Kitchen witchery evolved from the ancient concept of the hearth as the sacred center of the home. In the ancient world the hearth, the place where food was prepared and warmth was created, had great importance and was treated with reverence. Humans have always inherently understood that the kitchen is a special place where magic happens.
For modern witches, the kitchen is a great place for everyday magic. Here are a few ways you can infuse some magic into your food.
Begin by taking a moment to clear your mind and focus your energy. Just like any other magical activity, kitchen magic is best performed in a focused, spiritual headspace. This doesn’t have to be anything elaborate (although, if you want to cook with incense and candles burning, more power to you). It can be as simple as taking a moment to close your eyes, take a few deep breaths, and focus on your intention.
Set the mood. One of the simplest ways to put magic into your food is to infuse a dish with a certain energy or emotion. Let’s say you want to make a dish infused with the energy of happiness, so that everyone who eats it gets a little bit of those good vibes. The easiest way to do this is by making sure you’re happy when you cook it! Put on music that makes you feel happy, dance around your kitchen, and pour all of that happy energy into the food as you prepare it.
Enchant your ingredients. You may choose to layer ingredients with different magical purposes in order to create a stronger spell. For example, if you’re making a meal infused with protection magic, you might include some ingredients for physical protection, some for strength, and some for mental clarity. You can accomplish this by enchanting each ingredient individually as you add it to the food. Your enchantment can be as simple as thanking the spirit of the item, and asking to help you accomplish [insert intention here] in your spell.
Use numerology. Numerology is the idea that numbers have an inherent spiritual nature. There are many different systems of numerology, so it’s important to use what makes the most sense to you — this includes bringing in your own associations for numbers! You can use numerology in your cooking by adding a certain number of an ingredient based on that number’s magical value. For example, I might add nine shakes of salt to symbolize completion and the granting of wishes, or add three bay leaves to symbolize creativity and collaboration. Just make sure you’re not adding so much of an ingredient that it overpowers the other flavors in the dish!
Stir ingredients clockwise to bring blessings or counterclockwise to send away unwanted energy. This comes from an old Irish tradition that states that moving “sunwise” (clockwise) brings blessings while moving against the sun (counterclockwise) brings curses or banishes something. When you’re mixing your food, stir it clockwise to bring in desired energies, like love, joy, or peace. Stir it counterclockwise to cast out undesired energies, like sickness or stress.
Draw or carve sacred symbols on your food. I talked about runes and sigils at length in my last post so I won’t repeat myself here, but you can also use magical symbols in kitchen magic! You can carve runes or sigils into vegetables and charge them before slicing them up, use your spoon to trace them in the surface of a soup as you stir it, or draw the symbols in the air over your food before you serve it. If you’re drawing a symbol with a name, you should speak the name out loud or in your mind as you draw it. If you’re drawing a sigil, speak the intention behind that sigil out loud or in your mind. These symbols are like batteries for magical power, so they’re a great way to add a boost to your kitchen magic.
Use blessed water. If you make moon water during the full moon, try adding a few drops of it to the next thing you cook and see how much more energized you feel after eating it! Making moon water is an easy way to get blessed water, since all it requires is leaving a jug of water out under the full moon, but there are other kinds of blessed water you can use as well. Some Catholics sprinkle holy water (water that has been blessed by a priest) into their food or drink. You can create your own “holy water” by speaking a blessing over a jug of water — it can be a general blessing for peace and good fortune, or can be more specific based on your intent. You can also use water that has been infused with edible plants based on their magical associations, but this will of course change the flavor of your food.
Speak an incantation. The spoken word is a powerful source of magic. Write an incantation or statement of intention based on what you want to accomplish with this magical food. Speak this incantation aloud at some point during the cooking process — I like to say it when I’m mixing all the ingredients together. This can be as simple as, “May [insert food here] bring me [insert benefit here],” or can be long and elaborate. If there are words from another source, like a poem or song lyrics, that feel like they fit your intention, you should absolutely feel free to use them as your incantation.
