Artemisia absinthium
From Pharmacopedia
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Plant Medicine, Rhapsodica
Artemisia absinthium
Wormwood, absinthe, la Fée Verte, the Green Muse
Wormwood is the bitter herb of Pendell's Rhapsodica, "where seeds of song are sown." Its thujone produces a clarifying agitation distinct from alcohol's depressant fog, which is why absinthe was the drink of Rimbaud, Baudelaire, Verlaine, Van Gogh, and the Paris bohemians. Banned in most of Europe and the US through the 20th century on dubious science; legal again in the EU and US since the 2000s.
Calea zacatechichi
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Summary
Classes
Plant Medicine, Rhapsodica
Common uses
Creative stimulant (in absinthe)0, Vermifuge0
Pharmacy
Starting dose
A measured pour of absinthe diluted 5:1 with cold water over sugar (the louche ritual)
Preparations
Dried leaves; absinthe liqueur (120–160 proof, with hyssop, lemon balm, fennel, anise, sometimes Acorus calamus)
Pharmacology
Routes
Oral
Legal status
Currently legal in most jurisdictions with thujone limits
Purported mechanism
Active principle is thujone, a GABA-A antagonist (the opposite of most CNS depressants). Also present in cooking sage (Salvia officinalis), tansy, and Thuja cedars.
“Pendell's corner
Absinthe can excite sexuality, stimulate ideas and conversation, or dissolve the brain. Difficult choices, indeed.
— Dale Pendell, Pharmako/Poeia