Kitchen Witch

Planet: Venus

Element: Earth

Lore:

Wheat has long played a part in the human diet. After rice, it’s the second-most commonly used grain for human food, and was first cultivated during the Neolithic age.

The Egyptians, Sumerians, Babylonians, Hittites, Greeks, and Romans all worshipped harvest deities associated with wheat. Wheat is particularly a symbol of the Mother Goddess. She taught the secrets of agriculture to women, the grain’s first farmers and cultivators.
In ancient Greece, newly married couples were pelted with sweetmeats and grains of wheat.

The Romans crowned brides and grooms with wreaths of wheat and with lilies to symbolize purity and fertility

Magical uses:

Whole wheat is best for magical (and nutritional) purposes. Bleached wheat has had more than its vitamins, minerals, and bran removed: it also lacks magical energy. Though white bread was eaten by the Roman upper
classes, it’s spiritually dead food.

Eat wheat-based foods (breads and all dough products) to bring prosperity and money into your life.

Before baking a loaf of bread, use a sharp knife to ritually incise a symbol of a specific energy that you wish to bring into your life. Do this with visualization. Various types of wheat bread have diverse energies and magical uses. Here are some of them:

Twisted breads (any bread-recipe book contains directions) are fine additions to protective diets. The more twists, the more protection. Visualize as you braid the dough.

Egg breads are baked and eaten, with visualization, to promote physical fertility.

Saffron bread enhances spirituality. To a lesser extent, so too do all round loaves.

Sprouted bread is excellent for increasing psychic awareness.

Pita bread (also known as “pocket bread”) is a fine spirituality food.

Seven-grain bread (or its eight-grain cousin) is a fine money attractant.

Dill bread promotes love.

Garlic bread, created by slathering slices of bread with garlic-flavored butter, is a delicious and powerful addition to protection diets.

Most European countries produce sweetened breads for use during spring festivals (which are now connected with later Christian holidays such as Easter)

(Pucium miliacaeum)

Planet: Jupiter

Element: Earth

Energies: Money

Lore:

In ancient China, grains of millet were used as a unit of measure: ten millet grains placed end to end constituted one inch, one hundred grains was the measurement of one foot, and so on.

Magical uses:

If you find it difficult to enjoy this grain, visualize millet as compact, concentrated money energy before eating. An old German custom: eat millet on the first day of the year to bring riches into your life.

This ancient Celtic festival lives on in the United States and in other countries as Halloween, a degraded version of both the earlier Pagan holiday as well as the later Christian variant—All Hallow’s Eve. The word “eve” in the Christian name reminds us that this festival begins the night before its calendar date.

Samhain marks the close of the year.

Skies may still be blue, but the wind is chilly and crisp.

Apples are ripening.

Red, yellow, orange, gold, and brown leaves skip across the ground.

Nuts fall.

The earth prepares for winter.

On this night, the souls of the dead were thought to walk the earth.

All manner of fantastic customs and rituals were carried out on Samhain.

One of these has continued to the present day.

Many people leave a plate of food outside the home to provide nourishment to the souls of the dead.

Samhain foods include root crops such as potatoes, beets, turnips, and carrots. Grain, nuts, mulled wines, and ciders are also appropriate to Samhain.

In the United States, the pumpkin is the one food most frequently associated with this holiday.

This vegetable, a squash, is usually served in the form of pumpkin pie.

Many cookbooks also have recipes for pumpkin custard, pumpkin soup, and other dishes.

Roasted pumpkin seeds are perfect Samhain fare.

Pomegranate seeds are linked with Samhain due to their connection with the underworld in classical mythology.

They can be eaten raw or used in a variety of recipes. Apple dishes of all kinds—cakes, pies, salads—are also consumed with relish on the night of Samhain.

