Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Wicca in the Kitchen (20 page)

Chapter Twenty-One

Love

T
here are many forms of love. Most of the foods mentioned in this chapter can be used for love in all of its manifestations: self-love, love among family members, friendship, love in small group situations—yes, even for that love which one human being blindly flings at another while hoping to receive love in return.

All love starts from within. We cannot and must not give love to others before we have respect and love for ourselves. Except out of compassion or pity, who would love us if we don't even like ourselves?

One of the physical manifestations of self-love is taking care of ourselves. Food, which certainly affects our bodies, also affects our emotions. It can be a powerful tool in creating self-love and, once this has been accomplished, to bring us into a loving, multifaceted relationship with another person.

The old saying “The way to a man's heart is through his stomach” is certainly true, even if sexist. In the early stages of a relationship, preparing meals for your love is an outward manifestation of your feelings. You not only care enough to cook for him (or her), you're also directly contributing to that person's survival by offering him or her the food necessary for life.

On the other hand, eating food specifically prepared for you by another is not only a gratifying, nourishing experience, it also shows your trust in that person (at least, your trust that she or he won't deliberately poison you).

Candlelit dinners in a small restaurant, with splits of champagne and tasty food, are designed to create emotional and physical intimacy between the diners. Dining out is an accepted part of the “dating” process, and can certainly be continued with good effect during magical diets.

To gain the magical effects of these love foods, however, they should be prepared and eaten at home. If you've already estab-lished a relationship with another person, prepare the dishes to-gether. This implies an equal, harmonious relationship. Simply eat these foods and visualize if you're not currently enjoying a relationship. You soon will be.

In the folk magic tradition of many cultures, food is prepared and served to another person with the sole purpose of magically “forcing” him or her to fall in love with the cook. This is common in folk magic even today. You will find no such magic in this chapter because such rituals are manipulative. The first rule of folk magic is to respect all other persons' rights as human beings with free will. When we trespass on that free will and attempt to force someone to do something, we're practicing negative (“black”) magic.

Besides, it's impossible to force another person to fall in love with you. Love is much more magical than that. This powerful emotion can't be created out of thin air, no matter what you may read in cheap spellbooks. When contemplating a ritual of this kind, ask yourself this question: would you want someone that you simply don't like to serve you love-charged foods?

If you're preparing and serving love-energized foods to your longtime mate, matters become simpler and yet more complex. You've already established a relationship, which implies not only trust but also a measure of give and take. Serving him or her a love-charged meal won't trespass on free will as long as you announce what you're doing. Saying something like “Oh, by the way, this dish is said to increase love” as you bring it to the table is sufficient. For a relationship that has worn at the seams, involve your partner in your cooking. Fully explain what you're doing and why.

He or she just may get into the spirit.

Remember: start with love for the self, then branch out in search of another. If you already have another, deepen the relationship with these foods.

Don't make the common mistake of believing these foods will produce a desire for sex. These are
love
foods, after all. See chapter 25 for more information along this line.

Spices and Herbs

Add these spices to soups, fish, and other love-inducing foods. Use fresh herbs when available. Combine with other foods listed below, for potent love-inducers. Visualize as you grind the herbs and spices, or snip the fresh leaves. Visualize as you add them to the food. Visualize as you eat.

What do you visualize? Yourself as a loving, accepting person.
Don't
visualize yourself involved with another person
unless you're already involved with him or her.

Vegetables

Serve warmed to stimulate the warmth of love.

Fruits and Seeds

Serve fresh fruit salad. Carve a heart into the peel of an apple and eat, or share the apple with a lover. In making pies with any of these fruits, trace a heart with a knife on the upper crust (or lower, if one-crusted). Or, cut steam vents in the shape of a heart. Visualize!

Nuts

Place a bowl of nuts on a table. Sit before it. Hold a nut in your hand, visualize love, and eat the nut. Repeat nine times. Any dishes that contain these nuts, such as pesto (the basil-pine nut treat), are also effective love-enhancers if they're prepared (or eaten) with visualization.

Desserts

Apple pie (flavored with cardamom)

Brownies

Carob bars (obtain at health-food stores)

Cherry-vanilla ice cream

Chocolate cake

Chocolate ice cream

Gingerbread

Ginger ice cream

Fudge ripple ice cream

Lemon chiffon pie

Key lime pie

Neapolitan ice cream

Strawberry ice cream

Also, pies made from any of the fruits listed above.

Beverages

Other Love Foods

Carob

Chocolate in all forms

Dill bread

Fish

Honey

Maple syrup

Pickles

Rye bread

Strawberry jam

Sugar

Preparing and Cooking Love Foods

Burn a pink candle. in the kitchen while preparing foods. Chop vegetables and fruits into round, flat shapes, or use a melon ball tool to create spheres (circles and spheres are symbols of love). Or, cut into heart shapes.

