Hawbush Herbalism
Session 2 Reflection

Herbs Covered

Rosehip.
Rose joined us bringing with them their representatives from various parks, hedgerows, nature reserves and gardens across the Dudley Borough (to add Deb’s notes here -  a map of rosehips)
Hawthorn.

Community Space Holding

This week we succumbed to the continual weather disruptions as we transition into Autumn between two Eclipses, and communed in the community centre within Hawbush Community Gardens. Though this isn’t the same as being outside with the herbs, we were able to create a safe, cosy space to explore Rose’s themes and co-create Rosehip Syrup. 

Clare shared this gorgeous recognition of the communities we’re in at the beginning of the second instalment of Hawbush Herbalism noting the Nature of Community; 

We’re a community in this room, 
within the community of the Hawbush Estate, 
within the community of the Dudley borough,
within the community of plant life.

The community doesn’t end there either. Lorna Rose shared this transcending fact with us placing us in the community of planets too;

The Rose of Venus is a pattern in the orbital path of Venus relative to Earth, forming a five-petaled shape over an eight-year cycle. This astronomical phenomenon occurs because the ratio of Venus's orbital period to Earth's is approximately 8:13. After 13 Venus orbits, which is about 8 Earth years, Venus completes a five-pointed star or pentagram, which is the "rose" of Venus.  

The community doesn’t end there either. Lorna Rose shared this transcending fact with us placing us in the community of planets too;

The Rose of Venus is a pattern in the orbital path of Venus relative to Earth, forming a five-petaled shape over an eight-year cycle. This astronomical phenomenon occurs because the ratio of Venus's orbital period to Earth's is approximately 8:13. After 13 Venus orbits, which is about 8 Earth years, Venus completes a five-pointed star or pentagram, which is the "rose" of Venus.  

We circled around the group expressing how we’re feeling, why we’re here and what we’re wishing to tend together over the duration of the programme.

Mostly as a collective we’re here

  • to connect,

  • learn about herbs,

  • take care of our wellbeing,

  • make things with local herbs and

  • tend to our mental health

    which inspired the share of this from Soil and Soul from by Kenneth White…

Odete
A Tea Drinking Practice;

RoseHip Herbal Tea Ritual; ‘A collective bringing of loveliness.
A hug from Roses.’

Ingredients; 

  • rose hips 

  • rose petals 

  • lemon verbena

  • lemon balm 

Ritual; 

  • hold cup in the palms of your hand

  • put your nose in the cup 

  • close your eyes 

  • take a sip

Reflection; 

How does it feel? What can you sense? How does it roll around the tongue?

Rose of life.
“Rose can teach us about looking after ourselves”

If you have something to contribute, please share with me at poetry@hayleyfrances.com.

It can be a story, prose, a song, a voice recording, something you notice, a picture, a memory - ANYTHING. It doesn’t have to be poetry, the very act of creation is called ‘poesis’ and I invite all modes of creativity and expression into this circle to be held, and shared. We’re all the same.

Rose
Lorna Rose
Written at Roots last year.

Rambling, wild, or cultivated,
you open me up and I thrive when I love,
and since there has been love,
its scent holds us captivated.
Like Aphrodite in her beauty spa,
every day I bathe.
Rose Otto shampoo,
rose scrub,
rose oil,
rose perfume,
gifting myself with them any time I want
as a fuck you to Valentine’s Day,
and since I changed my surname to Rose on New Year’s Eve,
I bloom and it’s all roses, roses, roses.

Sweet and heady,
wild as the wind,
there’s nothing else like this.
Flora’s creation
blessed with its intoxicating scent by Dionysus,
my favourite.
I eat you,
I devour you,
I adore you.
I break into strangers gardens just to smell you,
roses, roses, roses.

The hips hiding in hedgerows,
the apple scent of a nostalgic past.
All lovers sigh out roses,
prick us with pain,
release us,
cure us,
weave us back together again,
soften us for more knocks,
as we pucker up and beg
for something to caress the sting of loss.
You come with your own thorny warning
for the cost of a heart’s yearning,
but please never stop burning red,
pale pink,
snow white,
for every girl who wanted to be a princess,
then got pricked by a prick,
and fell in love with herself instead,
in a bath full of petals that whispered…”love yourself goddess.”
As the bathroom filled with doves and the wind whipped up love
and endless roses, roses, roses.

Memories from the collective; 

  • many of us tried to flog rose water as a perfume as kids 

  • some of us used rosehips as itching powder

  • some remember the Man o’ Roses from Broad Street

  • Mom grew roses around the door, it as the first plant I knew and is tied to family members.

Reflections from the collective on what Rose represents;

  • Femininity

  • Unfolding Love

  • Protection in its constitution 

    • with Rose Hips well known for being high in Vitamin C!

  • Grief Support - A Light in the Dark 

    • Cecilia shared this poem by William Blake in light of her Nieces loss. 

After tea we gathered our gathers on the table, each bringing our own rosehips collected on our interactions with the local area, and created a community Herbal Medicine making session, as documented above. x

If you have something to contribute, please share with me at poetry@hayleyfrances.com.

It can be a story, prose, a song, a voice recording, something you notice, a picture, a memory - ANYTHING. It doesn’t have to be poetry, the very act of creation is called ‘poesis’ and I invite all modes of creativity and expression into this circle to be held, shared and communicated.