Welcome to the Plant Wisdom Circle. This is a
space to share the wisdom of the plants, letting
their voices ripple outward into ever -widening
circles. Together, we honor the plants as medicine
guides and living beings of healing consciousness.
I'm your host, Amy Tarepka. All right, welcome
back. I am going to be sharing the medicine of
mugwort with you today. who is a plant that almost
everyone has heard of. She has a reputation as
a witchy herb, an herb for dreaming. And while
she certainly lives up to these expectations,
her medicine is so much more vast. And I'm really
excited to dive a little deeper with you today
and share my own experiences and those experiences
from the plant wisdom circle. And as a reminder,
local folks can attend these Plant Wisdom Circles
here in Portland, Oregon on the second Friday
of every month. And we'd just love to have you
and welcome you into our really beautiful growing
circle. There's also just a few spots left for
the Golden Stone Immersion, which is my six -month
school that runs from fall equinox to spring
equinox. And this is a program specifically for
the sensitives, the empaths, the plant people
who are ready to claim their inner magic. It
is a healing journey into the body to alchemize
shadow, remember your power to weave relationship
with the earth allies and gather your spirit
team. We explore embodiment techniques, energy
medicine, earth magic, and shamanic practices
that will help you claim your sensitivity as
your greatest gift and uncover your own personal
flavor of spiritual magic. There's four plants
that guide us, red cedar, rose, hawthorn, and
yarrow. And I do have podcast episodes about
each of them, except for hawthorn, who will come
out probably in November. So if this immersion
calls to you, you can find more details in the
show notes. All right, let's get into it. Today,
Mugwort. Wow. Mugwort has just been blowing my
mind lately. Just such a psychedelic, powerful
force. And I hope that... This podcast does justice
and honor to her wild and so multi -dimensional
medicine. And what's really interesting about
this particular episode is that before the lavender
plant was in circle, I was feeling into who wanted
to be next. And I had already considered mugwort.
on the docket basically for November or October
in the liminal time of year and the witchy time
of year when the worlds are already, when the
veil is thin. I love working with her during
that time. But she came in really strongly and
was like, no, I'm next. And I was like, are you
sure? August, really? Like, this is the time
you want to work with us? And she was like, yes,
just like firm and clear. I'm next. And so I
have a few answers for why she came in and I'll
share those later in the episode. We're going
to talk about a couple logistical and practical
and physical things first before we get into
the psycho -spiritual qualities. So the most
common mugwort is the Artemisia vulgaris. And
that's the mugwort that most folks work with.
The mugwort we worked with in the plant wisdom
circle is Western mugwort, and that's Artemisia
ludoviciana. And I believe the spiritual properties
are very similar because I've worked with both
and really very similar, but I'm sure there are
some slight spiritual differences. So with mugwort,
we work with the flowering tops. So the flowers
and the leaves and the experiences that I share
here from the plant wisdom circles are when we
sit in ceremony with just a single drop or a
couple drops of the tincture. And you don't need
to ingest any of the medicine at all to sit with
the plants, but it can help. So you can go sit
outside with a plant without ingesting any medicine.
You can call the spirit in. without ingesting
any of the medicine. But it does add a layer
of depth when you can have the flavor, the taste,
the physical medicine inside your body. So mugwort
has been a sacred herb cross -culturally everywhere
she grows, from the Celtic lands in indigenous
Europe to Asia to indigenous North America. For
the Druids, she was one of their nine sacred
herbs. In the medieval times, she was called
Mother of Herbs or Mater Herbarum. I don't know
if I'm saying that correctly, but that's how
it's phonetically looking to me right now. And
she is what traditional Chinese medicine practitioners
burn in the practice of moxibustion or moxa.
seen in purification rituals and hung in doorways
for protection, which is also seen in the indigenous
European traditions as well. She's burned in
ceremony for prayer and protection, and I'm sure
so much more in various North American indigenous
traditions. And she's really known to be a very
sacred medicine wherever she grows. Physically,
mugwort is warming and drying to the system and
acts as both a relaxant and a stimulant. And
I feel like she is full of contradictions and
opposites that we will explore a little bit because
she just really doesn't like being fit into any
sort of boxes. That's part of her medicine. She's
very bitter. So as we see with most bitters,
there's an affinity for the digestive system.
And mugwort circulates warmth through the digestion
and relaxes tension. And she calms and stimulates
the nervous system. So again, two of those opposites
that mugwort holds. But she stimulates the nerves
where there has been... sluggish or slacking
activity, especially in areas where there's been
some level of trauma. And also, her medicine
relieves anxiety and nervous tension in the system
as a whole, so that relaxant effect as well.
Mugwort has long been an ally for the womb. She
helps bring on menstruation. She encourages blood
flow, but she also balances out. similar to yarrow,
I guess, both the scanty periods and the heavy
periods. And she eases menstrual cramps. She's
long been an ally of midwives and doulas to induce
labor, to ease the pain of labor contractions.
And I've read that some midwives work with her
to support fertility by clearing the womb of
stagnation. and revitalizing the whole pelvic
area prior to conception and also postpartum.