Combine the foods in various ways:

—avocado and tomato sandwiches on rye

—cinnamon toast served with chicory coffee and fresh, sliced strawberries (naturally heart-shaped)

—a love shake of milk, vanilla ice cream, and a melted chocolate bar

—fruits in juice or nectar form

Recipes

Oranges of Love

2 ounces soaked and strained gum arabic
§§§§

1 cup orange flower water

1 ounce powdered sugar

2 egg whites

1 ounce granulated sugar (colored orange with food coloring)

While strongly visualizing love, mix together the softened gum arabic and orange flower water with enough powdered sugar to form an elastic paste. Set aside. Blend together egg whites with the orange-colored sugar and the remaining powdered sugar. Make small balls of the orange mixture; cover with the egg-white mixture and set on waxed paper.

Fruit Salad Spell

Fruit of mango, fruit of pine,
let the one I love be mine.
Fruit of apple, fruit of peach,
bring him [her] close within my reach.
Fruit of banana, fruit of cherry,
let his [her] love for me not vary.
As I work my magic spell,
warmly in his [her] heart I dwell.
I now invoke the Law of Three:
this is my will, so mote it be!

The “fruit of pine” can be either pine nuts or pineapple.

Make a salad of the above-mentioned ingredients, concentrating on the love you wish to share. Chant the spell as you chop and slice. Mingle the fruits and place your hands on either side of the bowl, while visualizing you and your loved one building a life together. Then serve the salad. (Courtesy Morgana of Hawaii.)

Cheese of Love

1
⁄
2
pound cottage cheese

1
⁄
2
handful of at least three of these fresh, minced, mixed herbs: dill weed, lemon thyme, chives, basil, marjoram, thyme, rosemary

Visualize as you gently mix the herbs into the cottage cheese. Serve by the light of pink candles with a lettuce and tomato salad and crisp pickle chunks.

Love Philtre

5 hazelnuts

1 teaspoon lavender flowers

1 clove

Dash ginger

Dash cinnamon

Place in a mortar and pestle. While visualizing, powder together until finely reduced. Add very small portions to food to increase love.

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Chapter Twenty-Two

Protection

W
e are surrounded by unseen, nonphysical energies that are naturally produced by other human beings. Most of these energies are benevolent, or at least neutral, in their effects. Some, however, can be disturbing to our psyches and health. Others (negative thoughts or energies deliberately sent our way) can be harmful. We also face the possibility of physical dangers to our bodies, minds, emotions, and possessions. This is a fact of life.

To prevent the intrusion of such energies into their lives, and to prevent dangerous physical encounters, folk magicians have always called upon a large array of natural tools such as herbs, stones, metals, candles, and specially designed jewelry. One of the least-known magical defensive tools is—you guessed it—food.

Our natural sense of self-survival provides us with a “psychic armor” of built-in protection against negative energy. This is what sustains us. In time of need, we can boost our psychic armor. The foods listed in this chapter are useful in increasing our internal protective systems.

Don't misunderstand these words. I'm not saying that negative energies are spirits, ghosts, or demons. In the large majority of cases, demons and spirits are products of the human mind that have no real existence.
¶¶¶¶

Nor am I stating that we're open to psychic attack at any time, or that such nonphysical attacks will be effective. These are rare (usually the product of an egotistical and/or ego-deficient person) and amount to little more than a ceremonial blowing off of steam.

I've written about the practice of “psychic attack” in many of my books. I've always stated that such rituals are almost never performed. When they are, they're usually not effective. But I still receive letters from readers who believe they've been “cursed.” A review of their recent lives may seem to back them up, but this can be misleading.

The psychic armor that I mentioned above usually guards us from negative energies. If we
believe,
however, that we've been at tacked and are powerless to defend ourselves, that belief in our vulnerability can erode our psychic armor and allows any negative energy that passes by to affect us. If we believe it, a “curse,” even if none has been performed, will be effective. We've cursed ourselves.

When I first studied magic, I was solemnly warned that I could be subjected to all sorts of occult dangers. Evil spirits would surely notice me. They'd hang around to throw a few astral wrenches into my rituals and through the spokes of my life. While this notion would make a great television movie, it's completely false. As long as your magic is positive and nonmanipulative, there is no danger in practicing it. None! If, however, you perform magic to harm or to control another human being, beware of reaping the destructive fruits of destructive magic.

Still, when an individual begins sensing and moving energies (which is the essence of magic), she or he naturally becomes more aware of energies of every kind. With expanded consciousness, one can sense and feel things that were previously elusive or invisible. Most of these energies—such as those within stones, plants, and the earth itself—are positive and shouldn't be avoided. Some are negative and shouldn't be invited inside ourselves. A few of my early magical teachers were actually warning me about these nonspecific, negative energies (which they labelled “evil spirits”). The daily life of a magician isn't a constant struggle between the forces of light and darkness. Rational folk magicians don't spend half their time chanting protective spells and the other half wearing charms to guard themselves from evil. However, we all have periods when we sense the need for protection. This chapter gives you some delicious ways to guard yourself.

