kitchencrone

[kitchencrone]

Lore Journal: Mabon

Date

Mabon occurs on the autumnal equinox: September 21-24 in the northern hemisphere, and March 19-21 in the southern hemisphere.

Significance

Sometimes called Harvest Home or the Witches’ Thanksgiving, Mabon is a celebration of the harvest–a day for giving thanks for the bounty of nature. It is the second of the three harvest festivals (the first being Lughnasadh and the third Samhain). As Mabon occurs on the autumnal equinox, when day and night are the same length, it also signifies balance.

Context

While harvest festivals have been celebrated globally for millennia on and around the autumn equinox, the name Mabon is fairly recent, having been applied to this sabbat only in the 1970s. Selected other equinox celebrations include the Nordic Haustblot, Chinese and Vietnamese Mid-Autumn Festival, and Japanese Higan.

In ancient Greek mythology, the autumn equinox was the day on which Persephone returned to her husband Hades, beginning the fall and winter months when the weather turned cold and the plants died.

Observance Ideas

Go hiking, go camping, or just go outside. Connect with nature. Observe the seasonal changes: leaves are starting to turn, the nights are growing colder, migrations are about to begin.

Sing to the Harvest Moon, or just listen to Neil Young and soak up the moonlight.

Wear red, orange, brown, or gold.

Prepare a harvest feast. Bake an apple pie, perhaps, or go all out and cook a full Thanksgiving dinner.

Deep clean, declutter, and donate things you no longer use.

Work in your garden. Tiny windowsill herb gardens definitely still count.

Volunteer for a cause that means something to you. Build a house with Habitat for Humanity, canvass for your chosen political candidate, clean up green spaces with your local parks and recreation department, or reshelve books in your library.

Watch the sunset.

Watch the moonrise.

Dance through the dusk.

[kitchencrone]

Lughnasadh Apple Bread

I love baking, but my kitchen gets so hot in the summer that I can rarely motivate myself to turn on the oven. Lughnasadh was the perfect opportunity to get back into the habit, and when my dad dropped off a bag of the first apples harvested from his orchard, I knew just what to do with them. Apple bread!

Adapted from here.

Ingredients

2 cups brown sugar

½ cup butter, softened

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 cups apples, diced

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 ½ teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a loaf, tube, or Bundt pan.

Beat sugar with butter in a mixing bowl until combined. Add vanilla extract and eggs, one at a time, mixing until creamy. Stir in the apples.

Sift flour, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon in a separate bowl; add to apple mixture and stir just until evenly combined into a thick batter. Pour batter into the prepared loaf pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes. Cover pan with aluminum foil; continue baking until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 10-15 minutes more. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.

[kitchencrone]

Lore Journal: Lughnasadh

Date

Lughnasadh, also called Lammas, occurs on August 1 in the northern hemisphere and on February 1 in the southern hemisphere--approximately halfway between the summer solstice (Litha) and the autumn equinox (Mabon).

Significance

Lughnasadh marks the beginning of the harvest season. It is a festival in honor of the Irish god Lugh--the warrior, king, and master craftsman. As an observation of the first harvest, the day is also associated with wheat and bread. In fact, the syncretic Christian festival of Lammas--also celebrated on August 1--derives its name from the Anglo-Saxon hlaf-mas, or “loaf mass.” The two festivals are often conflated in modern observations. As a harvest festival, Lughnasadh is often celebrated with feasting, especially with bread and other baked goods. Other celebratory activities include storytelling, music, dancing, and games. Given its association with fertility, harvest, and bounty, Lughnasadh is a particularly auspicious day for handfastings and weddings.

Context

Lughnasadh is an ancient Celtic festival that dates to the earliest extant Irish literature. It was a time of community gathering, trading, and ritual sacrifice and athletic competition in honor of the prominent Irish god Lugh. Hill climbing was also a popular activity during Lughnasadh. Later, the Christian festival of Lammas was celebrated on the same day. As the two celebrations became conflated, the hill climbing was recast as a religious pilgrimage. Lammas was also one of the Scottish quarter days when rents were due and contracts began and ended.

Observance Ideas

Go hiking.

Bake bread.

Wear orange, yellow, gold, or green.

Pick berries or apples.

Play games.

Have a race.

Do crafts.

Sing and dance.

Stay up late and tell ghost stories.

If you have a garden (even an herb garden), leave an offering of the first fruits.

#lughnasadh #lammas #Wheel of the Year #sabbat #kitchen witch #me

[kitchencrone]

Potion Journal: Berry Balsamic Drinking Vinegar

I had some leftover strawberries after making jam, so I turned them into a shrub (AKA drinking vinegar). This recipe is very easy; it just requires time for the fruit to macerate. Use in cocktails, as an ice cream topping, in a salad, or just add to sparkling water for a refreshing summer drink. This is an especially good recipe for hot weather as it requires no cooking.

You will need equal volumes of:

Fruit or berries

Sugar

Vinegar

I had a little less than a cup of strawberries, so I added a few frozen blackberries to get a full cup of fruit.

Clean and lightly crush the fruit. It doesn't need to be pulverized; just broken up enough to let the sugar do its work.

Add an equal measure of sugar (in this case, 1 cup). Stir. Cover and refrigerate at least six hours. It’s okay for it to sit several days.

