Latin: Artemisia vulgaris
Also Known As: Artemisia, Witch Herb, Old Man, Old Uncle Harry, Artemis Herb, Muggons, Sailors Tobacco, Apple Pie, Mugger, Smotherwort, Felon Herb, St Johns Plant, Cingulum Sancti, Johannis, Mother's Wort, Maiden Wort, Muggins, and a whole host of assorted other names.
Family: Asteraceae
Habitat and Description: Mugwort is a perennial which grows to approximately 1.5 metres tall, with a downy, slightly silvery appearance to the leaves. The leaves are deeply pinnate, with up to 7 lobes which are deeply cut, and dark green on the top, with few hairs. The undersides are silvery and the whole plant is aromatic to the touch (although care should be taken by anyone with an allergy to the daisy family.) The flowers are yellowish green in colour, small and fairly insignificant to see, and blossom in tall, branched spikes. The plant is found throughout Europe and is even considered a weed in some places. The plant tends to prefer disturbed soil and waste ground to grow on. I've found a lot of it growing near the river, and it would seem that the plant is quite amenable to growing with its feet wet if necessary.
Parts Used: Aerial parts
Constituents: The plant contains a whole host of constituents, including volatile oils such as linalool, alpha and beta thujone, nerol, and other oils, sesquiterpene lactones including vulgarin, pilostachyn and others, flavonoids such as quercetin-3-glucoside and related chemicals, coumarin derivatives including umbelliferone, aesculentin, and caffeic acid derivatives. It also contains triterpenes such as beta sitosterol. flavonoidA chemical that gives a substance its flavour
Planetary Influence: The Moon / Venus
Associated Deities and Heroes: The plant is associated with Artemis, Chandra, Diana and Hecate. Following the theory that each culture has its own version of the various assorted deities, it may also follow that the plant can be associated with other Crone Goddesses such as Cerridwen, and Moon Goddesses such as Arianrhod. Given that the plant also has a long history of use for dreams, prophecy and witchcraft in general, this reinforces the links with Goddesses such as Hecate and Cerridwen, both of whom are well known Witch Goddesses. There are also some links with the Underworld implied, possibly using the 'as above, so below' metaphor as Diana and Hecate seem to live on opposite polarities to each other, Diana ruling the Moon and the night sky and Hecate being primarily of the darkness and underworld.
Festival: Midsummer (although I think there's a case for linking this herb to Samhain as well given its propensity for prophecy and divination which have always traditionally been associated with Samhain.)
Constitution: Warm and dry.
Actions and Indications: Mugwort has a wide range of medicinal uses. Mugwort it is antibacterial and antifungal, and that it can be used for a wide range of digestive problems due to its action as a stomachic and cholagogue. It is antineoplastic, inhibiting the growth of cancer cells, and is a mild sedative.
Mugwort acts on the digestive system by being a mild nervous system stimulant, which reduces tension and improves autonomic regulation of digestion. This is possibly due to its action as a bitter, stimulating the vagal nerve and therefore acting on the digestive tract. This means, basically, that a tea of mugwort probably won't taste very nice but its excellent for anyone with a slightly atonic digestion, especially where this has an impact on appetite and digestion.
There is a connection between Mugwort and the reproductive hormones, so it could be used as part of a prescription for disorders involving excessive androgen production, for example hirsutism and PCOS. This would certainly fit with the overall profile of the herb as being deeply feminine in nature. Apparently a prime indication for Mugwort would be a weaker pulse in the right wrist and a stronger pulse in the left, indicating that masculine tendencies have overwhelmed and outbalanced the feminine tendencies in the body, leading to imbalance. This would certainly fit with the overall tendencies of the plant to bring everything back into balance!
Mugwort is a useful diuretic, nervine and reproductive herb, which can bring on delayed periods (so don't take it if you think you may be pregnant, ladies!) Some authors mention that it can be used to ease the tremor associated with Parkinsons, as well as to ease epileptic fits, settle the nerves and possibly relieve insomnia, especially where this is due to anxiety. Mugwort is a fantastic blood cleanser and can be used as the European version of Echinacea for deep seated infection or infestation of the body.
In addition to being an excellent digestive herb, Mugwort is a useful herb in the treatment of cramping and spasmodic complaints, such as menstrual cramps and cramps related to the digestive tract.
Spiritual and Energetic Uses: Mugwort can be used to bring about balance in mental and emotional energy. It is used to ground people who have an overactive psychic tendencies, causing them to have disturbed sleep due to excessively disruptive dreams. In addition to bringing visions, it can also help to balance those who find they are overwhelmed by visions and find it hard to stay grounded. Conversely, it can also be used for those who are too rooted in reality and find it difficult or impossible to exercise spirituality or any kind of creativity. It can be used to allow people to connect with their muse. I think its a middle domain herb, and can bring things back into balance again.