Pray over your food. Saying grace before a meal is another way of blessing it. You don’t have to pray to a certain deity or higher power. Instead, you could simply thank the spirits of the plants and animals that died so that you could be fed, or you could thank the planet for providing this nourishment to you. Of course, if you do want to pray to a higher power and thank them for the food, that’s also a great way to bless your meal!
Another way to do kitchen magic is to work with the correspondences of your ingredients. Here’s a quick correspondence guide for some staple ingredients you probably already have in your pantry.
Grains and breads correspond to abundance, health, and security. Historically, these foods were associated with the autumn harvest, and they are still sacred to harvest deities. Bread is a common offering to house spirits and to gods of hearth and home.
Milk, cheese, and dairy correspond to the nurturing aspect of motherhood, love, sustenance, and abundance. Cows are sacred in some cultures, such as in Ancient Ireland, where offering someone milk was a form of blessing.
Eggs correspond to fertility, hidden mysteries, and the feminine principle. In several different folk magic traditions, such as those of Appalachian America and of Italy, eggs are used to detect or remove curses.
Salt corresponds to protection and purity, and can be used for grounding. Salt is useful for banishing unwanted energies, as well as for putting up protective barriers. Blessed salt has many uses in magical rituals and in a magical kitchen.
Rice corresponds to money, good luck, and fertility. You might be familiar with the tradition of throwing rice at weddings — this is a good example of rice’s magic associations. Rice also absorbs negativity and, like salt, it can be used for protection.
Onions corresponds to healing, prosperity, and protection. Onions are said to prevent and dispel illness, and are sometimes associated with love and lust.
Garlic has similar associations to onion, but is also strongly connected with protection, banishing, and curse-breaking. I add garlic to all of my protection and uncrossing spells, and it can also be handy for banishing unwanted spirits.
Sugar corresponds to love, affection, and attraction. Sugar is used in American folk magic to “sweeten” situations, making them more favorable. It can also be used to attract positive energy or positive outcomes.
Honey corresponds to health, happiness, love, wisdom, and stability. Like sugar, honey can be used to sweeten a situation or to attract positive energy. Some witches believe that honey works slower than sugar, but brings longer lasting results.
Vanilla corresponds to love, romance, and sensuality. It’s also a very comforting scent, and I’ve even seen one author claim that the smell repels negative spirits (although I’ve never used it for this purpose). Vanilla is perfect any time you want to conjure love, whether it’s self-love or love between people.
Hopefully, this list gives you some ideas for magical recipes. For example, if you want to conjure luck and abundance, you could make a risotto (a rice dish) with lots of Parmesan cheese, butter, garlic, and basil (not listed in this post, but strongly associated with wealth). If you want to create a stronger sense of self-love, you could make vanilla cookies with sugar and honey. If you need to kick a common cold, a soup with lots of onions and garlic will probably do the trick. You get the idea.
Make sure that the magical food you prepare is actually something you’ll want to eat! Just because an ingredient works with your intention doesn’t mean you should always include it. If you hate vanilla, you shouldn’t add it to your love brownies. Leave things out or make substitutions to ensure that you enjoy eating the finished product.
On a related note, you can substitute vegan products for milk, cheese, eggs, etc. but the magical correspondences won’t be exactly the same. Almond milk, for example, has the magical associations of almonds (prosperity and wisdom). This is similar, but not quite the same, as the correspondences for cow’s milk. Likewise, soy milk, coconut milk, and oat milk all have their own correspondences that will affect the energy of your spell. If you plan to keep your magical kitchen vegan, it’s a good idea to look up the magical uses of the plants your food is made from and use those as a guideline, rather than just substituting coconut milk for cow’s milk and expecting the exact same result.
