fifth month of mugwort, a cinnabar heart: a workshop by xiaowei wang

the vibe

Mugwort (Artemesia sp.) is a tall, silvery plant with magical properties, used across numerous cultures from the Chumash and Kumeyaay in California, to European folk herbalism, Ayurveda and traditional Chinese medicine for protection, cleansing. Its dried leaves were burned in smudging ceremonies, used to improve dreams, and fresh leaves used as medicine for reproductive and skin disorders. It is a magical herb that contemporary gardeners in North America describe online as “evil”, invasive, aggressive, “horrible” and a threat to green lawns and plant nurseries because of its ability to reproduce through seeds and underground rhizomes. In this workshop, we’ll journey through the magic of mugwort, specifically its use in moxibustion, the practice in traditional Chinese medicine of burning mugwort sticks at specific points along the body to nourish the body and clear channels. In 春秋繁露 or, Luxuriant Dew of the Spring and Autumn, a book of Chinese philosophy from more than 2,200 years ago, its author Dong Zhongshu writes that ailments, epidemics and disasters arise when nations and states begin to fail. Through this workshop, we’ll broadly look at ritual technologies, how the human body, its broader social/political environment and ideas of ‘nature’ have been inseparable throughout time. We’ll travel back in time to see how mugwort was used across many geographies, whether as an important ritual techonlogy by Buddhist monk-physicians in medieval Japan, to its use as an…