When we prepare food with love and intention, we reach back through time and capture the warmth and magick shared around the ancient hearths of our ancestors.
Image credit: Brooke Lark
Food preparation may be the oldest form of spellwork. The very words “witch,” “magick,” and “spell” often conjure images of a woman in long robes and a pointed hat stirring a steaming cauldron because, historically, magick and meal preparation have often happened in the same place. Ancient pagans believed the hearth was the sacred heart of the home, and gathered there with loved ones to celebrate holy days, nurse ailments with home-brewed remedies, enjoy each other’s company, and—of course—to share meals.
When we prepare food with love and intention, we reach backward through time and capture a piece of the warmth and magick shared around those ancient hearths. As magickal practitioners, we can take this a step further by combining specific ingredients with specific correspondences to create consumable magick.
Every fruit, veggie, herb, spice, seed, grain, and nut we put into our bodies has both nourishing qualities and magickal correspondences. This is the incredible power and alchemy of food—by blending the right ingredients, we create meals that are delicious, nutrient-rich, and constructed of powerful magickal energy.
Creating Your Own Magickal Recipes
So, what separates a non-magickal recipe from a magickal one? The same thing that defines most of the magick in our lives—intention. You can align the energies in the food you make to your intention by choosing the right ingredients and incorporating a touch of ritual.
For instance, if you have a child or loved one who loves blueberry muffins, you might decide to add cinnamon and vanilla extract to your favorite recipe. Blueberries, cinnamon, and vanilla all have immune-boosting properties, while blueberries and cinnamon are also powerful magickal sources of protection energy. Magickally, vanilla is both soothing and empowering, meaning that those enjoying your enchanted muffins will be protected from harm, and feel calm and confident.
While you bake, you may choose to chant, play a specific kind of music, stir a sigil into the batter, or draw magickal protection symbols in the bottom of your muffin liners with food-safe ink. This imbues the food with your intention and draws out the magickal properties of your ingredients, turning an ordinary (but delicious) muffin into an extraordinary (and even more delicious) edible spell.
In my experience, the most successful edible magicks are also the most nutrient-dense. In the example above, for instance, I would have swapped white flour and refined sugar for whole-grain flour and a liquid sweetener, such as honey. Though all types of flour and sweetener represent abundance, monetary prosperity, and sweet relationships, whole grains and natural sweeteners are also rich in protein, fiber, B vitamins, minerals, and have anti-inflammatory and immune-boosting properties. For me, crafting edible spells that are nourishing to the spirit and body increases their effectiveness.
Creating clean recipes may also help you hone in on your purpose, as whole ingredients often have more specific correspondences than the refined variety. Honey, for instance, helps attract magick and is great in healing spells because of its magickal and antimicrobial properties.
That’s not to say, of course, that enchanting your frozen pizza won’t result in some amazing manifestations. As always, do what feels right to you.
Making Magick from Scratch
Below are some guidelines to use if you’re interested in blending more magickal cooking into your practice:
1. Decide the recipe’s purpose.
What do you hope to accomplish with your recipe? Are you enchanting your little one with protection and confidence as they start school? Does your partner need a boost of strength as they convalesce from an illness? Or, perhaps you want to show your own body and spirit some love.
Knowing the purpose of your spell will help you determine what kind of food to make.
2. Choose ingredients.
Research ingredients that align with your spell’s purpose, and then decide what kind of recipe to make. It could be sweet or savory, something from scratch or an updated version of an old favorite. It can be as simple as an enchanted cookie, or as elaborate as a festive feast with every ingredient carefully infused with intention.
It’s also okay to cook purely on instinct. Often, when I’ve done this in the past, I discover later that the ingredients I used perfectly aligned with the energies I was attempting to create. This can be a great exercise in learning to trust your witchy intuition.
3. Include magickal words, music, symbols, or gestures in the recipe.
Stirring sigils into a sauce, writing sacred words on parchment paper with vegetable ink, using pie crust or frosting to create magickal symbols—anything and everything goes, as long as it’s food safe.
You might also choose to prepare food to music (a personal favorite), chant while you chop, or make a sacred gesture over or with certain ingredients. My fellow Scorpio Sister, for instance, touches her morning egg to her third eye and thanks it for providing nutrients and abundance.
Another option is to prepare your magickal food in complete silence. This could be a very powerful and profound experience if it aligns with your intent.
4. Take your time while cooking, and focus on your intention.
Making food is an art, whether it’s a pb&j or a holiday smorgasbord. How it’s prepared can affect not only its taste, but its energy, especially when it comes to edible spellwork.
If possible, take your time and really show love to every step of the cooking process. Focus on one step at a time, get it right, and then move on to the next. Not only does this build energy for the spell, it’s also a form of meditation that will help you stay focused on your intention.
Even if you only have a few moments to stir a sigil into your coffee, take a deep breath and visualize that sigil glowing and infusing the coffee with its energy. Take a sip and feel that energy flow through you, then let the world catch up.
5. Enjoy the food with loved ones.
...even if you are the only loved one around! You may choose to enjoy your magickal meal (or snack or beverage) solo, with family members, alongside your pets, or even invite your house spirits to enjoy the food’s essence.
While you’re eating (or drinking), keep the vibe positive, and visualize your spell manifesting in reality. Once you’re finished, ground and center and detach from your intention as you would after any spell.
To learn more about building your own spells from scratch, check out Spellwork 101: A Basic Spell Structure.
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