Motherwort....Leonurus cardiaca....

I have two Motherwort plants, that Im mentally willing to grow, so that I can top up my tincture stocks. This plant is the 'in your pocket' remedy for anxiety. Take 5 drops of the tincture then rest for 10-15 minutes, if she's not kicking in for you take another 5 drops, upto 20 drops, you will then know your base dose for when nerves hit next time round. This herb is effective without being addictive and can be taken several times a day, if needed.
Her soothing nature can help to bring on menses which are held because of stress or tension, and to ease uterine cramping, but if your prone to heavy bleeding, she might not be the best ally for you.
She can chill out menopausal  processes, like the severity and length of hot flashes.
The 'cardiaca' part of her is that those with a rapid or irregular heart beat can slow it down with her help. 
Motherwort was demonised during the burning times for her part in midwifery, along with the women who worked with her.
As an incense she is specific to protecting women and children.

A mother of a herb...

Tangents....

Summers in full swing here. I set up a cut up mozzie net like a tarp to provide shade for the herb garden, between that and the sugarcane mulch, the green folk are doing just fine. Everyones about twice the size they were a month ago. Tropical weather will do that for you. We could do with more rain, but me n my watering can get pretty good coverage. I enjoy my pottering around checking in on plants as I water em. So the herb gardens coming along...

Been swimming in the tea tree lake of late, water stained brown by the leaves, now thats gotta be medicinal. Its surrounded by melaleuca and reed wetlands. People are getting more clued in as to the value of wetlands. Landscapers are incorporating them into swimming pools as an alternative to chlorinated water, or building them in to household grey water filtration systems.

Most of my energy has been going into playing with ideas for a kids book, for big and small, something I've wanted to do for years. The tangential illustrations are morphing into a world of their own and adjusting techniques is helping. Every reading Ive done says go for it. So I am playing away, although there's actually a lot of work in putting it together. Ive done a rough outline of a story and am now drawing up some more detailed images. Even managed to squeeze in something about leaving offerings when you harvest medicine herbs... 

 

 



 

shaman in the woods....

From little things big things grow...

You'll have to excuse the difference of my last post and this one, but I feel a shifting change on the winds. A bit of whimsy has touched me somehow and I have the urge to create images that make me smile. Theres so much harshness and difficulty in the world at times, I long for a gentler place that watercolours evoke. Ok, my skill levels not great, but I have to say Ive enjoyed painting them. Hope they bring a little rising of your mouth corners, even if they are tangential....

Artemisia absynthum, Wormwood....

As an experiment when it came to researching the talents and skills of Wormwood, Artemisia absynthum, I decided to consult some with the plant herself as shes now growing in our garden....

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.

Brewing up an amulet...

Having been working on making an amulet for the last two weeks, since new moon, in parallel with deliberately reading  more on magical herbalism, Im amazed how I actually already have relationships with a good number of said herbs n spices, via the kitchen.

With the multiculturalism of Australia, one of the mega bonus's is good food and access to unusual and cool substances. Go to certain areas, dens of wonder, and you can buy Frankincense, thats probably better quality, half the price and you buy it by the scoopfull, than if you go to a new agey store where its sold in a wee packet for astronomical prices. These places are now far from me in coastal town *sigh*, the first thing my mum and I did when I got off the plane in Sydney, was to go to Chinatown...oooh, aaah and have barbequed duck with plum sauce. Then proceed to spend up on beeswax candles, incense and small dried fish for my kitten.

But I digress. As much as I long to have a garden busting at the seams with herbs to be harvested straight into magical and medicinal workings its just not the reality, yet. It shall be mine, oh yes, it shall be mine. So, I was very pleased to find that theres a reason Kitchen Witch traditions seem so sensible to me, cos thats where several goodies hide quietly. Subtly dropped in as flavouring, yet having parallel uses that align with ritual. The women in my family are, um, big boned, for a reason, they rock in the kitchen! So I can relate to this as a way to nourish and create hearth and home, my maternal line havent ever named it as such, but they lived it. Russian toffee, shortbread, roasts, pavlova, sponge cakes, green curries, just 'whipped up'.

Its all about ingredients, much like making an amulet. Infact, making amulets, I have discovered is much like making a good stew. Cook it on low heat, for a long time with good ingredients. I have heard rumours that in some traditions within Celtic families, stew base was an inheritance. It would be left ontop of the wood burning stove all through winter, each day adding a little of what was about, building up layers of flavour, to be passed on. Im sure there was a special name for it but I havent yet come across it, so pardon my ignorance, but its a great metaphor and I bet they tasted awesome.