Plant & Crystal Magic 15: Mugwort & Astrophyllite
Welcome to the high, holy holidays, in the Pagan Wheel of the Year. This magical month hosts Halloween, and it’s spiritual origins Samhain, and All Hallow’s Eve. October 31st is the eve of the Witches’ New Year, the Druidic New Year, and Dia de los Muertos, all of which take place on November 1st. This is a time for ancestral remembrance, for embracing Autumn’s relationship with death and decay to help us move beyond fear and to acknowledge our connection to the Underworld. It is a time for taking full advantage of the nearness of magic to the everyday world, to cultivate our extra sensory perception to see beyond the veils, while they are inviting us to look. Deep ancestral healing can be done. Seeing into your soul’s journey, patterns, purpose, and future pathways becomes easier than usual. It still takes a bit of effort, but there are allies waiting to support those who are ready to learn about their innate, though perhaps hidden, capacities to see, dream, and engage with the mysterious.
Mugwort (Estafiate)
When I first began to grow Mugwort, I asked for plant starts or seeds at a local nursery. They laughed, and said Mugwort is a weed. They couldn’t understand why anyone would want to grow it. It’s interesting how, as an Artemisia, named for the Moon Goddess Artemis because of it’s silvery luminescent leaves, along with it’s famous cousin Wormwood, it can be so commonly overlooked.
There is the common opinion, at least in the United States, that Mugwort has few medicinal properties, and a bitter taste, making it less inviting as a culinary or medicinal herb. Though it’s scent is sweet and fragrant, it is bitter to the taste, but the rest of this impression not exactly true. Mugwort has helpful medicinal uses, and is used in Mexico a lot, primarily as a remedy for gastrointestinal issues. It is said to increase physical and energetic strength, and stimulate healing.
However, as many people in more metaphysical circles know, Mugwort is a botanical powerhouse when it comes to magic and psychic development. It’s uses for enhancing magic, dreaming abilities, seership, astral projection, and the cultivation of hidden or latent psychic gifts is almost limitless. There isn’t a plant with deeper associations with magic. Mugwort will help you discover the psychic abilities and magical gifts hidden in your unconscious, and ancestral territories, and then support you in bringing them to their full flowering. It is the primary ingredient in almost all herbal products meant to induce psychic seeing or dreaming. The Moon is the ruler of dreams, magic, intuitive power, the unconscious. She is the giver of fortune or misfortune, special favors, and visions, and Mugwort is her sacred power plant, hidden in plain sight.
Once popular in Europe, and known as “Witch Herb,” Mugwort grows heartily and in abundance in the U.S. and Mexico. Having been brought as a magical and medicinal herb, it was incorporated into folkloric medicine and spiritualism, particularly in Mexico, where it is known as Estafiate. It has a chameleon-like quality, in that it may look and smell slightly different in different landscapes or climates, yet is recognizable by scent, leaf shape, and silver-green color. If harvesting in the wild, however, be sure to know the difference between Mugwort and Wormwood. Although they look similar, and share a strong relationship with the unseen, each in specific ways, Mugwort is safe to ingest as a tea, and Wormwood can be dangerously toxic if ingested, apart from very small doses.
The primary magical use of Mugwort is to enhance dreaming. Mugwort brings strong and vivid dreaming, even prophetic dreams. It can help in dream planting, the process of setting a dreaming intention to answer a question, receive insight or healing, or to manifest something. It can be an ally for the practice of lucid dreaming, as well astral projection. One of the uniquely helpful aspects of its effect on dreams is that Mugwort also improves dream recall. Any practitioner of the dreaming arts knows that the first step towards intentional dreaming is training oneself to remember and track one’s dreams each night. This is a key element in a dreaming practice, because it is the primary way to know if what you have planted has manifested, as you intended. Dreams are always giving us information as well, whether we asked for something specific or not. If we don’t remember them, then we are not integrating their teachings, insights and healing opportunities.
Mugwort is, in fact, so strong a dreaming herb that some people find it’s too much for them, because it makes their unconscious minds too active to actually rest during sleep. When we dream actively, rest is somewhat compromised and it’s possible to wake up feeling like you didn’t sleep at all. Sleeping with Mugwort in an herb bundle, dream pillow, or just the fresh herb under your pillow will stimulate dreams and help you remember them. For those who find themselves sensitive to this herb, simply having it in the room where you sleep is enough.
Mugwort is also an excellent psychic protection herb, which is very helpful when opening the psychic senses and exploring other levels of reality. In Europe it was said to protect against elves and “evil” entities, when brought into a building, by preventing their entrance. This lore is also found in China, where it is hung over doorways, to keep harmful spirits out. In Japan, it was used to exorcise the spirits of disease when brought into a sick person’s room, with the idea that these harmful energies dislike the scent. I like to make fresh mugwort herb bundles into faerie dolls for my son’s room, for protection and good dreaming. I add other herbs as well, in particular chamomile, to dispel nightmares and encourage dreams to be sweet.
How to work with Mugwort:
For the most potent experiences with Mugwort, try taking it as a tea, before dreaming, divination, or other magical practices and psychic inquiries. Add honey to sweeten, if desired, or compatible herbs, like lavender.
If fresh, it can be tucked into clothing, to be absorbed through your skin, or inhaled for its fresh scent.
Make bundles or natural cloth dolls filled with Mugwort to place under pillows, within a child’s room, or in the room of someone who is ill to bring dreams or protection. If you, or your child are prone to nightmares, add chamomile to balance it’s effect, making the dreams more gentle.
Bundle the dried herb to use as a smudge, or burn it with sandalwood (or wormwood, if outdoors) for scrying rituals
A strong infusion also can be poured into a ritual bath, especially before acts of magic and seeing.
