Her young leaves are soft to the touch, grey silver in colour they reminded me of the Crone and her softer aspects, wisdom, insight, and storytelling round a fire. Another name for this plant is Old Woman. Magically she is said to aid divination. Burned as an incense, especially at Samhain, she can be combined with Cronewort, Atremisia vulgaris, to amplify the effect.
Her leaf shape is reminiscent of a trident or stang which could represent 'protection', in this case its from insects and pests largely. She is strewn amongst fabrics, clothes or furs, taken internally for intestinal worms and used in the garden for this purpose. She is also known to banish anger and negative energy...
Her leaves crushed, to me, smelt sweet and earthy, but Maude Grieves says of her that she's the bitterest herb, with the exception of Rue.
"While Wormwood hath seed get a handfull or twaine
To save against March, to make flea refrain:
Where chamber is swept and Wormwood is strowne,
What saver is better (if physick be true)
For places infected than Wormwood and Rue?
It is a comfort for hart and the braine,
And therefore to have it is not in vaine."
Tusser 1577
She is best known as a psychoactive ingredient in Absinthe, 'the Green Fairy' drink of artists and bohemians, at the turn of the century that was eventually banned, in part due to its use as an abortificant. This has some what tarnished the reputation of a plant that was once painted on healers doors as a sign to their patients, says Juliette De Baracli Levy. Who lists internal uses as an antiseptic, nervine, vermifuge and narcotic. Noting that, as a potent herb, over use will increase the action of the heart and blood vessels, so that she should not be taken for long periods or at high doseage.
She has the wildness of Artemis in her...
Resources:
Witchcraft Medicine: Healing Arts, Shamanic Practices and Forbidden Plants by Claudia Muller-Ebeleng, Christian Ratsch, and Wolk Dieter Storl.
Herbal Rituals by Judith Berger.
The Master Book of Herbalism by Paul Beyerl.
Common Herbs for Natural Health by Juliette de Bairicli Levy.
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