Herb of the Day Mugwort
Let's talk about the herb Mugwort, it's a beautiful plant
Mugwort
(Artemisia vulgaris)
Part Used : fresh leaves
Planet : Venus
Element : Earth
Magical Influences : Psychic awareness, Psychic dreams, Astral
projection
This beautiful herb has long been associated with the shadowy world
of the seer as well as with the Moon. Its scent stills the conscious
mind and awakens the deep consciousness.
To promote psychic awareness, inhale the odor of the fresh, crushed
leaves with visualization. For psychic dreams, inhale directly prior
to falling asleep.
NAMES: Mugwort - Common Mugwort - Herb of St. John - St. JohnísPlant
Branching, spreading, aromatic perennial herb of the northern
temperate zones that grows to 5 feet. Its fragrant, incised leaves
are dark green and have pale, downy undersides. The root is long,
hard and fibrous. Mugwort blooms from June to September with erect
spikes of woolly yellow or reddish pink flowers. Propagate by
cuttings or root division in the spring. It grows wild on wasteland
and beside roads.
Collect the whole plant during the summer. Harvest the flowers before
they open.
MYTH:
Sacred to Artemis/Diana, as are all herbs of the Artemisia family.
John the Baptist is said to have worn a girdle of mugwort when he
went into the wilderness.
MAGIC:
Planet: Venus
Culpepper says, ìThis is an herb of Venus, therefore maintains the
parts of the body she rules, remedies the diseases of the parts that
are under her signs Taurus and Libra.î
Element: Earth
Direction: North
Language of Flowers: Happiness
Energy: female/yin
For: healing - protection - psychic strength
Mugwort has clairvoyant properties, can be used for all kinds of
psychic work: visualization and dreams; prophetic dreams astral
projection wash crystal balls in mugwort water to renew or increase
their powers drink mugwort tea as the moon waxes for increased
clairvoyance grow it indoors to aid psychic gifts: precognition,
empathy, telepathy, etc.
Wear or carry mugwort as a charm against: fatigue - disease - evil
spirits
WHEEL OF THE YEAR:
Mugwort has magical powers when gathered on Midsummer Eve. A garland
of mugwort woven on that day, worn as a crown or used for viewing the
bonfire through, was a charm to ensure that you would have no
headaches or eye pain that year. Mugwort was sometimes thrown on the
Midsummer bonfire. The French wove garlands of it at Midsummer for
protection against ghosts, magic, bad luck and disease for that year.
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Experience the power of the Witch's Herb ... Mugwort ... the
Prophetess who helps us in our dreams! A pillow stuffed with Mugwort
and slept upon is one of the quickest ways to experience the powers
of this herb. Take the dried herb and fill a cloth bag. Sleep on it
or have close enough so the aroma is filling your breath. You will
have a more intense dream. If you wish to have a predictive dream
focus on your question as you fall asleep. Prepare ahead by placing a
pen and paper near your sleeping place so you can write of your
dreamtime adventures.
Explore the power of your dreamtime with the magickal Witch's Herb!
Mugwort has long been used to enhance the dreamscape and assist in
foretelling the future. Closely associated with the Moon, Sister
Mugwort is the herb of the dreamer, the Witch, the explorer of
Magickal realms! Take her with you on your magickal journeys, whether
seeking an answer through divination or traveling through other
planes of reality.
Use this pillow anytime you want!! Magick Works Dream Pillow - 12"
long by 3" thick is filled solely with MugWort!! Easily opened to
replenish!
Scientific Name: Artemisia vulgaris
An artemisia she is and named after Artemis, Goddess of Nature and
the Moon. And thus she is a most favored herb of Diana. Use the herb
on your altar when seeking the powers and guidance of these Goddess'.
She will help instill in you protection and psychic powers.
MEDICINE: *Caution: contraindicated in pregnancy - dangerous to the
eyes, used internally or externally
Warning : The essential oil is considered to be hazardous and is not
recommended for use!
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Magical Aromatherapy
Scott Cunningham
With the exception of Wormwood, it seems easiest to have the most to say about Mugwort. A subtle, humble plant, overlooked because it seems lacking in ornamental beauty by our the modern horticultural standards with which most us seem to have been literally indoctrinated, Mugwort is an awesome beauty in mystery and purpose. Herbalists since time immemorial have regarded it with great resect and affection. It is this same affection, applied to balm the barren spaces in our actual knowledge about the uses of the plant, that is like a magic key unlocking a great treasure... rather poetic, since Mugwort has the reputation in magick of helping to open locks and locate buried treasure.