Resources:
Wicca: Kitchen Witchery by Lisa Chamberlain
A Green Witch’s Cupboard by Deborah J. Martin
Where the Hawthorn Grows, Brigid: Meeting the Celtic Goddess of Poetry, Forge, and Healing Well, and The Morrigan: Meeting the Great Queens by Morgan Daimler
Utterly Wicked by Dorothy Morrison
Let’s all just admit that buying stuff is fun. That said, there’s a big issue of consumerism within the witchy/pagan scene. As magic work and the pagan “aesthetic” becomes more of a commodity in the mainstream, there’s a mounting attitude of needing All The Items in the highest quality (even if we’re not certain we’ll use them,) and big corporations mass-producing cheap stuff to make a buck off of a growing trend. Here’s some things you can do to help detach your practice from that and support other people in the craft:
Go outside. Check your backyard or local park for local plant life, waters, roots, etc. If your work involves things from nature at all, you can probably find a lot of your supplies… in nature. It takes a little more time, but it’s free and then you’ve gathered stuff yourself!
Make stuff. This one is pretty straightforward. There may be key items to your practice that you can make yourself instead of buying it! That said, I know sometimes spending money is inevitable so I won’t dwell too much on this… let’s talk more about shopping:
Shop mindfully. The price of a lot of items will skyrocket once it has a pentacle or other symbol engraved on it. For example, little mortars and pestles can be very pricey in witchy shops, but you could probably get a bigger one that’s actually food safe for less at a nice grocery store. Antique stores and international markets are now your new best friends.
Support small businesses! Things are cheaper on Amazon, but the extra money goes to support real people, likely other practitioners. If you can, supporting small, local, independent shopkeepers and crafters does a ton of good. It also helps build and sustain a local community.
Shop based on need. Don’t get something “just in case” (unless it’s banishing or hex breaking stuff; those are decent to have on hand.) It’s tempting to impulse-buy a ton of niche items and ingredients, but unless you have a reasonable idea what you’re going to use them for in the near future, it’ll probably just create clutter for you to deal with later.
Prioritize effectiveness over aesthetic. Ultimately your practice has to work for you, not just look good. I think making your work aesthetically pleasing to yourself can be an important part of really connecting with what you’re doing, but don’t make that desire burn a hole in your wallet and distract you from what brought you to this path in the first place. Altar envy is a real thing.
Recycle/Upcycle. Use old clothing fabric for an altar cloth. That old trinket dish makes a great offering dish. Enchant jewelry you already own. That jar of strawberry jelly you just finished off will work just fine for that spell. Things can be re-purposed and made into new things.
Analyze your offerings. Special occasion wine isn’t a special occasion if you do it every time. Not every offering needs to be a grand gesture, regular maintenance is more important generally.
Organize trades. Have any pals that also practice? See if you can help each other! You could trade different goods (that old mini cauldron you bought and never used for that abandoned tarot deck, maybe?) but also services. A protection spell for a luck charm. A reading for a reading. You help them with the laundry and they cook you a meal one day.
As always, the goal is to foster a local community of individuals doing honest work, and shedding the consumerist mindset society taught us to make us spend more money. Take up the idea that you can do magic completely on your own with what you already around you, and if you do want to spend money, see if you can do it in a way that helps the world a tiny bit. :)
Kitchen Magick is Something near and dear to me. And something I enjoy doing damn near every day..A way to make something that you do every day a little more magickal… though I believe cooking and food itself is magickal. It is a gift of earth. but adding in your own magick and intent makes it all the more powerful.
I usually just let my guides…guide me.. I’ll find myself sprinkling in typically unusual things like A pinches of nutmeg and cinnamon along with basil and rosemary in my spaghetti , I stumbled upon the perfect sweet treats for calm composure and memory help with rosemary and lavender sugar cookies,
and todays topic…COCOA . I use it in SO MANY THINGS. Even when I’m not purposefully trying do the Witchin’ . And there are some great magickal and medicinal uses for it!
Latin Name- Theobroma cacao
Feminine
Elements-
milk chococlate - Water, Earth
dark chocolate-Fire , Earth
The History of chocolate starts In ancient Mesoamerica. Fermented cocoa beverages date back to 350BC, though recent studies have shown it may date back as far as 1400BC. Aztecs believed that Cocoa seeds were a gift from the God Quetzalcoatl who is the God of wisdom , The seeds of cocoa were once so valuable they were even used as a form of currency ! translated , it literally means “ food of the gods”
The higher the amount of Cocoa, the more beneficial it is for you. Unsweetend cocoa and nibs are the best for this.
