The Heart of Healing
🌹 On beholding and being beheld
In all my healing work, whether as the one offering support or receiving it, I’ve discovered that the real power doesn’t reside in any particular method or modality. It’s not about whether you’re meditating, journaling, engaging in therapy or coaching, receiving bodywork, or working with plant medicine. The heart of healing is in the act of beholding and being beheld. That’s where the real magic unfolds.
To behold is to ensoul. It’s the art of truly seeing someone—not just seeing the surface of who they appear to be, but connecting with the essence of their being, the core of their true self, their very soul. When someone is genuinely seen, they come alive in a way that's not possible otherwise. There’s a kind of electricity, a vitality that surges through them, sparked by the recognition of their deepest self. This is why beholding is not just about using our eyes. It’s a felt sense, a connection, an exchange that takes place on a soul level.
We can be brilliant at processing trauma: identifying the root of our struggles, linking them to childhood patterns, unraveling the ways our parents shaped our behaviors. But without the act of beholding—whether it’s ourselves or another person—there's still something missing in the process. The soul is the eternal part of us, our link to all that ever was, is, and will be. Healing that occurs at this level goes beyond the concept of fixing what’s broken; it’s a liberation of the soul through the power of loving awareness.
Anam Cara: Soul Connection with People and Plants
In the Celtic tradition, there’s a beautiful understanding of this kind of deep connection. It's called anam cara, which means “soul friend.” To have an anam cara is to share a profound affinity with someone who is open to deep soul-sharing. In a way, it’s the same connection we cultivate in women's circles, where we practice holding space for each other. It’s a kind of spiritual sharpening, where we become better at seeing and being seen.
When I think about my relationship with plants, it’s not so different. On the surface, I can appreciate a plant for its nutrients and medicinal properties. But to truly behold a plant is to recognize it as an intelligent, wise being—an ensouled presence in this world. By honoring the essence of the plant, a soul-to-soul communication is established, allowing wisdom to flow. There’s a reciprocity in this, an energy exchange that awakens the plant's aliveness just as much as it awakens something within me.
The Queen of Flowers: The Rose as Healer and Teacher
Take the rose, for example, the queen of the flowers. Rose is believed to have the highest frequency of any flower on earth. Sure, its petals hold medicinal properties (Vitamin C, Vitamin A, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Polyphenols, Flavonoids, Geraniol, Tannins, Pectin), but its spirit goes much deeper. For thousands of years, roses have been a sacred part of rituals and ceremonies across cultures. There are more rose gardens in the world than any other cultivated flower. Rose is the quintessential symbol of love. But, why? How do we know the rose is so closely associated with the heart?
To offer a rose is not merely to gift a flower but to acknowledge its essence and invite its wisdom into our lives. That’s why roses are often associated with the sacred feminine—from Venus to the Virgin Mary, who herself became the Rosa mystica. There’s a profound aliveness in the rose because it has been beheld by generations; it has been ensouled.
“Mystery glows in the rose bed, the secret is hidden in the rose” - Farid ud-din Attar, 12th century Persian poet and perfumer
"Be sweet, like me," rose whispers in her aromatic exhale. Her sweetness isn’t naive or shallow; it’s tender, compassionate, unconditionally loving. It’s the sweetness of a benevolent queen, one who embodies magnanimity, who offers warmth and kindness as a gesture of genuine care. This kind of sweetness isn’t about being a “good girl.” Rose’s message is not passive or docile. It’s the sweetness that gives strength to softness, the kind that knows when to extend a hand and when to hold a boundary with grace. And yes, sweetness has its thorns. But even the thorns are a form of love, a way of protecting what is precious.
Rose Ceremony: A Sacred Dance of Feminine Healing
This past summer, members of The Antidote Women's Collective gathered in the Catskills for our first retreat, timed with the auspicious summer solstice. The long weekend was filled with transformational experiences—yoga, dance, meditation, sound healing, crafting, and a transformative rose ceremony. With many of our community members meeting in person for the first time, I meticulously planned every detail to make the experience as special as possible. Yet what unfolded during the rose ceremony went far beyond anything I could have orchestrated.
In a field surrounded by tall grasses, with a horizon of trees and blue sky, it felt as though the rose herself became our healer, teacher, and guide. We gathered the roses that had graced the altar in our practice room and brought them out into the open field. In the shamanic tradition of plant bathing, we placed the petals in a pool of water, each of us praying our heart's deepest desires into it. We let the petaled water sit and infuse, and then one by one, cleansed our auras.
Each woman was ensouled by the rose, immersed in a sacred dance of feminine healing that was both subtle and powerful, beyond the reach of words.
Meditating with rose taught us the pure beauty of femininity, awakening a deep recognition of our own softness, strength, and grace. This transmission was felt in our bodies, seen in the light in our eyes, and carried in the essence of our spirits. To honor that moment, one incredible woman even got a tattoo of a rose on her arm, a lasting reminder of the beauty, aliveness, and feminine essence that blossomed during our ceremony.
A Love Story Across Millennia
The rose holds secrets older than we can fathom. Fossils of five-petaled roses date back 35 million years, long before humans walked the earth. It’s as if roses have always been here, waiting to share in the sacred dance of love and beauty with us. Some suggest that the five petals of early roses resembled the five fingers of a human hand, making our ancestors naturally drawn to them. If we loved roses enough to cultivate them and spread their seeds in great numbers, it seems that roses, in their own way, loved us back. This co-evolution reveals a deep, unspoken bond that connects all of life—a dance that began long before we could name it.
The question is not whether we can heal, but whether we can behold—ourselves, each other, and the world around us. Can we learn to see the soul beneath the surface? Can we make space for the kind of aliveness that comes only when we are truly seen? That is the essence of healing, and the true gift of beholding.
Join Us 🌹
Experience Transformation with The Antidote Women's Collective
If you feel called to explore deeper connections and sacred experiences like these, we invite you to join The Antidote Women's Collective. Our retreats, women's circles, workshops, and opportunities for anam cara connections offer a space for profound transformation and shared growth. Come, be a part of our community, and dance with us in this ancient rhythm of love and healing.
With warmth,
Christina
So beautiful <3