You'll know the fruit is done macerating and is ready for the final steps when it has released a good amount of liquid and turned the sugar into a syrupy consistency.

Once the fruit has released its juice, stir in an equal measure (one cup for me) of balsamic vinegar. You may use red wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar, or any other kind you wish. Stir well to dissolve any sugar that has settled to the bottom of the container.

Strain through a colander, pressing gently on the fruit to get as much juice as possible. Decant into a bottle for storage. Keep refrigerated. You may use the shrub immediately.

Vinegar: cleansing, purification

Strawberry: happiness, love, luck, fertility

Sugar: attraction

#kitchen witchcraft #witch recipe #cooking magic #kitchen magic #food spell #me

[kitchencrone]

Food Magic: Bread and Grains

BARLEY 🌾

Planet : Venus

Element : Earth 🌱🌱

Energies : Money, fertility

Magical Uses: Useful for prosperity diets - those designed to bring additional money when needed or to generally boost your financial state. Awaken this energy through visualization while preparing and eating barley dishes.

BUCKWHEAT 🌾🥞

Planet : Jupiter

Element : Earth 🌱🌱

Energies : Money

Magical Uses : Eat buckwheat pancakes to attract fertility, money, and life energies. For even more money power, pour on a bit of maple syrup.

CORN 🌽

Planet : Sun☀

Element : Fire🔥🔥

Energies : Protection, spirituality

Magical Uses : Place ears of blue corn on an altar or hang them in the home to induce spirituality. Scatter corn meal around outdoor ritual sites for blessings and heightened spiritual rituals. Utilize blue popcorn and blue cornbread in spirituality producing diets. Place ears of red corn in baskets on the floor to protect the home. Corn is also added to protection diets. To make cornbread for this purpose, run a knife through the top of the unbaked dough in the shape of a pentagram. Bake and eat with visualization.

LENTIL

Planet : Moon 🌙

Element : Water 💧💧

Energies : Peace

Magical Uses : Eat lentil soup for peace. The Romans believed that lentils hindered sleep, so it might be better to eat them at midday.

MILLET 🌾🌾

Planet : Jupiter

Elements : Earth🌱🌱

Energies : Money

Magical Uses : Visualize millet as compact, concentrated money energy before eating. Eat millet on the first day of the year to bring riches into your life.

OATS 🌾🍪

Planet : Venus

Element : Earth 🌱🌱

Energies : Money

Magical Uses : Use only whole - grain oats. Prepare and eat oatmeal in the morning to bring money and prosperity into our lives. Other magical possibilities include oat cookies and bread.

PRETZELS 🥨🥨

Planet: Sun ☀️

Element: Fire 🔥🔥

Energies: Protection

Magical Uses: Eat them on the winter solstice in honor of the sun. They are also appropriate to protective diets due to their planetary ruler, the salt, and the bread’s twisted shape.

RICE🍚🍚

Planet: Sun ☀️

Element: Air 🌫️

Energies: Money, Protection

Magical Uses: Choose brown rice for the best nutritional and magical effects. | Rice cakes have a simple way to bring rice energy. Hold a plain rice cake in your hand and visualize money, or protection. Eat the cake while retaining the visualization. | Before cooking brown rice, pour some of the rice to be used onto a clean, flat surface one grain thick. While visualising, use a finger to trace an image of your needed change in the rice. Cook and eat this charged rice.

RYE 🌿

Planet: Venus

Element: Earth 🌱🌱

Energies: Love ❤️❤️

Magical Uses: It is a powerful addition to diets designed to increase your ability to give and receive love.

TORTILLA

Planet: Sun ☀️

Element: Fire 🔥🔥

Energies: Spirituality, protection

Magical Uses: Round tortillas can be added to spirituality diets and corn tortillas to protective diets.

WHEAT 🌾🌾🌾

Planet: Venus

Element: Earth 🌱🌱

Magical Uses: Whole wheat is best for magical purposes. Eat wheat-based foods to bring prosperity and money into your life. Before baking a loaf of bread, use a sharp knife to ritually incise a symbol of a specific energy that you wish to bring into your life. Do this with visualization. Various types of wheat bread have diverse energies and magical uses:

Twisted Breads - for protective diets. The more twists, the more protection. Visualize as you braid the dough.

Egg Breads - baked and eaten, with visualization, to promote physical fertility.

Saffron Bread - enhances spirituality

Sprouted Bread - excellent for increasing psychic awareness.

Pita Bread - a fine spirituality food.

Seven-grain Bread - a fine money attractant.

Dill bread - promotes love

Garlic Bread - powerful addition to protection diets.

Source: ms-circely

[kitchencrone]

Bee Magick - Save the Bees

This post is dedicated to the bees, make sure you do your part to save the bees! 

Facts to increase your love for bees:

They have personalities.

They can recognize human faces.

Their honey contains all the substances needed to sustain life.

Eating Honey can make you smarter.

Honeybees can only sting once.

They beat their wings up to 200 times per second.

Honeybees are the only insects that produce food for humans.

Bees don’t sleep.

All worker bees are female.

Ways to attract bees:

Plant flowers that attract bees.

Build a bee houses.

Place bee waterers and bee baths around your garden.

Do not use pesticides or herbicides of any kind.

