Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Wicca in the Kitchen (10 page)

Rhubarb is a love food. The zingy taste ensures zingy, exciting relationships, if rhubarb is prepared with visualization. Rhubarb or rhubarb/strawberry pie is one of the ultimate love foods. The addition of sugar (necessary if rhubarb is to be enjoyed) seals the loving qualities of this Venusian vegetable.

A wedge of rhubarb pie makes an excellent protective dessert.

Seaweed

Planet:
Moon

Element:
Water

Energies:
Weight loss

Lore:
Seaweed (more correctly, sea vegetables) are surprisingly nutritious foods that are rarely found in Western diets, except as processed food additives (such as carageenan).

In Cornwall, pieces of a seaweed known as Lady's Tresses were placed on small stands near the chimney to guard seaside cottages from fire.
35

Seaweed is eaten throughout the year by the Japanese, who also serve it on their lunar New Year for happiness.
46

Magical uses:
Add seaweed to your diet if you wish to lose weight. Seaweed has been prescribed for this purpose since ancient times. Dried kelp (a generic term for seaweed) is available in all health-food stores.

Soy

(Glycine max)

Planet:
Moon

Element:
Earth

Energies:
Protections, psychic awareness, spirituality

Lore:
We know soy in two forms: soy sauce and tofu. While soy sauce has always enjoyed popularity in the West as a flavoring for Chinese food, tofu is only now gaining ground as a nutritious alternative to meat. It is especially popular with vegetarians.

The Chinese have eaten soybeans for at least 2,000 years and the Japanese for 1,000.
98
People in both cultures usually eat them in the form of tofu. In Japan, two deities, Ebisu and Daikotu, are involved in the old-style preparation of tofu. Symbols of these deities are burned into the side of the wooden boxes used to measure the soybeans to be processed into tofu. This blesses them with the energies of Ebisu and Daikotu.
98

Throughout Japan, fried tofu is an acceptable offering at the
inami,
agricultural shrines that dot the countryside. These shrines are dedicated to agricultural deities.
54
On the Japanese New Year, handfuls of roasted soybeans are scattered onto the floor in homes and temples. These “beans of good fortune” are then thrown through an open window to the chant of “Out with evil; in with good fortune!”
54, 60

In the 1600s, the Emperor Nintoku established the Women's Mass for Needles. In this ceremony, a cake of tofu is situated on the household altar. Women push all the needles which have been bent or broken in the past year into the cake of tofu. This is done to give the needles—thought to be the spirits of people whose bodies have been sacrificed in service—a gentle resting place.
54

Magical uses:
Add soy sauce or tofu to protective diets. Soy sauce is ideal for this due to its extreme saltiness (though too much is, of course, hazardous to good health). For protection, stirfry tofu with onions and other vegetables of similar energies.

Tofu is also eaten for psychic awareness (particularly if one is searching for alternatives to meat), and to induce spirituality.

Spinach

(Spinacea oleracea)

Planet:
Jupiter

Element:
Earth

Energies:
Money

Lore:
In the United States, spinach is remembered as the favorite food of a popular cartoon character, upon whom it magically bestowed great physical strength. This green, leafy vegetable seems to have been introduced from Persia (present-day Iran) to Europe in the fifteenth century; it was soon used on fasting days.
45

Magical uses:
Steam spinach and eat as a part of prosperity diets. Flavor with sesame seeds or nutmeg for added power.

Spirulina

Planet
: Venus

Element:
Water

Energies:
Physical energy

Lore:
After they'd arrived in what is now known as Mexico, the Spaniards observed the Aztecs eating what was described as “green foam” or “green mud.” The custom disappeared as the lakes surrounding what is now Mexico City were drained, and the food remained a mystery for hundreds of years.

It seems that the Aztecs ate large quantities of spirulina, the “modern” wonder algae that thrived in the lakes. Spirulina, which is nearly 70 percent protein, contains all the amino acids necessary for human life, as well as seven vitamins.
29

Magical uses:
Spirulina is available in tablet and powder form. It can be added to food or eaten alone, with visualization, to boost physical energy. All health-food stores stock it.