Just please don't consider taking mugwort during
pregnancy. It's very contraindicated because
of that stimulation to the womb and can be an
abortifacient, which means can cause abortion
or help support that process. So again, in Chinese
medicine, mugwort... is used in the practice
of moxibustion where the compressed and dried
mugwort leaves are burned over specific acupuncture
points in the body. And this helps bring warmth
to the channels. It helps move stagnant qi and
blood and dispel the cold or damp energies from
the area. So mugwort is... really helping to
clear and direct the flow of energy in the system
and revitalize the pathways again. And finally,
most notably, she is known to enhance dreams.
She stimulates the unconscious mind and therefore
stimulates the dream state and the quality of
dreams. And just be aware that some people have
a very hard time sleeping after taking mugwort
because of this, but other people love working
with her in the night and in their dreams. So
this is probably a good transition into the psycho
-spiritual themes that we find with mugwort as
this sort of bridges that gap between the physical
and the spiritual. So to get us started with
this section, I want to read my journey with
her in 2012, the first time I met her. And this
was in another one of those blind tasting circles
with Scott Close of the School of Forest Medicine,
where I didn't know which plant we were going
to be sitting with. And this is what I wrote
about my experience before learning that the
plant we sat with was mugwort. I feel a heavy,
slow, dreamy state in my body, but also bringing
me into clarity, clearing all of my thoughts,
putting me in touch with the me behind the thoughts,
and just waiting peacefully. I saw a beautiful,
flowy -haired goddess by the sea and a strong
maiden in the moonlight. The fairy realms felt
near. I felt heightened awareness of the flickering
firelight, my breath, the sounds outside, my
nostrils and my airways became more clear. And
I had this clarity in the non -thinking realm.
This was 14 years ago, but what I think I meant
by that is the clarity of that sensory perception.
And I felt the alignment of my spine and my bones.
And then this plant was showing me all the areas
I am holding myself back or being held back from
standing in my truest, strongest, most confident
self. And to sum it up, I wrote wild femininity,
white moonlight, and radiance. And then I'm going
to read. this quote by Saja Popham in his article
on mugwort, which I will link to in the show
notes because this also is a beautiful summation
of her medicine. Mugwort is the plant for dreamers.
Its scientific name is Artemisia vulgaris, named
after Artemis, Greek goddess of the moon and
the hunt. As the name suggests, this herb ushers
you into the lucid world and wakes up parts of
your subconscious mind that have been left to
settle and collect dust. In this way, it helps
you process wounds past so you can experience
greater closure and healing in your life again.
So she's known to show us what's hidden beneath
the surface a little more clearly so we can see
it and heal it. and integrate it. And one of
the ways she does this is through dreams. They
are a clear doorway into the unconscious mind.
I don't often work with mugwort in the night
because Really, I never know if I'm going to
sleep or not. I've had very intense nights of
dreams where I'm waking up and processing dreams
in the middle of the night when I've worked with
her. So I don't choose to do that often. But
I do want to share one experience I had just
last week around the full moon eclipse. So the
moon was bright and I thought of Magort and I
had been wanting to reconnect with her as it
had been a couple weeks since our... circle and
I was starting to prepare for this podcast so
I was already in bed with the lights off and
I didn't want to get up and find the tincture
so I called her I imagined the taste of the tincture
on my tongue her smell being with her I called
her spirit forward and when I could feel her
presence I asked if she'd be willing to be with
me in my dreams that night and The intention
for me was to surface whatever I needed to see
that was unhealed and lingering in my unconscious
mind. And the first dream of the night was one
of the most emotionally intense dreams I've ever
experienced. And I'm not going to go into the
details, but I woke up sobbing and I was able
to feel and heal some really deep stuff that
I did not know was in there. And it felt like
it must have been from a past life. And the story
was something so wild that, you know, it didn't
feel relevant in my current life. But when I
felt it and allowed myself to process it and
cry and just be with myself when I woke up. So
much lifted in my body. It was wild. And since
then, I've been moving through the world really
differently. I know it's only been like a week,
but I am noticing this really subtle shift of
being just more calm. And there's less urgency
running through my system. So that is an example
of mugworts. And what makes Mugwort so powerful,
in addition to being this awakener and illuminator,
like the full moon illuminating the dark night,
illuminating that unconscious mind, she really
helps us dissolve the boundaries or the blockages
between us and what we haven't wanted to see.
And I keep getting this image of her as like
that ferryman or ferrywoman that transports souls
between the worlds that allows passage where
most things wouldn't be allowed to pass. It's
like she's the key card or the passcode that
allows us through or allows these things to move
through barriers where they haven't been able
to move in a long time. So we're able to... contact
parts of ourself that have been in the shadow
or connect with past lives or move into and through
that very non -linear space -time reality. And
she knows how to navigate this space so well
and helps direct us through that. So she has
this dissolving effect. And it's not just with
the unconscious mind, but also with anything
we've been rigid about in our lives. She helps
us see ourselves beyond these stagnant roles
or images or systems of belief that our egos
have held onto, like scaffolding to keep us feeling
safe and in the known and in control. And she's
like, that's not really you. That's not real.
