Mugwort, Feminism, and the Goddess Artemis

When I first started working on this post, my interest was in Mugwort and its historical uses. I read through scads of ancient texts regarding the effects specific to women, which led to the texts on the more hallucinogenic and ecstatic sleep properties, which led me further into records of use in the Bible, including by John the Baptist.

This struck something within me, and I crawled further down the rabbit hole.

Mugwort (Artemisia Vulgaris) was named after Artemis who, at first glance is known as a Greek goddess and patron of women. Its considered a sacred herb by the Anglo Saxons, used by countless pagans as a protection herb to be thrown in celebratory fires (as well as a treatment for pests), and as I mentioned earlier, even worn by John the Baptist during his woodland escapades for enlightenment.

12^thcentury texts describe Mugwort as a menstrual tonic that can be used to expel dead fetal tissue from miscarriages, and help safely abort pregnancies during times when it was not culturally proper to do so. Mugwort is listed as one of the first herbs, and one of most well-known forms of birth control. I was having trouble finding the connection between the goddess and the herb, especially a goddess who I knew from Greek mythology to be a tantamount virgin and merciless to women who displeased her. I needed to get to know Artemis more thoroughly. To do this, I first looked at the history of the word “virgin.”

“Virgin” in today’s terms is commonly used to refer to a person who has not has sexual intercourse, or more broadly someone who is pure or untouched. This definition has heavy Christian overtones. The historical use of the word was not related to sex. Instead it meant “young woman” or one who was unmarried; one not owned by a man. Marilyn Frye, author of “Willful Virgin,” defines the ancient term as a free woman, not bound or betrothed to any man. In The Women’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets, author Barbara G Walker writes, “Hebrew gospels designated Mary by the word almah, mistakenly translated to virgin, but really meaning ‘young woman’.” This puts the Virgin Mary in a more human light, and creates an understanding for the subsequent myths of immaculate conception.

In 2^ndcentury AD texts, Artemis is defined as the virgin, the renowned vigilant maiden, the midwife of birth, the grower of mortals, and the giver of fruit. It’s easy to see how Artemis was given the chaste, virgin title. Unlike other mother goddesses, Artemis is not associated with any male consort or gods. According to John M Riddle, author of “Goddesses, Elixirs, and Witches,” she was said to be “deadly and remorseless to those who threaten her chastity,” and the mythology supports this as it is riddled stories of Artemis killing men, women, and even children with her silver arrows.

If you take away the Christian aspect of virginity and read into that again, a different message can be surmised. Artemis was a goddess who refused to be pinned down; the ultimate wild woman. Earlier depicted worship ceremonies, as far back as 8^thcentury BC, showed many prepubescent children offering themselves in temporary service of her and her temples as a rite of passage, and to earn her favor and protection.

One of my favorite ritual processions I read through made many references to Artemis as the Great-She-Bear. The girls approaching puberty who participated in her rituals would be required to go through a period of wildness before puberty, running naked and living unprotected at the edges of the woods or remote areas. Their ability to get through this stage in their lives unharmed served as a testament to the powers of the Goddess and to the strength of the girls and women themselves, that they could endure this transformation in their lives with courage and grace.

The girls would also wear bear masks and bear skins (this graduated to yellow robes to represent skins as bears became scarce in the area) and tear them off during the rituals to symbolize the participant’s maturation. They shed the skins, and break free to their new selves. Artemis, the goddess of youth and teenage freedom. Goats were often slaughtered at these rituals as well, to show the girls the darker side of their mother goddess and of life, with the blood mysteries of death, sacrifice, and renewal.

The further back you look, more and more cities pop up who strongly identified Artemis with the goddess Cybele before she was enveloped by the Greeks as Diana and turned into more of a protector of purity. She was known as the goddess of the wilds, and the locations of her cults and temples would mark the transitions between the wild and civilized worlds. She would assist girls into becoming women, women into mothers, and then when transitioning into death was sometimes mentioned in at least one story as transforming into Hecate for the underworld transition. Artemis, the goddess who presides over changes of states of being.

In a darker note, its worth mentioning that a big similarity between the cults of Cybele and Artemis was the practice of religious castration. The romans record this as a way to sacrifice future offspring to a deity, and ruled it as murder. While it makes sense as an ultimate sacrifice to please a deity, I can’t find any other documented reasons for the castration and so the ultimate goal of this remains unclear.

What is clear is that the risks of unprotected temples and rituals were a necessary feature to the worship of Artemis. She demanded they face the wilderness and fear, shed their skin, and transform themselves. Artemis, the goddess of crossing boundaries, of cycles and ritual. In the beginning of the Artemis/Cybele worship, it was taught that life and purity came from women, while evil came from men, especially male sexuality.

The letters from Paul in the book of Timothy in the Christian bible show his encouragement and preaching of the reverse during his visit to one of the temples. As Greek, Roman, and Christian beliefs melted together the stories of the Goddesses changed, and they slowly morphed into more palatable Goddesses like Diana, and the many other fertility goddesses that were worshipped later on.

It was said that Artemis, as the patron of women and childbirth, could release a woman from the burden of pregnancy, as well as release the blood that caused distress (menstrual disorders). Artemis, the goddess of feminism, the lady of the original women’s empowerment movement, demanded we take responsibility of our own bodies and the changes we go through, from girls to women, from women to mothers, and from mothers to beyond. Each cycle we shed our skins and take hold of our new forms. It’s scary and dark and there is a great rending of flesh and soul, but we own it to be wild and free.

What does this have to do with Mugwort?

Mugwort is said to be named for the patron Goddess of women because of the aid it gives with “woman troubles.” Mugwort, who grows like a weed in wild and rocky places and creates a barrier that keeps other plants at bay. Mugwort, which when ingested, aids in vivid, hallucinatory, and prophetic dreams. Mugwort, which is documented as an herb of protection far and wide, probably owing to its ability to ward off pests, and calm the nervous system. Mugwort offered the ability for women to have a choice in their own reproductive rights, and to learn to face their own wilds without fear. And though I can find no singular person credited with assigning Artemisia Vulgaris with its name of honor, it’s clear that Mugwort is an essential herb to the goddesses of the wild women of old, and a wonderful way to honor them now.