Rose Oil
Often hailed as the 'queen of flowers', the rose has held a prominent place in the mythology of cultures both in the east and west for thousands of years.It is widely recognised as a powerful symbol of sovereignty, love, femininity, beauty and spiritual insight.Today, rose essential oil is as popular as ever, valued highly for both its perfumery and therapeutic uses. Safe, natural and easy to use, this book reveals how it can be used in the home for a multitude of different purposes including:• asthma• cardiac weakness• depression• hangovers• headaches• insomnia• pregnancy• skin care• stress
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Thorsons
An Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
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Hammersmith, London W6 8JB
Published by Thorsons 1995
Copyright © Julia Lawless 1995
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Julia Lawless asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
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Source ISBN 9780722531730
Ebook Edition ©JULY 2014 ISBN: 9780008106188
Version: 2014-08-26
To ‘Didi’
Contents
Part I: A Medical and Historical Background
2 The Traditional Medicinal Uses of the Rose
3 The Rose as a Twentieth-Century Remedy
4 Cultivation, Production and Quality Control
5 A Summary of the Properties and Applications of Rose Oil
6 Methods of Use, Safety Data and Storage Precautions
Part II: A – Z of Health and Beauty Applications:
acne/blemished skin;ageing/mature skin;amenorrhoea (absent periods);anorexia/loss of appetite;anxiety;asthma;blepharitis;bruises;children;cold sores;conjunctivitis/ophthalmia;cuts and wounds;depression;dermatitis and eczema;dry/cracked skin;dysmenorrhoea (painful periods);faintness and dizziness;haemorrhoids;hangover;hay fever;headaches;heat rash;high blood-pressure;immune system (to strengthen);infectious illness;insomnia;leucorrhoea and pruritis;menopausal problems;menorrhagia (heavy periods);menstruation problems;migraine;mouth ulcers;palpitations;perfume uses;perspiration (excessive);pregnancy and childbirth;premenstrual tension (PMT);scars;sensitive skin;sexual problems;skin care;stress;thread veins;varicose veins
Appendix A: Different Types of Rose Species
Oh, no man knows
Through what wild centuries
Roves back the rose.
Walter de la Mare, All That’s Past
When did the passion for the rose begin? Fossil studies have shown that wild roses were already blooming 40 million years ago! Simple rose images have been identified on murals and in sculptural relief forms dating from the earliest historical times. The oldest of these is depicted on the wall of the excavated Palace of Knossos in Crete, believed to be more than 4,000 years old. A rose is also stamped on one of the oldest coins which has been unearthed, a 2000 BC Hittite artefact. However, these ancient specimens are difficult to identify with botanical accuracy because of the basic nature of the design.
No such doubt exists, however, with respect to a wreath of five-petalled flowers which was discovered in an Egyptian tomb (circa AD 26) by British archaeologist Sir Flinders Petrie in 1888:
In the dry desert air, the wreath’s petals had shrivelled, but they still kept their colour, and when placed in warm water, the blossoms seemed to come back to life. Buds swelled, and the pink petals spread, unfolding to reveal the knot of golden threads at the centre just as they must have been on the morning of the funeral. A botanist at Cambridge had little trouble in identifying Petrie’s flowers as roses, specimens of ‘Rosa richardii’ (R. sancta), a species already known as ‘the Holy Rose of Abyssinia’ because at that time it was still a fixture of the Coptic Christian churchyards in that country.>1
Similar remains have also been found in graves throughout Middle Egypt, together with frescoes and scraps of fabric portraying simple roses with five petals. It is significant that the rose was one of the flowers sacred to the Egyptian Goddess Isis, guardian of love and destiny, who has been worshipped for more than 5,000 years! Signs of an ancient rose cult have also been found in India and in Syria – even the name Syria comes from the word ‘suri’, meaning ‘land of roses’. The ‘Holy Rose’ still grows in Egypt today, and can also be found in remote areas of Northern Ethiopia (the former Abyssinia). In 1920, a monk reported finding a rose growing in an Ethiopian mountain village at an altitude of 8,000 feet!
Trade in roses also became established at a very early stage in history. The royal groves of Ur in the Euphrates–Tigris region have revealed that the Sumerian King Sargon (2648–2630 BC) returned from a campaign bringing ‘vines, figs and roses’. Caravans wandered from the rivers of Babylonia, taking their cargo with them right across Egypt to North Africa. Arab nomads played a vital role in the distribution of the rose not only throughout the Middle East, but also later by bringing it to Europe.
