Kitchen Witchcraft
A figure hunches over a pot, stirring, muttering and dropping all kinds of ingredients into a pot as they stir…This could be your idea of a kitchen witch brewing up a potion in her cauldron from ancient history or it could just be me making a batch of incense last week in my kitchen, quite possibly using very similar ingredients.
The art of witchcraft, of healing and of creating magical things with natural ingredients is old…very old and has picked up a lot of folklore along the way, in fact I bet you throw salt over your shoulder when you spill it so that you don’t get bad luck?
A Kitchen Witch will create…recipes, crafts, lotions and potions. When a friend is poorly a Kitchen Witch will work a spell to aid, but will also make some homemade soup, putting healing energy into making it, adding healing energy with each vegetable and herb that is added.
Food is magical, not just because of the amazing tastes, flavours and aromas but also for the magical properties it holds. The magic starts with the choice of food to use and it can then be added in whilst you are preparing and cooking then the magic unfolds as people enjoy your food. Dishes can be created for specific intents, moon phases, and rituals, to celebrate sabbats or just to bring the magic into your family meal. Many food ingredients can also be used very successfully in magical workings in the form of offerings, medicine pouches, witches bottles and poppets.
So you might see the kitchen as a wonderful creative space or you might loathe it completely and only ever use the microwave (gasp). But it is still a kitchen; it is still a space that you have to make food in. So how about making it a magical space?
In my ideal world I would have a huge farmhouse kitchen with a large wooden kitchen table in the centre for everyone to sit round, the table bleached from being scrubbed over so many years, herbs hanging overhead drying and a huge oven range to cook on. Yeah right...I live in a terraced house in the city. OK so it’s a nice terraced house with real fireplaces but the kitchen is never going to fit a farmhouse table. So you make the most of what you have.
So let’s imagine stepping into your kitchen, whether you will only be in there for the 6 minutes it takes for the microwave to ping or whether you will be in there for a couple of hours baking your own cakes…that it makes you feel magical, that it makes you feel as if you have stepped into a place of power. Well, we can create that. It doesn’t have to take lots of time or money.
Make it yours
Go take a look in your kitchen, yep go on…I will wait…
What do you see? Do you love the decoration? Do you love the colour? Does it look like something from a country kitchen or does it look like something from the local science lab? You need to think of your kitchen as yours, it ought to reflect you and your connection to divine. Yes I know we need it to be practical too but you can ‘make it yours’.
Put a pretty rug on the floor (one that can be chucked in the washing machine).
Paint spirals, goddess symbols, flowers, leaves whatever takes your fancy on the cupboard doors or use stencils.
Check out the stores at Samhain, they usually stock lots of interesting bits and pieces that can be used to decorate a Witch’s kitchen.
Hang up pictures or items from nature on the walls.
Go mad, go wild, go funky.
Make like Snow White…
Yep, I mean cleaning; yes I know it’s boring. And I don’t expect us all to spend hours every day making it clinical, but if the kitchen smells yucky because it’s dirty and if you can’t actually see the work surfaces because of clutter you aren’t going to feel calm and connected in there.
But you can make the cleaning magical and spiritual.
Sing as you clean, something pagan that brings the Goddess into the kitchen as you sweep and mop or just crank out the 1980’s pop songs. It doesn’t matter, what matters is that you are raising positive energy as you go. If you don’t know any particular songs just make something up – singing will help the work get done faster too.
Wear a specific apron, I have one that has witchcraft symbols all over it but I also have a Pratchett Gimlet's Kitchen one... you could also make your own. Keep it as your Kitchen Witchcraft magical apron, the one that when you put it on turns you into Super Kitchen Witch…
And what about cleaning products, now there are some very good eco friendly cleaning products on the market but we haven’t all got the endless budget to pay for them, so if you haven’t, how about having a go at making your own?
Make a compost bin, use all your fruit and vegetable scraps, and shredded paper to make your own compost.
Recycle. I am lucky enough to have a recycle collection scheme; they collect paper, plastic and card once a fortnight.
Ju ju your floor wash – make a good strong cup of herbal tea, strain it and add the liquid to your floor wash. It not only makes it smell nice but if you use herbs that have cleansing and purifying properties you add magic to your wash too. You can even use herbal tea bags.
Once you have done with the actual physical cleaning give the kitchen a smudge with some sage, lavender or rosemary or even an incense stick will do. Waft the smoke into every corner, even into the cupboards.
Once you have finished, stop and look around again, this is your place of being, it is a sacred place now, one that is ready to make magic in. Send out your energy into your kitchen…own it.
Make friends with the appliances
Ok so I am not suggesting you name your cooker Dave and hold regular conversations with it – unless you want to… But there are usually a lot of electrical appliances in your kitchen and they all rely on energy to work. Being afraid of using those appliances can send out negative vibes and they might be unhappy to co-operate when we need them too. Consider your appliances your allies; they are your household pixies.
Originally posted on Beneath the Moon, Patheos Pagan - 24.1.17
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