Deva Botanicals creator, Celine, tells of the inspiration and creation of her new 100% natural and organic handmade Rose products, embodying the healing essence of the plant devas.
O the Rose… Sacred to Aphrodite, lovers and poets, the rose of ethereal and delicate blossoms has a body that is thorny and robust (think Sleeping Beauty’s castle guarded by brambling roses), while being deeply rooted in ancient ground. Fossil records show that roses were gracing this earth 35 million years ago…
On a trip to Europe last spring I was lucky enough to visit the home of the oldest rose on the planet, the Rose of Hildesheim, thought to have been planted around 800 AD upon the construction of the Cathedral where this “Thousand Year Rose” survived the bombings of World War 2.
The Chinese and ancient Persians cultivated roses for millenia, cultivating the innumerable stamens (pollen bearing parts of the flower) into petals (most wild roses only have 5) to create the thousands of varieties of voluptuous full bodied roses of today and yesterday…
And yet only two species are grown for perfumery today, Rosa centifolia and the Damask rose (R. damascena). I was able to visit the countryside village of Grasse, the perfume capital of the world, where some of these roses are cultivated. The scent of roses composes the “Heart” note of the most valued perfumes and is impossible to replicate by modern chemistry due to its intricate nuances and it takes 60 roses to create a single drop of rose essential oil, making it one of the most expensive ingredients in true perfumes.
“Roses represent all aspects of the Goddess, the ability to love and nurture, and to see beauty in all things.” (The Master Book of Herbalism, Paul Beyerl)
The rose, Queen of the flowers, resonates with the energy of universal and unconditional love and the Goddess. Beloved of Venus and Aphrodite, the rose later became the Christian symbol of Mary, while in the Hindu Vedas the rose created the body of Lakshmi. Roses have powerful energy fields and rose oil has the highest measured vibration of any essential oil at 320 Hz! It is an angelic essence…
“Rose can be used to bring our consciousness closer to our angels and to the angelic self that dwells within us. To inhale rose is to inhale the love and kisses of angels.” (Aromatherapy for the Soul, Valerie Ann Wordwood)
Roses are good inside and out! Wild and some cultivated roses make delicious fruits called “rosehips” which are deep red or orange when ripe and contain their hairy (itchy!) seeds, (perfect for kids playing pranks, for which the wild rose has earned its french name “gratte-cul”). The hip is tasty and full of vitamin c. Harvesting rosehips very ripe and after a frost yields a sweeter fruit. Make your own rosehip tea blends with the whole rosehip, cooked rosehip jams, or rosehip honey (my favourite). Here is the recipe. You can buy the (deseeded) rosehips from an organic herbal source such as Mountain Rose Herbs, which is a much easier way to make the jam than trying to deseed the hips yourself.
Rosehip Honey (or Raw Rosehip ‘Jam’)
Fill a jar about ½ full of rosehips (deseeded, in pieces)
Moisten the rosehips with the juice of a Meyer lemon and allow to hydrate for about 20 minutes
Cover generously with honey
Stir in the zest/minced peel of a Meyer lemon, orange, or blood orange
Making sure the mixture is well covered with honey, allow to infuse for days/weeks, and enjoy!
This super delicious and beautiful spread can be eaten as a vitamin packed tonic for the winter, used as a facial mask, or delightful jam and keeps indeterminably (honey is an amazing natural preservative!).
Roses are good for the soul and the skin… Rose petals, essential oil and hydrosol for skin care is calming and moisturizing, gently toning, and antioxidant. Rosehip seed oil is highly nutritive, moisturizing and absorbs well into the skin, especially good for dry, aging and sensitive skin.
My company, Deva Botanicals’ Rose Everlasting Facial Cream contains the trilogy of highly nutritive rosehip oil (organic cold pressed from the seeds of the rosehip), toning and hydrating Bulgarian rose hydrosol, and divine Morrocan rose absolute. I handmake my products in small batches and use only natural preservatives and many organic ingredients.
Rose Mist Hydrating Facial Toner
Ingredients: Bulgarian rose hydrosol, organic aloe vera juice, California everlasting flower* extract, hyaluronic acid, Morrocan rose absolute Handcrafted with love & herbs* gathered from the Big Sur wilderness
2oz $7
Rose Immortelle Facial Cream
Ingredients: Bulgarian rose & helichrysum hydrosols, alkanet* infused sweet almond oil*, aloe vera juice*, cacao butter*, oliwax, shea butter, macadamia, argan, apricot kernel, avocado, meadowfoam, & rosehip seed* oils, Edelweiss glycerine extract, vit e blend with borage and evening primrose oils, natrapres (honeysuckle/radish natural preservative), Moroccan rose absolute, essential oils of palmarosa, helichrysum & rosemary verbenon* *organic ingredients
1 oz $25
To order Deva Botanicals Bodycare products, please contact check ETSY