🍂🍁Super Easy Pumkin Muffins For Mabon🍁🍂

Kitchen Witchin’

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.

Magical Cooking Techniques

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!

Magical Correspondences for Some Staple Foods

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

A Brief Guide to Yuletide Plants & Herbs

MISTLETOE: love, protection, luck, reconciliation, banishing.

SNOWDROP: hope, cleansing, beauty.

LEMONGRASS: banishing negativity, attraction, purification.

CINNAMON: love, happiness, money.

SAGE: longevity, wisdom, protection, wishes. aiding in grief. 

ROSEMARY: purification, dreams, healing.

GINGER: power, manifestation.

ORANGE: divination, fortune, health, love, good luck, money.

BAY LEAVES: cleansing, psychic abilities, wishes, dreams. banishing, protection.

ASH: prophetic dreams, luck, attraction, energy channelling. 

THISTLE: vitality, cleansing, purification, uncrossing.

CEDAR: protection, attraction, healing, invocation. 

PINE: positivity, protection, fertility, warding. 

FRANKINCENSE: cleansing, consecration, banishing. 

CHESTNUT: longevity, intuition, grounding, focus, success. 

IVY: fertility, protection, healing. 

HOllY: prosperity, protection, luck, dreams, rebirth, banishing. 

JUNIPER: protection, warding, divination, secrecy, love. 

OAK: money, success, strength, fertility, stability, health, healing, luck.

SANDALWOOD: healing, purification, consecration. 

YEW: necromancy, astral travel, death.

CYPRESS: purification, stability, focus.

MYRRH: purification, banishing, protection, healing.

Disclaimer: do your research before using or handling any plant or herb. Some herbs are dangerous when burned or ingested.

MAGICK APPLE THREE CHEESE SOUP FOR FALL

This soup, is actually pretty tasty, so don’t be scared off by the title. Apple and cheese are really good together. And this recipe, from my kitchen to yours, is infused in magick!

Ingredients:

Olive Oil

1 cup apple cider ~ love, comfort, divine energy, healing, folk lore cure all

2 tbsp brown sugar ~ Love, comfort

1 large granny smith apple ~ revitalize, love, healing

 1 large onion, diced ~ warding, protection

1 1/3 cup freshly shredded cheddar

Sprig of thyme ~ symbol of Venus, beauty, courage, fairy communications, protection, psychic abilities

Ground garden sage (Note- Do NOT use white sage as it is sacred to the indigenous and should be saved for native practices) ~ clarity, protection, grounding, cleansing, wisdom, nightmare relief

Salt and pepper ~ Warding, cleansing, protection

½ cup gouda cheese

4 oz bree cheese

¾ cup half and half

3 cups broth of choice

Flour to thicken it

8 oz beer (Optional)

To prep: Cook your apple slices till soft, then purée them with a stick blender. Add a big pot to the stove, add oil to heat up on medium heat.

Cooking the soup: Add diced onions, pureed apple, and cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add in broth, apple cider, seasonings, and beer (optional) into the pot and stir. You’ll want to bring this to a boil, and then turn down to simmer for an additional 12 minutes. 

Stir in your half and half and flour to thicken, along with your brown sugar. Cook this enough for the alcohol to boil off if serving people under 21 years of age or if you don’t want alcoholic soup at that matter. Cook for another 15 minutes stirring on a low medium heat.

Now stir in the cheese until it has melted in nicely in the soup, remember you can always add more things to you’ll liking. 

Authors Notes: Beer can be substituted for more broth, stir clock-wise for a more effective outcome. You can also substitute beer for one of you other potions, or edible elixirs. Pecans pair well with this, along with walnuts. You add bacon, or even dip apple slices into the soup.

Blessed be~

Angel….

Yule ball

Ingredients:

🌙 salt/sea salt, pine needles, dried rose petals, rosemary, dried orange peel, lavender, star anise, *coffee beans

Process:

🌙 First add the salt, then your herbs. After this you can add *optional items like crystals, ribbons, sigils, ...