Pantries were once common to every home. Today, most of us fill cupboards with staples and canned foods. The pantry is ruled by the element of earth and the moon; because it is a container that houses food, it’s intimately linked with the Mother Goddess. For our purposes, your kitchen cabinets constitute a pantry. The magical cook should keep a stock of basic culinary ingredients: salt; sugar(if you use it); honey; maple syrup; herbs and spices; whole grains; flours of all types; cornmeal; vinegar; and vegetable oils and other similar foods, stored in airtight containers. As a place where food is stored, the pantry should be protected. A rope of braided garlic or chilli peppers hung in or on the pantry will serve it well. While hanging the rope, visualize the vegetable’s forceful energies driving away anything that would contaminate the food.

Another rationale for vegetarianism seems to be that meat is a poison. It’s true that much of the meat eaten today in the United States is injected with growth hormones and is too fatty for sustaining good health. But meat isn’t poison. If itwas, the entire world’s population would have died out thousands of years ago. As members of a largely affluent society, many of us eat too much meat; but this dietary imbalance can be quickly corrected and need not preclude the ingestion of all meat.

Spirituality is the other major reason for following a strictly vegetarian diet. Some believe that if they eat meat, they’re no higher than the animals that do the same thing. Therefore, they feel, they’ll never receive true enlightenment. Many vegetarians are also following spiritual teachings or a religion that forbids eating meat.

Lughnasadh is the first harvest—the promise of spring’s planting realized. Sometimes known as the Feast of Bread, Lughnasadh is a time for kneading, baking, slicing, and eating this basic food. Lughnasadh originally marked the first-harvest festivals of earlier European peoples, for whom it didn’t fall on a specific date.

Prepare a few whole-grain loaves on this day if you make your own bread. For something simpler, yet in keeping with the energies at work, make some cornbread.

Other traditional foods include all berries, crab apples, and grains. Barley soup, popcorn, and even beer (due to its ingredients) are also appropriate foods

(Lycopersicon spp.)

Element: Water

Energies: Health, money, love, protection

Lore:

Known as zictomatl by the Aztecs,the tomato is an ancient food. When it was introduced into Europe in the sixteenth century, the tomato was
regarded with suspicion. It is botanically related to nightshade, which is obvious from studying the plant’s leaves, flowers, and even fruit. Everyone assumed that its fruits were also poisonous, despite the tales of the inhabitants of New Spain (Mexico) eating it and surviving.
The fruits became known as “love apples” and were finally accepted into the dietary regime. At some point in the past, the tomato was considered to be a lucky food, and the red tomato pincushions that are still made today are a survival of this idea. Lonely women once dried tomato seeds and enclosed them in a piece of cloth. They wore this charm around their necks in the hope of attracting men.

Magical uses:

Tomatoes can be used in a number of ways. Tomato sauce, tomato juice, and the popular Italian combination of sun-dried tomatoes,
mozzarella cheese, and basil are just some of them. For health, eat fresh tomatoes, or cook them with sage and rosemary. Mixing basil, cinnamon, or dill weed with tomatoes creates an especially potent, money-attracting food. For love, season tomatoes with rosemary, or eat them while they’re fresh and bursting with juice. To bring protective energy inside yourself, flavour tomatoes with black pepper, bay, dill, or rosemary.

(Olea europaea)

Planet: Sun

Element: Air

Energies: Spirituality, health, peace, sex

Lore:

The olive was sacred to Aten in ancient Egypt.

Olive oil, which was in great demand in the ancient world, actually led to the downfall of Greece. Farmers began growing olives almost exclusively while ignoring food crops. This began Greece’s dependence on imported foods. When import lines were cut, Greece and its populace suffered.

Oil was used in hundreds of ways in the ancient world, but it was always linked with religion. It was necessary for the creation of the scented oils used in both religious and magical rituals. In Greece, olive oil was the most popular ingredient for these purposes. The Romans disdained the use of butter in cooking. They moistened bread with olive oil (as we use butter) and also cooked food in oil.

Magical uses:

Add olives or olive oil to spirituality inducing diets. Olives are perfect for post-ritual feasts. Small amounts of olive oil can be added to health diets. Visualize! Olives are also eaten for peace and for the release of stress. If this isn’t a problem, olives (and the oil) are suitable for arousing sexual desire.

