Post by Goth on Jan 23, 2006 20:35:10 GMT 1
I found this article and thought I would share it with you. It describes Kitchen Witchery far better than I ever could.
Kitchen Witchery:
The term "Kitchen Witch" brings up many different images to people, but the most common idea is that of a Witch who practices her art mainly through cooking and common household skills. Another image is that of one who uses common everyday items in her art, drawing up memories of the Burning Times, when it was necessary to hide your working tools from those who would persecute you for their possession.
While both of these images are certainly true ones, Kitchen Witchery goes far beyond magical cooking or using ordinary items as magical tools. One Kitchen Witch, Mama Rose, defines Kitchen Witchery in the following way:
"My spirituality and my priestesshood and my magick are based around the concept that my home is my temple, all in it are consecrated and holy, and each action that I do is a portion of the ritual of my life."
Kitchen Witchery is a talent for finding the sacred and magical in everyday tasks, a philosophy which "practices the presence of the Goddess" in daily devotion through ordinary actions. The Kitchen Witch makes the ordinary, extraordinary, the mundane magickal and by doing so, acknowledges the presence of the Divine in all things.
Most are familiar, of course, with the act of cooking magickally or setting up household altars. But it doesn't stop there. Some Kitchen Witches may clean magically, turning every act of cleaning into a psychic clearing as well. Others may tend magical gardens, care for familiars or raise their children within a magickal world.
Kitchen Witchery can extend into actions as mundane and simple as stirring one's coffee clockwise to bless it or remembering to recycle as an act of daily devotion. Not to say that being a Kitchen Witch is restricted to the home! Oh, no! Kitchen Witchery can be practiced anywhere that a Kitchen Witch travels. It can extend to her car, her work and her play, since it acknowledges the divine all around us. Thus, keeping a magickal office can be as much an act of Kitchen Witchery as cooking a magickal meal. Wherever the Divine exists, a Kitchen Witch will find and acknowledge it.
Barbara Ardinger, in her book A Woman's Book of Rituals and Celebrations discusses the concept of "practicing the presence of the Goddess". She describes this practice as a type of mysticism.' In her words;
"Mysticism is not a matter of doing anything special; it's a way of life. It's recognizing that we're related to everone else, even those who don't look like us or talk like us...
Mysticism in the tradition of the Goddess is living an ordinary life, not acting spacy or sanctimonious or as if we were specially 'chosen'. It's making a living, making car payments, disciplining our kids. It's doing regular things but doing them in an attitude that some call mindfulness. This means being aware of what we're doing, reflecting on our thoughts. It's living with raised consciousness."
I would expand on that to say that it is also changing your everyday actions when your conscience requires that you do so.
Regardless of what type of personal artistic expression she uses, the Kitchen Witch's goal is to reach this level of 'mindfulness'. To reach the point where "As we live each day on earth, we become more aware each day of the ways She is present in our lives." In leading a mindful life, the Kitchen Witch becomes sensitized to the presence of the Goddess both within and without and interacts with that presence.
Becoming More 'Mindful'.
Cooking is probably the most commonly recognized type of "kitchen witchery". Anytime that you feed people, you are performing a magickal act, nourishing the body and soul. This is why so many of our holiday observances are centered around food. Learning to create magickal foods and to cook magickally simply enhances this experience.
Remember, it doesn't need to be a ritual meal to be a Sacred Feast. You could also create a weekly sacred meal for your family. Use the time to help you and your family connect to each other and to be mindful of the food that you eat, the value of your family, your special actions to nurture each other,etc. It really makes this activity special if the whole family gets involved in preparing the meal, each member adding their own energy to the feast.
Being a Kitchen Witch involves more than cooking. In the broadest sense, it means living a life which is mindful, becoming conscious of your actions and how they connect or disconnect you with the world around you and the Divine, both within and without. Being a Kitchen Witch is not as much about what you do, but instead about how and why you do it and about doing everything that you do with an aware conscience. It's not as much about doing something special, as about doing things in a way which are special to you and in recognizing the "special"ness (or sacredness) in all that you do.
Many practitioners new to the magical arts believe that before casting a spell or performing a ritual, one must drive across town to the occult supply store and spend money getting just the right ingredients. In reality, the ingredients to many successful spells, rituals, and other magical practices may be right there already--in your own kitchen!
www.fortunecity.com/greenfield/tigris/567/id68.htm
Only one flaw, as I see it, and that is, she doesn't mention the God...only the Goddess. Also, Kitchen Witchery doesn't necessarily involve the worship of either. Some witches see the divine and sacred spirit, as genderless....like me ;D
Kitchen Witchery:
The term "Kitchen Witch" brings up many different images to people, but the most common idea is that of a Witch who practices her art mainly through cooking and common household skills. Another image is that of one who uses common everyday items in her art, drawing up memories of the Burning Times, when it was necessary to hide your working tools from those who would persecute you for their possession.
