Wormwood and its qualities were already well known in ancient times. This and other species of Artemisia were sacred to the Greek goddess Artemis—hence their name. However, it is uncertain whether the early sources used the Greek name absinthion as a catch-all term for a number of Artemisia spp. or even other plants (asters).
In medieval times, the powers of wormwood were praised in Latin hexaeter in the Hortulus of Walahfried Strabo (ninth century). Hildegard von Bingen euphorically praised it as “the most important master against all exhaustions”.
In the sixteenth century, Spanish Jesuits brought the Old World plant, which was known as hierba santa, “sacred herb,” to the entire world, particularly Central and South America.
In central Europe, the essential oil (also known as absinthe oil) was distilled from the plant and mixed with alcohol. This drink, known as absinthe, became a fashionable drug, especially in nineteenth-century artistic circles. Chronic use, however, had terrible side effects (brain damage; so-called absinthism). It is still unclear whether absinthism was due to the thujone or to other ingredients (e.g., heavy metal salts). Because wormwood was an inebriating drug, and because it was also used as an illegal abortifacient (by quack physicians), it was soon banned as a result of “increasing misuse” in France in 1922 and in Germany in 1923. At about the same time, the “green fairy” (as the psychedelic drink was called) was also made illegal in Switzerland under threat of severe fines and imprisonment. Today, absinthe cannot be (officially) obtained anywhere.
Since the early 1990s, many Swiss “scene” bars have been selling beverages known as die grime fee (“the green fairy”). These drinks do not contain any genuine and illegal absinthe but consist of other commercial alcoholic beverages. The true green fairy is available only through private channels. No one has been able to explain to me why absinthe became known as the green fairy. One woman conjectured that it might have something to do with the effects, for absinthe is said to carry people away as if they had been enchanted by a fairy. Others suggested that it refers to the often greenish color of the absinthe. One Swiss man informed me that absinthe is the “most psychedelic alcohol there is.”
Absinthe was a legendary drug among artists and Bohemians at the end of the nineteenth century. It was popularized primarily through the absinthe pictures of the Parisian painters Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) and Edouard Manet (1832-1883).
The manic- depressive painter Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) appears to have been addicted to absinthe. His paintings, especially those in which brilliant yellow tones predominate (the renowned “Van Gogh yellow”), are good representations of the perceptual changes caused by thujone. Pablo Picasso also helped immortalize absinthe. Paul Gauguin even took an ample supply of absinthe with him when he traveled to Tahiti. Alfred Jarry referred to absinthe as “holy water”.
Absinthe was also a source of literary inspiration for such writers as Arthur Rimbaud, Ernest Dowson, Charles Cros, H. P. Lovecraft, Charles Baudelaire, Oscar Wilde, Jack London, Ernest Hemingway, Gustave Kahn, Victor Hugo, Alfred de Musset, and Paul Verlaine.. These authors have left us with a number of poems praising absinthe.