Plants that attract bees:

Bee balm

Lavender

Crocus

Snow Drop

Wildflowers/Any native species

Catmint

Borage

Anise hyssop

Heliotrope

Sunflower

Oregano

Yarrow

Coneflower

Black eyed susan

Asters

Goldenrod

Foxglove

Marigold

Pansies

Sweet peas

Nasturtiums

Bee folklore:

It is unlucky to kill bees.

Believed to have the knowledge of the future and all secrets. 

If a bee lands on your hand, it suggests money is on it’s way.

If a bee lands on someones head, they will become successful in life. 

If a bee flies into a home, it means either good luck or a stranger is on their way. If you kill the bee it means the stranger will be bringing bad news.

Seeing a single bee will bring luck.

Bees buzzing around a child’s head foretells a happy, successful life.

Bee mythology:

Ancient Egyptian pharaohs used the bee as their royalty symbol. They believed honey bees were born from the tears of the sun God, Ra. To the Egyptians, bees represented resurrection and protected against evil spirits. 

Druids believed that bees represented the sun, the Goddess, celebration, and community.

The Greeks thought that a babies whose lips where touched by a bee would become a great poet or a great speaker. In ancient Greece it was also thought that they symbolized industry, hard work, messengers of the dead, and obedience. Honey was often used as an offering to their Gods. They also believed bees were the surviving souls of the priestesses who served the Goddess Aphrodite. 

They have been seen as a symbol of sacredness and could be associated with the Great Mother or Divine feminine. The Mother can be symbolized as the queen bee. 

In Celtic mythology honey bees had great wisdom and thought to be messengers between worlds. Honey was sacred and used in rituals.

In some cultures they can be associated with purity, health, and wealth. Some also believed bees were a symbol of the human soul.

The druids believed that bees symbolized the sun, the goddess, celebration, and community.

Deities associated with bees and honey:

Aphrodite

Ra

Vishnu

Pan

Vishnu

Cybele

Mellona

Melissa (Melisae)

Neith

Apollo

Artemis

Freya

Thor

Demeter

Bees in Magick:

Bees are closely associated with the fae and their presence in gardens which indicates blessings of fae. Encourage the bees, by putting up bee houses, hives, planting bee-friendly plants and waterers and not using pesticides. Thus, encouraging the blessings from the fae, while harming bees can anger them and cause them to seek revenge. 

The symbol of a bee can be used to seal a spell with sweetness for one who appreciates good will and a sting for one who takes it for granted or doesn’t keep his end of the bargain. 

Honey stirred into your tea can ‘sweeten’ your day. 

Honey is used often in magick to sweeten a situation.

Anointing your lips with honey will make your words sound sweeter. 

Bees in your dreams:

May be a good omen.

Bees in your dreams may be telling you to take a look at your social networks. They may be pointing toward a desire for more harmonious and functional relationships, or celebrating the ones you already have.

A visit from a bee in a dream may also be notifying you that a friend or family member needs to speak with you. You will know as this person will also pop into your mind somehow. It means call them or perhaps, that you will hear from them soon.

Dreaming of a beehive usually relates to the home and family or your business and coworkers. A happy, buzzing hive means a happy, buzzing home. It may foretell incoming abundance, and fruitful times ahead. If the bees are swarming around the hive, rather than working in it, proceed with caution. There is a lack of harmony that is interfering with productivity.

A swarm of bees may indicate that you feel that a group of people upon whose cooperation you rely is becoming chaotic and out of control. Perhaps the need to balance your own interactions with your different business and social groups for your own sanity.

Beehives bring to mind abundance and prosperity: bees seem to work hard and are rewarded by flowing stores of honey. An empty beehive, then, represents the opposite: lost opportunity and financial misfortune.

A beehive can also represent a home. The fullness or emptiness of the beehive may indicate unconscious feelings about family life, marriage, children, or the house itself. Honey may represent your property or belongings.

A beehive on fire or burned bees are often interpreted depending on your emotional and physical condition. Burned bees may mean you are overcoming fear and want to take control of life and anger, are you’re progressing through life with more confidence without any fear of obstacles. Burned beehives can also mean you have lost something precious, like money, a relationship, or some valuable information that you’ve forgotten or ignored.

If a bee or a swarm of bees is chasing you in dream, it may mean there is some unsettled business or a memory that haunts you. Make sure you let it go from your mind or deal with it in order to avoid these bees.

If you dream about getting a bee sting then something may be bothering you, or you have a persistent annoyance in your life. Concerns about your relationship, career, finance, or some unknown issue is bugging your subconscious mind. Find out what it is and sort it out.

Magickal uses for Honey:

Can be used in binding spells to symbolically stick things together.

Used for offerings to fae and deities.

Can sweeten a person or a situation.

 Honey is sacred to Aphrodite.

Can be used in spells corresponding to purification, health, love, happiness, spirituality, wisdom, good fortune, fertility, 

Use certain types of honey that corresponded with your spell.

Bathe in warm water and honey to attract love.

A dish filled with honey can attract angels and beneficial spirits.

Do your part to save the bees they are an important part of our life and in our magick practices. 

May the moon light your path!

==Moonlight Academy==

Sources: witchipedia.com, kitchenwitchuk.blogspot.ca, exemplore.com

[kitchencrone]

Summer Love Sangria

Who doesn’t like a fruity, boozy treat? Filled with fruits encouraging love and happiness, brew this to find lasting love, or pair with a summer fertility ritual. 