The real you, the real reality is so much more
fluid. and richer and expansive and full of possibility.
And so working with her can sometimes be a wake
up call and sometimes really relieving to see
where you've been keeping yourself in a box or
in an identity that's actually limiting to your
soul. And so in this way, she's very supportive
for deep rooted trauma where folks have become
associated. with that trauma. And I would not
recommend this for every person who has experienced
trauma, because I feel like you need a pretty
well -held container in order to work with mugwort
specifically for this, because again, she can
dissolve things. And if you're not ready for
that dissolution to happen, it can be really
intense. doesn't follow rules, especially rules
that have been created by colonial Christian
patriarchal rule, right? She's like, this is
all not true and we need to dissolve those systems.
So I think that she's a really powerful one to
be working with currently as systems are crumbling.
As we're dreaming into this new world of how
things could be and how things could look, she
is just one of the most powerful allies, I feel
like, for this time. So this is one of the reasons
I feel like she's stepping forward right now
during this time of the great dismantling and
crumbling and is like, no. You need me now. You
need my support now. But there's also more reasons
to come. But just keeping that in mind of her
stepping forward right now to hold us through
these dark times and the dissolution and to really
see what we haven't wanted to see within ourselves,
within society, so we can integrate and heal
and dream this. next rendition of how we're showing
up in relationship with the earth and with each
other so going back to that ability to be with
the unconscious to go into the shadow to dissolve
to be with trauma and part of this another layer
of why she's so powerful in this realm is her
ability to work in the dark She's associated
with the nighttime, also the moon, and the moon
represents this illumination in the dark and
the ability to see more clearly through the terrain
of darkness. And that's exactly what she does
for us. And I think that's why she's long been
associated with the witches and the healers,
because there's something about their ability.
to see beyond linearity and rigidity in the waking
world which is work with magic which is being
in communication with the forces of the unseen
and you know true healers operate inside and
amongst many layers of reality in order to access
the root of the dis ease in the system the energy
layers the deep psychological layers the emotional
layers all of that impacting the physical and
how the physical is manifesting. So she really
helps healers and witches see beyond the form
and access other realms of wisdom and insight.
And I'm just thinking now, like imagine how threatening
people who worked with her medicine would be
to the Roman Empire, to the colonial Christian
patriarchal rule and order. The witches, the
healers, the midwives who were tried and killed
as witches. They were the ones who were around
her and listening to her and with her in this
between the worlds, wild, unruly place. And they
were a huge threat. Because again, It's not the
world of boxes or these rules that are imposed.
So to me, it's just no wonder that she's associated
with the healer archetype, bringing people onto
the medicine path because it's not a straightforward
path. And being a healer is so much about going
between the worlds and undoing. Rigidity and
walls that have been erected that are doing more
harm than good and coming back to that true essence
that's underneath all of it. So again, of course,
mug war is associated with the healers in general.
And of course, that would be incredibly threatening
to that system of power. So it was said in folklore
that when mugwort grows in your yard, it's a
sign of a healer living there. Or if she starts
growing in your yard, she appears in your yard,
she is calling you on that path. And I've also
heard that mugwort was intentionally placed in
the doorways of local healers and midwives as
an indication of their craft and their medicine
so people could find them. And I want to share
a story alongside this. And this was sometime
in the realm of 2013 to 2015. I don't have an
exact date, but I know where I was living at
the time. So it was in that period. And I had...
this really profound dream out of the blue where
I was visited by a plant that I didn't immediately
recognize. And the message in the dream was that
I was a healer and it felt like it was sort of
initiating me onto that path and into claiming
that path. And I was already practicing body
worker, but this was right around the time that
quaking Aspen was also initiating me in her own
way onto the medicine woman path. And you can
listen to that episode, the Quaking Aspen episode
for more details on that. But this was right
in the heart of when I started apprenticing with
Scott as a medicine guide leading plant ceremony
in the forest. And interestingly enough, one
of the ceremonies he had me and my friend lead
in 2014 was with mugwort. And I'll share about
that later. But in this dream, this plant. felt
like she was going to be with me and help me
on this path. And I woke up so moved and curious
about who this plant was. And even though I'd
met mugwort, I'd harvested her, I'd led ceremony
with her, but she wasn't one of my main allies.
And I didn't really know her that well. I'd really
only connected with her twice in those early
years. And she just wasn't in the forefront of
my consciousness. After about one or two months
of holding this dream kind of lightly in my mind
and asking, getting curious about who this plant
was, I was visiting my family on the East Coast
and driving up to Maine on a long car trip. And
I had to pee. And I sort of begged my dad to
pull over because he doesn't love stopping when
he doesn't have to. And I walked over towards
the woods to relieve myself. And as I squatted
down, right in front of me was mugwort. It was
the plant for my dreams. She was looking exactly
like she had in my dream. Almost like this nondescript.
green herb growing like a weed. She didn't have
flowers. So she was really sort of a generic
looking green plant, which is why I didn't immediately
recognize her. But I was obviously just like
stunned and blown away. I got tears in my eyes.