Sprouts

Planet:
Various

Element:
Various

Energies:
Various

Magical uses:
Though sprouted seeds have long been a part of Asian cooking,
71
we've only recently introduced them to our salads and breads.

Generally, all sprouts are fine for promoting psychic awareness. Here's a list of some specific sprouts and their energies:

Alfalfa
(Venus, earth): Money, psychic awareness

Bean
(Mercury, air): Protection

Mung
(Mercury, air): Spirituality

Soy
(Moon, earth): Spirituality, psychic awareness, protection

Sunflower
(Sun, fire): Protection

Squash

(Curcurbita
spp.)

Planet:
Sun

Element:
Fire

Energies:
Spirituality

Lore:
Squash was cultivated in the Americas as early as 4000
b.c.e.
104
Several American Indian tribes honored this plant. One striking Hopi kachina is depicted with a squash head, and squash-blossom necklaces are modern reminders of the original sacredness of this simple plant.

Magical uses:
Eat this vegetable in dishes designed to increase awareness of the nonphysical reality around us. It is a fine spirituality-inducing food. At least for magical purposes, a squash is a squash, baked or fresh, acorn, hubbard, or zucchini.

Many people, of course, dislike squash. If you're one of them, avoid this food or eat sweetened zucchini bread.

Sunflower

(Helianthus annuus)

Planet:
Sun

Element:
Fire

Energies:
Protection, success

Lore:
Sunflowers were viewed as symbols of the sun by the ancient Incas of Peru. Gold crowns inspired by this flower were reportedly worn by solar priestesses during rituals.
90

Many Mexican gardens contain sunflowers, since their presence is thought to confer “luck.” Women still eat sunflower seeds for help in conceiving a child. In the United States, the seeds are gathered at sunset and eaten to gain a wish.

Magical uses:
Hold your hands over a small bowl of roasted sunflower seeds. Visualize them bursting with the energies of the sun—protection, success, triumph. Then eat them to bring these powers inside yourself. Or, add to protective salads and other dishes.

Sweet Potato

(Ipomoea batatas)

Planet:
Venus

Element:
Water

Energies:
Love, sex

Lore:
An English cookbook of 1596 includes the preparation of a sweet potato tart intended to excite sexual desires.
29

Those sweetened, orange tubers often served at Thanksgiving are actually sweet potatoes, not yams. Yams certainly do exist and are eaten in large quantities in Africa, Central and South America, and the West Indies, but not in the U.S. True yams are massive tubers, growing to as long as seven feet and tipping the scales at more than one hundred pounds. Compare these to our “yams” of November and you'll readily see the difference.

Magical uses:
Cook and eat sweet potatoes to expand your ability to receive as well as to give love. Flavor with cinnamon, ginger, and a dash of honey or sugar to further empower them with loving energies.

Or, prepare them with visualization and share with a mate for enhanced sexuality. Inform your partner of the food's power.

Tomato

(Lycopersicon
spp.)

Planet:
Venus

Element:
Water

Energies:
Health, money, love, protection

Lore:
Known as
zictomatl
by the Aztecs,
83
the tomato is an ancient food. When it was introduced into Europe in the sixteenth century, the tomato was regarded with suspicion. It is botanically related to nightshade, which is obvious from studying the plant's leaves, flowers, and even fruit. Everyone assumed that its fruits were also poisonous, despite the tales of the inhabitants of New Spain (Mexico) eating it and surviving.
104

The fruits became known as “love apples” and were finally accepted into the dietary regime. At some point in the past, the tomato was considered to be a lucky food, and the red tomato pincushions that are still made today are a survival of this idea.

Lonely women once dried tomato seeds and enclosed them in a piece of cloth. They wore this charm around their necks in the hope of attracting men.
25

Magical uses:
Tomatoes can be used in a number of ways. Tomato sauce, tomato juice, and the popular Italian combination of sun-dried tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and basil are just some of them.

For health, eat fresh tomatoes, or cook them with sage and rosemary.