Ingredients

1 bottle of Red Wine - I used a nice Chilean blend here

1 plum

Cherries

½ an orange

Grapes

About ½ cup of sugar (to taste)

Lemon/Lime (if desired)

Instructions

Just throw everything into your pitcher. Stir in sugar until dissolved. Chill.

Note: This tastes even better the next day! 

[kitchencrone]

☀️Litha - June 21st☀️

The summer Solstice, the longest day off the year. It marks the beginning of Summer.

Animals:

Sea Creatures

Horses

Wrens

Colors:

Gold

Yellow

Green

Stones:

Emerald

Jade

Plants:

St. John's Wort

Rose

Chamomile

Food & Drink:

Oranges

Lemonade

Iced Tea

Cheese

Stawberries

Honey

Ways to Celebrate:

Watch the sun rise and set

Make a sun catcher

Make a sun wheel

Gather herbs

Have a bonfire

Charge items in sunlight

Decorate sea shells

Visit a beach

[kitchencrone]

The Magick of Cherries

Cherries are officially in season! A sumptuous and indulgent fruit, cherries bring love and cheer to any lazy June afternoon. 

Cherries are associated with love, creativity, and feminine magick. The stones, or pits, have long been used for divination. Add dried cherries to salads or desserts to attract new love. Cherry jams and compotes make particularly wonderful additions to savory dishes as well. 

[kitchencrone]

Tarot A History and Brief Overview of Spreads

A History

The tarot, first known as trionfi and later as tarocchi or tarock is a pack of playing cards, used from the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play games such as Italian tarocchini, French tarot and Austrian Königrufen, many of which are still played today. In the late 18th century, some tarot decks began to be used for divination via tarot card reading and cartomancy leading to custom decks developed for such occult purposes. The word Tarot and German Tarock derive from the Italian Tarocchi, the origin of which is uncertain but taroch was used as a synonym for foolishness in the late 15th and early 16th centuries.

Playing cards first entered Europe in the late 14th century, most likely from Mamluk, Egypt, with suits of Batons or Polo sticks which are commonly known as Wands by those practicing occult or divinatory tarot, Coins which are commonly known as disks, or pentacles in occult or divinatory tarot, Swords, and Cups. These suits were very similar to modern tarot divination decks and are still used in traditional Italian, Spanish and Portuguese playing card decks. 

The first documented tarot packs were recorded between 1440 and 1450 in Milan, Ferrara, Florence and Bologna when additional trump cards with allegorical illustrations were added to the common four-suit pack. These new decks were called carte da trionfi, triumph cards, and the additional cards known simply as trionfi, which became “trumps” in English. The earliest documentation of trionfi is found in a written statement in the court records of Florence, in 1440, regarding the transfer of two decks to Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta.

The original purpose of tarot cards was to play games. A very cursory explanation of rules for a tarot-like deck is given in a manuscript by Martiano da Tortona before 1425. Vague descriptions of game play or game terminology follow for the next two centuries until the earliest known complete description of rules for a French variant in 1637. The 18th century saw tarot’s greatest revival, during which it became one of the most popular card games in Europe, played everywhere except Ireland and Britain, the Iberian peninsula, and the Ottoman Balkans. French tarot experienced a revival beginning in the 1970s and France has the strongest tarot gaming community.

Italian-suited tarot decks

These were the oldest form of tarot deck to be made, being first devised in the 15th century in northern Italy. The so-called occult tarot decks are based on decks of this type. Three decks of this category are still used to play certain games:

The Tarocco Piemontese consists of the four suits of swords, batons, cups and coins, each headed by a king, queen, cavalier and jack, followed by the pip cards for a total of 78 cards. Trump 20 outranks 21 in most games and the Fool is numbered 0 despite not being a trump.

The Swiss 1JJ Tarot is similar, but replaces the Pope with Jupiter, the Popess with Juno, and the Angel with the Judgement. The trumps rank in numerical order and the Tower is known as the House of God. The cards are not reversible like the Tarocco Piemontese.

The Tarocco Bolognese omits numeral cards two to five in plain suits, leaving it with 62 cards, and has somewhat different trumps, not all of which are numbered and four of which are equal in rank. It has a different graphical design than the two above as it was not derived from the Tarot of Marseilles.

Italo-Portuguese-suited tarot deck

The Tarocco Siciliano is the only deck to use the so-called Portuguese suit system which uses Spanish pips but intersects them like Italian pips. Some of the trumps are different such as the lowest trump, Miseria (destitution). It omits the Two and Three of coins, and numerals one to four in clubs, swords and cups: it thus has 64 cards but the ace of coins is not used, being the bearer of the former stamp tax. The cards are quite small and not reversible.

French-suited tarot decks

The illustrations of French-suited tarot trumps depart considerably from the older Italian-suited design, abandoning the Renaissance allegorical motifs. With the exception of novelty decks, French-suited tarot cards are almost exclusively used for card games. The first generation of French-suited tarots depicted scenes of animals on the trumps and were thus called “Tiertarock” (‘Tier’ being German for ‘animal’) appeared around 1740. Around 1800, a greater variety of decks were produced, mostly with genre art or veduta. Current French-suited tarot decks come in these patterns:

The Industrie und Glück (Industry and Luck) genre art tarock deck of Central Europe uses Roman numerals for the trumps. It is sold with 54 cards; the 5 to 10 of the red suits and the 1 to 6 of the black suits are removed.

