Having been working on making an amulet for the last two weeks, since new moon, in parallel with deliberately reading more on magical herbalism, Im amazed how I actually already have relationships with a good number of said herbs n spices, via the kitchen.
With the multiculturalism of Australia, one of the mega bonus's is good food and access to unusual and cool substances. Go to certain areas, dens of wonder, and you can buy Frankincense, thats probably better quality, half the price and you buy it by the scoopfull, than if you go to a new agey store where its sold in a wee packet for astronomical prices. These places are now far from me in coastal town *sigh*, the first thing my mum and I did when I got off the plane in Sydney, was to go to Chinatown...oooh, aaah and have barbequed duck with plum sauce. Then proceed to spend up on beeswax candles, incense and small dried fish for my kitten.
But I digress. As much as I long to have a garden busting at the seams with herbs to be harvested straight into magical and medicinal workings its just not the reality, yet. It shall be mine, oh yes, it shall be mine. So, I was very pleased to find that theres a reason Kitchen Witch traditions seem so sensible to me, cos thats where several goodies hide quietly. Subtly dropped in as flavouring, yet having parallel uses that align with ritual. The women in my family are, um, big boned, for a reason, they rock in the kitchen! So I can relate to this as a way to nourish and create hearth and home, my maternal line havent ever named it as such, but they lived it. Russian toffee, shortbread, roasts, pavlova, sponge cakes, green curries, just 'whipped up'.
Its all about ingredients, much like making an amulet. Infact, making amulets, I have discovered is much like making a good stew. Cook it on low heat, for a long time with good ingredients. I have heard rumours that in some traditions within Celtic families, stew base was an inheritance. It would be left ontop of the wood burning stove all through winter, each day adding a little of what was about, building up layers of flavour, to be passed on. Im sure there was a special name for it but I havent yet come across it, so pardon my ignorance, but its a great metaphor and I bet they tasted awesome.
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