Herb. Wyrt. Mead(ow). Hay. Claiming.

July's Full Moon lore and stories

It has just slipped into July and the full moon is with us tonight, although it reaches its peak early on Monday afternoon here in Ireland. The weather has turned, and all is grey and stormy. We’ve had huge thunderstorms rolling through, last Sunday one knocked out our power as the sheet lightning tore across the sky. The light still stretches deep into the night but now it is dampened by near constant cloud cover. As much as we miss the sunshine and heat, it has made it all the easier to get to my desk.

This moon, as the others, has several Celtic and Anglo-Saxon names and today I bring you two short stories inspired by them.

The first takes the names Herb and Wyrt, (Wort) and is a witch’s Mugwort fuelled dream-flight with her lover. The character from June’s Writing Down the weeds and March’s Crow moon making another appearance in this space.

Mugwort (Irish: Mongach Meisce, Buachalán Bán, Liathlus (Mór) Latin: Artemisia vulgaris) was once considered an integral herb in European healing practices. Known as the Mother of Herbs it was, with Foxglove, associated with the Midsummer solstice and the later St. Johns Eve. It was picked with the height of the sun and then ‘strengthened’ by smoking it over the bonfire lit to mark the feast day.

Mugwort was believed to have strong powers of protection,