Abortifacient Mistletoe Infusion (leaves): One ounce herb (28 g) to 2 cups water (250 ml). Steep overnight. Then, take ¼ cup (63 ml) doses, three to four times a day for up to six days.
Abortifacient Tincture (fresh leaves): 1:5, 50% alcohol, 15 – 20 drops, two to three times a day, for up to six days.
*Extreme caution! Fatal dose very close to abortifacient dose!
Mugwort
If they would eat nettles in March, and eat muggins [mugwort] in May, Sae mony braw maidens wad not go to clay.[311]
- a song by a mermaid, in an old Scottish legend, who arose from the Clyde River near Glascow and admonished those attending a young woman’s funeral.
AKA: Muggins, St. John’s girdle, felonherb, cingulum santa, sailor’s tobacco, wormwood, bulwand, and green ginger.
Parts Used: Leaves and root.
Medicinal Properties: Anti-inflammatory, anti-spasmodic, bitter digestive tonic, diuretic, diaphoretic, emmenagogue, estrogenic, nervine, stimulant, stomachic, tonic, and vermifuge.
Abortifacient Action: Estrogenic and uterine contracting. Contains: Alpha-thujone, an abortifacient chemical, and beta-sitosterol, a phytoestrogen.
Description: Mugwort is an aromatic perennial 1 – 5 ft. (0.3 - 1.6 m) in height, having many branched stems that are angular and purplish. Leaves are toothed and deeply lobed 1 – 4 in. (2.5 – 10 cm) long, smooth dark green on top and soft cottony white to light green underneath. Mugwort’s numerous yellow to reddish flowers appear in late summer in long clusters. Seeds are long and thin. Mugwort, brought to America by European settlers, is indigenous to Asia. Mugwort has now spread to nearly every temperate zone in the world. In North America, this plant grows wild in waste places and near streams. It is found from Nova Scotia to Ontario, and from the northeast United States south to Georgia, and west to Michigan.
Ancient myth indicates that women beyond recorded history have used mugwort as a medicinal plant. Mugwort’s scientific name (Artemisia vulgaris) was derived from the ancient name for Artemis, the moon goddess and mother of all creatures of the Amazons. In Ephesus, Artemis’s name was Diana, and statues have been found that show her entire torso covered with breasts, symbolic of how she nurtured and fed all living things. She was the fate goddess, the moon mother who, with her sacred dogs, guarded the gate of the afterworld. Artemis was equally the huntress, death bringer to the very creatures she brought forth.[312] Artemis led the nocturnal hunt, her priestesses wearing the masks of hunting dogs.[313] Her huntress aspect was a form of the destroying crone or waning moon, the moon time when medicinal herbs were gathered for the use of the people. At the new moon, the people of Greece would offer Artemis sacrifices and lavish orgiastic entertainment. A mugwort garland was traditionally worn around the waist or head while dancing round the fire on the European midsummer solstice celebration, which evolved from the Roman Cerealia celebration, held in honor of the Mother Earth Goddess Ceres. The midsummer mugwort garland would be thrown into the flames at the end of the evening to protect the wearer against sickness in the coming year.[314]
Mugwort was said to be one of the nine sacred herbs that were given to the world by the Saxon and Frankish god, Woden.[315] Woden, like Artemis, was the conductor of souls, riding with ghosts through the night on Halloween.[316] The number nine, for the nine sacred herbs given to the world, was an ancient number sacred to women in childbirth. Nine, as three times three, was the triple triad, symbolic of the infinite female Trinity. The word nine was originally derived from the Ennead, the nine-fold goddess of ancient Egypt.[317] The ancient sacred nature of the number nine is still evident in its meaning to the ninth degree, or as in ‘dressed to the nines.’
Mugwort was the herb used to flavor beer before the introduction of hops. Beer, originally considered a magical drink used to alter the consciousness, was ritually offered to the goddesses and gods. The distinguishing ingredients in old ritual beers were the herbs added to them, called ‘beer worts.’ These beers, containing between 5 - 27% herbs and 3 - 10% alcohol were used to alter the mind.[318] Many of these beers were similar to medicinal tinctures used today.
Sometimes called mater herbarium, meaning ‘mother of all herbs,’ mugwort is still deeply respected by many in Europe, Asia, China, and the United States. Mugwort is hung near the bed or burned as incense before retiring to bed to encourage vivid dreaming. The white downy substance on the underside of mugwort’s leaves is used in China as ‘moxa’. Rolled into little balls and burned above or on the skin at acupuncture points, moxa is used along with acupuncture needles in some acupuncture treatments.
Mugwort, with its menstrual promoting properties, has been used by many around the world. Europeans are known to use mugwort to bring on menstruation. The people of the Philippines use a mugwort native to their area for the same purpose, and Native Americans as well as Russians use a decoction of the leaves of mugwort to stimulate menstruation.[319] Mugwort was used as ceremonial medicine in purification rites by Native American Dakota women after menstruation.[320] Alma Hutchens, in Indian Herbology of North America, says mugwort is “safe for suppressed menstruation of mother and daughter.”[321] Mugwort is estrogenic; it stimulates uterine contractions.
Gathering: Mugwort may be gathered in late summer when it is in full flower, on a warm morning after the sun has dried off the dew. Mugwort’s upper green portion is gathered and processed into tinctures or dried in the shade. The roots of mugwort can be collected in the fall when the above-ground parts have begun to die back. The root is rinsed in pure water and dried in the shade. It should be stored in airtight containers when completely dry.
Preparation: Mugwort is well known and respected as a menstrual promoting emmenagogue, but mugwort does not have much specific documentation detailing its use as an abortifacient. To utilize mugwort’s menstrual promoting powers, mugwort is best used in the days prior to the onset of menstruation. Mugwort is sometimes combined with onion in a vaginal pessary (see Onion).
Words to the Wise: Mugwort contains the uterine contracting toxic chemical thujone. Thujone can stimulate the heart. Mugwort is estrogenic and should be avoided by any woman on blood pressure medications. Mugwort may not be as effective in premenopausal women. Estrogenic substances are known teratogens. Mugwort contains the uterine contracting and possibly toxic thujone. Do not use mugwort for longer than seven days, because prolonged use can injure the nervous system.[322] Lactating women should not use mugwort; it has a tendency to dry up breast milk, and could also pass through the milk to the nursing child. Mugwort should not to be used by women who have had a recent pelvic inflammation. People with seasonal allergies or asthma should avoid mugwort. People with an allergy to peaches may have a hypersensitivity to mugwort.[323]
311
In March is a Celtic feast, called Ostara, celebrating the spring equinox. “ Nettles in March” may have been considered a spring tonic. Around the first of May is the ancient Celtic holiday of Beltane, a sexual celebration where couples went to the newly plowed fields to lay down together and copulate in order to ensure the fertility of the coming years’ crops. “Muggins in May” would have prevented pregnancy and reduced maternal mortality.
312
Barbara G. Walker,
316
Barbara G.Walker,
318
Christian Ratsch,
320
Melvin R. Gilmore, “Some Native Nebraska Plants with Their Uses by the Dakota.”
323
Elide A. Pastorello, Valerio Pravettoni, Laura Farioli, Frederica Rivolta, Amedeo Conti, Marco Ispano, Donatella Fortunato Donatella, Anders Bengtsson, and Matilde Bianchi, “Hypersensitivity to Mugwort (