The Adler-Cego animal tarot is used in the Upper Rhine valley and its neighbouring hills such as the Black Forest or the Vosges, and has 54 cards organized in the same fashion as the Industrie und Glück. Its trumps use Arabic numerals but within centred indices.

The Tarot Nouveau has 78 cards, and is commonly played in France and is somtimes used to play Cego. Its genre art trumps use Arabic numerals in corner indices.

German-suited tarot decks

German-suited decks for Bauerntarock, Württemberg Tarock and Bavarian Tarock are different. They are not true tarot packs, but a Bavarian or Württemberg pattern of the standard German-suited decks with only 36 cards; the pip cards ranging from 6 to 10, Under Knave (Unter), Over Knave (Ober), King, and Ace. These use Ace-Ten ranking, like Klaverjas, where Ace is the highest followed by 10, King, Ober, Unter, then 9 to 6. The heart suit is the default trump suit. The Bavarian deck is also used to play Schafkopf by excluding the Sixes.

Tarot Card Readings

The earliest evidence of a tarot deck used for cartomancy comes from an anonymous manuscript from around 1750 which documents rudimentary divinatory meanings for the cards of the Tarocco Bolognese. The popularization of esoteric tarot started with Antoine Court and Jean-Baptiste Alliette (Etteilla) in Paris during the 1780s, using the Tarot of Marseilles. French tarot players abandoned the Marseilles tarot in favour of the Tarot Nouveau around 1900, with the result that the Marseilles pattern is now used mostly by cartomancers.

Etteilla was the first to issue a tarot deck specifically designed for occult purposes around 1789. In keeping with the misplaced belief that such cards were derived from the Book of Thoth, Etteilla’s tarot contained themes related to ancient Egypt.

The 78-card tarot deck used by esotericists has two distinct parts:

The Major Arcana (greater secrets), or trump cards, consists of 22 cards without suits:

The Minor Arcana (lesser secrets) consists of 56 cards, divided into four suits of 14 cards each;

The Magician, The High Priestess, The Empress, The Emperor, The Hierophant, The Lovers, The Chariot, Strength, The Hermit, Wheel of Fortune, Justice, The Hanged Man, Death, Temperance, The Devil, The Tower, The Star, The Moon, The Sun, Judgement, The World, and The Fool. Cards from The Magician to The World are numbered in Roman numerals from I to XXI, while The Fool is the only unnumbered card, sometimes placed at the beginning of the deck as 0, or at the end as XXII.

Ten numbered cards and four court cards. The court cards are the King, Queen, Knight and Page/Jack, in each of the four tarot suits. The traditional Italian tarot suits are swords, batons, coins and cups; in modern occult tarot decks, however, the batons suit is often called wands, rods or staves, while the coins suit is often called pentacles or disks.

The terms “Major Arcana” and “Minor Arcana” were first used by Jean-Baptiste Pitois (also known as Paul Christian) and are never used in relation to tarot card games. Some decks exist primarily as artwork, and such art decks sometimes contain only the 22 major arcana.

The three most common decks used in esoteric tarot are the Tarot of Marseilles, the Rider-Waite-Smith tarot deck, and the Thoth tarot deck. 

The six most common Tarot Spreads are the;

Love Spread

Here is a little you should know about the ‘love’ spread. This type of reading evaluates the relationships relevance, how strong and happy they are. Every relationship has its ups and downs and with this six-card spread you will be able to evaluate your physical, emotional, mental and spiritual connections with your partner. The ‘love’ spread has its own 6 cards which represent the following:

#1-The first card signifies what you currently feel about your relationship, your approach, and your outlook.

#2-The second card represents your partners current emotions towards you, his attitude, and expectations about your relationship.

#3- The third card is a connection card. For example; common characteristics of both of you

#4– The fourth card indicates the strength of your relationship.

#5– The fifth card shows the weaknesses in your relationship.

#6– This final card is your true love card. It interprets if the relationship is going to be successful or not.

Success Spread

Briefly about the ‘Success’ spread; it is a remarkably situational spread.  It’s often used when a person is facing an obstacle or hardship. It can also be helpful if you don’t know how to face or overcome a problem as it will point you in the right direction.

#1- it helps you to find out about the true colours of the challenge in front of you. It will help you to identify what sort of skill set and resources you will need in order to not just solve but also overcome the challenge.

#2- this further clarifies on your current problems and challenges.

#3- The third card reveals the hidden factors affecting your current situation. You need to have knowledge about what these factors are to really overcome the obstacle you’re facing.

#4- The fourth card represents new plans, people, or objects that can help you grow further. By adapting yourself to these new aspects, your vision of the situation will change, leaving you with better solutions to your problems.

#5- The final card shows what requirements you need to fulfill in order to be proven successful and things you should avoid as they will lead you to failure. It will point you towards success if proven to be a positive card but in other cases it could be a negative card and will warn you about an upcoming disaster in your life.

Celtic Cross Spread

Despite its complications the ‘Celtic Cross’ Spread has stood popular for many years. This is most likely due to the fact that its importance lies in its difficulty. Each result of the Celtic Cross can be illustrated in a variety of ways depending on the direction of the of the fallen cards. Though not recommended for beginners, once anyone understands it, he or she can use this spread to find out the full depth of the situation. With enough practice it can it can be taken in use to find the answer to any problem. Celtic Cross deals with intricate situations.

