Mugwort #
| Binomial / Botanical Name | Artemisia Vulgaris |
| Street Names | Felon Herb; Chrysanthemum Weed; Old Uncle Henry; Sailor’s Tobacco; Naughty Man; Old Man; Wild Wormwood; Moxa |
| Major Active Compound | Thujone; Cineole |
| Indigenous Source | Europe; Asia; N Africa; Alaska |
| Form | Plant Matter |
| RoA | Oral |
| Personal Rating On Shulgin Scale | ++ |
SUBJECTIVE EXPERIENCE #
Mugwort has a lengthy history of herbal use, and is immersed in folk tradition, certainly in the UK, where it tends to grow as a weed. With respect to the latter, it is even present in my own garden.
Given this commonality, it can’t be psychoactive, can it? The answer is yes it can.
As I wasn’t proficient enough to identify it at the time of testing, I ordered from a well known online vendor. I made a huge pot of tea, and drank it over perhaps half an hour. It wasn’t great to taste, but was manageable.
Lo and behold a mild sedation soon emerged. This was nothing to write home about, but it was strong enough to be sure that it wasn’t a placebo effect. However, it was when my head hit the pillow that the action really started.
The dreams were lucid and vivid, particularly the last one. I recall the dream in question to this day. I existed on a Facebook page. This was neither exciting nor worrying: it was simply where I was in the dream.
What was different, however, was that when I awoke and went back to sleep, I was immediately back into Facebook, albeit on a different page. This repeated itself again and again, to the point at which I was no longer comfortable and wanted to escape.
Of course, escape I eventually did, and I awoke fully.
As this was my first dream herb experience it had taken me by surprise, particularly as I had no pre-conceived ideas regarding the nature of these manifestations and effects.
Another aspect I discovered was that it doesn’t seem to be possible to chase the dreams, at least for me personally. I subsequently repeated the experiment several times, on each occasion with less effect.
There thus appears to be some sort of dream tolerance in play. I have no idea how long this lasts, or whether the vivid nature of the first mugwort dream can ever be repeated. The only way to determine this will be to rerun the exercise in a few months, which I will endeavour to do.
I should point out that this does not appear to apply to everyone, as there are many Internet reports which do claim success with frequent and regular use. It should also be noted that some people smoke it instead of making tea.
Overall, this is a very interesting plant, and well worthy of further exploration.
Traditionally used by witches for an array purposes, mugwort is sometimes considered to be a sacred herb which bestows magical or psychic powers