These are not recipes, but ideas - what meal could serve what purpose. They are simple, so you either should have your own recipes for them, or find them on the internet easy enough.
Happy cooking!
BANISHING
chili (cayenne pepper, black pepper, chili - generally spicy things)
lemon-infused water (lemon is a repellant, and water is uncrossable for some entities)
sugarfree coffee with cinnamon (coffee and cinnamon are both banishing ingredients)
curry (cayenne pepper, black pepper, chili - generally spicy things)
PROTECTION
caprese salad (basil, tomatoes)
margarita pizza (basil, tomatoes)
apple pie (apples)
corn-on-a-cob (corn)
mint tea (mint)
herb soup (rosemary, basil, mint, thyme, bay leaf…)
Here are a few tricks I’ve picked up along my kitchen-witchery journey:
• When frying meat, use tongs and always add the meat to the pan by laying it away from you. This prevents the oil from splashing and burning you.
• Do not prep and cook at the same time. Finish your prep before adding anything to a frying pan or sticking anything in the oven.
• 4 tbsps is equal to ¼ cup. So when something calls for 1/8 of a cup, it means 2 tbsps. No one has 1/8th cups.
• If a recipe calls for buttermilk but you’re all out, add 1 tbsp of lemon juice or white vinegar to a cup of milk and let it sit for about 15 minutes. Boom, you have buttermilk.
• Burned the bottom of your pan? No worries, I do it all the time too! To get those stubborn bits off, add water to the pan and boil it once more on the stovetop. This loosens up the grime so you can scrape it off!
• Keep brownies, cookies, and cakes moist by storing them with a slice of bread. The treat will remain decadent while the bread will harden and crust up.
• Speaking of crusty/stale bread, if you want the best french toast, leave your bread out overnight. Stale bread soaks up more egg/custard and will result in richer, Fuller pieces of french toast.
• Before frosting your goodies, stick your frosting spoon/utensil in the fridge. Colder utensils make for better frosting-spreaders.
• To prevent your cakes from cracking or rising unevenly in the oven, place a dish of water on the rack below. The extra moisture helps cakes cook evenly.
• Eat and use veggies and fruits that are in-season!
• Buy local produce when you can.
• Always work with sharp knives and always slice away from yourself. Dull knives and cuts are no good.
• Lean cuts of meat like pork tenderloin and chicken breasts toughen up when cooked in the oven, on the stovetop, or on the grill. To keep some of the moisture, wrap them in foil or add a sauce to the pan.
• Your measurements don’t have to be perfect! It’s okay to spill a little flour here and there!
• If you screw up a recipe don’t get discouraged! Cooking and baking are trial and error. Both skills come with time and part of the fun is making a few mistakes along the way!
• Intent is important. It doesn’t always matter what magical ingredients you’ve added to the dishes, sometimes intent and reason for making are the strongest most powerful forces you can garner during the process.
• Everyone has different tastes! Some people may not like what you make, others may enjoy it whole-heartedly. Don’t get discouraged if a few people shy away from your food!
That’s it for now! I’m sure I have many more to share, but until then, keep cooking!
Maybe you’re maybe you’re a new witch unsure of what herbs are worth your time as a beginner, maybe money is tight, or maybe you’re just lazy (like us). If we could only choose 10 herbs to use in our craft, these would be our top picks.
1. Basil – its the witch’s herb, need we say more? Not only do its magical uses span from protection to love to wealth to exorcism, but it is also delicious in mundane recipes as well. If you can only have one herb, basil is the way to go.
2. Rosemary – this herb is also blessed with a wide variety of uses. Excellent for purification, lust and love, good health, preventing nightmares, and all kinds of sea witchery. Bonus: its fragrance is to die for.
3. Lavender – so you might not be able to find this at the grocery store, but its magical uses outweigh the small inconvenience of tracking it down. Most often used for healing, love, protection, peace, purification, and sleep, lavender is a go-to for any mental health needs.
4. Chamomile – lavender’s luckier, jovial cousin. Primarily used in love, healing, and stress reducing spells, but can also be used for luck and gambling. It is associated with the sun, and makes a great tea infusion for stress relief.
5. Thyme – the best herb for social situations. It attracts loyalty, affection, and a good reputation, but we most often bathe in an infusion of thyme for constant flow of money. Also good for increasing courage.
6. Cinnamon – while technically a spice, cinnamon has many magical uses and is also delicious in cooking. Ideal for prosperity and success, protection, love, and all spells related to the spiritual self.
7. Peppermint – a favorite in herbalism for treatment of digestive issues, this herb ideal for cleansing and protecting. Peppermint is also widely available, makes for lovely tea, and is a great addition to any luck spell.