~Antioxidant
~Hormonal&Neurological ( it makes you feel better& happy!)
~increases memory
~Longevity and resilience
~lowers cholesterol
~ reduces risks of stroke
~ strengthens immune system
in general chocolate is great for spells for happiness, comfort , love , friendship and feel better.
Dark chocolate is best for sex , romance , love power, prosperity, memory,wisodom, and grounding
Milk chocolate is more suited for friendship, self love, nurturing, love , balance, fun and energy, happiness, and revelry
~ Bake cakes and cookies for your friends or family for happiness , fun , love and to ward of negativity
~Bake your crush or lover a cake to set the mood and have some BOMB sex( or just to help ease tension and have good energy within your relationship and sex life)
~ meditation cookies or hot cocoa , with herbs and hot milk of your choice , perfect for meditation and divination and right before spell work.
~ make some dark chocolate and rosemary cookies , cake or bark for memory and focus before class or a test or something important , or even to help jump start some creative visions like writing , reading, art etc.
~add some to your incense to invite a warm and happy atmosphere
~ literally anything made with chocolate , cocoa powder ect can be used in magick along with herbs and other things in kitchen magick.
~you can even leave it as offerings to your fairies, house spirits , ancestors ect.
~ give chocolate bars and baked goods as gifts for various needs like someone in grief who could use some cheering up and calming , a party that needs some lively vibes and even to a student you know who could use some calming , focusing energy , wisdom , and memory help!
the possibilities are endless and feel free to explore them all!
Ill be posting a list of recipes of different things using chocolate and other things in kitchen witchery soon. keep an eye out for them!
Oorlog is the relationship of cause and effect in Norse belief. Causes and effects weave in and out of each other to create the Web of Wyrd, or the web of destiny.
Oorlog is the yarn, the Wyrd is the total knitted project.
Loki is a trickster who operates as an element of random chance in Norse stories, inciting change and movement.
Loki’s name means “knots.” Now I know why.
HOUSE TO HOME
-a hearthwitch spell to make your house or apartment feel cozy, happy and loving, like a real home
1. Fill a bowl with water and bless it, focusing on the intent of your spell.
2. Add pink salt to encourage friendship and love in your family and friends whenever they enter your walls.
3. Add Oregano to instill health and wellness for all who live here.
4. Add Thyme to create feelings of closeness, coziness and happiness, ie. home.
5. Add rosemary for cleansing and protection.
6. Stir the bowl with your finger three times and chant
“With company or all alone
Make this house a loving home”
7. Dip your broom into the bowl and flick the water in each corner of every room in the house. At every corner, say the incantation again.
8. When finished, thank your tools and dispose of the water.
I made this spell after moving into my new husbands’s apartment. It had never truly been a home before. More of a place to eat and sleep when my husband wasn’t busy working. And after moving all my things in and cleaning, I just still wasn’t feeling. It felt odd and cold. Not like a home at all. So I wrote this spell and performed it, and the dynamics of our apartment instantly changed. It feels warm now. Warm and happy and cozy, and my husband and I look forward to when we get to spend time there together.
What is Traditional Witchcraft?
According to Michael Howard, Trad Craft refers to “any non-Gardnerian, non-Alexandrian, non-Wiccan or pre-modern form of the Craft, especially if it has been inspired by historical forms of witchcraft and folk magic”.
Traditional Witchcraft, therefore, is not a single monolith. We can, in fact, distinguish between:
Operative Witchcraft or Folk Magic
Ritual(istic) Witchcraft
This first difference is taken from Margaret Murray; she used the first term for indicating the practice of magic, as carried out by cunning folk and folk magicians, and included the non-religious practice of spells, charms, divinations, etc. “whether used by a professed witch or by a professed Christian, whether intended for good or for evil, for killing or for curing. Such charms and spells are common to every nation and country, and are practised by the priests and people of every religion. They are part of the common heritage of the human race and are therefore of no practical value in the study of any one particular cult.” (The Witch-Cult, p. 11.)
