With the exception of Wormwood, it seems easiest to have the most to say about Mugwort. A subtle, humble plant, overlooked because it seems lacking in ornamental beauty by our the modern horticultural standards with which most us seem to have been literally indoctrinated, Mugwort is an awesome beauty in mystery and purpose. Herbalists since time immemorial have regarded it with great resect and affection.
It is this same affection, applied to balm the barren spaces in our actual knowledge about the uses of the plant, that is like a magic key unlocking a great treasure... rather poetic, since Mugwort has the reputation in magick of helping to open locks and locate buried treasure.
One other intriguing sentiment about Mugwort is that it can aid in the magick of criminal detection.
Already familiar as a Moxa, an agent made into a cone of incense sometimes used in Traditional Chinese medicine, for example placed on accupuncture needles, a "superstition" exists that in Japan, placing such a cone of Moxa in the footprint of a theif would cause the theif to get a "hot foot", that is he would feel a burning sensation as if the cone were on his foot.
Besides the wealth of scientific information that attempts to justify such action-at-a distance that is characterisic of magick, no matter how much science may conversely, deny such possibilities, even without resorting to elaborate schemes of physics and quantum mechanics, this makes a reasonable amount of sense... it is comfortably consistent with the magnetic reputation that surrounds the plant...
Mugwort is used in magick to activate instruments of divination- crystal balls and magic mirror- although it is sometimes phrased that the role of Mugwort is to "cleanse" the instrument. While it likely has such properties, much as cleansing the blockages in the body’s accupuncture meridians, this tends to overshadow and understate its potential magnetic role, but there are texts where other, far more clearly magnetic materials have been used in exactly the same way in conjuntion with such instruments. So too is there a great magickal wealth of herbs and techniques for action at a distance, that also suggest the role of magnetism.
Mugwort’s most striking claim to fame being magnetic in character, however, is that it is often known as "compass plant", owing to the fact that it’s leaves tend to aling themselves with the North-South lines of the earth’s magnetic feild. It has enjoyed a reputation for aiding, or at least trying to, lost travellers, which supports some of the rationalizations that this plant has had such a conceivably long relationship with Artemis, the patron of children, the patron of the wood, and extrapolating very little, children of all ages lost in the woods.
So while the magical writing style of Orientals can be at times like anyone elses, some basic truth being almost buried beneath a gloss of exaggeration, there are still a number of uses of mugwort that pertain indeed to those victims of theifs even were the "hotfoot-at-a-distance" a complete distortion... not the least of which is giving the artisan the stamina to lose a little sleep in order to create a replacement for the stolen object.
In all fairness, Mugwort’s reputation for enabling divination could easily allow it to accomplish much more in this department... but this alone may have made Mugwort and Thieves nearly synonymous in many cultures since quite a long time ago. As we look at ancient literature referring to theives, can we spot any nuances that suggest they are alluding to this property of Mugwort?
Of Mugwort’s reputation for opening locks, it is particularly interesting to note that this seems to follow correspondences. In their native Pacific Northwest, other plants which also have the character of downy or white undersides, such as Adenocaulon, recieve common names like "Pathfinder" because if you wander through a patch of it, you can find your way back by looking at the white undersides exposed by distrubing the plants and turning them up so they are visible.
The related temptation to employ any such plants, and especially Mugwort, as a trail marker, superior to the "Hansel and Grettle Error" of leaving anything that might be easten by animals as a trail marker, gives it a connotation of people turning the leaves over, like someone turning a key in a lock.
So too might it have inspired the preistesses of Artemis to wear clothing that resembled it, having one side green and one side white; wearing such a reversible tunic, they could turn it white- side-out to be visible in the forest, for staying together and avoiding hunting accidents, or turn it green-side-out for camoflauge to blend into the green of the forest to hide from danger. Within the Doctorine of Signatures, that it has such a power of suggesting "mundane" invisibility, it might certainly warrant a reputation for aiding in magickal invisibility, and if one searches enough, they are quite likely to find some actual existing record of its reputation for this purpose.
We might normally assign the Astrology of Mugwort to Virgo or Sagittarius, since Artemis seems to be predominantly a composite of these, or to Scorpio due to the magnetic effects and some of the other properties (note how all of these are conveniently proximal). However, Culpeper assigns Mugwort to Aries, in view of the plant's connection with iron. It is yet another expression of the recurring theme of iron and magnetism, that he notes that part of what has illustrated to him this connection with Aries, is the tendency for the plant to grow around the places of blacksmiths. Here one also assumes there is an abundance of iron, discarded from the various proceedings of blacksmiths.