#1– presents the current situation the person finds themselves in the and the reading is about the question they are facing.

#2– is placed over the first card, pointing to the left and is always read in an upright position. It shows what the basic challenge is that needs to be solved or the mental or physical object holding them back.

#3– The third spread reveals the subconscious influences. These strange influences have an extremely strong and powerful effect on one’s everyday life, especially in scenes relating to the question.

#4 – The fourth card shows what resources one has and the things they can use to face and solve the problem shown by the second card and in the process reach their ultimate goal, shown by the third card.

#5 – The fifth card shows the prologue of the scene. A negatively influenced past may have an effect that prevents their success on their current situation and they will need to let the memory go in order to stop it from negatively influencing their current situation so they can face and eventually overcome the problem at hand as shown by the second card. A positive past should be can simply be called inspiration. Even though the person may be facing a challenge in their current part of life, the problem

They are up against is natural growth of the positive past they had the benefit of experiencing and after they have overcome all their challenges, things will look even brighter than they were in the past.

#6 – The sixth card is the headlight. If the card states there is some form of negative energy on the way the five previous cards should give a good reasoning of why this is taking place and what we could do to prevent it.

#7 – The seventh card represents the person’s attitude. It illustrates your physical actions, thinking and ideals regarding the current problem. This will give you more to work with into whether the person’s attitude is conducive to a likable outcome or whether it’s time to retrack the way the person perceives the information.

#8 – The eighth card is an energy card. It talks about the energy surrounding them and the energy other people and the environment is letting off and if these energies are helping in any shape or form.

#9 – The ninth card tells us about what the person’s desires and fears. This is a revelation card. It gives importance to the things a person should be aware of in their current situation and might change the way a person acts which should not be neglected by them.

#10 – This is the final outcome and emphasizes on the energies, if they are complementing or conflicting. It also tells the person about the future that will take place immediately and if it is necessary or not to face the future.

Spiritual Spread

Similar to the Success Spread, the Spiritual Guidance spread is used when faced with problems that are of a spiritual nature. These sorts of challenges are usually related to spirituality in a person.

#1 – The first card represents your main concerns. You may think you know about the problem but this spread goes more in depth with it.

#2 – The second card looks into your motivation for looking for guidance.

#3 – The third card looks into the things about your life you are insecure or worried about.

#4 – The fourth card emphasizes on the parts of your life that you are not aware of.

#5 – The fifth card is your advice card as it will guide you to the steps to face your fears. It ties in with the previous cards.

#6 –The sixth card guides us to a life with no worries so that we could move forward on our spiritual journey.

#7 – The seventh card teaches you to deal with the situation with the resources you have at hand.

#8 – Finally, the eighth card finishes the Spiritual Guidance Spread by telling us that the result of the tarot cards all depends on our reaction to it whether we focus on the positive or negative.

Career Path Spread

This spread is for times where we feel left out on our career. We work hard hoping for a promotion but to no benefit. It helps us with these kind of challenges that we face in our professional life.

#1 – The first card basically asks us if our job that we have right now is indeed our ideal job

#2 – The second card emphasizes on the actions we must take to further boost our career. A positive card means we should stay at the same position we are in right now whereas a negative one means we should make some changes.

#3 – The third card tells us about certain things about our job that we can no longer alter. The card may tell you to look for a job in the same category we are working in right now.

#4 – The fourth card refers to our skills on our job to see if they’re enough to get us a promotion or if we are behind everyone else.

#5 – The fifth card tells us about the things we can do in our career to improve and start a new one or just small things we can do in our current career to at least get noticed.

#6 – The sixth card gives us the answer to the question that if our past mistakes are influencing our career now.

#7 – The final card tells you that if the card is negative it might lead to a bad outcome as it might result in you making other bad career choices.

However, if you aren’t sure of the outcome, use the card again after a few days or weeks to see if the reading changes as your attitude changes.

Three-Card Spread

The simplest and the most useful spread, ‘The Three Card Spread’ only uses three cards. This is what makes it the most popular. This is one of the most powerful spreads and can find answers for you really quickly for almost anything, let it be overcoming a problem or an obstacle or if you are simply just feeling lost or left behind.

Linear 3 Card Tarot Spreads

As you can imagine, this layout is good at suggesting some sort of linear path, sequence of events, cause and effect, or a way of getting from point a to point b.

Past, Present, Future

You, Your Path, Your Potential

You, Relationship, Partner

Situation, Action, Outcome

Idea, Process, Aspiration

Balanced 3 Card Tarot Spreads

In this layout, each card of the spread has a common intersection. They are all equally important, like three sides of a pyramid. Without any of these, the whole structure collapses.

Mind, Body, Spirit

Physical State, Emotional State, Spiritual State

Subconscious, Conscious, Super Conscious

Option 1, Option 2, Option 3

What I think, What I feel, What I do

Foundational 3 Card Tarot Spreads

I think think one is a little harder to explain, but I like thinking of these spreads being communicators of advice in a way such that “given X and Y, the result is Z”. X and Y attempt to give you a clearer understanding of options, and Z is a summary, a crux, a way to move forward given the information that is there. In fact, even when phrasing these spreads, I like saying them in a way that follows this formula to make the point clearer. The bolded items represent the actual card positions.

