simplyspellbound

[simplyspellbound]

Imbolc 2024

The celebration of Imbolc is the promise of spring’s return, as it sits on the midpoint between the winter solstice and the spring equinox.

For many years, I never really felt anything special associated with this time of year. Here, it's still cold and there isn't the grandeur that Yule or Ostara can hold.

But recently, really since the pandemic, it seems that Imbolc has meant more and more to me as that moment in the depths of the cold when instead of suffering in the moment, we turn our focus to the hope of new plans for the year.

Imbolc is a time to plan what seeds you will plant this spring to harvest in the coming fall, and I take that very metaphorically, although it can be literal. In a way, it's almost a recommitment to your new year's resolutions, or perhaps the clarity of which ones are truly important for the year.

In folklore, this holiday is associated with the Goddess or Saint Brigid, who holds the flames of fertility and healing and one of the plants sacred to her is the blackberry. Although I'm not invested in the mythology, I do look forward to baking a lovely blackberry pie every Imbolc.

This is also a time I like to switch my decor, taking down any twinkling wreaths and using fresh, cool winter colors until they are replaced at the Spring Equinox. There is a sense of cleansing the previous year out and creating a blank slate for what is to come.

However you choose to celebrate, take a moment for yourself to visualize what is important to you this year, grab a calendar, and plant your important dates and goals.

#imbolc #pagan #witch #wheel of the year #kitchen witch #dessert #recipes #imbolg

[simplyspellbound]

Cardamom Apple Rum Cake

Tired of the same handful of fall flavors in all your bakes? This intoxicating, aromatic cake is bursting with a potent blend of spices and extracts.

Made with bread bakers in mind, this cake uses sourdough starter to create an incredibly light but sturdy texture. Along with the apples and Greek yogurt, you’ll find some nourishing elements to this cake this harvest season.

Cake

2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp ground cardamom

1/2 tsp salt

3 eggs

1 cup Greek yogurt

1 cup sourdough starter

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar (or sugar substitute)

3/4 cups canola oil

2 tsp rum extract

Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons milk

2 tsp rum extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a 9-10 cup Bundt pan with cooking oil spray and place on a cookie sheet for stability.

In a large bowl, combine all wet ingredients and whisk until incorporated.

Dice two medium honey crisp or Gala apples (or sweet apple of your choice) into small chunks. I leave the skin on but you can peel them if you prefer.

Sift dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir until just smooth with no lumps. Fold in the apples and transfer to the Bundt pan.

Bake at 300 for 60-75 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Allow Bundt to cool on a rack for 10 minutes, then invert onto a cake plate and continue to cool until room temperature.

Stir powdered sugar, milk, and rum extract until smooth. Spoon over cooled cake and enjoy!

#kitchen witch #pagan #wheel of the year #dessert #recipes #witch #autumn recipes

[simplyspellbound]

The magic you’re looking for is in the work you’re avoiding.

Dipen Parmar

[simplyspellbound]

I have no one in my life to ask this; as a serious skeptic, throughout my life I always...get a "ghostly" feeling. And no, not just in Autumn or around Halloween. I'm not quite sure I can describe it right but I guess you could say I feel a sort of affinity for ghosts? the paranormal? spirits? And like I said, I'm a complete skeptic about it, I can't really believe in it without indisputable proof, but it's like I feel an urge to do something about it, and sometimes that feeling really gets in the way of my life. There's also other things happening or seen in my life lately that just haven't happened so consecutively before, but I'm not sure if it's related or just coincidence brought about by being more aware of this feeling. I'm not scared of it and surprisingly don't want the feeling to go away, but it's bugging me so much lately that I really want to know what it means, or might mean. I'm open to chipping away at my skepticism a little bit since I understand there are things in the universe humans just don't have the literal capacity to understand or process or sense, and our knowledge about everything is subjective to whatever limits those are. Do you have any ideas or maybe someone to go to about it? I'm asking here because you seem like the most credible person to ask that I found around the internet by the way you've explained your practice and the concepts within it. And by the way, your blog is really really cool.

Thank you for your question and your kind words, they are appreciated.

I've made a post on the topic to more fully answer this question, you can find it here.

I hope that post and the sharing of my own experiences helps you. Ultimately, I do believe it is first a matter of psychology and secondly a question of knowledge transfer. There are certainly mysteries to discover still, but I find some comfort in being able to manage expectations through self-awareness and meditation.

