Category: Oils

Mugwort oil is useful for dressing objects like ritual tools and candles and for anointing hands and foreheads for workings and ceremonies. Take a small glass jar with a reclosable, screw-on lid – about six ounces is a good place to start. Loosely fill it three-quarters full with fresh mugwort, then add in a vegetable oil to near the top. Screw the lid on and give it a good shake. Leave it in a cool, dark place for a Moon cycle, shaking it every few days until the month is over. Remove the gooey green material by pouring the oil through a sieve or strainer. (The goo can go into your compost pile.) You may want to filter it again through cheesecloth to remove the last bits of leaf and stem, but it isn’t necessary. You can wipe out the original jar and pour the filtered oil back in for storage, but most people prefer to pour it into a decorative bottle before shelving it. It is important that oils be kept in a cool, dark place, and an amber or dark green bottle is useful in keeping light from degreading the oil. It is also important to label the bottle with the kind of oil it contains as well as the date it was bottled. You think you will remember but chances are you won’t. Best to label everything.