Mixing basil, cinnamon, or dill weed with tomatoes creates an especially potent, money-attracting food.

For love, season tomatoes with rosemary, or eat them while they're fresh and bursting with juice.

To bring protective energy inside yourself, flavor tomatoes with black pepper, bay, dill, or rosemary.

Truffle

(Tuber melanospermum)

Planet:
Venus

Element:
Water

Energies:
Love, sex

Magical uses:
The Romans believed that truffles were created by thunder.
27
Add truffles to foods designed to increase your ability to give and to receive love. If that's not the important issue, eat truffles to increase sexual desire.

Watercress

Planet:
Mars

Element:
Fire

Energies:
Protection, fertility

Lore:
In the ancient world, watercress was thought to strengthen the conscious mind. The Greeks (who knew the plant as
kardamon
) ate watercress to gain wit.
55
Classical Romans munched the spicy green leaves to stimulate their brains.
86

Magical uses:
Add watercress to protective diets. The sharp taste and the plant's habit of growing near flowing water makes it ideal for this purpose. Eat with visualization, as always.

Watercress is also eaten to promote physical fertility.

[contents]

Chapter Eleven

Fruit

N
aturally sweet, refreshing and fragrant, fruits of all kinds have given humans millions of hours of culinary enjoyment.

It once surprised me that the Buddhist altars I'd seen in San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and throughout Hawaii usually contained offerings of fruit, not vegetables. Oranges are perhaps the most favored of these.

Why is fruit favored over vegetables? Perhaps because vegetables (and grains) have been the mainstays of the human diet. They grow in or on the ground. Fruit, however, generally grows on trees. Perhaps it seemed “higher,” more exalted than other foodstuffs. Fruit's unique sweetness probably has something to do with this reverence as well.

The pomegranate of Mesopotamia; the strawberries of the Teutons; the coconut and banana of the Pacific Islanders; the apples of Avalon; the pear and peach of China—these are some of the fruits that have been revered as direct links with deity.

I've tried to list the most popular fruits in this section, as well as a few that are only now appearing in our grocery carts and at farmer's markets. But even the most familiar fruit assumes a new importance in the realm of food magic: its potential as a tool of self-transformation.

Apple

(Pyrus malus)

Planet:
Venus

Element:
Water

Energies:
Love, health, peace

Lore:
The peoples who inhabited the prehistoric lake dwellings of Switzerland enjoyed apples, as shown by apple remains found there.
105
Apples may have been eaten as long ago as the Paleolithic era.

They were a valued food in ancient Egypt. Ramses III offered 848 baskets of apples to Hapy, the Egyptian god of the Nile.
23
Among the Norse, Iduna safeguarded a store of apples. When eaten, the apples gave the gift of perpetual youth to the goddesses and gods.
90
It is said that certain Norse priests were forbidden to eat apples, due to the fruit's legendary lustful properties.
62
Apples are still offered to Chango among the Yoruba.

Apple trees once grew around the sacred island of Avalon in England, and apples were intimately linked with spirituality in the British Isles.

At one time, apples were always rubbed before they were eaten to remove all the demons or evil spirits that were thought to
reside within them. Even the smell of fresh apples was thought to bestow longevity and restore flagging physical strength.

Magical uses:
Love.
Simply eat a fresh apple. Carve a heart into the skin before devouring it. Drink apple cider. Bake an apple pie (flavored with cinnamon, ginger, and sugar). Share an apple with a lover.

Health.
Place a glass of apple cider between your palms. Visualize health and healing energies flowing into it between your hands. Visualize your body's natural healing ability gaining in strength. See yourself as being healed. Then drink the cider. Or, cut an apple into three parts with a sharp knife while visualizing. Eat all three parts.

Peace.
Add applesauce, apple cake, apple dumplings, or some other cooked form of apples to your diet.

