Hestia, first and last, sacred goddess of hearth and home

I call upon you to protect the domestic worker - those who do the thankless work of caring for children and cleaning homes. May they be honored and rewarded.

O Hestia protect the migrant - those who leave the familiarity of their own homes and loved ones in search of a better life to support their families. May they be honored and rewarded.

Eternal Hestia may you protect those so often overlooked by society - the dishwashers, cooks, landscapers, nannies, maids, construction workers, and all those whose toil is used to build and maintain homes and society without thanks. May they be honored and rewarded.

Helloo lovely readers! Today I am continuing my plant profile series. This is a series where I share my research and UPG regarding a plant, or discover a whole new plant. One of the things that I want to incorporate into my practice, is taking a lunar cycle to form a bond with a new plant ally and work closely with it. This means that on or around the new moon, I will pick an herb that I want to work closely with and research its history, folklore and traditional & modern practice. Then during the waxing moon, I will craft and meditate with the plant according to the moon phase. On the full moon, as my bond heightens, I will charge said herb under the moonlight or choose to incorporate it in a big ritual. As the moon wanes, I will craft workings with the herb according to the moon phase. During these moon phases, I will journal in detail how this herb makes me feel and what energies I pick up during these different lunar contexts. For the upcoming cycle, that herb is going to be mugwort. My initial research on the herb will be depicted here.

Names Latin: Artemisia vulgaris Folk names: Artemis herb, Artemisia, Felon herb, Muggons, Naughty Man, Old Man, Old Uncle Henry, Sailor’s Tobacco, St. John’s plant, mother of herbs (Mater Herbarum) Other names: Cronewort, Common wormwood

Plant profile Gender: Feminine Planet: Venus Element: Earth Deities: Artemis, Hekate Personal correspondences: Psychic abilities, dreams, astral projection and protection. Other correspondences: Strength, healing, divination

***Preface warnings*** Mugwort should absolutely not be ingested nor smelled in any shape, way or form by individuals who are pregnant. It can lead to miscarriages. Furthermore, people with diabetes should stay away from mugwort. Mugwort contains the neurotoxin compound thujone, which in high concentrations may lead to seizures and an abortive effect. Please be careful with how much mugwort you use and limit it to either a cup of tea OR as incense in a day, but not both.

Folk uses Stuffing a pillow with mugwort and sleeping upon it will produce prophetic dreams or aid with lucid dreams. Anointing divinatory tools with a mugwort infusion or oil can aid in divination. Placing mugwort in a bundle above the door will keep negative spirits from entering. This is because doors are liminal spaces that make it easier for spirits—whether benevolent or malefic—to enter. Mugwort can also protect its wearer when carried in a spell bag. Putting mugwort in shoes can help with strength and stamina during long walks or runs. A Roman invocation was used to say this when picking mugwort before sunrise: Tollam te artemisia, ne lassus sim in via. “I take of you, artemisia, lest I grow weary on the road.”

Apart from magical workings, the plant has also been associated with helping treat conditions in women like infertility, irregular menstruation and problems with pregnancy. This is where the name Artemisia might have derived from, as the Greek goddess Artemis was the goddess of childbirth.

Modern uses In modern times, mugwort is much beloved for divinatory purposes. Teas are made of mugwort and drunk during divinatory work or before astral projection & lucid dreaming. Mugwort incense is burned for the same purposes. This is because mugwort contains thujone, a psychoactive compound that produces an oneirogenic effect, or brings the consciousness to a dream like state. Often this is characterised by an immersive REM state, making it easier for us to access our subconscious mind and receive messages from spirits, deities or our subconscious mind. This is also why it aids in astral projection and lucid dreaming. Regular drinking of mugwort tea can therefore also help enhance and be more in tune with your intuition, to navigate daily life.

Folklore Mugwort holds a lot of folklore, dating back to ancient Greece. As it has a vast history and folklore, I will try to summarise the most important bits here.

Mugwort was first called Artemisia vulgaris, deriving its name from the goddess Artemis. The first association has already been deducted. However, mugwort has many more associations with Artemis. Despite it being ruled by venus, due to its psychic abilities, its long been associated with the moon too, which touches on the lunar aspect of Artemis. Its silver-green leaves further build upon this association, as Artemis is associated with both silver, as a moon goddess, and green, as the goddess of the wilderness. Hekate was regarded in ancient times as the khtonian Artemis, also being associated with childbirth and a protector of women, therefore mugwort is also associated with Hekate.