Given your strengths and weaknesses, this is my advice.

Given what worked well, and what didn’t work well, this is the key lesson.

Given that this brings you together, and that this pulls you apart, you must focus on this.

Given that you want this from the relationship, and your partner wants this, your relationship is heading towards this.

Given Option 1 and Option 2, This is what you need to know to make a decision.

Crossed 3 Card Tarot Spreads

As the layout would imply, this is about understanding conflicts and obstacles. The card that crosses over is something that stands in the way and that needs to be overcome, something that blocks you from attaining your ultimate goal, while the third card acts as a sort of advice card, looking at the situation from a more distant viewpoint. These can also be used as simpler 2 card spreads if you want to use only the crossing cards.

Situation, Obstacle, Advice

Aspiration, Obstacle, How to Overcome

Opportunities, Challenges, Outcome

Thesis, Antithesis, Synthesis

I will be doing card meanings on a later date :)

[kitchencrone]

Lore Journal: Litha

Date

Litha occurs on the summer solstice: June 20-22 in the northern hemisphere and December 20-23 in the southern hemisphere.

Significance

Litha is the celebration of midsummer. It is a solar festival to observe the longest day and shortest night of the year. As the day when the sun’s power is the strongest, Litha is often celebrated with bonfires, revelry, and feasting. As it falls in the traditional month for weddings, Litha is an auspicious day for handfastings. With the celebration of the sun comes the knowledge that its power will begin to wane after this day: the days will become shorter and the nights longer as the wheel of the year turns again toward the darkness of the winter solstice.

Context

The summer solstice has been widely observed since prehistoric times. The neolithic monument of Stonehenge was designed to align with the sunrise on the summer solstice (debate is ongoing as to whether it was used for midsummer rituals; there’s little archaeological evidence to support the theory). Ancient Celts, Slavs, and Germanic tribes celebrated the day with bonfires, a practice later syncretized by the Catholic church into the feast day of St. John the Baptist. The ancient Roman festival of Vestia was celebrated just prior to the summer solstice to honor the goddess Vestia, who ruled the hearth and the sacred eternal fire of Rome. Ancient Celts also celebrated the feast of Epona, goddess of horses, near the summer solstice (her ancient Roman festival was observed in December). Hindus celebrate Uttarayana on the summer solstice. Tirgan is an ancient Iranian midsummer festival that continues to be celebrated today. In modernity, midsummer festivals are celebrated in many countries, often conflated with St. John the Baptist feasts. Many national observations of the day share overlapping traditions of lighting bonfires, dancing, flower garlands, and ritual bathing or swimming.

Observance Ideas

Have a bonfire.

Wear blue, green, white, pink, or green.

Have a Litha barbecue. Grill vegetables. Serve a salad with plenty of herbs. Make a berry dessert with whipped cream. Bake cookies and decorate them with edible flowers.

Perform a love ritual.

Go for a swim, or take a ritual bath.

Go for a hike.

Pick berries.

Gather dandelions and make dandelion wine. Drink the wine at Yule to remind you of summer.

#litha #summer solstice #sabbat #wheel of the year #wicca #me #lore journal

[kitchencrone]

Protection and Healing

Besides being wonderful aromatics and flavorful additions to your cooking, Garlic and Bay Leaves are quite useful in any kind of spellwork. 

Garlic aids in protection and healing, especially when hung around the home or added to charmed dishes. It’s also said to induce lust when eaten.

Bay Leaves were a favorite additive in Roman times, and are also used for protection and healing. When added to brews or other foods, Bay Leaves encourage clairvoyance and wisdom. 

[kitchencrone]

Herbs Useful for Instilling Peace and Calm

The following is a list of herbs that have magickal properties useful for instilling peace and harmony.

Keep reading

[kitchencrone]

Okay, but hear me out, hear me out...

Apothecarycore

The smell of dried herbs and old books

The rhythmic sound of the mortar and pestle grinding dried mint in the mornings

Old-looking jars stacked up on big mahogany wood shelves, filled with different ingredients and remedies

A ladder that is able to wheel around attached to some bookshelves

Custom herbal teas for all ailments at any time

Foraging for ingredients in forests

Turning the old, yellowed pages of an antique leather bound herbalism book

The satisfaction of bottling a perfect tincture early in the morning as the sunrise casts a hazy golden glow through the windows

The lingering smell of coffee and herbs on the apothecary owner

Dark ink and the scratching of a quill on parchment while writing late at night as the candlelight shadows flicker across the page

Hearing the bell above the door ring when someone enters the apothecary

[kitchencrone]

Chicken Pot Pie with Scallion Pastry

A comfort-food classic with magical properties of healing, protection, prosperity, and love.

Special equipment: immersion blender

Ingredients

1 double crust pie dough

1/2 cup chopped scallions (measure green parts only; any white parts may be added to pie filling)

4 cups water

1 large onion, roughly chopped

4 whole garlic cloves

2 celery stalks, roughly chopped

2 large carrots, roughly chopped

2 chicken thighs

1 bay leaf

1 tsp dried thyme

salt & pepper to taste

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup dried wild mushrooms (can substitute fresh; just sautee the fresh mushrooms ahead of time to remove excess liquid)

1 cup frozen peas (do not thaw)

1 egg, beaten

Maldon flake salt (optional)

Methods

Boil chicken thighs with water, onion, garlic, carrots, celery, bay leaf, thyme, and salt & pepper. Once chicken is cooked through, remove from broth. Discard bay leaf. Use an immersion blender to puree the vegetables with the broth until smooth. Set aside.