While both of these images are certainly true ones, Kitchen Witchery goes far beyond magical cooking or using ordinary items as magical tools. One Kitchen Witch, Mama Rose, defines Kitchen Witchery in the following way:
"My spirituality and my priestesshood and my magick are based around the concept that my home is my temple, all in it are consecrated and holy, and each action that I do is a portion of the ritual of my life."
Kitchen Witchery is a talent for finding the sacred and magical in everyday tasks, a philosophy which "practices the presence of the Goddess" in daily devotion through ordinary actions. The Kitchen Witch makes the ordinary, extraordinary, the mundane magickal and by doing so, acknowledges the presence of the Divine in all things.
Most are familiar, of course, with the act of cooking magickally or setting up household altars. But it doesn't stop there. Some Kitchen Witches may clean magically, turning every act of cleaning into a psychic clearing as well. Others may tend magical gardens, care for familiars or raise their children within a magickal world.
Kitchen Witchery can extend into actions as mundane and simple as stirring one's coffee clockwise to bless it or remembering to recycle as an act of daily devotion. Not to say that being a Kitchen Witch is restricted to the home! Oh, no! Kitchen Witchery can be practiced anywhere that a Kitchen Witch travels. It can extend to her car, her work and her play, since it acknowledges the divine all around us. Thus, keeping a magickal office can be as much an act of Kitchen Witchery as cooking a magickal meal. Wherever the Divine exists, a Kitchen Witch will find and acknowledge it.
Barbara Ardinger, in her book A Woman's Book of Rituals and Celebrations discusses the concept of "practicing the presence of the Goddess". She describes this practice as a type of mysticism.' In her words;
"Mysticism is not a matter of doing anything special; it's a way of life. It's recognizing that we're related to everone else, even those who don't look like us or talk like us...
Mysticism in the tradition of the Goddess is living an ordinary life, not acting spacy or sanctimonious or as if we were specially 'chosen'. It's making a living, making car payments, disciplining our kids. It's doing regular things but doing them in an attitude that some call mindfulness. This means being aware of what we're doing, reflecting on our thoughts. It's living with raised consciousness."
I would expand on that to say that it is also changing your everyday actions when your conscience requires that you do so.
Regardless of what type of personal artistic expression she uses, the Kitchen Witch's goal is to reach this level of 'mindfulness'. To reach the point where "As we live each day on earth, we become more aware each day of the ways She is present in our lives." In leading a mindful life, the Kitchen Witch becomes sensitized to the presence of the Goddess both within and without and interacts with that presence.
Becoming More 'Mindful'.
Cooking is probably the most commonly recognized type of "kitchen witchery". Anytime that you feed people, you are performing a magickal act, nourishing the body and soul. This is why so many of our holiday observances are centered around food. Learning to create magickal foods and to cook magickally simply enhances this experience.
Remember, it doesn't need to be a ritual meal to be a Sacred Feast. You could also create a weekly sacred meal for your family. Use the time to help you and your family connect to each other and to be mindful of the food that you eat, the value of your family, your special actions to nurture each other,etc. It really makes this activity special if the whole family gets involved in preparing the meal, each member adding their own energy to the feast.
Being a Kitchen Witch involves more than cooking. In the broadest sense, it means living a life which is mindful, becoming conscious of your actions and how they connect or disconnect you with the world around you and the Divine, both within and without. Being a Kitchen Witch is not as much about what you do, but instead about how and why you do it and about doing everything that you do with an aware conscience. It's not as much about doing something special, as about doing things in a way which are special to you and in recognizing the "special"ness (or sacredness) in all that you do.
Many practitioners new to the magical arts believe that before casting a spell or performing a ritual, one must drive across town to the occult supply store and spend money getting just the right ingredients. In reality, the ingredients to many successful spells, rituals, and other magical practices may be right there already--in your own kitchen!
www.fortunecity.com/greenfield/tigris/567/id68.htm
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Only one flaw, as I see it, and that is, she doesn't mention the God...only the Goddess. Also, Kitchen Witchery doesn't necessarily involve the worship of either. Some witches see the divine and sacred spirit, as genderless....like me ;D