8. Rose – is any love spell complete without rose petals? This flower is the symbol for beauty, marriage, sexuality, divine love, and all kinds of relationships. A larger list of uses for roses can be found here.
9. Cayenne Pepper – every witch needs something with a bit of a bite. This spice does wonders as cursing or banishing agent, or even just as an addition to any spell to speed up results.
10. Mugwort – if we recommend any specialty herb, this is the one. Mugwort is used in spells for divination, astral travel, working within the spiritual realm, and receiving prophetic dreams. (Note: this herb should not be ingested by people who are pregnant)
Adobo Seasoning Mix: Adobo is a traditional Mexican spice mix containing paprika, black pepper, onion pepper, oregano, cumin, hot chilies, and garlic powder. Magical uses include protection, banishing, or hex breaking. Combine half a jar of adobo seasoning mix with two cups of corn flour. Sprinkle around the outside of your home to get rid of negative energies.
Apple Pie Spice: A combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and cardamom, apple pie spice is the perfect mix for spicing things up with your partner! Dress a red candle in grape-seed or olive oil- avoiding the wick- and roll it in apple pie spice. Burn while spending time with your lover. Or sprinkle this mix over a self-lighting charcoal instead.
Cajun Seasoning Mix: Generally a blend of paprika, salt, black and white peppers, garlic, onion powder, thyme, and cayenne, Cajun seasoning is perfect for strong protection. Use this mix to form circles when doing important works. Sprinkle just a pinch in the hoes of someone who needs a little watching over.
Chili Powder: Made with salt, hot chilies, onion, oregano, and garlic, chili powder is great for keeping away illness. Leave out tiny bowls of chili powder- out of reach of pets and children- during cold and flu season to help ward off illness.
Chinese Five-Spice Powder: Chinese Five-Spice Powder is an amazing blend of star anise, fennel seed, cinnamon, hot peppers, cloves, ginger, and licorice root. This mix lends itself to several kinds of herbal magic, including love spells, spells for igniting passion, and even spells for retaining information.
Cinnamon Sugar: With sugar sweetening a person or situation and cinnamon speeding up a spell, the two work great together when you need to get someone on your side quickly. Serve cinnamon toast to someone who could use some convincing. Sprinkling a little of the mix where you know a person will walk might influence them to look more kindly on your situation.
Curry Powder: Curry powder recipes can vary greatly brand to brand, so it’s helpful that the mix already has some traditional uses! Turn to curry powder for protection, memory retention, and fertility spells.
Montreal Steak Seasoning: A combination of paprika, black and red peppers, garlic, salt, onion, dill, and coriander, this spice mix contains many of the individual ingredients you’d need to protect yourself or your home from ghosts or other negative energies. Create four small cloth pouches, fill them with this blend, and hang one in each of the farthest corners of your home.
Pickling Spice: Pickling spice can contain a wide variety of herbs and spices, but most are a mix of mustard seed, coriander, black pepper, dill, fennel seed, celery seed, and bay leaf. This combination can be used for many different intents, such as protection from ghosts or luck, lust, and wish magic.
Pumpkin Pie Spice: Pumpkin pie spice is one of my all-time favorite blends. I usually carry a small container of this mixture of cinnamon, ground ginger, nutmeg, and allspice in my on-the-go kit to add to almost any spell to “speed it up.” It’s also a great blend for business ventures, money draw, and simple healing spells.
Source: Mrs. B’s Guide to Household Witchery- Kris Bradley
This book is in my library and I absolutely adore it. :)
*This is a messy tutorial, and I should warn you now, this one will really stain the pot you will end up using, so I recommend going to a thrift store or finding access to a cheap aluminum or stainless steel pot that won’t be used for cooking!
Walnut husks have been used to make a rich brown ink for decades, and it is a personal favorite of mine to make for sigil crafts and other types of writing when I need a good, solid, and practical ink to write with. I prefer making my inks by hand over buying them from stores, so having a batch of walnut ink sitting on my shelf is something to be expected when visiting my house. When making walnut ink, it is important to remember that the husks are the prime and desired part to make this ink. These husks are the fleshy, often green tennis ball-like material that surrounds the actual walnut shell. The walnut shell and walnut itself isn’t used nor is important for making ink.
Materials:
Black Walnut Husks
A large cooking pot (one that won’t be used for cooking)
Temporary bowl or container
Wooden spoon (one that won’t be reused)
Gallon storage bags
Gloves
Muslin or Cheese cloth
Rubbing alcohol or 100 proof Vodka
A glass storage container (to hold the final product)
So you have seen our lovely bath magic spells but you cannot take a bath. Maybe you don’t have a bath in your current residence, maybe you are physically unable to use bathtubs, maybe you’re just super stretched for time but want to get in some extra magical umph. Recreational Witchcraft is here for you.
