“In The Weeds” Resistance and Rhizomes in Frieze

“WHAT IS A WEED?’ Ralph Waldo Emerson asked the crowd that had gathered to hear him speak at Boston’s Old South Church on 30 March 1878. His answer: a plant not yet useful.” My weeds are not his. They hold secrets of resistance, like Queen Anne’s lace which also works as the morning after pill. Or mugwort, part of the 10th Century “Nine Herb Charm,” where the plant is invoked as if alive and present, and also is “mighty against the evil that fares through the land.” To which I felt it could fight Trump. Mugwort, also bring visions and dreams and is a hormone regulator. It is often seen as the witch’s herb, the woman’s herb. Read more here (or part of the Charm below).

Mind you mugwort

what you disclosed

what you rendered

at Regenmelde

The first you are called

oldest of plants

you mighty against three

and against 30

you mighty against poison

and against infection

You mighty against the evil

that fares through the land