Song of Artemis

A few days ago I had a dreamed of one of the local shop owners Ira, who has a bead store call “Let it Bead” here in Lebanon, Oregon. In the dream she took me to her home altar. I looked and saw a blue liquid that swirled from the altar forming a little blue dragon. I caught the blue dragon in my hand and placed him on my thigh where he entered my body. When I woke up the first thought in my mind was Dragon Ink. The next day I decided to take a drive and visit her store. I walked in the store and no one was there except Ira, which is a rare event since usually it is filled with a crowd of women buying their materials for bead making. I began to tell Ira my dream and one thing lead to another and she said one moment please. Ira walked into the back of the store returning with a gift for me. It was a blue dragon head and a beautiful black pen. I was delighted! I moved through the store and found a small deer antler from Latvia. The deer shed their antlers naturally each year which made me happy the animal's life was not taken. I have always had my connection with the deer tribe over the years, some would say it is my spirit animal. I went to make my purchase yet we went on talking like women do and the subject shifted to wildcrafting herbs. I have been making mugwort pillows and mugwort salves all season but I could not find mugwort anywhere in Northern Oregon. I gather mugwort on a visit to Southern Oregon and California this summer. Ira told me a of local area I could find wild mugwort at a higher elevation of 3000 ft. She explained if I went soon I could still could gather before the hard frost came. The weekend was here and we were making our approach to the Lunar Eclipse in late October. Halloween was around the conner and the dark days of the season were at hand. It was a perfect time to take a motorcycle ride into the mountains with my husband to go wildcrafting. So off we went in search of wild mugwort. Artemisia douglasiana also known as California Mugwort was the variety we wildcraft in the the Western states. It was used by the Native California Indians to line the sweat lodge floor. Artemisia Vulgaris is the variety that is commonly used in Europe. Mugwort has been traditional used for irregular menstruation and digestive problems. I have used it on poison oak by mixing the herb into oatmeal, letting it cool for a poultice, then I put the poultice on the rash. Mugwort has also been used for prophetic dreams and stuffed into dream pillows in old Europe. The California Indians used it for sleep and also for sacred dreaming. The Native People used the mugwort too wart of evil spirits. This is a perfect herb to gather before for the dark days of All Hallow’s Eve.

Mugwort has silver leaves which makes it an herb of the Moon. Mugwort latin name Artemisia refers to the Goddess of the Artemis the Goddess of the Silvery New Moon. Artemis is one of the oldest Mediterranean Goddess worshiped. She is the Goddess of the Wild Woods. Artemis is the Goddess that looks over childbirth her herb mugwort was used to ease the pain for women during their birthing time. Artemis' bow is the silvery New Moon. She draws back her bow and set her intention for the New Moon Cycle. You sometimes will see paintings of Artemis with hunting hounds by her side for she is also Goddess of the hunt. She knows all the Wild Herbs and their uses. Some of her images you will see her with a stag but she has been known to be friends with bears and wolves as her spirit animals. She is the wildness of nature, every tree in the forest is her domain and all growing plants. She is the Goddess of New Beginnings just like the silver New Moon. Yet in Ephesus she was often seen as the Dark Goddess of the Waning Moon. It is in Ephesus her statues had many breast to feed all the animals of the forest. Some of these same statue’s faces were black like the Black Meteor Stones that had fallen from the sky. These stones were the first worshiped of the Black Goddess in her form of Goddess Artemis. Cybele the Oracle was also worshiped as a Black Stone. Christianity rose in Ephesus in the year 431 after the Artemis temple had been torn down and Christian church was built over the temple’s foundation. The Artemis Cult never really died but blended over the new worship to Theotokos the Mother of God as Mary. It is said the Blessed Mary lived her last days of her life in Ephesus. The Orthodox Christians still have a Pilgrimage to Ephesus to the House of the Virgin Mary to this day. Black Artemis Our Lady of the Woods blended into Notre Dame du Bois one of the many Black Madonnas of France. Black Madonnas of Europe were often hidden in hollow trees like statues before her of Artemis. A lesser known fact that parts of early Oregon were settled by French trappers that inter-married with Native American women. It is no wonder why the dark image of Our Lady of the Woods, “Notre Dame du Bois” is Oregon’s official Madonna dedicated to this state. Our Lady of the Woods can be found in the small logging town of Birkenfeld, Oregon. Her chapel now abandoned was built in 1921 yet a small shrine is still maintained with a statue of the Black Madonna. The hill above the statue has been clear cut and trees have been replanted that maybe are only ten years ago judging by their growth. Even though trees are replanted the forest is never the same for the diversity of different species are lost, which creates a different environment.