I was like, oh my gosh, thank you for finding
me. Because it was me who wanted to pull over.
And I just felt like this whole thing was orchestrated
by her for me to find her. And that it all made
sense. And I almost felt Ridiculous for not having
realized or figured it out sooner because I'd
heard of Mugwort calling people into this path
before and I just hadn't put it together. So
that was really just an affirming moment of this
is real. That she claims people. She initiates
people. She's one of the ones who stands at that
threshold. often in healership, but there's also
all of these other initiations and thresholds
of our lives that she helps us cross over. And
similar to Elder in this way, but she helps us
dissolve the blocks keeping us from where we're
meant to go and who we're meant to be and takes
our hand and ferries us across the river. We
also find themes of the divine feminine with
mugwort womb tending birthing whether physical
or metaphorical birth and also just being in
that non -linear non -rational space that the
feminine lives in the right brain that doesn't
follow the clock or a straight line and maybe
counter -intuitively she helps us be in our bodies
too That clarity of the senses, feeling into
the sensual nature of life awakens our senses
to get us in relationship with the earth and
this physical reality. So again, this full of
contradictions living in the between the worlds,
but also bringing us more fully here and present
in our bodies to experience the magic that lives
in this realm. And this leads me into that ceremony
that we led in 2014. And part of my job was to
come up with the ceremony or listen for what
wanted to come through Mugwort for the ceremony
alongside a friend and colleague, Salihah. So
I went off. to take a drop of the tincture, to
align with mugwort, to ask what she wanted us
to do. And immediately a simple song came pouring
through. And I had received songs before, but
this was like right away so strong. So I want
to sing it for you. It's really simple. Moon
magic, moon love, moon magic flowing from above.
And there was a full moon, I think, that night.
And she showed me us singing in the moonlight
and dancing and the joy of being alive in these
sensual bodies. And she wanted us to break out
of this seriousness and celebrate. And it's so
interesting because I feel like a lot of times
when we're on our spiritual path or healing journey,
there is so much seriousness about it. And she's
like, come on, lighten up. It doesn't have to
be so serious. And let's celebrate together under
the stars. And so we did. And we journeyed with
her spirit. We danced and we sang. And then we...
Laid down together. And in that journey, she
came to me first to sprinkle like this moon dust
on us. That's how it felt like this magical moon
dust being sprinkled on our group. And then I
saw her as just like this primordial mother.
And I was a baby and she brought out her huge
voluptuous breast. for me to suckle on like mother
earth giving and nourishing us and holding us
and I felt so held and cared for and then I saw
her pregnant belly that just felt larger than
life and all the way down to her just naked feminine
sensuality her sexuality and she was just showing
me the beauty the sacredness of the female body
and female sexuality. And it was very confronting
to me at the time because it's not something
that I had really celebrated in myself at that
point in my life. But she was just kind of awakening
that and showing me the, yeah, again, the sacredness,
the beauty of the female form. And really it
felt like a deep honor to like worship is the
word I want to use, like worship that form. And
then her reflecting to me to worship that in
myself. And it was very illuminating and awakening.
I remember being very confronted by it because
it was, I think, again, one of those things that
I hadn't integrated in myself. That's what she
loves to help us do is show us our shadow. So
just two more points here before I start sharing
about specific experiences. One other theme that
comes through sometimes is alignment, like soul
alignment or even body alignment. So in that
first sit with her, I talked about like my bones
aligning and feeling more aligned with the truth
of what wanted to be lived through me. aligning
our physical bodies to be that strong container
to hold integrity so that the more true version
of our soul can move through so that the energy
that wants to move through us can move through.
So that comes up sometimes as well as the elements.
And I feel like she is one of those plants that
really operates With all of the elements, some
plants definitely have affinities for one or
two elements. And I really see her holding the
totality. Again, I think she's just like such
a master plant and weaves that wholeness in us.
So there's the air quality of her. the way she
works with our mind and clarifying and visioning
and seeing the seer archetype, her affinity for
the nervous system. And then there's the water
element, how she works with our unconscious mind
and the emotional body and moving us into this.
space between the worlds type feeling, which
often feels very watery to me. And then her fire,
her warmth, her moving energy, her celebration
of life. She often comes in really forcefully,
like a lot of people feel her fire. And then
coming in with her element of earth and helping
us love on our sensual body and awakening the
physical senses in our body and loving up our
body and our sexuality and also seen in her relationship
with the digestive system. So she just really
moves through all of the elements and contains
all of the elements. from my perspective. Okay.
