Meet Motherwort: the Fierce Mother

Meet Motherwort, also known as Lionheart, for reasons that will become clear by the end of this post. This beauty is best known in my world for its fierce mothering energy.

Like most plants I work with, Motherwort sought me out. It told me how to work with it, for myself and for my clients. It told me that I should use it with clients when they didn’t get quite enough loving, but fierce mothering in their lives. 

The first time I worked with this plant, it was with a client with a major mother wound. Her mom had died when she was a teen, and due to years grappling with addiction, her mother hadn’t been emotionally available for many more years before this. Enter Motherwort. 

This plant is soft and gentle when it’s young. The little seedlings I transplanted this month are still growing sweetly in the sun. The leaves are wide and cool to the touch. As a plant with energetic tendencies to “mother,” Motherwort is used herbally to support the womb in various stages of the cycle. 

As the plant ages, so does its feriosity. Motherwort grows spikey flowers on it as it matures, telling all who encounter it “thou shall not fuck with me.” Even still, it will let you clip it’s flowers if you ask politely. This warning serves to remind us to tend to it with care, much like a mother does to her young. 

Relaxing with a silly show the other day, I watched a scene where a mother is jogging with her baby, when she comes across a bear. She puts her body, arms in the air,  in between the bear and the stroller and screams at the top of her lungs. The bear backs away. This is how I think of Motherwort. There to sing you a lullaby or kick some ass- whatever you need, baby girl. 

This beauty will grow in my garden and be used for in-person healing sessions, spiritual baths, and for our plant spirit medicine workshops.