One other intriguing sentiment about Mugwort is that it can aid in the magick of criminal detection.
Already familiar as a Moxa, an agent made into a cone of incense sometimes used in Traditional Chinese medicine, for example placed on acupuncture needles, a "superstition" exists that in Japan, placing such a cone of Moxa in the footprint of a thief would cause the thief to get a "hot foot", that is he would feel a burning sensation as if the cone were on his foot.
Besides the wealth of scientific information that attempts to justify such action-at-a distance that is characteristic of magick, no matter how much science may conversely, deny such possibilities, even without resorting to elaborate schemes of physics and quantum mechanics, this makes a reasonable amount of sense... it is comfortably consistent with the magnetic reputation that surrounds the plant...
Mugwort is used in magick to activate instruments of divination- crystal balls and magic mirror- although it is sometimes phrased that the role of Mugwort is to "cleanse" the instrument. While it likely has such properties, much as cleansing the blockages in the body’s acupuncture meridians, this tends to overshadow and understate its potential magnetic role, but there are texts where other, far more clearly magnetic materials have been used in exactly the same way in conjunction with such instruments. So too is there a great magickal wealth of herbs and techniques for action at a distance, that also suggest the role of magnetism.
Mugwort’s most striking claim to fame being magnetic in character, however, is that it is often known as "compass plant", owing to the fact that it’s leaves tend to ailing themselves with the North-South lines of the earth’s magnetic field. It has enjoyed a reputation for aiding, or at least trying to, lost travellers, which supports some of the rationalizations that this plant has had such a conceivably long relationship with Artemis, the patron of children, the patron of the wood, and extrapolating very little, children of all ages lost in the woods.
So while the magical writing style of Orientals can be at times like anyone else's, some basic truth being almost buried beneath a gloss of exaggeration, there are still a number of uses of mugwort that pertain indeed to those victims of thief's even were the "hotfoot-at-a-distance" a complete distortion... not the least of which is giving the artisan the stamina to lose a little sleep in order to create a replacement for the stolen object.
In all fairness, Mugwort’s reputation for enabling divination could easily allow it to accomplish much more in this department... but this alone may have made Mugwort and Thieves nearly synonymous in many cultures since quite a long time ago. As we look at ancient literature referring to thieves, can we spot any nuances that suggest they are alluding to this property of Mugwort?
Of Mugwort’s reputation for opening locks, it is particularly interesting to note that this seems to follow correspondences. In their native Pacific Northwest, other plants which also have the character of downy or white undersides, such as Adenocaulon, receive common names like "Pathfinder" because if you wander through a patch of it, you can find your way back by looking at the white undersides exposed by disturbing the plants and turning them up so they are visible.
The related temptation to employ any such plants, and especially Mugwort, as a trail marker, superior to the "Hansel and Gretel Error" of leaving anything that might be eastern by animals as a trail marker, gives it a connotation of people turning the leaves over, like someone turning a key in a lock.
So too might it have inspired the priestesses of Artemis to wear clothing that resembled it, having one side green and one side white; wearing such a reversible tunic, they could turn it white- side-out to be visible in the forest, for staying together and avoiding hunting accidents, or turn it green-side-out for camouflage to blend into the green of the forest to hide from danger. Within the Doctrine of Signatures, that it has such a power of suggesting "mundane" invisibility, it might certainly warrant a reputation for aiding in magickal invisibility, and if one searches enough, they are quite likely to find some actual existing record of its reputation for this purpose.
We might normally assign the Astrology of Mugwort to Virgo or Sagittarius, since Artemis seems to be predominantly a composite of these, or to Scorpio due to the magnetic effects and some of the other properties (note how all of these are conveniently proximal). However, Culpeper assigns Mugwort to Aries, in view of the plant's connection with iron. It is yet another expression of the recurring theme of iron and magnetism, that he notes that part of what has illustrated to him this connection with Aries, is the tendency for the plant to grow around the places of blacksmiths. Here one also assumes there is an abundance of iron, discarded from the various proceedings of blacksmiths.
It need not be limited to that, however, for the Doctrine of Signatures provides, of course, that a plant will appear where it is of service; thus, we can assume that mugwort aids any problematic conditions to be found there. Such a citation, for example, of the Artemisias as agents which expedite breathing or lower body temperature, might be immediately assumed by the blacksmith facing the conditions of smoke and heat, and will serve to introduce these properties were there not the great likelihood that this is merely yet another corroboration of these, much as those whom Artemisias aided in the story of the Exodos faced the heat and poor airs of the desert.