So I'm going to share some of the plant wisdom
circle experiences, and then I'll share more
of my own experience from this plant wisdom circle
and some final thoughts. So this first person
decided to ask Mugwort a few questions. She'd
been having some pretty impactful dreams in the
last few weeks that were different than her normal
ones. So she was like, Mugwort, were these due
to your influence and mugwort was like oh yeah
that was me and she had taken a nap the day of
the plant circle and said it was wild like she
was between the worlds the whole time and asked
mugwort again if that was her influence and she
was like yep that was me too and then she had
multiple visions come through in different ways
where mugwort was showing her that there is community
and support around her and how essential and
important those are right now and will continue
to be in the coming months and years. Mugwart
showing her images of volcanoes erupting and
hurricanes blowing and fires blazing and saying
this part is not over. There's so much more to
come. But if we continue to gather in community,
and listen to the land and listen to the earth,
we'll be able to navigate safely through these
changes and what's happening and what we're going
through. So just a little aside to me, just seeing,
again, Mugwort's deep comfort in change and the
underworld and navigating times that feel so
ungrounded. And she's giving us insight into
how to move through them. And it's together,
community, listening to the earth, listening
to the land. She asked this person to walk barefoot
more, to touch the earth more. And she also had
a bunch of ancestors that came to support her.
in this journey and one of the messages she received
was that it's okay to die that it's not bad that
we all have our time and that there's still this
support that we provide once we're dead that's
meaningful to the collective so that really lifted
something for her and made her feel more at peace
for this next person mugwort came in very physically
strong high energy and was like, I'm here to
work. And she started off in her chest and it
got really warmed up and it felt like her work
was healing. That's what she meant by I'm here
to work is to help provide healing. And Mugwort
felt like a really trusted and loyal friend or
a right -hand woman who has a job to do and is
going to execute it perfectly and just have your
back. And for her, mugwort's medicine was very
energizing and that stimulating aspect of her.
And she was like, how is this going to work for
dreams? Like, how would I ever sleep? And mugwort
told her to drink her tea in the afternoon. For
this next person, mugwort came as a grandmotherly
figure who was picking plants on the side of
the mountain. And she was present with a lot
of pretty tough feelings that she's been going
through lately. And Mugwort was sort of just
holding the space, being really patient and present
and telling her, I can see your true self through
all of this, through all of these hard things
and all of these hard feelings. And it felt really
empowering and important for this person. to
hear this she felt very seen by mugwort this
next person comes to these circles fairly often
and said it's probably the most altered that
she's ever felt and she dropped down into a really
slow brain wave state she described it as that
juicy yoga nidra type slowness and then the images
she received were so clear So similar to my experience
in 2012 that I shared in the beginning. The first
image was her laying on the forest and the grass
was lush up around her and it smelled like flowers
and she could hear a creek. And she felt so connected
to the earth and to the beauty of the earth and
also to the grief of all that's been happening.
With the fires and the climate change and all
the ecological destruction. And Magort said,
I'll hold you. This person has been having a
hard time being a sensitive person who feels
so much lately. And Magort said to her, I love
all of you who feel so deeply and have such deep
attention. You feel me so deeply. And you can
channel me so deeply. And that made this person
feel so much better again. And again, seen in
this way and honored for who she is and the sensitive
soul. And the second image, she was in the secret
garden, like the children's book, and thinking
about the secret garden and how they bring this
sort of dead place back to life. how these kids
have just one little place to work on. And this
message that she received from these images around,
again, that sensitivity and that it's okay to
guard your attention. Like when we feel this
deeply, we have to put some guardrails around
what we're taking in and we can't fix everything
and we can. hone our attention and work on one
little plot of land and bring that back to life.
And that's okay. It's not avoidant. Deep attention,
deep energy. And for her, that felt like a really
big relief because it's really hard to take it
all in right now for most people, but especially
for sensitives. So it was this permission to
just really honor that sensitivity and work deep.
guard that attention and the last image she saw
was really energizing and she was seeing images
of the world as it could be so what she said
was buildings dripping with greenery and flowers
and instead of parking lots there are community
gardens and there are bike lanes and mugwort
telling her to meditate on this So even as the
world is breaking so much, there's so much we
can plant. And it's the sensitive dreamer types
that are going to be doing a lot of that. And
we need that dreamer. We need that visioner.
We need that heartfelt person to be meditating
on this. So again, mugworts. expertise in working
with the dream world and working with the nonlinear
reality and all possibility and calling forth
what we want to be dreaming into being in this
world. This next person felt immediately a tension
and pain on the whole right side of her body.
And she could feel mugwort come in and just start
to work on it with that healer energy. And She
said the energy was moving around a fair amount,
but at one point there is a feeling of expansion
behind her eyes and her forehead and that third
eye. And then with that expansiveness of the
third eye, that feeling ended up moving down
and through her entire body. And what ended up
coming through for her was this quality. of peripheral
vision, but with her entire body, not just with
her eyes and settling into this widened perception
with the whole body and mugwort showing her that
this is how you see the magic of the world. You
don't see it by looking for it or looking directly
at it. You let yourself soften. And she was showing
her that it's the same as night vision. So when
you're walking down a path at night, if you look
too hard or pointedly, you can't really see anything.
