Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Wicca in the Kitchen (19 page)

Chapter Twenty

From the Dairy

Milk

Planet:
Moon

Element:
Water

Energies:
Love, spirituality

Lore:
In about the year 8000
b.c.e.
, humans began domesticating animals. No longer willing to follow roaming herds across the countryside, they built pens and began feeding and watering their stock.

This revolutionary practice certainly ensured food supplies, but the domestication of animals may have religious origins. Milk, both human and animal, was strongly associated with the birth of young. Birth was associated with life and with deity. What better offering than the food of life could be made to the Mother Goddess, the source of all fertility? At least one food historian believes that the early domestication of animals may have sprung from the need for a regular supply of milk for use in religious rituals.
29

Though human infants have always drunk human milk, several thousand years of genetic change were necessary before we could successfully drink the milk of animals. Today, a large percentage of the human population still lacks the enzyme necessary for the digestion of animal milk.
29

Both cow's and goat's milk have been linked with deities and with religion. The famous Egyptian goddess Hathor, usually depicted with the head of a cow, provided milk to deceased pharaohs as well as to the living. The cow was revered as her symbol.

Many statues of a seated Isis holding her son Horus to her breast have survived from antiquity. These are often thought to have inspired similar representations of the Virgin Mary and her son.
23
The symbolism is the same: woman (the Goddess) during the act of nourishment.

Milk was a prime offering to the deities in ancient Egypt. Tutmose III placed gold and silver jars of milk on the altar to Amon. The divine liquid was also offered to Min, the ancient Egyptian deity of fertility.
24

In Greece, goat nursemaids provided milk to Zeus, Dionysius, Asclepius, and many other deities. In his infancy, Zeus was attended by nymphs and by Almathea, the goat who fed him. Goats were thus honored as sustainers of life and bringers of food. Zeus created the
cornucopeia
(horn of plenty; cornucopia) when he presented one of the horns of Almathea to the nymphs.
88

Though most milk today is pasteurized, it still retains some of its magical qualities. Contemporary Wiccan Esbats (Full Moon rituals) may include the serving of milk as a physical symbol of the Mother Goddess. In this way, coven members gain life from her, both symbolically and in reality.

Magical uses:
Not surprisingly, milk is usually classed as a moon food, under the additional rulership of the element of water. It is a loving food, effective for strengthening your ability to give and to receive love.

As a major source of nourishment to billions of humans and to billions of animals, milk is linked with the endless Mother Goddess, provider of fertility. It's a fine food for use in diets designed to promote spirituality.

Those concerned with healthy eating prefer unpasteurized goat's milk over cow's milk. For those steeped in Egyptian lore, however, the cow's mythic connection with Isis and Hathor may suggest the use of cow's milk. This depends on the drinker's personal taste.

Butter

Planet:
Moon

Element:
Earth

Energies:
Spirituality

Lore:
Humans have been consuming butter for thousands of years. In ancient Mesopotamia, butter was offered on the altars of Ea, Shamash, Marduk, and other deities.
24
During the days of classical Greece and Rome, butter was deemed by the upper class to be a food fit only for barbarians such as cattleherders, who would certainly possess great quantities of it. For cooking purposes and for moistening bread, olive oil was preferred.
104
Since olive oil was expensive, the rich who could afford it looked down upon those who could not.

In India, ghee (clarified butter made from the milk of yaks) is poured on to images of the goddesses and gods as an act of worship and sacrifice.

Churning, the process whereby cream is separated from fresh milk, has long been an uncertain practice. With the hopes of “bringing” the butter, elder twigs were attached to the churn, or a bullet was placed in the milk itself. Chants, usually of quasi-Christian origin, were often said as well. This is a typical specimen:

“Come, butter, come!
Come, butter, come!
Peter's standing at the gate,
Waiting for a buttered cake.
Come, butter, come!”

Magical uses:
Butter, as a dairy food, is useful in spirituality diets.

Yogurt

Planet:
Moon

Element:
Water

Energies:
Spirituality

Lore:
Though its use in the American diet was once extremely limited, yogurt can now be found in virtually every food store in the country. This explosive growth in the popularity of yogurt began in the late 1960s. An ancient food, yogurt probably first appeared by accident: milk was left to sit for too long, the proper bacteria found their way into it, and a fermentation process created the yogurt.
71
Later, this nutritious food was deliberately produced to add a valuable new dish to the human diet.

Yogurt (also spelled
yoghurt
) is eaten around the world wherever herds of cows are maintained. In India, yogurt is offered to the goddesses and gods. Like butter, it is sometimes poured over small statues of the deities.

Frozen yogurt, an innovation of the 1970s, has by now fully penetrated the American “pop-food” market. It is available in a wide variety of flavors. Some brands are now fat-free and quite low in calories.

One company recently introduced a line of canned, yogurt-like milk products that contain no acidopillus cultures. Without the traditional “bite” of the genuine item, and with an extended shelflife, this new food cannot be classified as a yogurt. It's closer to a pudding.