As you add your items, state your intent and the purpose of each one.

Now you can decide, were to hang youre Yule ball - I prefer it in the corners of the room or near the window.

Please feel free to put other ingredients in it and hang the ball wherever you like. ❤ Try to collect some ingredients outside. 🌙🌲

Have fun. 🌙

Tips/Reminders For Witches Just Beginning Their Craft

It’s been a little since my last post so here’s one I created a bit ago but didn’t post. Due to my health I have not been practicing my craft and I know that the idea of stopping can freak some witches out. I just want to remind everyone that a ‘break’ does not deem you unworthy or less of a witch. In fact, acknowledging that you need a break takes responsibility and self growth and allows your spirit and physical self to rest and repair. Blessings and good health to you guys!

You do not need to be Wiccan.

You do not need to be religious.

‘Witch’ is gender neutral.

Check grocery stores, flea markets, online stores, and craft stores before metaphysical stores. Great finds but sometimes way cheaper.

You do not need to practice every single day unless you want to.

You are not less of a witch if you dont practice every day.

Keep reading

Deities of the crossroads and beings that dwell in liminal spaces truly favour the bold. Remember that the next time you hesitate.

Herb of the Day

#HOTD

Echinacea

Binomial nomenclature:

Echinacea purpurea

Echinacea augustifolia

Echinacea is a genus, or group, of herbaceous flowering plants in the daisy family. The Echinacea genus has nine species, which are commonly called coneflowers. They are found only in eastern and central North America, where they are found growing in moist to dry prairies and open wooded areas.

Today we will deal with my two favoured species, augustifolia and purpurea.

Echinacea angustifolia, the narrow-leaved purple coneflower or blacksamson echinacea, is a North American plantspecies in sunflower family. It is widespread across much of the Great Plains of central Canada and the central United States.

Echinacea angustifolia is a perennial herb up to 40 to 70 centimetres (16 to 28 in) tall with spindle-shaped taproots that are often branched. The stems and leaves are moderately to densely hairy. The plant produces flower heads one per side branch, each at the end of a long peduncle. Each head contains 8-21 pink or purple ray florets plus 200-300 purple disc florets.

Echinacea angustifolia blooms late spring to mid summer. It is found growing in dry prairies and barrens with rocky to sandy-clay soils.There are two subspecies:

Echinacea angustifolia subsp. angustifolia is native to central Canada and the central United States from Saskatchewan and Manitoba in the north to Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Louisiana in the southEchinacea angustifolia subsp. strigosa has a more limited range in Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana.

Obviously I grow and wildcraft the southern variety, but I find them both here sometimes.

Many Native American groups used this plant for a variety of medicinal purposes, including pain relief and relief of colds and toothaches.

Echinacea purpurea is an herbaceousperennial up to 120 cm (47 in) tall by 25 cm (10 in) wide at maturity. Depending on the climate, it blooms throughout spring to late summer. Its cone-shaped flowering heads are usually, but not always, purple in the wild. Its individual flowers (florets) within the flower head are hermaphroditic, having both male and female organs in each flower. It is pollinated by butterflies and bees. Its habitats include dry open woods, prairies and barrens, as well as in cultivated beds.

I grow this Echinacea in the garden, as I find it’s leaves more potent than the western and northern varieties.

Echinacea contains multiple substances, such as polysaccharides, caffeic acid derivatives (including cichoric acid), alkylamides, and glycoproteins.

Traditional herbal medicine

In indigenous medicine of the native American Indians, the plant was used externally for wounds, burns, and insect bites, chewing of roots for toothache and throat infections; internal application was used for pain, cough, stomach cramps, and snake bites.

The plant is important economically, to the pharmaceutical trade. It is purported that all parts of the purple coneflower stimulate the immune system.

Side effects include gastrointestinal effects and allergic reactions, including rashes, increased asthma, and life-threatening anaphylaxis. But I’ve never seen this happen. Side effects of allergy are usually similar to hay fever.

