hearts and release the tears which give them freedom and allow them to trust in life again. The Rose also invites in Angelic energies and brings in joy and happiness, it gently assists with feelings of pain, anxiety and depression.

Having been on the Reiki path for a while now I see it very much as a path of compassion. In class discussion this weekend we discussed the oneness of humanity and everything in the Universe. A little while ago I caught my very human side passing judgement on another. My wise and inner guidance asked me the question, how can you judge another, by doing so you judge yourself? How true. In our quest for perfection, we often see the mistakes in others.  Having done lots of Karuna Shadow work I’m very aware that those mistakes are echoes from our own past, reflections of things we too have done, and the people we judge are a gift from the Universe, allowing us to see our true nature, and make changes where necessary. Symbol 3 in Usui Reiki symbolises this Oneness. Therefore the Reiki path is the path of love, forgiveness and compassion. Once we become aware of how others are our mirror, we can only but love and forgive, and in doing so we forgive ourselves.

So the Rose today, Queen of the Flowers, inspired me to use essential oil of Rose energetically on myself and has allowed me to write from the heart about our forgiving, accepting and loving role on the Reiki path.

For those of you who would like to step further on your Reiki Path I have scheduled a Reiki Advanced and Master Teacher Class from 19th to 21st November 2010 and am now taking bookings. For those Reiki Master Teachers who would like to take the next step in their spiritual development and teaching ability, I am running a Karuna Reiki® class 21st to 23rd August 2010 and still have a few places left. There are also a couple of spaces left on the Reiki II Okuden class being held midweek 7th & 8th July. All other scheduled classes can be found in the course section of the Reiki Drum site.