For best effect, combine these methods. If you take Mugwort into your system regularly, it will build a relationship with you over time, gradually awakening your inherent psychic abilities and guiding you towards the insights and experiences that will help you to develop them to their full potential.
Psychic Power Potions:
Here are two recipes from my favorite spell book, ‘The Encyclopedia of 5,000 Spells’:
Artemisia Potion: Psychic Stimulation Tea
One tablespoon dried mugwort
One teaspoon dried melissa (lemon balm)
One teaspoon dried peppermint leaves
One teaspoon dried yarrow
One-quarter teaspoon ground cinnamon
One-quarter teaspoon ground cloves
Let it steep for approximately ten minutes, then strain and drink
(Note: In this potion, the additional ingredients serve to improve the flavor of Mugwort tea, which will also be effective on its own. Yarrow, cloves, and sweet melissa also stimulate psychic ability. Cinnamon increases potency, and peppermint helps to keep one alert and clear of mind. It is also effective to drink Mugwort tea alone. I like the fresh herb, and enjoy the scent and flavor. It is also good with lavender, rose petals, and chamomile. Get creative and find your favorite combination.)
Artemisia Potion: Psychic Potion
1. Beginning at the New Moon, soak one-quarter ounce of dried mugwort leaves
in a bottle of the wine of your choice.
2. Let this steep for seven days, ideally exposing the bottle to nightly moonbeams.
3. Decant the wine, straining out the botanicals.
4. Drink small quantities at a time, a glass here and there, to increase clairvoyance
(Note: The next New Moon comes next week on Thursday, November 4th. If you really want to work with Mugwort and the Moon together, you can follow up your potion preparations on the Full Moon by making a garland of fresh Mugwort and standing outside with it. This is meant to be done skyclad, meaning nude, apart from the Mugwort and the Moonlight. Place the garland over your eyes and face loosely, and gaze at the Full Moon through its leaves. This is said to increase your clairvoyance, though it’s certainly most suited for the more adventurous lovers of folk magic. It’s also okay to wait for next Summer! Mugwort is supposed to be most powerful when gathered on Midsummer’s Eve.)
Astrophyllite
In order to recover our full psychic potential, to consciously travel in dreams or the astral plane, and to communicate with, not only our ancestral past, but the teachings of other times and places, we need to have an energy body that is balanced and strong enough to contain such knowledge. Astrophyllite is a unique mineral ally that can help us to do just that. It can aid us in remaining grounded, while expanding our multi-dimensional self knowledge, and bringing sacred Light to the darkest inner regions.
Astrophyllite is a storm element black stone, with bursts of copper and gold tones, formed in star-like blades. It’s name comes from the Greek words “Astron” for star and “phyllon,” which means leaf. Stunning, rare, and somewhat fragile, this unique stone forms only in the inner cavities of igneous rocks, meaning inside rocks that are crystalized magma or molten lava. Those kinds of stones contain the union of fire and water, making them innately powerful. Obsidian is a potent example and Astrophyllite shares it’s affinity for the hidden territory of personal shadow, bringing to light what our unconscious has hidden, in order to clear, heal, and understand what has kept us from our true selves. The nuance Astrophyllite brings to this work is the amplification of our latent truths, and of our interest in the deeper meaning of our lives. It can help us when we need to cultivate acceptance of our shadow selves, in order to come into and express our fullness. It can help us to come back to our true soul purpose, and the discovery of our gifts and life path, when we have fallen prey to self destructive patterns of unconsciousness, like addiction, depression, and disenchantment. This stone will channel and shine the full spectrum of Light energy into our dark territories, and help us to express our own light more fully in the world. It’s medicine is to illuminate our truest self, and bring this true reflection to our conscious awareness, and this may mean recovering the lost psychic abilities that have been compromised by personal, soul, and ancestral traumas. This can be accessed through meditation, or by wearing Astrophyllite as jewelry and paying close attention to what emerges in everyday life, as signs, themes, and patterns will emerge.
One of the ways that Astrophyllite works to show us our most authentic selves is by activating all of our totonalcayos /chakras, from the Earth Star below us to the Soul Star above, making us a channel for Light, energy, and the potential communication with beings of different realms and times. For those interested in astral travel, lucid dreaming, learning directly from ancient civilizations or even intergalactic allies this stone is an important ally for helping to open the way, and for creating the anchor that will allow for a safe and clear path home.
Like Obsidian, Astrophyllite offers protection against negative and harmful energies, and can assist in the removal of negative attachments or entities. It can help one’s body to process electromagnetic pollution on the physical level as well. When toxic emotions are turned against the self, and limiting beliefs of low worth have taken hold, Astrophyllite can help us to see that no one is beyond redemption and the path to realizing our true divinity is accessible. If we can move forward with love, self-compassion, and the willingness to look deeply within, and perhaps beyond the self we have constructed, we are likely to find that knowledge, power, and mystery await us.
Suggestion for working with Mugwort and Astrophyllite:
Sipping a cup of Mugwort tea before a session of crystal gazing or meditation with your Astrophyllite could be a very good start to your Samhain/Halloween/Dia de los Muertos magical practice or ritual. For best results, make sure to have a specific question or intention in mind. When we are focused and specific, the insights we receive will be so too. However, when it comes to recovering latent gifts, healing shadow, and stepping into the fullness of your psychic and magical capacities, the process is much more gradual. Imbibing, breathing, and sleeping with Mugwort, alongside wearing or regularly meditating with your Astrophyllite, may take you to places you didn’t know you could go.
May it be so! May we all come to know ourselves more deeply and expansively this season.
Merry meet. Merry part. And, merry meet again.
Ometoetl.
-This blog was written by Melusina Gomez, originally for publication with the eleventh house.