The second term (also called “Dianic cult” by Murray) indicates, instead, “the religious beliefs and ritual of the people, known in late mediaeval times as ‘Witches’. The evidence proves that underlying the Christian religion was a cult practised by many classes of the community, chiefly, however, by the more ignorant or those in the less thickly inhabited parts of the country. It can be traced back to pre-Christian times”. Therefore we can say that Ritual Witchcraft is the cult of pre-Christian Deities or Spirits connected to the witches.
While the ideas of Murray about this cult have now been discredited, other scholars have reopened this field as a viable area of study, discovering many ecstatic witch-cults. The most known academics in this field are: Carlo Ginzburg, Éva Pócs, Emma Wilby, Claude Lecouteux, Wolfgang Behringer, Sabina Magliocco, Gábor Klaniczay, Gustav Henningsen and Bengt Ankarloo.
Relying on the work of these scholars, we can say therefore that Ritual Witchcraft was/is the religious system surrounding the Sabbath, the Procession of the Dominae Nocturnae from house to house, the spiritual flight, Elphame, the Wild Hunt, the Night Battles, etc.
As we can understand, even if the majority of the Ritual Witches were/are also Operative Witches (practitioners of Folk Magic), not all the Operative Witches were/are also Ritual Witches. The majority of Folk Magicians/Operative Witches, in fact, didn’t go to the Sabbath, didn’t astrally fly, didn’t astrally go with the Wild Hunt, from house to house with the Domina Nocturna, to Elphame/the Otherworld or to the Night Battles. Ritual Witches did.
We can say, therefore, that Operative Witchcraft is a practice, while Ritual Witchcraft is a religion.
Traditional Witches who are secular are, therefore, usually Operative and not Ritual Witches. While the distinction between Ritual and Operative Witchcraft is an established one in the Witchcraft community, I introduce a new, according to me useful, second distinction, inside Ritual Witchcraft (i.e. Witchcraft as a religion), by borrowing the terms “Revivalism” and “Reconstructionism” from Polytheism, in which it’s an already established terminology:
Hereditary Witchcraft
Revivalist Witchcraft
Reconstructionist Witchcraft
Hereditary Traditional Witchcraft brings together all the traditions that claim a lineage from the Witchcraft of the past.
Revivalist Traditional Witchcraft is inspired by folklore, trials and the figure of the witch without any presumption of hereditarity. Unlike the Reconstructionist one, it leaves ample space for personal initiative and the influence of other traditions, without slavishly following the history in every single detail.
Reconstructionist Traditional Witchcraft, finally, tries to resume, starting from the in-depth study of folklore, historical trials and documents, the exact practices and beliefs of Historical Witchcraft. For example, the pantheon of Spirits, the festivities, the structure of the Sabbath, the structure of the offerings, and so on.
An important aspect for those who practice Reconstructionism is the resumption of the names of the Gods (or it would be more correct to say, of the “Deific Familiar Spirits” or “Major Spirits”) forgotten and remained only in the trials papers and in folklore. The idea is to reopen roads, ways to these Spirits. Reconstructing therefore means paying homage to these Spirits and allowing those interested to re-establish a connection with Them.
We said before that Traditional Witchcraft is not Wicca. What’s the difference?
According to the Traditional Witchcraft author Lee Morgan:
“It could easily be said that one of the major differences between the modern revival referred to as “Traditional Witchcraft” and the other modern revival known as “Wicca”, is that Traditional Witchcraft draws on “folkloric material” and is largely “shamanic” whereas Wicca is more of a fusion of Western Occult ceremonial and natural magic traditions.”
(From: Lee Morgan’s “A Deed Without a Name: Unearthing the Legacy of Traditional Witchcraft”)
I’ve been planning all the food that I’ll be cooking and in spirit of the season I want to use a lot of spring and summer foods!
I’ve also kept in mind some of us are Vegetarian/vegan and have food allergies so all the food will be meat free and any food with tree nuts or onions will be properly labeled.
