When is a Rose more than a Rose? When it’s given from the heart!
In my business, I see people spending hundreds of dollars in “special” spell components when they overlook what they have around them every day! There is a lot of energy in plants where you live or even in flowers given to you from a friend, a loved one or a significant other! My birthday was on January 17th, and I received a dozen beautiful yellow roses from a dear friend. These roses were imbued with all of the friendship energy that exists between me and her. Her desire to bring me joy when she purchased them for me, and my happiness and gratitude for not only her remembering my birthday but also taking the time to do something special for me for that day. All of that energy, both mine and hers, went into those flowers, imagine the power! So I enjoyed my roses for over a week, and once they began to wilt, I decided to turn them into spell components. First of all, these are yellow roses – which connect you with personal empowerment, mental processes, creativity and more. Second, these roses also contain the energy of friendship – and because I enjoyed them, they are also imbued with my personal energy of happiness, gratitude and peace.
Although I chose roses for this, I have also used this process for Chrysanthemum flowers, maple and oak leaves, etc. I never do this while the plant is alive – I would not pull a leaf off a tree to use, however, if you happen to see a leaf fall, next to you, being the perfect color or shape, you can then ask the tree if it is willing to help you by giving you this leaf and give gratitude for the tree’s donation to use as spell component. With Flowers, if I plan to use them, I always give them a blessing when I first get them, and ask if they would be willing to work with me. Assuming the answer is yes, I then give them the best conditions I can to stretch their survival as long as possible. That is my way of giving back!
The first step is to let them dry out a few days on the stems, this allows them to curl to a more natural shape and retain some of the color.
Next, gently pull the petals off the Rose, but do not break them too much. If you let your flower dry out for 2 days or so they should come off easily.
Once you are done, you can toss the stems.
Choose a flat and wide tray to dry them. A baking sheet works well. If you want, you can let them dry naturally like this. Make sure your layer of petals is not too thick so that air can circulate all around them and prevent mold from setting in. Gently shake the tray a little every day to let air circulate through all of your plant material. You should have fully dry petals in about 4-6 weeks.
If you are impatient like me, and you don’t want to wait, you can use one of 2 methods to dry them:
- Oven drying: Preheat your oven to its lowest heat setting and line a cookie sheet with parchment or wax paper. Lay out your flowers and make sure they’re not overlapping each other. Place them in the oven and leave the door cracked so moisture can evaporate. Flowers will typically need eight to twelve hours to dry completely. I have not used this method myself but friends have used it with great success!
- Dehydration via Dehydrator or Air Fryer: I have used this method with an Air Fryer set to the dehydration setting.
Add a shallow layer of petals to your Air fryer tray. You may need to do it in two batches depending on how shallow your tray is. For these petals I did break it down in 2 batches to ensure good airflow through the drying process.
In my air fryer I did 125 degrees for 6 hours. I initially tried to speed it up by doing it at 140 degrees for 3 hours. That did not work well and it made the petals overly brittle. I think the longer cycle with lower temperature works best.
Once you are finished make sure you bag your ingredients in a ziploc or another airtight container with the date and store them in a cool dark place. Exposure to light may end dulling the color and exposure to heat can accelerate natural processes and cause your ingredients to rot.
Another way to take advantage of this is if you have plants at home. For example I have blue sage, mint, rosemary and basil leaf. If a leaf falls I collect it. Let it dry for a few days and then put them in the air fryer. This way I have plant ingredients from plants that I care for. It’s a beautiful exchange of energy and it carries through in the power of the ingredients!
You can also add multiple herbs/flowers to your dehydrator or air fryer. It doesn’t all have to be the same. Below is a picture of my second batch I did, which included rose petals and blue sage leaves:
