Dreamwort

Blog Party~Local Herbs

She, like Inanna, is a Goddess of many names. ............Mugwort, Cronewort, Moonwort, Black Sage .........

She is the shapeshifter, the birther, the sorceress, the omnipotent Midwife. She is Artemisia Vulgaris. She shines her Moony underside like Sheela Na Gig, shameless, striking, healing. She weaves her roots like fierce threads of a timeless quilt that holds the stories and memories of women and mothers and midwives since the very beginning. She is the keeper of the womb. Guardian of any element. Bringer of vision. Weaver of magic and of sisterhood and of radical self acceptance.

Her fragrant command clears the senses and brings the spirit home. Her tough love bitters demand healthy blood and guts. Her silvery flesh touches us with the Moon-fingers of Artemis, protecting scathed skin or ceasing the foolish itching of ivy. Her taste released in steaming water lulls the heart into dreamland, where epiphanies live and souls remember wholeness.

Her chopped up leaves love to be soaked all 28 days in a good apple cider vinegar, for her green bones are strong with calcium and minerals. She readily gives this gift to us, laying herself across our meals in tangy surprise of how good it feels to nourish ourselves to the bone.

She dries on a table top or dangling from a beam, easily in a matter of days. Her fingers curl up into rest while she awaits her next request. Should a bundle be made from her body, she will burn gracefully in smokey homage to all the witches burned before. She holds smoke powerful enough to cast protection over any space, and evoke transformation of the deepest kind. Her Moxa holds the key for many sessions of healing. Her heady smudge a direct route to our deeper selves.

Her stems, long and wispy, can be crafted into a besom of magic. sweeping away old beliefs and brushing new joys into life. She pleases children's fingers who love to create. Dreamwort reminds me of my own dream, of how life could be, of what changes I want to manifest for women and families today. She leads me to my dreams and remembrances, and then dares me to bring it into reality. She never denies the truth of our visions. She embodies health, wholeness holiness, hope.

That is of course what she does, create, this magic lady of many names and faces, Maiden, Mother, and Crone, my very favorite local plant and spirit friend, introduced to me by my very own Mother.

Talk to her, this Green Wise one, see what gifts she holds for you. She's powerful, yet approachable. Fierce, but not scary. Strong, but never a bully. Loving, unconditionally, wildly. She grows everywhere, she's sure to find you sooner or later.