Make pastry according to recipe of your choice, but before adding the water, stir in the scallions. Chill pastry.

Rehydrate mushrooms according to package directions. Reserve the water. Roughly chop the mushrooms if necessary. Shred the chicken (or cut into bite-size chunks).

Make a roux: melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in flour. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture becomes foamy and turns a light golden color. Add 4 cups of the vegetable broth puree and whisk constantly. If necessary, use the mushroom broth to thin out the gravy. Bring to a boil. Boil one minute while whisking; remove from heat. Allow the gravy to cool.

Heat oven to 400°. Roll out pastry and line a pie plate. Mix together chicken, mushrooms, white parts of scallions, and frozen peas. Add enough gravy to reach desired consistency (3-4 cups). Pour mixture into pie shell. Apply top crust. Brush top pastry with beaten egg, and if desired, finish with a light sprinkling of flaky salt such as Maldon.

Bake at 400° for twenty minutes, then cover the edges of the pie with aluminum foil or a pie collar to prevent excessive browning. Bake an additional 25 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the gravy bubbles (total bake time about 45 minutes). Allow the pie to rest at least twenty minutes before serving.

Serves 6-8.

Bay: healing, banishing, success, wishes

Thyme: courage, protection, prosperity

Garlic: love, purification, warding

Scallions: fertility, healing, exorcism

#kitchen magic #kitchen witchcraft #witchy things #kitchencore #kitchen witch recipes #me

[kitchencrone]

how to deal with a witchy burnout

most of us have been there. we lose our touch with the craft and don’t feel like doing much. we feel too tired and exhausted to put effort in it and sometimes we feels like there’s no point.

here are some tips on how to get out of this sticky situation! 🌙

drink tea ✨

yes, you heard me! drinking teas with specific herbs (like chamomile for sleep, lavender for anxiety, etc.) will help you get in tune with herbal magick. you can also stir your tea clockwise to bring forward something (like good energy or calmness) or add a sigil on the bottom with some honey (doesn’t have to be perfect). 🍵✨🌸

nature walk ✨

get in tune with those energies outside! i always find a walk on the grass helps pick up my mood (especially barefoot!!). envision the energies from the earth flowing into your body 🌱🌎🍃

witchy movie ✨

sometimes, we just need a little inspo to bring us back to our craft. watching witchy movies can bring back that spark into us! some great movies i recommend are:

the craft

hocus pocus

the love witch

practical magic

charmed (a show)

carrie

the vampire diaries (a show)

tarot ✨

start off with one card if more than that feels like it would tire you. it’s ok! you can do one in the morning by asking a simple question like “what should i focus on today?” 🔮✨💜

food ✨

incorporate some magick into the food you eat! this isn’t hard at all, especially since we all eat food everyday. simply add an intent to an herb or spice and then add it into your food. for example, add cinnamon onto your oatmeal, with your intent being that you will have abundance 🥐🍦🍩

songs ✨

songs are great to get you back into magick! listen to pagan music, celtic songs, or just look up “witchcraft songs,” “wiccan songs,” or “pagan songs” on spotify🌛🤍🌜

gratitude ✨

this one’s real simple! when you wake up, thank the universe that you got to live to see another day. you can even journal it. breathe in the air and think of how grateful you are that you’re able to do that. soak in the sun’s rays and feel the heat. 🌞🌼💛

final words...

it’s ok to take breaks! nothing wrong with that. it’s human. appreciate yourself as a person. remember, you are magickal and divine no matter how many burnouts you have. burnouts happen to nearly everyone and it’s completely normal! 🍄🐥🌈

sendin good vibez 💜

[kitchencrone]

Harvest and dry blackberry leaves for tea and spellwork

Blackberry leaves have antimicrobial, antioxidant, and antifungal properties. They have been used traditionally in the treatment of mouth and gum inflammation, menses, and diarrhea. You can make an infusion of them alone, or they can be blended with tea or other herbs.

For spellwork, use the leaves for healing and the thorns for protection.

As with all foraging activities, make sure you only gather leaves from plants that you know have not been treated with herbicides or pesticides.

Step 1: Gather the leaves. Pick the newest, smallest leaves from the ends of the vines.

Step 2: Rinse the leaves thoroughly in cold water. I swish them in a basin of water to make sure they're free of dirt and debris.

Step 3: Shake off the excess water from the leaves and lay them in a single layer on a towel to dry. Bundling them wet or damp can encourage mold.

Step 4: Bundle the leaves together in small bunches and tie the ends securely, leaving a loop of string long enough to suspend them. Hang the bunches in a dry location with good air circulation out of direct sunlight. They should dry in about a week.

Note: Some people choose to ferment their leaves before drying.

Step 5: Once the leaves are completely dry, carefully remove from stems and store in an airtight container. To make tea, add a generous spoonful of crumbled leaves per cup of boiling water. Steep 5-10 minutes and strain.

Step 6: Save the thorns for use in protection and banishing spellwork.

#green witch #kitchen witch #cottage witch #herbalism #cottagecore #foraging #witch #witchblr #forestcore #me