Dream away my friends and if those dreams aren’t big enough or bright enough maybe you need some mugwort…
Mugwort, artemisia vulgare
The name mugwort doesn’t seem very dreamy though does it (more beer-y), lets change it to cronewort, a name that some people whom work with the healing properties of plants prefer to call Artemisia vulgaris.
Use it in a dream pillow to encourage clear techni-coloured dreams, possibly prophetic (not recommended for childrens dream pillows!). Cronewort has a long history with magic; on one hand to ward off evil, on the other to divine the future.
“Being such a powerful herb, mugwort has long been thought to predict the future. If you want to determine the course of a relationship and don’t want to pay a psychic or fuss with tarot cards, test this old fashioned technique; Plant two mugworts side by side in well drained soil in full sun. Designate one as you and the other as your intended…If the plants grow toward one another, everything will be wonderful in the relationship. If they bend in opposite directions, problems will inevitably arise (staking is not allowed).
So as not to make self fulfilling prophecies and create a sense of doom in an otherwise happy relationship, it’s best to apply this technique to the lives of your friends and then boldly make predictions about them based on the results. Create a whole row of divining mugworts, and expand your focus to foretell the course of a business deal, predict whether a nephew will stay in medical school, and augur the possibility of a year-end bonus – anything that can be predicted negatively or positively by the plants growing apart or together. the law of averages states that you will be right at least half the time, and in the meantime you will have amazed your friends with your herbal prowess.” Mary Forsell author of Herbs.
Medicinally cronewort has similar actions as the other Artemisias (Southernwood and Wormwood)… bitter tonic, stimulant, anti-bilious and emmenagogue but also has the action of a nervine tonic due to its volatile oil (so don’t boil it!). This makes it a grand remedy to regulate periods, reduce period pain and PMS.
Mugwort has been used alongside acupuncture for over three thousand years in the form of moxa. I don’t know a heck of a lot about acupuncture aside from the basics and that my friend Nicky Walker in Kapiti is an acupuncturist (unabashed plug here http://www.nickywalker.co.nz/). Here is a fascinating article about moxa/mugwort and acupuncture.
I have just started growing mugwort this year so will have plants, dried herb and tinctures available in 2019.
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