I have many dreams for 2017, both personally and collectively. Let me tell you how I call upon the magic of mugwort to aid me in manifesting my visions for the new year. Holidays marking the rhythms of renewal deeply appeal to my cyclical nature. Moon phases, seasons, annual holidays- they create a place marker for what has passed and what is to come. Most importantly they give us a chance to drop deeply into the present moment, relishing it and reveling in it like a touchstone to rub in our hands.
My ritual for the new year is to create a vision board. I keep a big crate of magazines, rich with images to appeal and inspire. About a week before New Years I pull out the crate and give everyone participating a scissors, glue, markers and a piece of poster board. It’s so much fun to be led by creative force to pull out images that tug at our minds and hearts. So many of us adults predominantly reside in our left brain, focusing and planning. This is an awesome way to jump into the playful side of visioning the future (both near and far).
Mugwort is a plant known for enhancing our powers of dreaming. Night time dreams can be rich fodder for manifesting the visions we have for our waking life. The botanical name for mugwort is Artemisia vulgaris, after the goddess Artemis. Artemis has a long history of connection to women, wildness, animals and the “hunt,” an appropriate patron goddess for an herb that can facilitate connection to all of these things. Artemis is also deeply entwined with the power of the moon and mugwort is a plant that is kissed by the moon. If you turn the green leaf over to look at its underside you’ll notice it is white. Plants that look like this have always symbolized the moon for me and often play an important role in women’s herbal materia medica (a Latin term for collected knowledge of therapeutic substances used for healing).
Many indigenous cultures have used mugwort for thousands of years to enhance dream like states of consciousness and aid in prophetic divination through dreams. Traditional uses of mugwort were to burn it as incense, smoke it or to drink it as tea. It is an herb that must absolutely be avoided by pregnant women due to its effects on the uterus. It is a member of the Asteraceae (daisy) family and could possibly cause allergic effects in people who are sensitive to plants in this family, such as chamomile and echinacea flower.
Here’s how I like to combine the magic of mugwort with my vision boarding process. I gather my magazines, scissors, glue, glitter, dried flowers and all that appeals to me. Once I put on some music that feels right and light a candle I add some mugwort to a beautiful abalone shell that I use for “smudging” (cleansing the air by burning dried plant material) and circle the area, wafting the delicious scent. I put the shell in the middle of the table and let the plant material burn as incense while I snip, glue, dream and create. If it is night time I might make a cup of mugwort tea by putting 1 heaping teaspoon of dried mugwort or 4 fresh leaves in 8 ounces of boiling water, steeping in a covered vessel for ten minutes. It is delicious sweetened with honey to balance the slightly bitter taste. When drinking mugwort tea before bed, it is good to keep a notebook next to the bed to jot down anything that comes up upon waking. In the morning I like to go back to the vision board to see what else has come up to the surface that must be expressed.
In whatever way you celebrate the year’s transition I wish you the very best. Cheers to a powerful and peaceful 2017. May your dreams and visions manifest this year as you honor the uniqueness of who you are!