It need not be limited to that, however, for the Doctrine of Signatures provides, of course, that a plant will appear where it is of service; thus, we can assume that mugwort aids any problematic conditions to be found there. Such a citation, for example, of the Artemisias as agents which expedite breathing or lower body temperature, might be immediately assumed by the blacksmith facing the conditions of smoke and heat, and will serve to introduce these properties were there not the great likelihood that this is merely yet another corroboration of these, much as those whom Artemisias aided in the story of the Exodos faced the heat and poor airs of the desert.
We might also infer this from the very same Signature that could alert us to the use of mugwort as a smudge, incense, smoke or fumigant, for the plant, if no sooner than as it withers in fall, has in its leaves the appearance of flames in addition to it's dark, "sooty" color. This is physical resemblance to fire is especially noticable when the leaves begin to twist and curl, and brown.
Indeed, mugwort is known to serve as substitute for tobacco, bearing the folk name, "Sailor's Tobacco". Presumably, like a number of plants which have been traditionally smoked by asthmatics and other suffers of respiratory problems, it's ability to aid such problems offsets its potential to worsen such problems. Likewise, it has been considered as a substitute for cannabis, in the sense that it has very mild relaxing, rather than inebriating properties, and the ability to offset symptoms of withdrawals from various substances of abuse. It is often cited as a herbal treatment for opium addiction. Additionally, it tends to have aromatic properties when burned that are reminiscent of cannabis when burned, therefore adding to its potential as a cannabis substitute, but also serving as a Signature of this ability as well. Some of its potential economic values may also resemble those of cannabis, and it may likewise have some of the medicinal values of cannabis in improving various aspects of vision, which is also discussed in greater detail in the sections here devoted to Wormwood.
Mugwort’s reputation for causing prophetic dreams should serve as corroboration to its reputation for aiding divination with instruments, and should help point to underlying common denominators why this is so. To speculate myself, I may favor a notion that it acts upon the pineal gland, increasing certain sensitivities to electromagnetic feilds or radiation, which may also have some bearing on how it may affect the endocrine system that it should have a reputation for promoting not only regular menstruation where it is lacking, but promote menstruation after menopause.
This latter feature is one that may also corroborate some of the "mythology" that surrounds the Artemisias and links them to the subject of longevity or immortality, such as the identification of Ganymede with the Holy Grail and with the Tansy... something that has had strong influence on my suggestion on my Holy Grail page that the Holy Grail itself may have originally referred to a specie of Artemisia, since Wormwood and the Tansy are very similar chemically, although the latter may be much stronger and should be be approached even more carefully for the particular dangers associated with Wormwood, just as Mugwort may have any of the negative properties also, almost as if its powers were on the verge of transcending an origin in their differing chemistries... we many not yet be finished seeking least common denominators to truly identify the principles responsible.
And yet, there has been precious little discussion, if any,, whether this particular action on one of the signs of aging is but one of perhaps many that might be possessed by plants in such a category.
So, too, has there been precious little discussion, if any, whether the role of the Artemisias in this capacity might be fufilled through "magnetic action" on the appropriate endocrines, and whether this involves the possibility of exotic matter molecules, which may perhaps contribute to powerful promoters of human Growth Factor (hGF) in some way that may be closely related to the known propensity of some of the Artemisias for forming "molecular" peroxides- peroxides involving larger molecules than the familiar hydrogen peroxide, whose breakdown products may not be appreciably different in many of their significant actions.
Had our predecessors considered the turning of a leaf of Mugwort to be a signature for the "turning over of a new leaf"- in other words, as a Signature of renewal or rejuvenation?
Of course, many of mugwort's known or suspected properties are in harmony with this simple "turn-key" Signature, for the feature make a fitting symbolic gesture of moving from the world of waking to sleep, or vice versa , of tossing or turning in one's sleep or even therefore sleepwalking, of shifting of conciousness to the astral or "out-of-body", or any of the physical (or metaphysical) transitions for which it is assigned to the medicinal category of "alteratives", things which cause a change in existing conditions.
Likewise, this can serve as a fitting Signature for various transitions from one phase of existance to the next, and again, accordingly, the reputation of mugwort in the occult for various functions relating to the spiritual realm is a rich legacy. We cannot expect, however, that the use of mugwort will automatically cause such things to happen against our knowledge or will… in fact, there is much surrounding mugwort to suggest quite the contrary, that it is at many levels an agent which expedites choice, restores the sense of having a choice in any matter, and facilitates the knowledge of options and the role of free will. This, too, can be remembered in connection with the"black or white" Signature that occurs in the dark leaf surface and the white undersides, although too, it is likely to aid us with the creativity to see a rainbow of options where seeing choices only as "black or white" has become problematic, or an obstacle or bondage.
It would not be surprising to find that this "black or white" Signature, appropriately, also extends to issues of race, and might not only help offset prejudice at the level of its underlying biology, but so too spiritually help a person burdened with prejudice to see things from the other way, to gain sympathy through empathy.
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