WebMD says

Echinacea seems to activate chemicals in the body that decrease inflammation, which might reduce cold and flu symptoms.

Laboratory research suggests that echinacea can stimulate the body’s immune system, but there is no evidence that this occurs in people.

Echinacea also seems to contain some chemicals that can attack yeast and other kinds of fungi directly.

Magickal uses:

Echinacea is used quite extensively to stregthen and boost spellcraft.

It is used in Defensive Magick, Healing Magick and in various forms of Protection Magick.

If anyone knows any correspondence for Echinacea, please comment. I don’t have it in any book I can find.

As always, I will try to answer any question that you can think of.

Brightest Blessings

Eye Harvester

Litha Recipes with Correspondences and Vegan Alternatives

Cinnamon Red Sun Tea

Ingredients:

- 6 cups water

- ¼ cup loose red (rooibos) tea leaves

- 2 Cinnamon Sticks

- Simple syrup or Agave to taste

Directions:

- Place water, tea leaves and cinnamon sticks in large container or pitcher. Stir. Cover with lid or plastic wrap. Let stand in sun for 3 to 5 hours.

- Strain tea, discarding tea leaves and cinnamon sticks. Serve tea over ice or refrigerate until chilled. Sweeten with Simple Syrup, if desired.

Correspondances:

- Tea ~ courage, mental powers, prosperity, restfulness, strength

- Water ~ purification

- Cinnamon ~ healing, love, luck, lust, peace, protection, psychic powers, strength, success

- Sugar ~ love

Peach Earl Grey Fritters

Ingredients:

- 1 ½ cups whole milk (almond or soy for vegan)

- 1/3 cup earl grey tea

- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter (coconut oil for vegan)

- 5 cups all-purpose flour

- 1 pinch nutmeg

- 1 pinch cinnamon

- 1 teaspoon salt

- ¼ cup sugar

- 1 tablespoon active dry yeast

- 2 eggs (egg substitute for vegan)

- 6 cups Vegetable oil, for frying (use more if needed)

- 3 large peaches, diced

For Icing:

- 1 cup powdered sugar

- 3 tablespoons honey (agave or maple syrup for vegan)

-  1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

- 2-3 tablespoons milk or cream (almond or soy for vegan)

Directions:

- In a small pot, heat the milk, tea, and butter until the butter has melted and the mixture is warm. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.

- Mix the flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, sugar, and yeast in the bowl of a mixer (or a large bowl if mixing by hand). Add the warm milk mixture and mix to combine.

- Add the eggs, scraping the bowl well. Turn the mixer up to medium speed, and, using a dough hook, mix until the dough begins to pull away from the edges. If mixing by hand, knead until it easily pulls away from the sides of the bowl as you knead (it will still be quite sticky).

- Transfer the finished dough to a well-oiled container and cover. Allow it to rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour. Alternatively, you can refrigerate the dough overnight so that it’s ready to make in the morning—but you may need to punch the dough down once or twice during that period to prevent it from over-fermenting.

- Roll out the doughnut dough on a lightly floured surface into a rectangle about ½ inch thick. Size/precision of the rectangle isn’t important—just focus on an even thickness for the dough. 

- Use a knife, pastry scraper, or bench knife to cut the dough into long vertical strips about ½ inch wide. 

- Next, cut the strips horizontally about ½ inch wide—this should make a whole bunch of ½ inch squares. 

- Divide the dough squares into 12 even portions. 

- To shape each doughnut, take about 2/3 of one portion of dough squares and smoosh them gently together. Place about ¼ to 1/3 cup of diced peaches on top of the dough.

- Top with the remaining 1/3 of the portion of dough squares and smoosh the dough gently to adhere to the peaches and other dough. It’s best for each piece of peach to be touching dough in two places (on top and on bottom), otherwise some may fall out when you go to fry them.