Shower disks are traditionally used in the aromatherapy world to relieve congestion and other flu-symptoms while showering via the use of essential oils, but we will be bumping up their magical potential.
Basic recipe:
1 cup baking soda
1 tablespoon corn starch
1/3 cup of water
Muffin tins and muffin liners
Combine baking soda and corn starch (making sure there are no clumps), then slowly add in the water. Fill lined muffin tins about third of the way, then leave out for 24 hours to dry completely. Carefully take them out of the liners, add your essential oils, and place your disk somewhere in your shower that will allow them to dissolve slowly while you do your business. Bam. You’re done.
Now onto the magic.All dry ingredients (herbs, spices, etc) should be added in with the baking soda and corn starch before the water is added. All essential oils should be added right before they’re used (so when they’re completely dry).
Cap the lid tightly. At this point you can seal the bottle with candle wax if you choose. Add symbols of protection, your family seal, or anything you feel compelled to draw on the lid or the jar itself. When you’re finished, take another few minutes to sit quietly and add your intentions to the jar, then bury it as close as you can to your front door.
What you need :
A jar
1/3 cup of salt
3 sewing needles (or other related pins)
3 iron nails (as big as will fit in the jar)
9 tines from your broom
3 tablespoons of protective herbs
A teaspoon of dirt from your yard
Red wine (or even your own urine)
Pour the salt into the jar and say: Salt for purification.
Add the sewing needles, saying: As I myself sew the threads of my family life, may these needles sew safety around me and mine.
Place the nails into the jar and say, As the nails in our home pierce the wood to hold our home strong, may these nails pierce all negativity and hold it safely away from us.
Place the broom straw into the jar and repeat: As the broom in my home sweeps away dirt, so may these straws sweep negativity away from this home and its inhabitants.
Add the herb and say: (Name of herb/herbs) strengthens this protection charm.
With the addition of the dirt from your yard say: This soil binds this jar to my home and property.
Pour in the liquid until the jar is almost completely filled, and it’s covered all of your ingredients. Hold the jar, concentrating on your feelings of protection toward your family, pets, and property, and say: Let this wine (urine) drown all evil that would seek to touch me and mine.
Cap the lid tightly. At this point you can seal the bottle with candle wax if you choose. Add symbols of protection, your family seal, or anything you feel compelled to draw on the lid or the jar itself. When you’re finished, take another few minutes to sit quietly and add your intentions to the jar, then bury it as close as you can to your front door.
*Credit to original author as I found this on pinterest.
Invention of bread is weird bc it’s like some Neolithic ppl were like “hey you know that tall grass thing that’s sorta edible but not really how about we take it and grind it into a very very fine powder which is extra backbreaking right now bc the wheel won’t be invented for awhile and then we mix it with water and heat it up and you know what let’s also toss some mold in there just to see what happens”
there are a number of distinct steps though, each of which can be observed in isolation. “grind tough seeds to make them edible” is practiced with other foods besides grains (like acorns). the natural next step after that is to add water, which gives you porridge: a common ancient roman meal was puls, very similar to modern cream of wheat. once you have that you also have a simple dough, and baking it to preserve it is a logical experiment (as is baking some you forgot about and left out for a few days, just so you don’t waste it… voila, leavened bread)
there could have been, and probably was (though i’m not an archaeologist) a substantial time between each of these innovations. it’s not too hard to imagine people being chill with “grind seeds for soup, select plants for bigger seeds” for a good while
Do you ever wonder how many amazing things are fated to go forever uninvented because each step necessary to invent them is a completely unintuitive thing to do?
Okay, that’s not how bread was invented. I wrote a potted history, I could try to dig that out if anyone is interested?
Please do
I’m putting this on my bread blog, because of course I am. Also tagging @appendingfic who I think expressed interest.
Tens of thousands of years ago people foraged and hunted for their food and ate whatever they could. Among their forage were wild cereals, which included the ancestors of modern cultivated wheat, barley and others.
People like sweet things. Grains are starchy, but if sprouted they start converting those starches to sugars, so people would’ve left grains in water to sprout. These sprouts are also easier to digest, thus more nutritious, which bestowed an invisible advantage on those sprouting their grains.
If grains are left in water too long, however, they begin to ferment. Alcohol is produced. People like alcohol.
