Description
Lecture: Mugwort: Mater Herbarum
Mugwort’s name alone inspires thoughts of witchery. Let us examine how this unique, fragrant Artemesia has been used for magic, medicine and food from the Iron age to the present, and why it is special enough to be given the name “Mater Herbarum” or Mother of Herbs. We will look back through history and end with a focus on modern era folk usage in healing and magic.
Biography
Becky Beyer is a farmer, woodcarver, herbalist, witch, and illustrator from Asheville, NC. She holds a B.S. in Plant and Soil Science from the University of Vermont and has been learning and teaching in the Primitive Skills community for the last 5 years. She currently teaches at Wild Abundance and the Permaculture School in Western North Carolina. Her passions include natural horsemanship, organic gardening with heirloom vegetables, botanical illustration and writing her blog: Blood and Spicebush. She is currently working towards a PhD in Ethnobotany and creating a reference book on the folk use of medicinal plants in the Southern Appalachians and in designing a course on Traditional Witchcraft from historical perspectives.