But if you open your eyes up to the wider periphery,
you can see more fully. And Maguire gave her
this metaphor of someone coming along with a
headlamp that blinds you, and then it takes you
a second to get that night vision back. That's
what she was saying for us sensitives. working
on and with this magical vision, this night vision
to stop looking directly at the fire, this world
that's on fire, that's too bright. It's too much
for most of us. And that's why we feel so overwhelmed
all the time because we're trying to live in
this softened receptive place, but inside blaring
artificial lights. And so her message was very
clear. If you want to see mugwort if you want
to see a plant spirit if you want to see magic
work on your night vision and she said throughout
this whole experience there was very silvery
moonlight vibes like that's what she was basking
in as she was receiving these teachings so again
mugwort working with us sensitives and really
guiding us to be the seers the healers, the visionaries,
the dreamers that we are for this collective.
Magwork calling us to step into that healership,
to that magic that we hold. But we can't operate
inside the society like other people can. And
we have to really guard ourselves from that blaring
light in order to cultivate our night vision
and these gifts that are being called forth from
us right now, ultimately in service of the collective.
But in order to do that, like the previous person
was being taught, we have to guard our attention.
This next person went into a past life that she'd
visited before, and it was A life where there
were witches gathering in a clearing in a nighttime
forest and they got discovered. And what happened
was awful and brutal. And so when Mugwort was
taking her back there, she could feel herself
going back to that past life and she was resistant.
But Mugwort was like, no, go before. Go before
this happened. And she had always gone back into
this experience after the fact or during the
pain of it and had never thought to go before.
So it was really incredibly profound for this
person because when she got there, it was all
of this shimmery light and it felt so magical
and connected and feelings of sisterhood and
being with the earth and the forest. She just
walked through that night forest with all of
these twinkling lights and fairies and starlight.
And she was crying because it was so healing.
And this message about time and how it's not
only going forward, but we can also go back.
We can go before. these rifts and separations
and that there's a lot of healing that we can
receive when we go before. This person is a single
mom and has to hold a lot and it becomes very
heavy in many ways. And Mugwort was helping her
break up all that heavy energy of always holding
everything and being on. And what was happening
in her experience was Mugwort helping her let
go. of that motherhood role. And she could start
to feel herself alive again. And this realization
that she's been getting overrun by the roles
in her life and had this beautiful clarity of
seeing her daughters as who they are, not as
her mom, but from that more objective perspective
with more clarity. And seeing through the roles
and projections, she could see their light and
their power and uniqueness. And it was just a
really cool experience for her. And then she
experienced this breaking up of some generational
anxiety and urgency and this stress bundle that
goes way back in her lineage. And she realized
all of that kind of worry or focus on trying
to do the right thing. wasn't needed and mugwort's
message was to lead with spacious connection
and after that she had this sense of our whole
circle lighting up and images of all the circles
in her life lighting up and she started to get
a sense of herself differently not as an individual
entity but an I am us feeling and it really helped
her expand out of this contracted I need to do
the right thing as an individual kind of vibe.
This next person saw an image pretty immediately
of billions of moving cellular structures in
this giant flower shape and she said it was a
very psychedelic kind of prism and as she was
staring at it for a while there became an empty
space or a void right in the middle. And she
eventually started to go towards that void. And
what happened was she ended up time traveling
through past lives. And she said they got more
and more bizarre and indescribable. But one was
this feeling of Being a witch, drinking cozy
tea, very long ago. But in all of these past
lives and images, she had magical powers. So
Mugwort basically showing her, she's carried
these magical powers with her for a very, very
long time. And every time she would go into these
very strange lives and images, she was like,
is this real? And Mugwort was showing her how
she has this block to believing these other spaces
or other dimensions are not real. And that this
reality, this embodied experience is the most
real. And all of those others are less than or
less real. And she didn't know that she believed
that, but she started to really feel the realness
of these other worlds and the other lives. feeling
like these limitations of her mind were being
removed. And there was another moment where she
was hovering above our circle and looking down
like an out -of -body experience. And Mugwort,
again, showing her the possibility and pushing
her own boundaries and limitations of what she
believes is real or reality. and helping her
feel into this very limitless nature of reality.
And at one point she got scared, feeling like
she might just lose her whole self out of her
body. But overall, the message was, yes, this
sort of out -of -body, dreamlike, astral travel,
timeless and limitless nature of reality is very
real. She was really actively dissolving the
edges, the walls in her mind that are the beliefs
stopping her from opening further to this world.
So it was very, very psychedelic for her. All
right, this next person noticed a lot of warmth
all along her stomach area and pelvis, and then
it went up and opened her ear. And it felt like
this warm softness that was relaxing and melting.