- Cover the doughnuts with greased plastic wrap and let them rise for 20 to 30 minutes.

- While the doughnuts rises heat the oil. If you have one, use a deep-fry thermometer to test the oil and help regulate the temperature—around 350° F is best. If you don’t have one, throw a doughnut hole or scrap piece of dough into the oil and see if it sizzles and rises to the surface. When it does, you’re good to go.

- Working in batches, gently drop the doughnuts into the oil, frying until they’re golden brown on both sides, 2-3 minutes per side. It’s helpful to use a spider or slotted spoon to support the fritter for the first 15-30 seconds, until the dough sets.

- Drain the doughnuts on several layers of absorbent paper towels. Let cool for 5-10 minutes. 

-In a small bowl, whisk the powdered sugar, honey, cinnamon, and milk or cream to combine. Add more milk or cream as needed to make drizzly glaze. Drizzle each doughnut into the glaze, and serve immediately.

Correspondances:

- Milk ~ Goddess energy, love, nurturing, spirituality

- Tea ~ courage, mental powers, prosperity, restfulness, strength

- Butter ~ smoothing relationships, spirituality, tenacity

- Flour ~ revealing hidden matters, consistency

- Nutmeg ~ confidence, emotional openness, fidelity, healing, luck, prosperity, social interaction

- Cinnamon ~ healing, love, luck, lust, peace, protection, psychic powers, strength, success

- Salt ~ cleansing & purification, grounding, protection

- Sugar ~ love

- Yeast ~ grounding, purification

- Egg ~ fertility, lust, protection, spirituality, strength

-  Oil ~ spirituality

- Peach ~ happiness, healing, fertility, longevity, love, wisdom

- Honey ~ happiness, healing, love, lust, purification, spirituality, sweet things in life, weight loss, wisdom

- Maple Syrup ~ prosperity, love

Raspberry Banana Bread

Ingredients:

- ¾ cup fresh or frozen raspberries, thawed

- 1 ripe banana

- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

- ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon

- ½ teaspoon baking soda

- ¼ teaspoon salt

- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

- 1 cup white sugar

- 2 eggs (egg substitute for vegan)

- ½ cup vegetable oil

- ½ teaspoon lemon extract

Directions:

- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease a loaf pan.

-  Mash raspberries in a bowl with a fork. Mash banana in another bowl with a fork.

- Combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg in a bowl.

- Beat sugar, eggs, raspberries, banana, and vegetable oil in a bowl with an electric mixer set on low until smooth, 2 to 3 minutes.

- Stir flour mixture into raspberry mixture until batter is just moistened; stir in lemon extract. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.

- Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.

Correspondances: 

-  Bread ~ (in general) kinship, sustenance

- Cake ~ (in general) celebrations, hospitality

- Raspberry ~ happiness, love, protection, stamina, vigor

- Banana ~ fertility, love, luck, potency, prosperity, spirituality

- Flour ~ revealing hidden matters, consistency

- Cinnamon ~ healing, love, luck, lust, peace, protection, psychic powers, strength, success

- Baking soda ~ raising energy or expectations

- Salt ~ cleansing & purification, grounding, protection

- Nutmeg ~ confidence, emotional openness, fidelity, healing, luck, prosperity, social interaction

- Sugar ~ love

- Egg ~ fertility, lust, protection, spirituality, strength

- Oil ~ spirituality

- Lemon ~ faithfulness, friendship, happiness, longevity, love, marriage

Dried orange slices = Mini Solstice Suns The perfect decoration for a Yule Log. Here’s a way to dry some for our event this Saturday! https://www.thehappierhomemaker.com/diy-dried-orange-slices/ Event invite: https://facebook.com/events/2455125771377780/ #InnerCircleSanctuary #ICSEvent #Wicca #witchcraft #Yule #YuleLogs #crafting #solstice #WinterSolstice https://www.instagram.com/p/B5q1ArGndfb/?igshid=utay482dm2zp