We might also infer this from the very same Signature that could alert us to the use of mugwort as a smudge, incense, smoke or fumigant, for the plant, if no sooner than as it withers in fall, has in its leaves the appearance of flames in addition to it's dark, "sooty" color. This is physical resemblance to fire is especially noticeable when the leaves begin to twist and curl, and brown.
Indeed, mugwort is known to serve as substitute for tobacco, bearing the folk name, "Sailor's Tobacco". Presumably, like a number of plants which have been traditionally smoked by asthmatics and other suffers of respiratory problems, it's ability to aid such problems offsets its potential to worsen such problems. Likewise, it has been considered as a substitute for cannabis, in the sense that it has very mild relaxing, rather than inebriating properties, and the ability to offset symptoms of withdrawals from various substances of abuse. It is often cited as a herbal treatment for opium addiction. Additionally, it tends to have aromatic properties when burned that are reminiscent of cannabis when burned, therefore adding to its potential as a cannabis substitute, but also serving as a Signature of this ability as well. Some of its potential economic values may also resemble those of cannabis, and it may likewise have some of the medicinal values of cannabis in improving various aspects of vision, which is also discussed in greater detail in the sections here devoted to Wormwood.
Mugwort’s reputation for causing prophetic dreams should serve as corroboration to its reputation for aiding divination with instruments, and should help point to underlying common denominators why this is so. To speculate myself, I may favor a notion that it acts upon the pineal gland, increasing certain sensitivities to electromagnetic fields or radiation, which may also have some bearing on how it may affect the endocrine system that it should have a reputation for promoting not only regular menstruation where it is lacking, but promote menstruation after menopause.
This latter feature is one that may also corroborate some of the "mythology" that surrounds the Artemisias and links them to the subject of longevity or immortality, such as the identification of Ganymede with the Holy Grail and with the Tansy... something that has had strong influence on my suggestion on my Holy Grail page that the Holy Grail itself may have originally referred to a specie of Artemisia, since Wormwood and the Tansy are very similar chemically, although the latter may be much stronger and should be be approached even more carefully for the particular dangers associated with Wormwood, just as Mugwort may have any of the negative properties also, almost as if its powers were on the verge of transcending an origin in their differing chemistries... we many not yet be finished seeking least common denominators to truly identify the principles responsible.
And yet, there has been precious little discussion, if any,, whether this particular action on one of the signs of aging is but one of perhaps many that might be possessed by plants in such a category.
So, too, has there been precious little discussion, if any, whether the role of the Artemisias in this capacity might be fulfilled through "magnetic action" on the appropriate endocrines, and whether this involves the possibility of exotic matter molecules, which may perhaps contribute to powerful promoters of human Growth Factor (hGF) in some way that may be closely related to the known propensity of some of the Artemisias for forming "molecular" peroxides- peroxides involving larger molecules than the familiar hydrogen peroxide, whose breakdown products may not be appreciably different in many of their significant actions.
Had our predecessors considered the turning of a leaf of Mugwort to be a signature for the "turning over of a new leaf"- in other words, as a Signature of renewal or rejuvenation?
Of course, many of Mugwort's known or suspected properties are in harmony with this simple "turn-key" Signature, for the feature make a fitting symbolic gesture of moving from the world of waking to sleep, or vice versa , of tossing or turning in one's sleep or even therefore sleepwalking, of shifting of consciousness to the astral or "out-of-body", or any of the physical (or metaphysical) transitions for which it is assigned to the medicinal category of "alternatives", things which cause a change in existing conditions.
Likewise, this can serve as a fitting Signature for various transitions from one phase of existence to the next, and again, accordingly, the reputation of mugwort in the occult for various functions relating to the spiritual realm is a rich legacy. We cannot expect, however, that the use of mugwort will automatically cause such things to happen against our knowledge or will… in fact, there is much surrounding mugwort to suggest quite the contrary, that it is at many levels an agent which expedites choice, restores the sense of having a choice in any matter, and facilitates the knowledge of options and the role of free will. This, too, can be remembered in connection with the"black or white" Signature that occurs in the dark leaf surface and the white undersides, although too, it is likely to aid us with the creativity to see a rainbow of options where seeing choices only as "black or white" has become problematic, or an obstacle or bondage.
It would not be surprising to find that this "black or white" Signature, appropriately, also extends to issues of race, and might not only help offset prejudice at the level of its underlying biology, but so too spiritually help a person burdened with prejudice to see things from the other way, to gain sympathy through empathy.
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