Mugwort can be used to help integrate psychic awareness into our daily life and to help us to understand on a deep level the symbolism behind dreams, as well as to balance the transition between day and night consciousness. It is recommended for people who are over emotional, irrational and hysterical due to dreams – lets face it, nightmares can knock us for six sometimes. It is entirely possible that it works on one or more of the chakras – possibly the brow, although some people also associate it with the throat chakra, which in turn is associated with the expression of emotion and with creativity. The plant can be used to help people to connect with their warrior selves, in order to develop strength and foundation and gain clarity. Author Matthew Wood has a great deal to say about Mugwort, including that it is used to enhance the feminine instincts of creativity, intuition, art and dreams. He also writes that it can be used as a restorative to female nature when this has been damaged.
Magical Uses: As mentioned above, Mugwort has a longstanding association with prophecy and divination, and as such can be used in any incense to bring about prophetic dreams. It can also be used as a ritual bath for similar purposes, and to cleanse and purify divinatory tools such as crystal balls, blackened mirrors and scrying bowls. Mugwort can be used in a ritual to release blocked creativity, in addition to in spells and charms to increase psychic visions and activity, astral travel and projection and any kind of dream work. Some authors write about using Mugwort as the stuffing for a charm – feminists call them 'taliswomyn', which I'm afraid I have ranted about a little at the end of this article. But more on that later! Mugwort has a long history of use for protection, in charms and talismans, when grown by the home or when used as smudge sticks to purify and protect the home. When the herb is gathered on St John's Eve, it can be used to protect against ill health and bad luck, as well as to break faery enchantment and allow the user to see the situation clearly, stripped of all illusion. The herb has a strong connection with the crystal ball – which is not at all surprising in light of the fact that the herb is associated with the Moon Goddess, and bearing in mind the fact that the crystal ball does resemble a full moon to some extent. The plant can be used to engender and encourage the growth of spiritual activity.
Folklore: According to folklore, the herb was known as cingulum sancti, Johannis, or St John's Girdle, in the Middle Ages, as legend has it that St John the Baptist wore a girdle of mugwort whilst in the wilderness. It was also traditionally worm on Midsummer's eve as a garland whilst dancing around the fire. Afterwards it was thrown onto the fire to protect the wearer from danger and sickness throughout the year. Interestingly, Mugwort has been used, much as Elder has, both to protect the wearer from witchcraft and also as an ingredient in the magic of witches. One way the plant was used was as a juice to anoint scrying devices to aid in divination. Another piece of folklore mentions that a rare coal can be found under mugwort but only during one hour of one specific day of the year. If this coal is put under the pillow, it will bring about dreams of a future husband. This legend is of ancient Germanic origin, and states that the correct time to dig the plant is at noon on Midsummer's day. The coal in question is a certain remedy against evil and may even become gold. It's always faintly surprised me just how much folklore and folk practice there is concerning marriage, love and future partners! I suppose at the end of the day, everything boils down to fertility sooner or later, and marriage practices tie in to this. Mugwort was anciently known as Mater Herbarum (the mother of herbs), and was sacred to the Anglo Saxons, as can be seen in the Lacnunga, which has this to say about Mugwort: 'eldest of worts, thou hast might for three, and against thirty, for venom availest, for flying vile things, might against loathed ones that through the land rove.'
There is a Russian folktale about Mugwort, known in Russian as Zabytko. Apparently a young girl, gathering mushrooms in the forest, fell into a deep pit, which turned out to be the home of snakes. The snakes did not harm her, and took care of her throughout the winter, during which time both she and the snakes got their nourishment from a mysterious glowing stone (a possible allusion to the moon?) When spring finally arrived, the snakes formed a ladder with their bodies, allowing the girl to climb out, and as a parting gift, the Serpent Queen taught her the language of the plants, but warned that if she should ever call Mugwort by name, she would immediately lose the ability. A long time afterwards, she was walking with her lover along a footpath when he asked her the name of a tall herb growing by the wayside. Without thinking, she answered 'Mugwort' and immediately forgot the language of plants. The Russians know Mugwort as the herb of forgetfulness.
Dose: Up to 8g of dried herb as an infusion or up to 3mls of the tincture three times a day
Contraindications: Do not take Mugwort during pregnancy. The herb can cause contact dermatitis in some people.
Notes: To write further on my comment earlier in this work, I strongly disagree with the feminist fad of substituting letters for any word containing the word 'man'. Simply put, aside from the fact that this just reinforces the divide between the sexes, the word 'man' comes from the Saxon / Germanic word for 'person' – it is NOT gender specific, and trying to cut the word out of the English language and replace it with woman specific words is counterproductive and rather childish in my humble opinion. It is my personal opinion that authors who feel that this is appropriate really need to take a closer look at their reasons for being so militant about the feminist ideology. While I do understand and sympathise with the feminist movement to a degree, I think that trying to polarise men and women to the degree that militant feminists do will not work to mend the problem, nor will it undo thousands of years of programming and societal conditioning. Kindness, tolerance, compassion, fairness and justice will go a lot further towards redressing the problem, especially when this is applied from both sides of the balance, and we realise as a race that we are all human, whichever gender we happen to be in this lifetime. It has always seemed desperately sad to me that humans treat each other with such contempt and cruelty a lot of the time, although (much to my own sadness) it does not surprise me in the least. We are nowhere near as far distant from our animal ancestors as we like to think and in fact could be considered to be 'lower' in the civilization chain than many of them, with a lot of our behaviour being bestial to the extreme, beyond even that shown by many animals.