(Cucumus sativus)

Planet: Moon

Element: Water

Energies: Peace, healing

Lore:

Fresh cucumbers were once placed under swooning women’s noses (remember swooning?). The odor was supposed to rouse them from their faint.

In Africa, the Nuer sometimes consecrate a small wild cucumber and sacrifice it in place of a treasured ox during important ceremonies.

Magical uses:

Add cucumbers to peace-inducing diets. Peel and munch on one of these raw, whole fruits for quick relief from stress. Or, eat cucumbers while recovering from illness to speed the healing process. Visualize as you eat.

(Beta vulgaris)

Planet: Saturn

Element: Earth

Energies: Love, beauty

Lore:

Beets have been eaten for centuries by persons wishing to lengthen their life spans. Aphrodite, the ancient Greek goddess of love, was said to have used beets to maintain and increase her beauty.

The redness of this food dictates its use during harvest and for winter religious festivals such as Lughnasadh (August 1) and Samhain (November 1).

Magical uses:

Folk magic states that if a man and a woman eat from the same beet, they’ll fall in love with each other. While this may not be the case (love
is far more complex), beets should be added to love-attracting diets. Cook and eat beets while visualizing yourself enjoying increased beauty.
Remember: beauty is internal as well as external.

(Fagopyrum esculentum)

Planet: Jupiter

Element: Earth

Energies: Money

Lore:

Buckwheat pancakes are common enough in the United States, but few seem to know the magical history behind buckwheat itself. In Japan, this grain is used to make soba—buckwheat noodles. These are eaten on the Japanese New Year for “money luck,” i.e., the ability to amass large amounts of money in the coming year.

Buckwheat noodles are also served on other festive occasions. Upon moving into a new home, the owners may give soba to the neighbours on each side and to the three houses across the road. This is a gift of good fortune and friendship.

Japanese goldsmiths have long used buckwheat dough to collect gold dust in their shops. This ageless practice has firmly connected soba with the promise of riches.

Magical uses:

Because all grains are connected with abundance in one form or another (fertility, money, life), eat buckwheat pancakes to attract this energy. For even more money power, pour on a bit of maple syrup.

Altar Cloth
Amulets, Talismans, Jewelry
Athame’ or sharp Knife
Baskets
Beads
Bells (brass or glass?)
Book of Shadows
Bowls, Platters, Pitcher
Candles and Holders
Capes and/or Robes
Cauldron
Censor or Thurible
Chalice
Charged, pure water
Compass
Crystals and Gems
Crystal Ball (scrying tools)
Decanter
Divination Tools (tarot, runes, pendulum, etc.)
Earth
Feathers
Felt
Glass jars w/lids
Glue
Herbs, Spices, Dried Plants, Tobacco
Oils (for anointing)
Incense, Burner, Sand, Charcoal
India ink
Lighter
Mortar and Pestle
Mood Music
Needle and Thread
Parchment or Special paper
Pentacles/Pentagrams
Potpourri Pot
Pouches
Rawhide
Rope (witch’s cord–Cingulum)
Scales
Scissors
Silk (for wrapping & covering)
Statues
Stencils and Brushes
String
Wands
Wooden Boxes
Wooden Spoons
Writing Instruments of all kinds

Many cultures celebrate the New Year, but not always on the same date. Japanese and Chinese New Year festivals, for example, fall on different days each year (according to our calendar). The pre-Christian cultures of Europe didn’t always celebrate New Year’s on January 1. It has been observed on the evening of November 1 and at Yule. The actual date matters little, for the rituals performed at the beginning of the New Year remain quite similar.

New Year’s was once a time full of magic. Many of the old customs concerned food and its abundance. Past concerns and cares were ritualistically swept away, and good was invited into the home. It was once thought that whatever occurred on the first day of the year forecast the next 364 days, and people acted accordingly.

In the United States, many people eat cabbage on New Year’s Day. It is often cooked with a small piece of silver. The green color of the vegetable, along with the silver, ensures plenty of food and money in the coming year.

