Sowton, Exeter: Mugwort

17th July 2013

Today was my last day working in Exeter.  I have made some nice friends during my time within the role, which arrived for me during a difficult and strange time.  I’m thankful that it helped me through the winter and for the knowledge I gained by working in a different setting.  They sent me home with flowers, a lovely card and job offers.  A lovely ending.  So, for the last time I walked to the secluded area I always enjoyed and watched long boughs of Mugwort, Artemisia vulgaris, softly waving goodbye in the breeze.

All varieties of Artemesia are sacred to the Goddess Artemis.  She was the Goddess of forests, hills, hunting, wilderness and wild animals.  She was also a goddess of childbirth.  Mugwort is feminine in nature and is associated with the element of earth and the signs Taurus and Libra (coincidentally my own sun and rising signs).  If you are open to receiving them, keeping mugwort under your pillow or in the bedroom may encourage prophetic dreams; it can also be dried, burned and smoked with tobacco to alter states of consciousness.  

Artemis

In Wales, mugwort was tied to the left thigh of a woman having a difficult labor and Roman soldiers put mugwort in their sandals to keep their feet from getting tired.  Poultry and grazing animals enjoy this plant, and it may be the same ‘Artemisia of Pontos’ which was lauded by the ancients as good for fattening livestock. 

For years it was used to flavour beer before the introduction of hops.  Dried mugwort added to a fire will help keep it smoldering for a long time and the stalks make good kindling.