[simplyspellbound]

Ghosts and Spooky Sensations

How does naturalistic pantheism deal with the concept of ghosts? The simple answer is that, it doesn't. As pantheism is non-dualistic, or more accurately, dual-aspect monistic, seeing no separation from the immanent and transcendent, there is no secondary 'matter' or spirit like world in pantheism. [More on dualism topics here]

However, this does not address the FEELING or experience of a disembodied presence. I have had quite a history of these experiences, and their depth, frequency, accuracy, and intensity lead me to believe they are not evidence of an afterlife, but suggest some capacity for receiving information beyond our known means.

Let me clarify, I do not believe in a supernatural, I see all phenomenon as natural and of this world. This does not mean we have a full and complete understand of all natural phenomena, and here are some examples from my own experience:

Knowledge of the Dead

When I was a teenager, I had an intense experience, talking on the phone with someone where all of a sudden I started seeing things I couldn't explain: the way a kitchen was decorated, a meeting at a restaurant, the dress someone wore in their coffin. Somehow, I had tapped into this knowledge about this person I had never met and had no communication with.

For a little while I thought, that's it, there are ghosts and I can communicate with them! But then it occurred to me that all the knowledge I had about the deceased was through the experiences of the person I was talking to - not independent of them. The person on the phone knew all of these events, moments, the memories were his.

From here, it was a logical step to either A.) I have tapped into this person's memories for some unknown reason or B.) This person is explicitly lying to me for some unknown reason. So, like a good budding scientist, I tested the theory.

True, my methods weren't up to par, but at 14, all I could do at the time was enter a chat room and see if I could reproduce results with people who had no connection to me. And I did. Over and over again, confirmation came of my capacity to see things through their eyes, what their rooms looked like to great detail, I suppose it was more akin to the concept of remote viewing. But whatever it was, it didn't fit neatly into any box of communication we had or have today. What it did give me, was a sense that our feelings of those passed may be more related to what or who is still present.

Feeling a Presence

But what about all those times I felt a presence and I was alone? During this same time period, things got very loud in the silence. I picked up on feeling others there at my bedside, walking through my house; at first I wasn't afraid but it became so frequent and disturbing that ultimately, I just wanted it to stop.

After many trips to the library and conversations with others, I lit a candle and essentially asked for it all to stop, to please take the blinking light off me as some train station for the departed. And after that day, 20 years later, I haven't had another experience like it.

Now, we could try to pull out theological implications, all sorts of reasons I felt this way or stopped having these experiences, but this simplest is this - it was all in my mind.

I don't mean that I had a lapse of sanity or a mental disorder, simply that I had consistently conditioned myself to believe that certain sensations meant something more than what they were. Watch a scary movie at night and then go to bed, you'll be hard wired to see danger in the shadows or jump at the normal creaking sounds of your house when they meant nothing the night before.

The truth is, I miss those feelings, I wanted them to be more and I still have this other very convincing experience that I have somehow gleaned information through some alternative means, so the answers are not concrete. What they do conclude though is that the experience of a ghost is likely more complicated and less spooky than we've come to believe.

#pagan #witch #theology #ghosts #haunted #paranormal #pantheism

[simplyspellbound]

Happy Lughnasadh 2023!

This year, I decided to celebrate the first harvest, the bread baking holiday, with a little more decadence and made my Nutella Babka.

Check out the recipe here.

However you choose to celebrate, take some time to appreciate what you can reap in this season.

#kitchen witch #wheel of the year #dessert #recipes #pagan #witch #witchcraft #lughnasadh

[simplyspellbound]

do you know any sources that list herbs, fruits, veggies, etc. by seasonal correspondences? I want to be able to do workings with materials that resonate with the season I'm working in, but I'm finding it harder to comb the internet for reliable information lately. Also, I love your blog and wish you a lively day!

Absolutely! The great thing about this data is that it’s not really up for debate, lol! Here’s a link from the United States Department of Agriculture. This link is from Switzerland for herbs. But any sources related to governments, active farmers, or master gardeners should be trustworthy!

I’d encourage you to create some of your own pages of research, perhaps in a grimoire, that way you can double check, refine, or add information as you happen upon it. For example, apples are technically in season all four season, but for me, they’ll always be associated with autumn.

Best of luck!