In ancient Mesopotamia the fermented grains were experimented with, resulting in an early form of beer. The process of making that beer was quite complicated and involved a combination of sprouted and mashed grains.
People wanted beer all year round, but early beers did not have long shelf lives and the grain could only be harvested at certain times. So the ancient Mesopotamians invented a way of storing the ingredients for beer.
It was made of the grain mash, honey, dates and spices that were fermented to make beer. For storage, prior to fermentation, the mixture was baked dry, cut into smaller pieces and baked again to remove all water. This produced bapir, a product very much like biscotti, which could be stored for later rehydration and fermentation. Sometimes it was eaten instead.
I’ve made bapir, and I’ve eaten it. It is brittle but delicious. It’s also a form of unleavened bread.
Bread was invented as a way to store the ingredients for beer, which was most likely a development from a chance discovery. Leavened bread (that is, with bubbles) may well have been discovered when a mixture like that for bapir was accidentally allowed to ferment before baking. Yeast is responsible for both alcohol production and leavening.
There’s a lot more to it, in terms of the cultivation of grains and the development of milling, than I’ve written here. It’s been a process of millennia to go from chewing sprouts to eating soft white bread like that pictured. But every step along the way was small and simple.
I never would have guessed that beer pre-existed bread. I’ve always just assumed that beer was an accidental discovery by breadmakers.
For all of my witches out there that need their morning coffee/tea-
Take like 3 minutes out of your night to pick out which mug you’re gonna use in the morning, and then put a crystal in the mug overnight!! I tried it last night by putting a blue lace agate in one of my mugs overnight to help me stay calm during my stressful day today and I think it’s a great way to infuse your mug with positive energies!!!
Omg YES! Thank you so much for this tip! I needed this.
Make sure the stone isn’t dangerous first though! Some stones are not safe around food/drink and care should always be taken regarding the craft and your health.
✨Use herbs that match your intent for the day in an omelette or scram: basil for harmony and warding, parsley for protection, Rosemary for matters of the heart, etc.
✨Sigil infused Pancakes. This can be done a number of ways. If you’re fancy, you can cook it into the pancake by doing pancake art with the batter in a piping bag, or you can cook it in with chocolate chips or berries. You can also simply do the sigil afterwards with some syrup or other toppings.
✨Enjoy a magical tea with your morning meal. Bonus, read the leaves to see how your day will go, and anything to look forward to or watch out for.
✨Keep something constant in your meal each morning, whether it be making the same order at a coffee shop, or sitting in the same place to eat, and use the familiarity and constance of that to ease stress and bring about stability during the rest of your day
✨Find a food that makes you feel great and use it to aid glamours when you want to feel more beautiful or confident.
✨Do you have a lucky number or number correspondences that match your intention for the day? Try cutting your food into that many pieces, dividing it up into groups of that many pieces, or chewing each bite that many times as you focus on your intention.
✨Use some color magic by choosing brightly colored fruits that match your intention: strawberries for vitality, oranges for self expression, blueberries for tranquility, and so on.
✨Share some food with your deities. It can be easy to rush and get stressed in the morning, but if you can make some time to talk to your deities in the morning, it can really brighten up your day. Offer a little of your food to them as well, if that’s something they like.
✨If you’re someone who likes to make tinctures or other preserves, you could try canning some magical jam and jelly mixtures to use on the daily.
✨Just have time for some cereal or toast? Sprinkle a little cinnamon sugar on top to sweeten your words during the day and get people to listen to you. Use salt and pepper the same way for protection through the day.
Y u l e is a time of great symbolism and power. It marks the return of the sun, when the days finally begin to get a little longer. Enjoy this hot heavenly drink with traditional Yule spices & help yourself to the delicious fruity remnants!
Forthe base I used hibiscus tea. If you want to substitute it, you can use various types of juice (apple, cherry, grape, pomegranate, chokeberry, blackcurrant, etc) but make sure the juice is not too sweet.
Ingredients: - Hibiscus Tea: 500 ml - Water: 500 ml - 1 Orange - 5 teaspoons of honey
Spices: -1 cinnamon stick -6-8 whole cloves - Anise Star -2 stars Optional: nutmeg, ginger, or/and vanilla pods for extra sweetness in next year.
If possible, try using cinnamon sticks, anise stars etc, rather then milled spices, if you don’t wan the ‘wine’ to look muddy.
Boil water in the kettle (I boiled 1 litre at once). Separate into two pots. I had hibiscus tea in tesbags, and i used four of them. Let the tea brew. Meanwhile, put another pot on the stove and add spices; let them have a nice one minute bath in the boiling water.
