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Absinthe with wormwood4/30/2023 The following entry from The Edinburgh New Dispensary (1796) describes wormwood’s physical characteristics:Ĭommon wormwood the leaves and flowering tops. Artemisia has been extensively used for medicinal and spiritual purposes. It’s intentionally somewhat bitter, hence its ritual preparation with sugar. Its dominant taste is similar to licorice. It’s telling that the Biblical references to wormwood run the gamut from Revelation to Lamentations, for indulgence in absinthe is held to precipitate both experiences.ġ4 To all my folk I was a scorn, and all the day their song.ġ5 He made me full of bitterness, and drunk with wormwood strong.Ībsinthe is the distilled spirit of the small shrub Artemisia absinthium (the Linnaean name for wormwood) augmented with various herbs, especially anise and fennel. Luminaries and laymen alike indulged in the pursuit of the “green fairy,” alluding to the chartreuse opalescence of that ardent spirit suitably alloyed with a sugar cube and ice-cold water. The drinking of absinthe has been identified historically with bohemian decadence and mental health issues which led to its prohibition early in the twentieth century in France, Switzerland and other countries including the United States. Wormwood is also the most contentious ingredient in absinthe, the verdant spirit that was the bane and muse of writers and artists such as Baudelaire, Byron, Poe, Hemingway, Picasso, Joyce, van Gogh…this is the A-list, no first names required. “Wormwood”-as described in the New Testament’s Book of Revelation-was a fallen star, heralded by an angel:ġ0 And the third angel sounded the trumpet: and a great star fell from heaven, burning as it were a torch: and it fell on the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters:ġ1 And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood: and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter. Their shrines are the boulevard cafes their prayer books the muddy green liquid that cages mental rats within their brains and makes monsters of men who once paid their bills and wore clean cuffs. There is a peculiar religious sect in Paris and they worship absinthe.
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