Spring

Apples

Apricots

Asparagus

Avocados

Bananas

Broccoli

Cabbage

Carrots

Celery

Collard Greens

Garlic

Herbs

Kale

Kiwifruit

Lemons

Lettuce

Limes

Mushrooms

Onions

Peas

Pineapples

Radishes

Rhubarb

Spinach

Strawberries

Swiss Chard

Turnips

Summer

Apples

Apricots

Avocados

Bananas

Beets

Bell Peppers

Blackberries

Blueberries

Cantaloupe

Carrots

Celery

Cherries

Corn

Cucumbers

Eggplant

Garlic

Green Beans

Herbs

Honeydew Melon

Lemons

Lima Beans

Limes

Mangos

Okra

Peaches

Plums

Raspberries

Strawberries

Summer Squash

Tomatillos

Tomatoes

Watermelon

Zucchini

Fall

Apples

Bananas

Beets

Bell Peppers

Broccoli

Brussels Sprouts

Cabbage

Carrots

Cauliflower

Celery

Collard Greens

Cranberries

Garlic

Ginger

Grapes

Green Beans

Herbs

Kale

Kiwifruit

Lemons

Lettuce

Limes

Mangos

Mushrooms

Onions

Parsnips

Pears

Peas

Pineapples

Potatoes

Pumpkin

Radishes

Raspberries

Rutabagas

Spinach

Sweet Potatoes & Yams

Swiss Chard

Turnips

Winter Squash

Winter

Apples

Avocados

Bananas

Beets

Brussels Sprouts

Cabbage

Carrots

Celery

Collard Greens

Grapefruit

Herbs

Kale

Kiwifruit

Leeks

Lemons

Limes

Onions

Oranges

Parsnips

Pears

Pineapples

Potatoes

Pumpkin

Rutabagas

Sweet Potatoes & Yams

Swiss Chard

Turnips

Winter Squash

[simplyspellbound]

Astrological Weekly Menu

For those days when you’re just not sure what to eat, here is a list of foods to enjoy that are connected to the planetary inspirations of our days of the week. These correspondences can help you tap into the energy of that day and manifest your intentions. 

Monday

Ruling planet: The Moon

Foods that honor the moon are cool, creamy, or round:

Cucumber Salad or Sandwiches

Potato Leek Soup

Mushroom Alfredo with Peas

Tuesday

Ruling planet: Mars

As the red planet and associated with war, hot and spicy is the way to go:

Korean BBQ Tacos with Bulgogi (Note: I skip the beef and make the sauce (without pear) to go on beefless ground, ready in 5 minutes! Serve on tacos with fresh cilantro, red onion, and/or shredded cabbage)

Spicy Garlic Noodles

Tikka Masala (Note: You can make tikka masala plant based by substituting the chicken with cauliflower or chickpeas.)

Wednesday

Ruling planet: Mercury

Mercury is associated with leafy greens, broccoli, cabbage, and other green vegetables. 

Roasted Honey Mustard Cauliflower Kale Salad

Creamed Spinach

Buddha Bowls

Thursday

Ruling planet: Jupiter

Grand, expansive Jupiter is celebrated with golden yellow hues.

Coconut Curried Lentils

Spaghetti Squash

Banana Muffins (Add 1/2 tsp ground cardamom for an aromatic boost!)

Friday

Ruling planet: Venus

For the planet associated with the goddess of love, sweetness rules.

Maple Tahini Sweet Potatoes with Chickpeas

Thai Peanut Noodle Salad

Honey Roasted Chicken and Figs

Saturday

Ruling planet: Saturn

Saturn is the planet of stability and discipline, so we look to the base structure of many diets: grains, beans, and starches. 

Instant pot Chili Mac (This plant based chili is best served with cornbread)

French Onion Shepherd’s Pie

Overnight No Knead Artisan Bread

Sunday 

Ruling planet: The Sun

Sunny fruits like lemons, oranges and hot summer foods like corn and tomatoes are associated with the sun. 

Mexican Street Corn Salad

Orange Ginger Power Bowl

Roasted Cherry Tomato Pasta (You can also sauté the tomatoes over the stove to avoid using the oven)

I hope you are inspired by this list!

#kitchen witch #astrology #mealspo #recipe list #food #meals #pagan #witch

[simplyspellbound]

Reblogging with updated links!

My Favorite Meditative Songs

Music has the power to transform us. 