Apricot

(Prunus armeniaca)

Planet:
Venus

Element:
Water

Energies:
Love, peace

Lore:
Apricots probably originated in China, where they were cultivated as early as 2000
b.c.e.
71
They arrived in England by 1562
c.e.
53

Magical uses:
These fleshy fruits are ideal additions to love-expanding diets. They can be used fresh or cooked. Apricot nectar, a combination of fruit pulp, sugar, and water, can be drunk for love.

Love sauce.
Stew ripe apricots with warm water until soft and mushy. Taste and add a bit of honey or sugar if desired. Run through a blender or food processor until smooth. Pour on to vanilla ice cream for a love-inducing treat.

Also, eat apricots in any form for peace.

Avocado

(Persea americana)

Planet:
Venus

Element:
Earth

Energies:
Beauty, love

Lore:
Avocados have been enjoyed in Central America for at least 7,000 years.
71
The Aztecs made a type of guacamole with avocado, tomato, and chili peppers that is similar to the dish we enjoy today. The Aztecs also considered avocados to be aphrodisiacs.

Magical uses:
To promote beauty, hold a ripe avocado in your hands. Visualize your new appearance as strongly as you can. Maintain your visualization as you peel and eat the avocado. Eat at least one a day (plain) for blossoming beauty.

Avocados are also a useful love food.

Banana

(Musa
spp.)

Planet:
Mars

Element:
Air

Energies:
Spirituality, love, money

Lore:
The banana is mentioned throughout the sacred books of India, and is still considered to be a holy food. A valued offering to Hindu deities, the banana's leaves are used to decorate marriage altars.
2

Stalks of the banana plant (it is not a tree) were sometimes offered in place of humans during sacrificial rites in the Pacific.
7
Polynesian legends tell of the creation of the original banana plant from the bodies of slain heroes.
7

In old New Orleans, the plants were grown for luck near the home. In Hawaii, food wrapped in large banana leaves was thought to be safe from intruding negativity.
7

Though we know little of the banana's orgins, it's certain that people in India were enjoying the slippery fruits in about 2000
b.c.e.
; that bananas arrived in Africa in 500
c.e.
, in Polynesia around 1000
c.e.
, and in tropical America during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
7
1
Bananas were introduced to consumers in North America at the 1876 Philadelphia Exposition. Not long afterward, thousands of tons were being imported and purchased by an appreciative populace.
2
Most of the bananas we eat today are grown in Ecuador.

During the 1960s, banana peels were sometimes smoked as a replacement for marijuana. Though this had little or no effect beyond suggestion, it is curious that banana peels actually do contain minute amounts of the psychoactive substances serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine.
52, 71
Fortunately, smoking the peels had little effect and the fad quickly died out.

Don't eat bright yellow bananas. Those who dislike the taste of bananas may have never eaten a ripe one. Bananas are ripe only when the peel has begun to turn brown. The more brown spots, the more sugar that has been formed within the fruit.

Magical uses:
The fruits form upward on the stalk, reaching toward the sky. Eating bananas stimulates spirituality. Choose fresh bananas, baked bananas, or that exquisite Chinese treat, candied (toffied) bananas.

Also add the fruit to love and prosperity diets.

Blackberry

(Rubus villosus)

Planet:
Venus

Element:
Water

Energies:
Money, sex

Magical uses:
Blackberries are traditionally eaten during the harvest festivals.

Bake a blackberry pie, eat blackberry jam, or consume fresh blackberries to draw money. A bowl of oat cereal topped with fresh blackberries is a delicious money-charged breakfast. Or, eat the delicious, seedy berries to increase your interest in sex. Visualize!

Blueberry

(Vaccinum frondosum)

Planet:
Moon

Element:
Water

Energies:
Protection

Magical uses:
This delicious Native American food is a welcome addition to the arsenal of protective foods. Eaten with visualization, it increases our magical defense systems.

Here are some suggestions: eat blueberry pie. Add the fruits to coffee cake with protective spices (see
chapter 12
). Have a dish of blueberry ice cream. Sprinkle fresh blueberries onto a bowl of cooked rice or corn flakes for a doubly protective breakfast.