And it felt really good. And it felt like a deep,
relaxed space. And for her, it related to the
mother line that she connects to the left side,
which was something that she's been working on
a lot in her life and trying to heal and shake
loose some of what's been held there. And she
got the message that it's okay. It's not perfect
where she's at, but that's okay. And to let it
be okay. And to just listen. And she felt a lot
of grace. This next person had her right side
of her face start to twitch. And she pictured
herself as a mouse running through a field. And
her eyes were twitching. And then from the field,
as she ran, what emerged was a... table with
mugwort there and it felt like she was coming
home to a best friend that she hadn't seen in
a while mugwort felt so welcoming like a grandmother
figure who was funny and patient and telling
her yeah we've met what are you talking about
because this person didn't think she knew mugwort
and it was very emotional for her like this long
lost friend and this epic reunion and she was
crying from this feeling of returning home to
someone that she's known for so long who means
so much to her and who she's missed and she didn't
even know she missed her and she didn't want
to leave and inside her experience mugwort was
imparting to her themes of nourishment and nurturing
and food and earth and told her that they will
meet again. This next person's body started to
buzz pretty immediately, and everything in her
experience was dark, black, earthy. She was taken
on a journey first into the earth, burrowing
through the earth like a little mouse, going
into this little underground burrow. that had
a little red pillow inside that she crawled up
on. And then she was taken and went up into the
night sky and then into the depths of the ocean.
And eventually the buzzing calmed. And then the
pain in her body started to get a little louder
and more apparent. And she asked Mugwort if Mugwort
could help with this. And Mugwort came with some
obsidian and black tourmaline and put them on
a spot on her body. And for her, the overall
message was for what she's needing right now
is to burrow and dig deep and to heal. And another
message of discovering the deep and unknown parts
of herself. This next person received the message
of align and receive and had this image or felt
sense of this crucifix type experience where
she was splayed out, but in a really open and
good way. And it felt really good to feel that
open. And then that was contrasted with the word
cradle. And she was feeling into that. cradle
energy and then had an image of a waterfall with
the message of alignment and softness and how
exquisitely beautiful that contrast is the hard
sturdy massive rock and the flowing water going
over it and then mugwort asked her for attentiveness
for paying attention staying connected to the
earth and the plants right now and then she also
saw herself dying but had this feeling that it
was totally fine and there was a peace about
it and she was saying to her kids carry it on
and was receiving this feeling this message that
she wasn't really alive so she's not really dying
or dead like her spiritual body has been before
this body and will continue on after this body
so that timeless message again coming through
and finally someone had a vision of an infinity
symbol but it was also turned into more of a
triangular shape and felt very connected to the
uterus So the continuity and infinity and interconnectedness
inside the female body parts. And now I'll share
my experience, which was incredibly beautiful.
Physically, I felt her rooting in my womb and
then her stalk rising up through my body into
my third eye. And it felt like an alignment of
sorts. And I could feel how she was. activating
and linking these two centers, these two very
intuitive centers of the body. And I also very
quickly felt like I had gone between the worlds
in this very psychedelic space and my body felt
very watery and fluid. I felt like my body was
buzzing. There was images of fire smoke and the
flames of the fire dancing and shape -shifting.
And the imagery had a very ancient ancestral
feel to it. And I had this deep sense that she
could help us shape -shift to enter into different
consciousnesses and become different aspects
of life to learn from them, to see through their
eyes. So this is a very powerful shamanic and
witch. skill to have. And she is one that can
teach us this skill. And then she asked me, what
do you see in the flames as they were dancing
in front of my face? And she was kind of showing
me how to see beyond what was there. It's like
the flames were there dancing, but she was asking
me to see beyond the flames. And what do I see
in in the beyond, beyond the physical and tangible
world and into the possibility of the other world
beyond our world of structure. And she was showing
me that she was an ally for divination, for the
archetype of the oracle or the seer and helping
us look through the veil at potential timelines.
And she was showing me how life was always changing.
It's always malleable. There's not one perfect
path or one set in stone timeline that we're
constantly shapeshifting and creating worlds
both in ourselves and externally. And that really
the only constant is change. And she said, who
do you want to be? And what is being dreamed
through you and through your vision, I get to
decide. It reminds me of the person who shared
about dreaming into the possibility for this
new earth and Magwart really saying how important
that is, which is also what Lavender was telling
us last time. back to my experience, I get to
decide. I get to decide what's being dreamed
through me. I get to decide who I want to be.
There's no boxes or fixed outcomes. I get to
choose. I get to change and dream and create.
And I could feel her dissolving the boundaries
in my body, in my mind, where I feel fixed. or
rigid in my thinking and in my identity or my
beliefs and moving me into a more fluid way of
being, that watery sensation, the dancing flames,
that fluidity and ever -changing nature of life
with all possibility apparent and available.
And she was showing me that she supports the
portals between worlds. the womb, birth, dreams,
anywhere we can access the other world, she's
there. And then I asked her directly, why did
you come now? Why did you need to be the next
one we worked with at our plant, Wisdom Circle?
And she immediately showed me the fire burning
on Mount Hood. And this is a fire that I've been
mourning because the fire swept through the entire
mountainside of where I harvest mugwort and yarrow
and this very sacred place to me that I go every
year to. And she told me that burning her sends
prayer into the world and into the spirit world
and showed me people burning her bundles for
ceremony for prayer all over the world. And then
she flashed back to her field burning and the
smoke rising and sending prayers into the air.
