Herbal Wisdom for the Full Moon

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For several nights now, the garden has ‘stalked’ (get the pun?) me in my dreams.  The trees won't ‘leave’ me alone either.  There are so many things that I could tell you about in this post, but the green creatures intrude, insistent on vining their way into this post. The little vegetable garden was finally discovered by the deer 3 nights ago, who then made their way around to the front of the house to gorge themselves on the daylilies.  Every organic, non- harmful trick I can find to repel them has failed every year.  I finally surrendered to nature’s way.

I know this is fawn season, and how can I, a crone midwife, not have sympathy for a new mama with babies to feed?  So the tomatoes from the little garden this year will likely be scarce if not absent, but the local organic farms will have plenty and so be it, I’ll support them a bit more.  In my dreams, I see the deer, gathered around my little garden like family at the table, enjoying a meal and the communion of sharing it together. I try to frighten them with noises and lights but they just look at me, questioningly, like “Can’t we just eat in peace?” as they chomp and chew their way through the tomato plants. In the end, I am unable to send them away to eat when I see there’s enough for the 4 of them to share.  

Today, though, the trees want their story to be featured. We had to clear some fast growing brush and scrub pines away in the back yard last year to allow the cedars to grow and thrive. That didn’t last as we didn’t go deep enough and every year we lost ground to the encroaching forest so that soon the house and deck would be in peril.  I have so enjoyed the trees, filling in the spaces there along the property line, providing a natural noise barrier in summer and a windbreak in the west, but the cedars, home to many birds here, were really suffering. In my dreams the trees complained that the owls and hawks wouldn’t be able to come back if we took down those trees. The ecosystem that established itself there these past 10 years would be destroyed if we insisted on clearing the woods.  But as it turns out, we didn’t clear the woods, we merely gave the cedars more room to breathe and grow. We reclaimed approximately 12 feet of yard back there. There’s still plenty of natural barrier. 

My dreams now are of new raised beds with more of the healing plants I love! More Cronewort and motherwort and I hope a witch hazel for the birds and for medicine. Gratitude for the wisdom and tenacity of the cedars, breathing out and expanding their arms again like blessings of the ancestors. 

Congratulations to my friend, Judith Brooks, whose book Deeper Into the Garden just came out!  Its wonderful and filled with sweet plant healing wisdom and meditations with and for the garden! Get your copy here!

As my teachers have often done, I hear the Crone say, “gather the women and let me share some stories and a little of my wisdom…”

So from my herbal grandmother Cronewort and her medicine wisdom:

“Got a big decision to make?  Feeling anxious about it? Having a little trouble sleeping? Are you perimenopausal and feeling like you have one nerve left and everyone is getting on it? Chronic joint pain? Chronic gut issue? Or do you just want to expand your dreams with crone wisdom?

Say hello to Artemisia Vulgaris, commonly known as mugwort, (aptly renamed Cronewort by Susun Weed) Cronewort dates from at least as far back as 3 BC, as it appears in ancient chinese poetry and songs.  It has been used as a spice, food, medicine, spiritual aid, a flavoring for beer and other beverages, as an acupuncture treatment (moxibustion) and to repel pests in the garden.

In wisewoman history, every healer had mugwort growing in her garden. This announced to the people that a crone, a wisewoman healer, lived there - they grew mugwort.  It was generally in a prominent place, ideally right by her front door.  Often there was a wreath of mugwort on the healer’s door.  Mugwort was the all-purpose healing plant. 

(There are other kinds of Artemisia so let’s be clear we are talking about common artemisia vulgaris. This artemisia is vibrant green and the underside of the leaves is covered with fine fuzzy white hairs.)

This is the mugwort you dry and fill your dream pillows with. It's used to make herb bundles for smudging and burned for moxibustion. It's excellent for the nerves and for sleep when taken as a tea. The recipe for the tea is one ounce herb to a pint of hot water, steep for 20 minutes.  Take 1 tablespoon 3 times a day as a nervine.  

It’s also a diuretic, so it will mobilize edema or swelling from retained fluid. The tincture is usually alcohol-based and is used for treating liver and stomach disorders, as well. Dilute 1 part tincture (1-2droppersful) in 3 parts water and take twice daily, Mugwort also has strong emmenagogue properties and can be used to help induce menses. (A variety of seemingly simple symptoms can be due to more life threatening causes, so please be sure you know what you are treating by working with a knowledgeable health practitioner.)

Cronewort’s got antibacterial, antifungal, and pain-relieving properties and protects the liver.  Dried and rolled into a “moxa-stick” there is clinical evidence of the successful use of moxibustion  to turn a breech baby.

Cronewort is sometimes called black sage and rolled for use as a smudge stick to cleanse and purify prior to a ritual, replacing the traditional sacred white sage or Palo Santo sticks that are currently being overharvested.  It's very easy to grow cronewort and the smoke smells lovely.  We crones love the smell of wafting Cronewort smoke around a drumming circle!

It grows like a weed, abundant and tenacious and refuses to be tamed, like all the best crones! Mugwort is known to induce dreams, hence making dream pillows from the dried leaves, and for those of us who enjoy doing dreamwork, it can be smoked, filling the lungs 3-6 times, according to Michael Tierra, LAC, OMD, (from his herbal bible :The Way of Herbs). Mugwort and catnip both have a calming effect when smoked. Peppermint is sometimes added for its cooling effect, as mugwort can be rather warming. When smoked through a hookah or water pipe, its a little more cooling. If one wants to try smoking this herb, it should only be an occasional practice with respect for the lung’s ability to remove particles and tars that are an unavoidable effect of smoking all plants. 

Cronewort can be used to treat virtually every body system. Liver, kidneys,lungs, gut,skin, joint pain, stops bleeding, female menstrual concerns.  

More recently, its being used experimentally for diabetes because it lowers blood sugar.

To learn more about wisewoman healing and shamanic midwifery and how I can help you on your healing journey, make an appointment. A free 15 minute discovery call is all it takes to understand how I can help.