Radio Show – Episode 53 – Mugwort Dreaming – July 26, 2020

Mugwort – Artemesia vulgaris
Welsh name: Y Ganwraidd Lwydd
Irish name: Mongach meisce
Scots name: muggert, muggons
Shetland name: grey bulwand

Silvery like the Moon, and embodying certain qualities that the Moon holds in tradition, Mugwort is an herb with long medicinal and magical use in Britain, Ireland, and throughout Europe. These days, Mugwort is called upon to assist dreaming.

In Show 53, we musically travel into “Mugwort dreaming.” To be honest, I actively chose only a few of the pieces with this plant in mind. Still, the intention of the theme was there. Perhaps you’ll discover how the music and Mugwort interlace with one another. If you find the medicine in the music, please share your reflections and insights!

As a side note, I’ve upleveled my ability to record harp at home, and I’m delighted at the quality of sound I’m now able to get for my wire-strung harp. The musical improvisation underlying the Mugwort folklore is my first expression with this setup.

Enjoy the harp playing of Robin Williamson, Tiffany Schaefer, Julia Cunningham, Jane Valencia, Sue Richards (in Ceoltoiri).

Catch the show on demand here

The second hour is a rebroadcast of Show 8 – “Power of Music.” Irish myth describes “Three Noble Strains” of music, known as the geantraí – song of joy/merriment, the goltraí – song of sorrow, and the suantraí – song of comfort/for soothing. You’ll hear expressions of all three “strains” in the music and stories played and told today.

Harpers featured: Máire Ní Chathasaigh (in the Heartstring Quartet and solo), William Taylor,  Barra the Bard‘s retelling of “Harp of Dagda”, Fiona Davidson (harp and story), Anne-Marie O’Farrell (in Anúna), Tiffany Schaefer,  Siobhán Armstrong (in The Irish Consort)

Listen to the show on demand here

You can also catch Show 9 – Island Life for another week. Harpers featured are: Harper Tasche, Seumus Gagne, Chris Caswell (in The Owner’s Daughter), Jane Valencia, N’Faly Kouyaté (kora playing in the Afro Celt Sound System, Sakaue Masume.

See you in Forest Halls!

Playlist for Show 53 – Mugwort Dreaming

00:50 Lúnasa – Black River
04:22 Mary Jane Lamond & Wendy MacIsaac – Jewels of the Ocean
11:38 Robin Williamson – Lammas
16:00 Ayreheart – John Barleycorn
23:14 Tiffany Schaefer – Road to Lisdoonvarna
25:27 Julia Cunningham – Innocenza
31:00 Jane Valencia – Mugwort Dreaming
38:19 Ceoltoiri – Far Away
43:47 Beòlach – Annie’s New Heart
48:52 Ashley MacIsaac with Mary Jane Lamond – Sleepy Maggie
53:25 Spookytree – Lochaber No More
55:02 Auļi – Ozoliņi

Join Me at the Pacific Women’s Herbal Conference

Dear Friends,

The Pacific Women’s Herbal Conference is a magical gathering of women and girls of all ages. For a whole weekend (and longer, if you wish to attend the amazing pre-conference workshops) you can explore the wonderful, welcoming world of the plants and their medicine, and receive the medicine of one another with laughter, dancing, delicious food and nourishing infusions, heart-connecting song, and women’s wisdom —  all in a beautiful forest and shore location on Vashon Island. The Conference takes place on Sept. 20~22, 2019.

As a nature instructor, I happen to work at this location every week, and let me assure you, this 400 acre location (Camp Sealth) is a place where magic happens. Perhaps Eagle sings overhead, or Otter lets you glimpse him heading to the beach, or Deer bask in the moonlight. Perhaps the trees lean in to whisper a message especially for you. Perhaps you find a wishing stone, a listening stone, or feel the mist rising off the Salish Sea to welcome you into your ocean nature.  This enchantment and more opens to those who come together with intention, loving hearts, curiosity, playfulness, generosity, and gratitude. And that is what the Pacific Women’s Herbal Conference brings together from start to finish.

Here are the workshops I’m teaching:

Jane Valencia with the small dragon, Wings

Hildegard of Bingen’s Herbal Energetics for the Family Herbalist

The medicine of Hildegard of Bingen,12th century German physician, visionary, abbess, author, and saint, relied on an understanding of our bodies as gardens, and the work of healing as tending a garden In this introduction to a practical, compassionate, nature-based healing practice, we’ll adventure in the basics of herbal energetics to better support our family members and ourselves.

Tree Secrets: A Walk into a Pacific Northwest Ogham

In the early medieval Irish Ogham, or “tree alphabet,” each letter embodies a particular tree or plant  spirit. In this Celtic-infused workshop we’ll pass time in the company of trees, both those named in the Ogham and our native trees. We’ll explore firsthand their energy, teachings, folklore, and medicine uses by way of our senses and connection, and begin creating our own Pacific Northwest ogham. If the trees are willing, we’ll even craft ogham sticks. Expect sweet enchantment and deep wild wisdom!

As an herbalist and practitioner of what she calls “Deer Medicine Ways,” Jane Valencia loves welcoming women and girls into the magic of the green world that surrounds us. Through forest and garden learning adventures, writings, and illustration, she helps the herbal curious to get down and dirty getting to know the plants and their healing ways and to discover what the plants reveal about our truest nature. An instructor with the Vashon Wilderness Program, Jane is the creator/ mentor of VWP’s herbal girls camps. Sacred plant medicine and traditional Western herbalism are her well-spring. Jane is author-illustrator of Paloma and Wings: a Kids Herbal Comic.

Find out more about about Jane’s herbal and healing ways offerings, including writings on her blog, please visit: SingingDeerHealing.com

Go here to find out more about the Pacific Women’s Herbal Conference.

~

I hope to see you there!

cross-posted on SingingDeerHealing.com

Herba Magica: Ripe Salmonberry

Plants offer us a doorway into a very different sense of time and into the wonder that interweaves our world and is right outside. This plant, Salmonberry, is a particular friend and ally to those of us in the Pacific Northwest, coaxing us to head off-trail to taste wildness. What invariably happens is that one taste leads to the next and to the next, and soon we are in the greenwood, ignoring tangles, getting leaves in our hair, little jabs in our hands and arms, and delighting in sour-sweet abundance, even gorging on it, our child nature shouting, “Yeah!!!!!”

Which plants coax you to taste? Which ones lead you off-trail and into playful nature? Which awaken the green and giving wild within you? How does that quality of wild express itself in your life? Please share in the comment box below!

Herba Magica - Ripe Salmonberry Photo and Info
Herba Magica: Ripe Salmonberry by Jane Valencia