Black-eyed peas are another traditional favorite for “luck” in the New Year, particularly in the southern United States. Carrots eaten on the first day ensure a sweet year.

An old ritual: on New Year’s Eve, place a loaf of bread and a penny on a table. Leave overnight. This will provide plenty to eat in the coming year. Be sure to have a well-stocked pantry at this time.

About prayer: if you don’t subscribe to any particular religion, and haven’t been in the habit of praying before meals, there’s no reason for you to begin to do so. Prior to eating, simply attune with the food (all of the food, not just that which you’re eating for magical purposes). You can easily do this by placing your hands on either side of your portion of the food before beginning to eat. Sense their energies for a few seconds. You need to say nothing. This simple act, which you can do in front of those who know nothing about your magical studies, prepares your body to accept the food. You absorb its essence (power)before absorbing its manifestation.

If it is your custom to pray before meals, continue to do so. Religion and magic have always been closely linked—religion worships the energy that created all things; magic utilizes the energies in those things that have been created.

You can also include a prayer to your deity while eating or address your conception of deity during the magical preparation and consumption of the food. Though this may seem to be a new idea, it isn’t. It’s performed around the world by millions of non-Christian, nonWestern peoples.

Eating (and the resultant digestion) is an act of transformation. Our bodies change food into the fuel necessary for our continued physical existence. Be aware also of the higher aspects of food every time that you eat.

Planet: Mercury
Element: Fire

Energies: Sex, peace, psychic awareness, weight loss

Lore:

Roman women ate celery to increase their sexual appetites.

Magical uses:

This plant’s aphrodisiac powers have long been celebrated. Celery soup was one of Madame de Pompadour’s favourite dishes for this purpose. Curiously, heated celery seems to emit a type of pheromone, the chemical sex-attractant naturally secreted by humans and animals. This could be why celery has been favoured for this use for 2,000 years.

If you make celery soup, cook it with visualization. Such sex-stimulating foods are, of course, only effective if you eat them. They will have little or no effect when served to others.

With a different visualization, eating fresh or cooked celery is soothing and brings peace.

Add celery seed (as a seasoning) to foods to strengthen psychic awareness.

Celery is also a part of weight-loss plans.

(Glycine max)

Planet: Moon

Element: Earth

Energies: Protections, psychic awareness, spirituality

Lore:

We know soy in two forms: soy sauce and tofu. While soy sauce has always enjoyed popularity in the West as a flavouring for Chinese food, tofu is only now gaining ground as a nutritious alternative to meat. It is especially popular with vegetarians.

The Chinese have eaten soybeans for at least 2,000 years and the Japanese for 1,000.

People in both cultures usually eat them in the form of tofu. In Japan, two deities, Ebisu and Daikotu, are involved in the old-style preparation of tofu. Symbols of these deities are burned into the side of the wooden boxes used to measure the soybeans to be processed into tofu. This blesses them with the energies of Ebisu and Daikotu.

Throughout Japan, fried tofu is an acceptable offering at the inami, agricultural shrines that dot the countryside. These shrines are dedicated to agricultural deities.

On the Japanese New Year, handfuls of roasted soybeans are scattered onto the floor in homes and temples. These “beans of good
fortune” are then thrown through an open window to the chant of “Out with evil; in with good fortune!”

In the 1600s, the Emperor Nintoku established the Women’s Mass for Needles. In this ceremony, a cake of tofu is situated on the household altar. Women push all the needles which have been bent or broken in the past year into the cake of tofu. This is done to give the needles—thought to be the spirits of people whose bodies have been sacrificed in service—a gentle resting place.

Magical uses:

Add soy sauce or tofu to protective diets. Soy sauce is ideal for this due to its extreme saltiness (though too much is, of course, hazardous to
good health). For protection, stirfry tofu with onions and other vegetables of similar energies. Tofu is also eaten for psychic awareness (particularly if one is searching for alternatives to meat), and to induce spirituality.