There is no flower that has captivated humanity quite like rose. Its sweet, delicate fragrance inspires feelings of love that range from agape to passion. This flower inspired perfumers to develop technologies to best capture rose essential oil to preserve its alluring fragrance. A natural perfume of rose is hard to come by as there are plenty of synthetic attempts on the market. Few distillers can capture rose fragrance into a natural perfume that will do rose justice. Rose essential oil is costly to produce so many people never get the chance to experience a true rose essential oil or pure rose absolute.

Floracopeia now offers a beautiful natural perfume of Rose in its recently launched Chandra Collection of Natural Perfumes infused into jojoba. Rose absolute is blended with organic jojoba oil to produce an oil that is much less expensive rose essential oil and captures the fragrance of rose that we all seek to emulate naturally.

With the launch of this new rose perfume, it seems the perfect time to republish an article on Rose written by David Crow which features Rose Natural Perfume. If you have not had a chance to experience the Rose Petal Infused Perfume you are in for a real treat.

In the meantime, enjoy this poetic celebration of Rose.

Click here to exlpore all Floracopeia Products that feature Rose.

Rose

By David Crow, L.Ac. (Published in Yogi Times, Nov. ‘04)

The next time you stop to smell a rose, imagine that its deep, rich floral fragrance is a gift from nature to your heart and soul. In her generosity, the earth has blessed us with over five thousand varieties of this beautiful flower. However, only few give the world-renowned treasure sought by perfumers:
the essential oil of rose.

The most famous of the roses is the pink-red Damascus rose. This rose is legendary for the exquisite aroma of its oil. In Bulgaria’s Valley of Roses, this rose and the white rose are cultivated side by side, as their companionship strengthens each others resistance to harsh weather and disease.

Roses, like all flowers, have a biorhythm that dictates their cycles of blossoming and production of fragrance molecules. The harvesting of roses for distillation begins in the early dawn at the time the Vedas call Brahma muhurta, God's time, as the peak production of rose essential oil in the petals is in these pre-dawn hours. Roses produce their maximum levels of damascenone, the primary molecule of rose fragrance, on the mornings of the full moon. Ayurveda observes that the full moon radiates a special kind of energy, called soma, which is said to have a cooling, nourishing, and relaxing effect on the mind and body. It is fascinating to consider the biological connections between the cooling influence of the moon's rays, the biorhythmic production of damascenone molecules in roses according to the moon, and the effects of rose essential oil, which, like soma, are cooling and relaxing to the mind and body.

This, then, is one way to think of the feminine oil of roses: it is the moonlight absorbed by the flowers, the dew on their petals at dawn, and the flavors of the soils in which they grow. It is a well-known fact among farmers and perfumers that organically cultivated roses produce a superior essential oil, while those raised with synthetic pesticides and fertilizers lose the essence of soma. A pure rose essential oil from healthy soma-rich roses is an elixir for ojas, the nutritional essence that supports the immune system. Rose oil is tridoshic, meaning that any body type can use it without concern for causing physiological imbalances.

As we are in the Thanksgiving season, it would be appropriate to mention a few statistics about rose oil as we savor its aroma. It requires 1,400,000 handpicked blossoms to produce a liter of oil. A single ounce of the oil contains the essence of 40,000 blossoms, and sixty-seven blossoms give only one drop. If we remember these numbers as we inhale the precious perfume, we will naturally feel a sense of gratitude toward all those who have labored hard to bring us such a treasure.

There is an analogy between this labor and the symbolic meanings of rose in spiritual traditions. Rose essential oil is a gift of healing and joy from the flowers, but this essence does not come easily. Likewise, roses symbolize the open heart filled with love and sattvic consciousness, which, like a gradual alchemical distillation process, must be cultivated with yogic diligence, sincerity, and mindfulness. Roses are also a paradoxical symbol for the apparent duality of worldly and spiritual realms: they represent the essence of purity, innocence, and sattvic qualities, yet their oil is also one of the most famous ingredients in alluring and sensual perfumes. Like the symbolism of lotuses, which are said to open their radiant petals above the mud of worldly concerns, roses offer their enticing beauty, but warn us of the dangers of samsara with their thorns.

There are many ways for yogis and yoginis to use rose essential oil to enhance their practice, all of them enjoyable. A drop applied to the heart, throat, or third eye centers deepens any meditation, especially those contemplations that develop love and compassion. Rose has renowned powers as a sexual rejuvenator and romantic aphrodisiac; it is the perfect anointing oil for yourself and your beloved before tantric lovemaking, helping to transform the impulses of sexual gratification into deeper levels of emotional intimacy. An application of rose essential oil as a simple perfume is an antidote to the rajasic aggravation that disturbs the mind when we follow the news too closely, something to remember in this election month. A few drops of oil or a sprinkling of fresh petals on the bath restores equanimity and joy lost in the course of a typical modern workday.

Wearing this exquisite oil is not only a treat to yourself; everyone you come in contact with will be affected positively by the aura of this sublime flower. Remember this the next time you stop to smell a rose.

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