Fast forward to driving down the road on the motorcycle, we come to our destination after a few hours ride. The last weeks of October are not the warmest motorcycle ride yet I am thankful for my heated vest. One of the few old growth forest left in Oregon is our destination. The parking lot was only a couple of cars filled with hopeful mushroom hunters wanting to fill their gathering baskets. We dismounted the bike and took to the forest trail. We made our way to the stream and there growing next to the water was mugwort. The plants had already been kissed by Lady Winter yet the silvery tips were not touch by Autumn’s first frost. The pungent smell of mugwort filled the air. I made an offering to the Spirit of the plants and I slowly made my way collecting the tips of the plants. I also found a few plants that had been shelter from the frost. I filled my bag full being careful not to step on the herbs or the wild plants on the river’s bank. I have been wild crafting since 1970 and early on I was taught how to respect the herbs, give offerings never take more than 10 percent of any herb growing. Most important to leave not a trace that you have ever even been there. If one collects carefully you can trim herbs so that they actually will increases in growth. I never collect close to the road, or in a clear cut where they spray herbicides. I make it a rule to never collect in an unhealthy forest for this is a sure sign something is not right. These are the rules I have lived by for decades. We made our way up the trail back to the bike when we came across a mushroom hunter with two young children that were enjoy playing between the giant trees. He shared his collection of mushrooms showing the different species he had found. I open my bag of Artemisia and the next thing I found myself acting out the Goddess Artemis drawing back her bow telling the tale of Mugwort and all the Wisdom the Goddess of the Woods naturally knows. The children stop their playing to enjoy my performance with lots of hand gestures and waving of arms. We all had a good laugh and went on our own way. Yet in those moments between gently harvesting the silver leaves and acting out the qualities of the Goddess Artemis something deeper happened to me. I began to feel the Goddess inside, when we got on the bike to ride away.
I was feeling through the eyes of Our Lady of the Woods. Prayers rolled off my tongue as we travel down the road. Prayers for the forest, the animals that what we had lost in the many summer fires. We came to a bend in the road and my nostrils were filled with the smell of chard wood and then I saw it acres and acres of burnt trees. Black Artemis was speaking to me as my mind began to race of how much lost was before me. How many animals died? How many homes were burnt? The homes that were left are living in ashes. The weather grew colder and the ride became one of endurance that seemed much as the sign of the times. We all are losing the precious resources of Nature. May we as One People put our ear to the Earth and our hearts in our hand may we all begin to listen to the Voice of this Sacred Land, that our children and our children can have this precious gift of the breath of life. Our forest are the very lungs of this planet.

I had an experience this summer while camping on Mt. Hood. We had driven through a different forest that had burned that year, this sadden my heart. A few hours later we had made camp and I was standing before an old growth Douglas Fir Tree. I became very quiet in the Presence of this Giant Fir. I asked the tree a question about all the loss of so many trees from forest fires. The tree began to talk to me inside my inner heart, this was what was said: "We the trees cast out hundreds of seedling that grow into new trees. It is through these seedlings that we live on in the next generation of trees. Life is a cycle and from out the ashes the forest is fertilized, the grass returns, the fireweed blooms and the seedlings grow into a new forest". May we as humans learn to grow from our own experiences that have turned our lives into ashes. May we rise above the flames of broken dreams and plant new seeds. May we have deeper experiences that open our hearts that can cultivate gentle wisdom, great strength and unmeasurable love. These are the deeper lessons that Black Artemis whispers, to those who open their soul to listen to her Song whispering in the winds of change.

Author Raylene Abbott***** Let It Bead Store in Lebanon, Oregon can be found on Facebook***** Artemis photos Common Domain Wiki***** Photo of Full Moon Mushroom Black Madonna Raylene Abbott taken in Southern France photoshopped***** Mugwort photo Raylene***** Photo Aspen Forest Artist Sheenon Olson Steamboat, Colorado