Cut the orange, add it to the water with spices; pour in the tea. Add honey and stir until it is dissolved.
(Originally taught on The Alexandria Archives 10/26/2019)
Witchcraft in the kitchen is the art of combining a food or drink process and magical intention and correspondences. Whether it be by stirring, cutting, heating, kneading, or even chilling! Anything you make can be imbued with intention by deliberate actions or the combination of flavors you add. Correspondences doesn’t have to mean a specific ingredient; it just needs to be a specific association.
Ways of doing this:
spices, herbs: adding ones that have specific correspondences to what your intention is
stirring energy in or out: drawing and banishing with your own motions and personal energy
kneading energy into dough
cutting or brushing on sigils
letting an element do the energy work: the heat of a stove top or oven, the chilling of a fridge or freezer, the brewing of a kettle or crockpot
When it comes to Autumn it’s about the celebration of harvest and the warmth you bring into the house in dishes rather than outside temperature. There are a lot of ways to do this and many intentions can be focused on: health, prosperity, creativity, luck, love, etc.
The best way to incorporate the energies of Autumn is to think about what the season means to you in the kitchen. Is it about the rich warmth of stews and soups? The umami flavors of root vegetables? The scent of spices like cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, cardamom? The texture of caramelized apples, onions, or squash? Is it about certain drinks like cider or mulled wine?
And even if you don’t have memories of specific Autumn associations or you live in an area that doesn’t have a classic sort of change into a fall season; build your own! What helps you sort of wind down for the day? What gives you comfort and peace? That is the sort of food you should be focusing on. Much like spring and summer are about light, energizing and crisp foods; fall and winter are about those richer, unctuous and warming flavors. Foods that you want to curl up with and be lazy; enjoy at a slow pace while Netflix babbles in the background. Pair with a movie marathon and the company of a loved one or pet.
Easy Autumn kitchen witchcraft:
Carving a pumpkin and roasting the seeds (toss with salt, pepper, olive oil, garlic or paprika powder and a touch of Worcestershire sauce)
Mulling cider or wine (use a coffee filter for the mulling spices for easy cleanup!)
Crockpot stews and soups
Spiced cookies like molasses or gingersnaps
Herbed (or pumpkin or apple!) butter with a simple loaf of homemade bread
Roasted fall veggies like potatoes, squash, pumpkin, onions, eggplant, cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts
When it comes to more elaborately planned Autumn kitchen witchcraft, you might plan a special multi-course meal on a specific day where you have extra time to spend in the kitchen. It doesn’t have to be Master Chef level- even just a simple starter of homemade bread with a spread and pasta with homemade sauce (or “jazzed up” jarred sauce- no shame!) and cupcakes for dessert counts!
Don’t discount the chemical changes! Think about the intention you are going for and what would be the best method to achieve that, element-wise. I wouldn’t make a frozen dessert to bring luck or wealth into your life- you’re more likely to freeze it in its tracks! But if you’re looking to freeze an illness or soothe grief or a heartbreak- a chilly dessert is just the thing. I wouldn’t use a stew or soup for banishing or cleansing; those flavors have to meld and heat low and slow and draw everything together. Think about the action of the dish and the action of your intention and plan accordingly!
Let’s not discount the emotional feel of a dish either. Food is love; food is memory; food is home; food is the soul and heart and head all wrapped up. It can be a complicated relationship for sure. But it can also be a rewarding one if you approach it from the direction you most need.Feel free to start with teas that have a more Autumn flavor. Build into simple raw snacks like apples, pears, salads, nuts, seeds. Feel how the season gives light and love to your body as it fuels it. You don’t need to create a decadent high calorie meal in order to reap the feelings of fall.
Autumn is also a great time to try out some fermentation sided witchcraft. The life cycle of nature is winding down- mushrooms are rampant in forests, fallen trees soften and feed the ground. You could begin a bread starter, a mead or beer, or make some pickles! Or of course; there’s always fire cider! ( https://blog.mountainroseherbs.com/fire-cider ). Preparing to avoid illness and discomfort during the colder months is an inherent part of the shift in kitchen witchcraft as well.
Don’t push yourself too much; often cooler temps and less sunlight makes the desire to spend a lot of time in the kitchen mixed at best. That’s okay. It isn’t a competition or a race. A simple cup of tea or even a glass of water can be set in the windowsill for a moment to charge with the fall energy before drinking. Still counts! A piece of toast or a bowl of cereal can have honey swirled onto it with intent (think about making an infused honey with spices or herbs!). Still counts. As I say; you are the Witch, you are the Power, you are the Magic.
The rest is just the plating presentation of what’s already a fantastic meal.
