June 4, 2026
Plant of the week: mugwort (*Artemisia vulgaris*). It's coming up everywhere right now if you know where to look — roadside, cracked lots, the unloved edge of the garden. Silver underside on the leaves, bitter when you crush it between your fingers. One working: dream pillow. Take a small cloth pouch (an old sock knotted shut is fine, this is not a Pinterest situation). Stuff it with dried mugwort — a tablespoon is plenty, this herb is *loud*. Tuck it inside your pillowcase. What it does: mugwort is one of the oldest divinatory herbs in European folk practice. It thins the wall between sleep and seeing. Expect vivid dreams within two or three nights. Expect some of them to be unpleasant — that's the herb working, not against you. Don't use if pregnant. Don't use nightly forever; this is a tool, not a habit. Two weeks on, two weeks off. Harvest now while it's young. The leaves get tough and even more bitter by midsummer.