To make a protective kitchen charm, crush fresh blueberries. With a finger dipped into the juice, mark the sign of the pentagram (see
appendix 2
) on to a piece of white paper. Keep this in the kitchen (it doesn't have to be in plain sight) to guard the room itself as well as the food that is stored and prepared there. Wash your finger after making the sign. It'll need it.

Carambola

(Averrhoa carambola)

Planet:
Sun

Element:
Fire

Energies:
Protection

Lore:
Carambola (starfruit) is one of the “new” fruits that have only recently begun appearing in our markets. A native to Indonesia,
89
carambola ripens and is available during the winter months. It's commercially grown in Florida, Texas, and California. I've also seen it in stores from Denver to Hawaii.

The fruit itself is an unusual ribbed oblong of yellow flesh. When sliced, it produces star-shaped sections. The flesh is usually sweet, firm, and crisp. Seeds, peel, and all can be eaten.

Magical uses:
The first time that I saw a starfruit, I was amazed at its resemblance to the pentagram. This tasty fruit should be sliced with visualization, then simply eaten or added to protective dishes. A protective fruit salad can be made with carambola slices, whole blueberries, mango chunks, pineapple slices, whole raspberries, and tangerine sections. Carambola slices can also be used to garnish other protective foods.

Cherry

(Prunus
spp.)

Planet:
Venus

Element:
Water

Energies:
Love

Magical uses:
The sight of cherry blossoms portends further delights once the round red fruits have matured.

Make a killer cherry pie using as much love-visualization as you possibly can. Lightly trace a heart on the bottom crust before baking. Eat one piece of the pie each day until it is gone, while creating a mental image of yourself involved in a loving relationship.

Citron

(Citrus medica)

Planet:
Sun

Element:
Fire

Energies:
Strength

Lore:
Citron was first used in Egypt in the second century
c.e.
23
Though we may not encounter this fruit except in Yuletide fruitcakes, citron was once accorded a lofty place in the world. Pliny wrote that it was grown around temples dedicated to Amon in ancient Egypt. Citron was thought to have been created by Ge (the Egyptian god of the earth) to celebrate the wedding of Zeus and Hera. This myth was obviously formed during the influx of Greek thought into Egypt.
23

In Mediterranean countries, citron is still used to drive away the “evil eye.”

Magical uses:
Fresh citron is rarely available, but the candied fruit can be added to foods designed to strengthen your physical body.

Cranberry

(Vaccinium oxycoccus)

Planet:
Mars

Element:
Water

Energies:
Protection

Lore:
Cranberries, native to North America and Europe,
53
were eaten by Indians long before being introduced to the Pilgrims.
53

A close relative of the cranberry lives in Hawaii. The
ohelo (Vaccinium reticulatum)
grows on short plants found at higher elevations.
58
The juicy red fruits, which taste like cranberries but are sweeter, are made into jam and are the central ingredient in the famous ohelo berry pie served at Volcano House, on the rim of Kilauea crater on the Big Island.

Magical uses:
The sourness of cranberries makes them an ideal protective food. Eat sweetened cranberry sauce during protective meals.

Date

(Phoenix dactylifera)

Planet:
Sun

Element:
Air

Energies:
Spirituality, strength

Lore:
The date palm may have grown in some areas as early as 48,000 years ago. Humans have always eaten the fruit.
104

Dates were once thought to be eaten by the spirits of the dead.
35
Babylonians dried dates and ate them as we eat candies.
104
They also offered them to their deities. Dates from both Babylon and Dilmun, presented on a slice of bread soaked in oil, were given to Anu. Ea, Shamash, and Marduk were similarly offered this food.
24, 51
Date syrup was a popular sweetener in Mesopotamia, and date wine was another sacred food.
104
The date tree was an ancient symbol of fertility.

Magical uses:
If you enjoy the taste and texture of dates, add them to a spirituality enhancing diet. Switch to date sugar for sweetening purposes. Or, simply eat the delicious fruits one at a time.

Also, consume dates to increase your physical strength.

Dates are an important part of fertility diets.

Fig

(Ficus carica)

Planet:
Jupiter