It was believed that mugwort would protect from malefic spirits on St. John’s eve, thus gaining it’s folk name as St. John’s plant. This was done by wearing a crown made by its sprays and wearing it on St. John’s eve. St. John’s eve, would be close and similar to Midsummer or Litha, making mugwort a perfect protective plant during this sabbat. During medieval times in the Netherlands and Germany, the believe was that if mugwort is gathered on St. John’s eve (and thus Litha) it would protect against diseases and misfortunes.  

Mugwort gains its title as mother of all herbs due to it being held sacred by various cultures and thought to be the oldest of plants. It’s particularly viewed as a plant that offered protection to humans. Before the discovery of hops, mugwort was used to give flavour to beers.

In the pagan Anglo-Saxan nine herbs charm—a charm to heal a wound of some kind—mugwort is one of the nine herbs invoked. The other herbs were chamomile, nettle, fennel, crab apple, plantain, watercress, chervil and cockspur grass or betony.

Harvesting yourself Mugwort is a weed that you can find in both the city and countryside. Therefore it’s really accessible to harvest yourself! Harvesting mugwort on the full moon or new moon for example, mainly due to its association with the moon, can be a potent tool and ally in your craft. Be sure to ask the plant for permission upon harvesting and give an offering in return. Especially if you plan on working with the plant spirit.

Personal uses Mugwort is a staple offering to Hekate and Artemis in my practice. I strongly associate it with them. With the upcoming Elaphebolia (6th of march), it’s a perfect offering for the goddess Artemis alongside for example a prayer. I also use mugwort infusion to anoint and bless my divination tools, mainly my scrying mirror and pendulum. When practicing with lucid dreaming or inner journey meditation, I drink an infusion containing mugwort alongside other herbs. I have yet to incorporate it in protection workings, but as I am entering this lunar cycle working closely with it, I am curious to experience its protective effects alongside its other uses. Who knows, maybe I will break a long-distance running record?

Thank you so much for reading this again longwinded post haha. If you have any questions or remarks please let me know!

*image not mine*

Persephone Despoena, 

Terrible Queen of the Underworld, 

Bringer of Spring, 

She Who is both Bones and Blossoms, 

I worship Thee. 

Oh Blessed Kore, Wife of Hades, Daughter of Demeter, 

Beloved and Feared by all, 

I devote this to You, I adore You. 

Persephone Melitodes, 

Sweet One, Fearsome One, 

I ask You to guide me, 

To teach me. 

Persephone Despoena, 

Assist me in accepting my own duality,

Teach me to love both my shadows and my sunshine. 

Help me, Your worshiper, to find balance.

Persephone Soteira,

(I do already include her in my worship occasionally but I haven’t worked with or interacted with her enough to have a strong grasp of experience with her energy in general yet. Most of my experience with her has been communicating through divination and just having a general intuitive sense of her vibes to some extent, but I don’t think I’ve actually felt her presence in a more relatively palpable way the way I have with some of the deities I work with/worship).

Semi-relatedly, I do worship and work with Apollo much more frequently (he is one of my main deities), and have noticed that as a deity associated with the sun, his energy in my interactions with him tend to change during the day vs at night.

It’s hard for me to describe exactly because so much of it is just ~vibes~, but I would say during the day he has a more cheerful, playful, openly warm, energetic, “sunshine-y” demeanor going vs at night/after the sun sets he tends to show a more calm, serious, studious, contemplative, mysterious/reserved side of himself. Further, I have synesthesia and (typically) to me during the day he feels yellow and golden and glitteringly radiant, and at night he mostly feels like a glowing deep indigo. Apollo always embodies The Sun tarot card to me, but during the day, he leans toward embodying The Chariot, and at night, he leans toward embodying Temperance.

Of course, this is my personal experience and I believe that any deity will present a bit differently to the different humans they interact with (and even present differently/show different sides/parts/aspects of themself at different times to one individual person they work with- I find epithets useful for making sense of this). But that being said, I think it’s all very interesting and worth discussing with other practitioners. I enjoy learning about the similarities and differences in how others vs myself perceive the same deities.

Feeling incredibly disconnected lately, and struggling to let go and find joy in the small things.

Bay Leaf - Daphne - Daphne's Garland

Marshmallow Root - Venus - Venus cold infusion tea

Lemon Balm - Diana - Diana's soothing tea

Honey - Mellona - Mellona's Honey Drops

Mugwort - Artemisia - Artemisia Antiseptic

Cinnamon - Aphrodite - Aphrodite's Ornaments

Calendula - Apollo - Apollo's oil

Violet - Venus - Venus ' Candy

Dandelion - Hekate - Hekate's Salve