The more you listen to a piece of music while you practice certain activities, the more you will slip into that mind frame when you hear them. That’s why I’ve spent a lot of time meditating to these songs, and then I play them when I cook or clean, spreading that energy throughout my home. Here are my top favorites:

The Mystic’s Dream, Loreena McKennitt

Prologue, Loreena McKennitt

Unbecome, Vas

Lamentation, Delerium

Runners up that have a more upbeat energy for daily activities include Lorena’s All Souls Night and probably her most popular song, Mummer’s Dance.

#spiritual music #pagan #witchcraft #pantheist #witch #mediation

[simplyspellbound]

Persian Love Cake for Beltane

This honey syrup soaked cake adorned with rose petals and fragrant with cardamom is the perfect dessert to represent an amorous holiday full of love. While traditional recipes include bannocks and honey cakes, this persian delicacy truly fills the senses and corresponds beautifully with the height of spring. 

You can find the full recipe here from the above photo, but my version is below. 

For the cake: 3/4 cups granulated sugar 1/2 cup canola oil 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom 3 large eggs 1/4 cup milk 1 cup almond meal 1 cup all purpose flour 1.5 teaspoons baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt

For the syrup: 1 cup honey 1 cup granulated sugar 3/4 cup cold water 1/2 teaspoon rose water Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9 inch square pan.

In a large bowl, mix 3/4 cups sugar, canola oil, and eggs, until well combined.

Add the remaining dry ingredients and stir until smooth. Pour into the cake pan and bake 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

While the cake is baking, combine all syrup ingredients into a pot over medium high heat and bring to a boil. Turn down to low heat and simmer 5 - 10 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to sit until cake is out of the oven.

Allow the cake to cool for ten minutes and then slowly pour honey syrup over cake. It will take a moment for the cake to absorb all of the syrup, so if you pour all of it right away it may spill over!

Let cake come to room temperature before cutting. Serve warm or cold! Adorn with chopped pistachios and edible rose petals optionally. 

#beltane #kitchen witch #dessert #dessert recipes #cake #pagan #Wheel of the Year

[simplyspellbound]

Greetings! Hope this finds you well. I wanted to ask for some advice about my spiritual path. I'm wary of this and a bit broken as a person, but I still have this strange attraction to the craft, or at least the idea of magick. I don't know what I want to try, am practically broke, and live in a toxic environment. Are there any easy, subtle things to try that hold the most water or practicality for a skeptic? Books I might find in my local library?

Thank you for your question, and I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get back, I go through seasons on tumblr where I'm away for a while.

It sounds like, to me, that what you need most right now is a way to find some peace and transcend your situation. One of the very best ways to do this is through guided meditation or visualization. There are many free options on youtube that you can explore and see which speaks to you the most, here is a place to start.

A secondary thing you can do is start practicing intention. This is a small piece I wrote on it a while back. Essentially, find a simple task you can do throughout your day where you are applying your intention: thoughtfully and fully present, make a cup of tea with the intention to find calm.

Both these practices are rooted in mindfulness and cognitive psychology, but can be expanded into the craft when you introduce them to spiritual experiences with the natural world. I believe that magick is simply the belief that you have the power to create change, which is why so many a drawn to it. It only conflicts with other religions that believe only (insert deity of choice here) has that power. Once we're in this arena, we're really talking theology, which is a bit messier. However you feel about theological thinking, it's important to at least understand yours and how you got to that place, be it atheist, pantheist, polytheist, or otherwise. Your choice to practice a craft can be fully independent of these beliefs, but they are still important to know how they fit, or not, into your overall path.

I hope these ideas get you started, please let me know if you have more questions!

#theology #pagan #witchcraft

[simplyspellbound]

I don't seem to have a specific background or roots in a certain culture, what should I do about a more personal or stronger practice in this way?

This is a great question, as many of us may feel a sense of diaspora, even with a clear heritage, simply because we find ourselves connected to a tradition or path that is not held by our friends or family.

When I was very young and reading about Wicca, it was encouraged at the time to either pick a pantheon of deities based on your ethnicity, or simply because you like them a feel a connection. Even in the 90's, that didn't seem right to me, or I was just unable to find that cultural link even though I have Celtic ancestors with obvious gods and goddesses.

Ultimately, Wicca simply wasn't for me and I honed my sense of spirituality over the years to be very practical, if not - dare I say -scientific. As a pantheist, I celebrate the natural world as divine, so the depth of connection I have is found through solstices and equinoxes, seasonal foods and herbs, anything that promotes reverence for our existence on this earth.

