As white clouds sail above my garden today, and robins peck at morsels the fat turtle-doves dislodged from the feed-balls I hung into tree branches, I’m thinking of the hectic buying-frenzy in town, and what springs to mind is that it’s all about feeling loved. In that spirit – a Christmas gift for you, my readers and friends – The Rose Trick – a guided imagery from another dimension. I use this imagery in my work, though it turns out different each time. Once you have read the text, close your eyes and make it real – imagine…
A garden, your inner garden – in it grows a rose bush that carries one bud about to open. Stand still and observe – a luminous tip of colour peeks from the enfolding calyx – the sepals gradually separate and turn their green tips outward. See the rose bud stir – see its petals open in a slow and fluid movement – until the luminous rose has attained its perfect shape and exudes its delicate fragrance.
As the garden fills with radiant light, imagine the open rose growing into another dimension, expanding in size to a sphere that is inviting you in. Overcome the weight of your thoughts, walk barefoot with feather-light steps towards the centre of the rose-orb and sit and rest there for a while …
Absorb the soothing resonance, the exquisite tenderness of the petals, and the subtle scent of the rose-sphere through every cell of your body. Be loved. Become the perfect rose.
Now rise and return to the former dimension of your garden. Look back. Watch how the rose grows small and folds back into it sepals – watch the bud floating into the palm of your hand – sense the rosebud in your hand, and how its power wishes to stay alive in your heart so you can call upon its unfolding whenever you need loving. Do it, place the rose and the whole experience of rose-becoming into your heart.
* * *
Do this imagery when you feel a lack of harmony, or if you lost someone dear. It will re-animate the attar of roses in your heart.
The inspiration behind this imagery, which, done with an open attitude, can be powerfully transforming, comes from great beings like Hazrat Inayat, Khan, Fazal Inayat-Khan, Roberto Assagioli, R M Rilke, Rumi, Bette Midler, and from roses grown in many gardens …
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‘When one of us gets lost, is not here, he or she must be inside us.
There’s no place like that anywhere in the world.’ Rumi
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The following are thoughts from ‘The Mind World’ – Volume Four of Hazrat Inayat Khan’s lectures.
The Function of the Heart
The heart, in Sufi terms, is called the mirror. Whatever is reflected in the heart does not only remain a reflection but becomes a creative power productive of the phenomenon of a similar nature.
For example, a heart that is holding in itself and is reflecting the rose will find roses everywhere. Roses will be attracted to the heart and roses will be produced from it and for it. As this reflection deepens and becomes stronger it becomes creative of the phenomenon of roses and the symbolic qualities we associate with roses.
Equally, the heart that holds and reflects wounds will find wounds everywhere. It will attract wounds and it will create wounds; for that is the phenomenon of reflection. There are examples to be found in the world of people who by retaining a thought have created on the physical plane its manifestation, its phenomenon. The reason is – that the phenomenon is not only an image as produced in the mirror
but that reflection in the heart is the most powerful thing. It is life itself – and it is creative.
If the heart is calm enough to receive reflections fully and clearly, one can choose for oneself which reflection to repel and which to retain.
* * *
Maybe we are the particle science is chasing ..
See also Bette Midler – The Rose: http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&hl=en-GB&v=oR6okRuOLc8
And https://courseofmirrors.wordpress.com/2012/07/14/imagination/
And …
Arvo Pärt – Alina!
Course of Mirrors 
What a beautiful post. I am sure this will help me when I can’t sleep. Thank you x
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Thanks, Diane. The moment before going to sleep is an excellent time to trick the mind into a calmer dimension. Slowing down brainwaves opens a channel to inner guidance. We wake refreshed. The practice is deepened by repetition.
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Such a beautiful piece.
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Thank you Katia.
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Thank you Ashen, I love it!
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Hi Elmer, thanks. I miss you.
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That was beautiful. So many of your posts act as memories for me, accessing some deep almost forgotten feeling and image from my past. Very therapeutic, very soothing for the soul…
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Thank you. Soothing it be, Sophie …
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🙂 xx
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This sounds like a great way to get in touch with the light within each of us, that part of us buried under all the distractions, artificiality and conflicting influences that, taken together, we often mistake for the self. There is something to us, after all, that isn’t bounded by the world or subject to its many torments.
I’ve always liked that Bette Midler song and I was reminded of another about roses, one that has deeper meaning after reading your post:
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Oh my, Groucho. He and his brothers were the best. This made me smile all the way through. What a song. Thanks J. F.
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Your post reminds me of this poem:
The gardener kneels before the ruined plant;
Breathes softly on her ragged crown.
‘I am the son of the soil,’ he says,
‘Please, listen to me now’.
She (dimly) hears the sigh;
And feels the breath
That stirs her ageing leaves.
One gentle tug
And the oldest ones are gone.
She breathes with greater ease.
Another, sharper pull.
Cool, spring air surrounds her.
The Sun has not quite reached this far.
Her inner leaves unfurl to show
The tightest bud of all.
He breathes again, more deeply.
Moisture glistens,
Trickles down,
Bathes parched roots.
The softest touch of warmth,
A gentle easing of the bud
Towards the sun.
Freedom! From an age
Of wanting and neglect.
A quickening; a raging of renewal.
Another, tender touch,
But firm; to give support
To such intense profusion.
The sun strikes.
She opens; swells, bears fruit
And dies, content.
‘I am the son of the soil,’
Says the gardener,
‘And here are the seedlings
Of my secret soul.’
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I love this poem, yours, I discovered on your site 🙂 And another poem, which made me shiver because I heard of such experiences in my practice as a counsellor. I wished there was more loving attention on what’s emerging 🙂
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Such a beautiful imagery. I so love it and I will use this often. So perfect. No wonder I love your site.
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Just saw this. Thank you Donna.
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