Artemesia: leaves of the moon
Hi! This is my blog about herbs, plants, mushrooms, and random lifestyle content
Today I’m talking about mugwort. The first leaves are popping up in my garden and by summer they’ll be taller than me. I use mugwort (moxa) in my practice for fatigue and pain. Burning the dried herb over the body has benefits of essential oils and red light therapy. Moxibustion sounds strange, but it’s so relaxing.
The Latin name Artemisia is from Greek goddess Artemis for it’s silvery color and moonlike flowers. I’d say mugwort has a more sunny, warming nature. My family makes wreathes from it every Summer Solstice to decorate our house. Later, we burn them in our Yul fire to fill the air with spicy incense.
Here is a proper monograph I wrote up:
Latin Name: Artemisia spp
Common Name: Species include
mugwort (A.vulgaris)
ai ye (A. argyii)
sweet annie (A.anuum),
wormwood (A. absinthum) and more…
These species vary slightly in their scent and properties but share enough characteristics to speak of as a group.
Family: Asteraceae
Parts Used: Aerial parts (leaves, flower buds)
Constituents: volatile oil, absinthin, flavonoids, tannins
Main Actions:
Warms up your body to it’s core, relieves chronic pain, and gives your immune system a lift. Settles the stomach and relaxes muscle cramps, especially good for painful periods. Destroys malaria and other parasites, calms and tonifies the nervous and uterine systems, diuretic, lowers fevers and checks bleeding.
Preparations:
Tisane (tea) not widely used (bitter) though a cup before meals can be a helpful digestive aid.
Tincture at lows dose has been used in formulas for lyme disease
Moxa (mugwort) is burned over acupoints for cold/damp arthritic conditions
The pollen and medicine of this genus can be very allergenic in some individuals, even causing heart problems in high doses. If you aren’t allergic, try A.vulgaris dried and bundled up near the pillow to bring about potent, lucid dreams. This sounds fake but try it, trust me.
Morphology:
Sharply toothed, deeply divided alternate leaves with tall spikes of miniscule green flowers. Has a unique, warm and spicy scent.
I love artemisias so much! Every time I go to a music festival at the Gorge, Washington I collect lots of the “blue sage” Artemisia tridentata and pretend I’m a desert fairy. I see a bunch of other wook girls doing this too, bless you all.