Here is the menu :
Foods
Deviled eggs (contains: eggs, mayonnaise, paprika, salt, black pepper)
Mama bear soup (contains: veggie sausage, thai ginger broth, sweet peppers, carrots) *Has coconut (which is considered a tree nut) and onions
Fruit salad (contains: watermelon, feta, balsamic, spinach)
Tofu stir-fry (contains: white rice, tofu, mango, sweet peppers, olive oil, salt, chili powder, paprika powder)
Beverages
Iced green tea
Strawberry-Gin Cocktail
*To make it fair so I don’t have to buy all the food myself since I’ll already be cooking it all I think it’ll be easier for each of us to buy a few of the things. I got all the spices needed for the dishes, the sweet peppers, tofu, mayo, and thai ginger broth. I can pick up more tea if needed too. @ronniepotter @immaterialwitchgirl @angelsinthephonelines @lifeunderlamplight @cardasssian
Which of you could get which things on this list?
- lots and lots of flowers that grow native in your area this time of year
- sunflowers, roses, lavender, dandelions
- flower crowns and flower garlands
- a bowl of fruit and vegetables, especially anything citrus like oranges
- lots of candles (Litha is a fire sabbat)
- colours like yellow, gold, and orange
- you could have a vase of sticks with fairy lights in it to represent a bonfire
- maypoles are still a thing for Litha
- a cute offering dish to leave out sweets for the fae
- a jar of local honey
- anything that represents the sun
- incense (sandalwood, rose, lavender, frankincense, dragon’s blood)
- oak leaves and acorns
- anything that reflects the sun like suncatchers, glass beads, and mirrors
The summer solstice marks the longest day of the year, the night is shortest and it is the inverse of the cold, dark days of the winter solstice. If the winter solstice is a time for reflection and gathering in the safe warmth of one’s home, then the summer solstice is a time of outdoor celebration to honor the light, the warmth, the green, and all things that are vibrant and alive. You’ve spent the winter months planning, you’ve planted seeds of growth in spring, now at the height of the sun it is the time for action and for celebrating your activeness before you are able to reap the benefits come the autumn harvest. From this day forward the darkness will return slowly and the days will shorten once more and what you prepare in the light of summer will be what you enjoy in the darker months. Use this time to celebrate and to enjoy the process of working towards your goals, uncomfortable though it may be at times. Take pleasure in the living world around you and in those around you whom you care for. Happy Midsummer!
Grimoire ideas
About you:
How you got started in the craft
Your spiritual journey
Things you connect to (animals, elements, plants, ect)
Types of magic you do
Your natal chart
Your deities (if you have any)
Correspondences:
Remember, you don't need to write down correspondences you will never need! So instead, write about...
Crystals you have/want
Plants you can grow yourself/already have around you. Check your spice cabinet
And list things to use those for! So that would be herb bundles to burn, salves, recipes, and so on.
Other things you can use in magic that you already have
This would be things like sea shells, snail shells, grass, dirt, candles. Get creative!
Other witchcraft stuff:
Your sigils
Planets
The sun/moon +moon phases
Zodiac signs
The elements
Symbolism (animals, shapes, and whatever else you wish to add)
Spells:
What makes a spell that works!!! This should help with making your own spells
What NOT to do
Different types of spells
Spells you will actually use
Divination:
A section on tarot cards and their meanings
How to use a pendulum
Meanings of oracle cards
Rune meanings and how to cast them
Lesser known forms of divination!!!
Mental health:
Grounding and centering
Burn out care and being energy efficient
A list of what motivates you to do your craft
Small spells for self care
Astral work:
Your astral space (a map, a description, drawings of important locations)
Your astral body, if it's any different than your physical one
A list of spirits and important information about them
Protection, sheilding, banishing, and safety
Manners when interacting with spirits and what NOT to do
Methods of projection/travel that work for you
Post-astral grounding methods
General spirit work:
How to interact with spirits and how NOT to interact with spirits
Protection, banishing, shielding, and other safety things
How to give offerings (there's more than one way!)
Methods of communicating with spirits
Signs of spirits
Ways spirits can send signs and messages (animals, dreams, and so on)
A list of different kinds of spirits you work with/have encountered
A section for research, especially if you're doing deity work.
Grounding, if it helps you afterwards
A log of interaction with spirits. This can be like a divination journal but with spirits, if that's what you do.