Creating Magick in the Kitchen
What does it mean to be a Kitchen Witch?
Well to put it simply, it means you practice Witchcraft in the kitchen. A Kitchen Witch creates magick through creating food.
Kitchen Witches tend to have a talent and passion for cooking delicious food for family and friends. Kitchen Witches also tend to use whole ingredients. We might even learn and employ specific skills like canning & preserving, gardening, and the like to ensure our food is fresh and well kept. We might even have an extensive library of various cookbooks. Cough… cough
Kitchen Witches are also likely to take over the kitchen entirely, and for a good reason. The kitchen is where the action is. A Kitchen Witch will most likely store many of his/her unique and sacred tools in the kitchen. The kitchen will become the Kitchen Witch’s sacred domain.
Kitchen Witches may also be slightly obsessed with items for the kitchen. A cool looking platter, a new cookbook, or a great garlic press to name a few possibilities. Some of the best gifts you can give a Kitchen Witch are cookbooks, unique kitchen gadgets, and decorative kitchen tools or items.
In reading opinions from many others who identify themselves as a Kitchen Witch, I find this label is widely used. Kitchen Witches come in all shapes and sizes. They will also have their own unique style of practice or Witchcraft depending on family lineage or the tradition they follow.
In light of this, I have also seen some harsh views of what does and does not qualify one as a Kitchen Witch. Comments related to anal-retentive housekeeping, to specific methods for stirring, to particular methods for preparing certain foods are common. In reality, your practice will be dictated by the tradition you follow. No troll on the internet has the authority to dictate how you should practice. Perhaps you are a nurse or a lawyer, and you work long hours, and your meditation, relaxation, and magickal practice are to cook. Maybe as you prepare food, you find yourself chanting, focusing, and making Magick. Yeah, I think that totally qualifies.
Personally, I don’t feel you need to be a top-notch house bitch to be an effective Kitchen Witch. Sure you should keep your kitchen cleans and organized, but you don’t have to go overboard to make things work. If you can effectively work in your space then there is no reason to change the flow you have already established.
One opinion I agree with is – just because you occasionally cast a spell while cooking, does not a Kitchen Witch make. To me, (and to many other experienced Witches) this is considered dabbling. Let’s be honest, dabbling by nature is not a serious practice, and in many ways, it is detrimental to the art and science of being a Witch of any type.
How do you use Food and Magick in the Kitchen?
Kitchen Magick is tricky, and sometimes it seems downright impossible.
Here is the primary goal: Make delicious food using all the ingredients that correspond with your spell.
You need to use as many relevant ingredients you can without destroying the flavor or purpose of your dish. After all, cooking should be delicious, and magick must be precise.
What this means is you need to have good knowledge of the food you plan to use and their magickal or energetic aspects. You need to know what tastes good together while using the best possible correspondences. A Kitchen Witch knows precisely how many contradicting ingredients to add without losing his/her spells intention, and flavor. You by no means do you need to be a top chef. Instead, you only need a passion for cooking as well as a solid knowledge base related to cooking and cooking techniques.
It sounds hard, I know. Truthfully, it is, and it isn’t. This, like all practices, takes time and practice. You can’t just throw a bunch of ingredients together and expect magick to instantly happen, much less a tasty result. You have a process to follow, there is knowledge to gain, and experience to obtain before you can become proficient in Kitchen Magick. The good news is there is some wiggle room. Your own personal will and focus help launch your spell over the hurdles that might be created by too many contradicting ingredients. Sometimes it is not at all about the ingredients, but instead, it is about your own inner power.
Regarding the Ingredients…
As a Kitchen Witch, resources explaining the properties, affiliations, and uses of herbs, spices, meats, cheese, fruits, vegetables, etc. will become a valuable asset to you. Through time and research, you will become knowledgeable. Naturally knowing your ingredients intimately become a priority. Through practice, this knowledge becomes second nature.
Never discount the value of your grocery store. Grocery stores, food markets, farmer’s markets and the like are stuffed full of inexpensive magickal ingredients. It is all a matter of looking at your shopping trip a little differently.
When you are uncertain do this: Read, read, and read some more. There is a wealth of knowledge out there waiting for you.
-Leandra