All of these things have cultural roots, many religions celebrate winter solstice for example, and part of how you choose to observe a holiday may be tied to familiar tradition. So my perennial advice is to always try to be systematic about your beliefs, meaning, examine your understanding of traditions and practices as objectively as possible to see if they maintain internal validity to your belief system.

For example, in my house, we hide easter eggs for the kids on the spring equinox, because that's actually what that whole tradition is about - the fertility of what spring will offer. We want them to have the fun of the event but not tied to the more confusing connection to the Christian holiday that we do not observe. But we do not have to omit the event of egg hunting simply because it's associated with Easter, it still holds validity as part of the equinox.

Ultimately, when trying to strengthen your practice, you're looking within, to your psychology of experience with the purpose of finding your core beliefs first and then connecting practices that are in alignment with those beliefs.

#pagan #witch #pantheist #theology

[simplyspellbound]

Honey crisp apple picking on a cloudy morning

#fall #autumn #nature

[simplyspellbound]

Happy Lughnasadh

Although today’s joyous first harvest, the grain harvest, tends to call for an earthier whole grain bread, I was feeling indulgent and made this braided brioche.

However you choose to celebrate this day, take some time to evaluate what you’re harvesting in your life right now and set your intentions on what you hope to manifest the rest of this year. Hopefully, you will see returns as we now approach the fall equinox in all its bounty.

#lughnassadh #witchcraft #pagan #bread #brioche #baking

[simplyspellbound]

Our galaxy holds billions of stars, this first released photo is one tiny spec of the universe teaming with galaxies, stars, planets, and potentially life.

I feel so lucky to be living in a time where I can scan through the wonders of the universe from the phone in my pocket. I will never tire of zooming in on these galaxies, knowing they each may hold billions of stars and maybe someone sentient looking at our Milky Way from their lens.

#astronomy #pagan

[simplyspellbound]

Merry Beltane

Beltane is a cross quarter holiday, one of four that marks the mid point between an equinox and a solstice. For that reason, Beltane is the high point of spring, sitting between the spring equinox and summer solstice. Days are getting longer and warmer, the first flowers of the season have bloomed, and fields are tended in hopes of a grand harvest.

The focus on fertility is translated in the Wiccan narrative as a time when the goddess figure becomes pregnant with the future incarnation of the male divinity. But many other cultures have celebrated May Day in more chaste ways.

As a pantheist kitchen witch, I look to seasonal flowers and fruits as inspiration to celebrate Beltane: strawberry rhubarb crisp, mango sticky rice, roast asparagus, stirfry broccoli, and herbal teas.

However you choose to celebrate, take time to smell the flowers, feel the dirt beneath your feet, and give gratitude to this season that brims with the energy to fuel our favorite flowers and fruits.

#beltane #kitchen witch #pantheist #pagan #witch

[simplyspellbound]

Spring Rebirth

I’ve always been drawn to fall energies, the cool gray skies contrasting crunchy, fire colored leaves, the aroma of cinnamon and moss hanging in the air, it’s electric to me. 

But this year, for the first year I can remember, Spring hit me in a similar way. I felt the burst of energy and life coming from the ground to bring bright yellow flowers to my yard. I craved the freshness of a crisp, green salad or asparagus just barely roasted with a sharp lemon and garlic dressing. I longed for sweet, floral teas of violet or rose hibiscus, and I’ve eagerly cheered on the peonies beginning to climb out of the ground to form their enormous, fluffy pink blooms. 

It seems as though last year was one, long, dark autumn and winter with no respite. At least in my experience, the pandemic took a lot out of us. And now there is this emotional urgency for rebirth, a new start. There is no getting back to normal, there is only growing from here, and this spring viscerally marked that moment for me. 

If you’ve suffered from a sullen time, I encourage you to embrace each pleasant moment of weather this spring. If the birds aren’t singing and the flowers aren’t blooming for you, bring that energy into your home with a gorgeous rosewater pistachio cake, a lemon poppyseed muffin, a fresh fruit cup or crunchy, juicy salad. These little things may seem small and insignificant, but when we impart our intention into them, use them as a focus for our energy and mood, you will feel that shift in yourself. 

Enjoy the sun

#kitchen witch #spring equinox #beltane #energy #pagan #pantheism