And I just immediately started crying because
this was such an unexpected reframe for me. And
it doesn't take away any of the damage or the
heartbreak, but it helped me feel so much better
in a way about what was happening in a way that
I could lean more into acceptance of this rather
than trying to fight against what was happening
or controlling. And she showed me this like beautiful
devotion. She was having as she was burning and
then it would shape shift into anguish and pain
and then back into that spiritual devotion and
showing me how both are true and it's not one
storyline. There's always many. And again, this
message that everything will change and always
is changing. And she asked me specifically to
join her. and infuse my own prayers and dreams
into her smoke medicine and into the smoke medicine
of all the plants and trees that are burning
currently. And showing me that as we infuse our
prayers into the smoke, it's blessing the land.
And she is helping and the plants are helping
to carry that prayer out into the land and into
the wider world beyond. She is carrying the dreaming
of the visions of what we're praying for and
the power of the community and the collective
in changing timelines. So it's not just about
our individual. prayer but when we gather in
community and circle and collective and are all
dreaming the same dream that it's endlessly more
powerful so her invitation to gather to dream
to pray to intend together And then this song
by Pia called Blessed We Are started playing
in the background, which is an incredibly soulful
song with this haunting voice as the fires were
burning, as the smoke medicine filled the skies
to be spread across the lands. And she was showing
me how blessed we are to be here and showing
me. That the earth is balancing herself with
the fires, with the floods, all of it, even if
it doesn't look like it. And that because things
are so off balance right now, humans have contributed
to a lot of disharmony and imbalance. But because
of this, greater acts of intensity are needed
to bring us back. like these immense wildfires
burning. So all of these plants and trees are
gathering together collectively in prayer and
waking people up and feeding the spiritual fire
that's been depleted. Now, again, this isn't
something that I had considered before and I've
been devastated by the fires and I still am and
it doesn't take away. all the other layers of
truth that live inside the wildfires and why
they're burning and all the human reasons that
have been causing them. But it's all true. And
showing me this other overlay was incredibly
powerful to see and to feel and to think of earth
and the plants as collectively gathering together
with the fire to pray and sending that. through
the earth as a large act of waking us up and
what can be dreamed differently. How can we be
collectively dreaming something different and
not continuing to agree to the collective dream
that we've all been dreaming that has been so
harmful? So it felt to me like she wanted to
be next to help us reframe the wildfires that
are currently burning and to have us all infuse
our dreams and our prayers into what's burning.
So please do this. Please connect with the fires
that are burning all across the world and send
your visions, send your dreams of possibility
of what could be. And thinking of it like smoke
medicine, like when we burn herbs to cleanse
and purify ourselves. I had never thought of
that before. And finally, when I asked her if
there was anything else that she wanted me to
share, she said, things were put into motion
long before you were born. Like we're just one
little piece of the story. And she told me to
follow the story back in order to shift the timeline.
like journeying back to when these things were
put into motion long ago in order to place and
plant our magic there. Because again, time is
not linear. And this really was so similar and
resonated with the message that she gave the
other person in the circle to go back, to go
before the harm in her past life. So, oh my gosh,
Mugwort, thank you so much. Her teachings are
so needed right now, and I feel incredibly honored
to share them with you. So please spread this
episode, spread this podcast, spread her message
far and wide. Let's join together as a collective
to shift these tides, to dissolve the rigidity.
of the colonized story to be the rule breakers
to soften the places in us that feel so rigid
or where we feel that we're stuck inside to navigate
into the more fluid way of being and perceiving
the shape -shifting flame, being able to navigate
the darkness by perceiving in a way that's not
direct, awakening the oracles, the seers, the
sensitives, the dreamers right now, so we can
see beyond what's physically happening and into
the vast possibility of what could be. I love
you all. Thank you so much for being here with
me and listening to the voices of the plants.
I know you can spend your time a lot of different
ways and the plants are just so honored to have
their voices heard by you. If you want to learn
from me again, there's applications open for
the golden stone immersion six month program.
And I also have a one hour masterclass on how
to connect with plant consciousness without psychedelics.
So check those both out in the show notes below
alongside all sorts of other ways to jump into
this world. So until next time, may you learn
to see in the dark so we can navigate these times
together. May you remember that you're so much
more than any role or limiting belief that you
have about yourself. May you remember that everything
is always changing and we get to choose what
we want and how we want to emerge in our next
rendition. May we remember the times before.
and dream into the possibility of what's to come.
Thank you for joining the Plant Wisdom Circle.
May the teachings of the plants continue to ripple
through your life, guiding you and nourishing
you in the days to come. If you'd like to keep
weaving with the plants, you can subscribe to
the show, leave us a review, and share it with
others who would love to listen. This would mean
so much to me and to the plants. Make sure to
check out the show notes below to learn about
any links, events, or classes I shared with you
today. You can find the next Plant Wisdom Circle
and other classes and resources at groundwaterhealing
.com. Until next time, may you walk gently with
the earth with the plants by your side.