A protective diet can also be useful for staving off physical danger. Naturally, if someone's trying to mug you, you won't be able to drink a cup of cranberry juice or munch a slice of garlic bread to halt the robbery. If you live or work in a crime-ridden neighborhood, however, or if you've been attacked before, or if you simply think that you should smooth out a few kinks in your psychic armor, add these foods to your diet.

A few words on domestic violence: if you're a battered wife, lover, child, or (yes, indeed) husband, don't eat protective foods. Call your local police station. Leave—right now—with your children if you have any. Move into a shelter or stay with friends who'll understand. Don't go back to the person who attacked you! Love may have blinded you in the past, but now it's time to open your eyes.

Spices and Herbs

Add to food for increased protection. Before using any dried, ground herb or spice in protective cooking, sprinkle it onto a flat plate or a square of waxed paper. With your index finger, trace this symbol (or one of the protective symbols,
page 341
–344).

Visualize protection as you trace. Know that the protective energies within the spice have been aroused by your ritual. Add to the food as usual.

Protective herbs and spices can be added to just about any food, even if the dish isn't protective in nature. Their strong energies are also linked with other powers, such as love, health, and purification.

Vegetables

Slice vegetables at sharp angles or into long, pointed spear-like shapes. Visualize them as daggers of protective energy. Lightly steam the vegetables, add a small quantity of salt (for its protective qualities, not its flavor), and eat.

Make a pizza. Put basil, black pepper, and parsley in the tomato sauce (all protective foods). Place five chives into the shape of a pentagram on top of the sauce; add bell peppers, cheese, and any other items. Visualize as you make the pizza. Bake and eat for potent protection.

Fruits

Eat these fruits fresh or baked into dishes. Sprinkle salt on to pineapple to cut its acidity and to increase its protective qualities.

Nuts and Seeds

Almond

Sesame

Sunflower seed

Walnut

Eat with visualization.

Desserts

Bell-shaped cookies

Blueberry coffee cake

Cranberry sauce

Pineapple pie

Rhubarb pie

Star-shaped cookies

The sweetener added to such foods increases your self-love, which is so necessary for survival.

Beverages

Cranberry juice cocktail

Rum

Drink with protective meals.

Other Protective Foods

Eat a diet heavy in proteins. If you're vegetarian, load up on tofu, cheese, beans, and corn as well as the protective vegetables mentioned in an earlier list. Grounding yourself through the ingestion of protein foods closes you to outside influences and increases the effectiveness of your psychic armor.

Preparing and Cooking Protection Foods

Burn white candles in the kitchen while cooking. Eat with the certain knowledge (not faith) that the food will strengthen your own psychic protection and will ward off negative energies. Bless all food before eating in any way that seems appropriate. Serve protective foods in white or red dishes. These foods can be combined in many ways. Experiment!

Recipes

Fiery Protection Salad

1
⁄
2
head red cabbage

1 red bell pepper (or green, if red isn't available)

1 red onion

2 radishes

1
⁄
2
cup cider vinegar

1
⁄
4
cup olive oil

1 tablespoon mixed, dried basil, parsley, and rosemary

1
⁄
8
teaspoon fresh, minced garlic

Black pepper to taste

Cut the onion in half. Rub the salad bowl with the cut side of one of the halves. Place this half on a paper towel under the kitchen sink to absorb negativity. (Remove the next morning and deposit outside of your home.)

Cut the other onion half into two pieces. Set aside one of these for use in other cooking and firmly mince the other, visualizing the powerful strokes of the knife driving away negativity. Smell the onion's protective aroma.

Core and shred the cabbage. Core and slice the bell pepper into long, pointed pieces. Thinly slice the radishes. Visualize!

Add the vegetables to the bowl.

Make the dressing by crumbling the dried basil, parsley, and rosemary between your fingers. Place in a small bottle with a tight lid. Add the cider vinegar and olive oil. Pour in the minced garlic. Shake well just before serving. Serve dressing over salad. Grind on black pepper before serving.

Pentagram Cookies

1 cup almonds, finely ground

1
1
⁄
4
cups flour

3 teaspoons almond extract

1
⁄
4
teaspoon cloves, ground

1
⁄
2
cup confectioner's sugar

1
⁄
2
cup butter, softened

If necessary, grind the almonds in a blender or food processor until finely reduced. Combine almonds, flour, sugar, almond extract, and ground cloves. Work in butter and egg yolks with the hands until well blended. As you work, visualize glowing golden pentagrams entering the dough.

Chill the dough for 20 to 30 minutes or until cold, yet pliable. While the dough is cooling, grease 2 cookie sheets and preheat oven to 325
°
F (163°C).

Pinch off a piece of dough. the size of a walnut. Using your fingers, flatten onto the greased cookie sheet. With a toothpick or a small knife, lightly carve a pentagram on the cookie (see diagram).

Strongly visualize as you draw.

Repeat the entire process until the dough is used up. For even cooking, ensure that all cookies are approximately the same thickness.

Bake at 325°
F (163°C)
for about 18 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on racks.

Eat with power.

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