Magical uses:
To be of any magical benefit, yogurt should be plain or naturally flavored and colored. Honey-sweetened is best. Frozen yogurt or the more conventional kind can be used. For best results, eat plain yogurt. This food is fine for stimulating a greater awareness of the spiritual.

Cheese

Planet:
Saturn

Element:
Earth

Energies:
Various (see below)

Lore:
Cheese, a mildly odorous, solid or semisolid food created from milk, has been both adored and despised. We've had plenty of time to decide whether we like it or not—cheese has been around for as long as 5,000 years. Cuneiform tablets found at Sumerian and Babylonian archaeological sites mention cheese,
70
and the remains of what was probably cheese were discovered in an Egyptian tomb dating from as early as 3000
b.c.e.
The tomb, incidentally, was that of a woman.
23, 104

In Greece, Aristaeus, the son of Apollo, was credited with “giving” cheese to humans. Greek children ate cheese just as some children today eat candy. It was a favored food for the general populace and made up the basic diet of athletes training for the Olympics.
70
In parts of ancient Greece, wedding cakes were usually cheesecakes, made by pounding and straining cheese, mixing this with honey and flour, and baking the lot.
70

There are many varieties of cheese. Some, such as Roquefort, have been known for over a thousand years.
70

Magical uses:
Cheese is generally ruled by Saturn and by the element of earth. However, semihard cheeses such as cheddar, jack, and others can be used in a variety of ritual applications.

Cut cheese into slices. As you cut, visualize your need. Using a sharp knife, cut each slice into a two-dimensional magical symbol that represents your goal. Infuse each slice with personal power, visualize, and eat.

The range of useful symbols is endless: pentagrams for protection, circles for spirituality, squares for money, hearts for love. See Symbols,
page 341
, for more ideas.

White cheese can be cut into crescent-moon shapes for Wiccan Esbat rituals, or for spells involving the moon.

Pasteurized processed cheese “foods” (such as American cheese) and cheese substitutes have no magical value whatsoever. These false cheeses shouldn't be eaten.

Ice Cream

Planet:
Moon

Element:
Water

Energies:
Various (see below)

Lore:
In the United. States, more than nine billion dollars of ice cream was sold in 1987. The national consumption for that year was estimated at a record 905 million gallons. Recently, premium ice creams (with a higher butterfat content) have swept into the stores, and ice cream is one of our favorite dessert foods.

No one knows for sure who invented ice cream. Alexander the Great is usually given credit. It was he (or, rather, his chefs) who concocted a chilled, jellied dessert then known as
macedoine.
In the first century
c.e.
, Nero sent teams of runners into the mountains to bring back snow for his ice desserts.
124

Marco Polo is said to have brought a recipe for what seems to be sherbet to Italy upon his return from Asia. Apparently, this iced dish evolved into ice cream in the 1500s in Italy.

Until 1777, ice cream was still rare in the United States. With the invention of insulated icehouses, the delicious dessert gained national popularity. Less than one hundred years later, the invention of hand-cranked home ice cream makers brought the cool food within the reach of millions.
124

Magical uses:
Flavor determines the magical uses of ice cream. Here's a list of specific flavors and their uses:

Blueberry cheesecake: Protection

Butter pecan: Money, employment

Cherry vanilla: Love

Chocolate (chip, fudge ripple, etc.): Money, love

Coffee: Conscious mind

Cookies and cream: Money

Macadamia nut: Money

Neapolitan: Love, money

Peach: Love, health, happiness, wisdom

Peanut butter: Money

Peppermint: Healing, purification

Pumpkin: Healing, money

Praline: Money

Strawberry: Love

Swiss almond: Money, healing

Vanilla: Love

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Part Three

magical
food diets

Introduction to Magical Food Diets

F
oods with similar energies should be eaten together to gain the greatest effect. The combination of their energies has a far greater possibility of manifesting desired change than does eating a single food only occasionally. Therefore, I've devised several magical diets, each designed to create a different change within yourself and your life. This information is based on extensive research and personal experimentation.

Don't misunderstand: these aren't diets as most people understand them. Except for one, they aren't designed to create weight loss (what the Brits call “slimming”). And they certainly aren't all-inclusive. In most cases, these foods shouldn't be eaten to the exclusion of all others. The best practice is to simply add some of them to each meal.

Though there are some recipes here, I haven't included those that can be found in any good cookbook. Some of these foods don't have to be cooked and, indeed, they are most effective when eaten in a raw state. Your personal tastes will determine the form in which you eat these foods.

When using this section, remember these things:

All meals and snacks can be magical;
but this doesn't mean that they must be. Still, it's best to include at least one of the suggested foods in every meal.

Cook and eat with visualization and with firm, solid purpose.

Use in moderation.
I've listed salt for grounding, sugar for love, chocolate for money, and beer for purification. Is this license to overload your body with these substances and foods? No. Good health is the best starting point for all magical rituals and for personal transformation. “Binging” is anti-magical.

Eat balanced meals.
Nutritional guidelines are in a state of flux at the time of this writing, but your daily meals should consist of fresh fruits and vegetables, protein, grains, and dairy products. If you're working on manifesting money, don't plan magical meals consisting solely of banana cream pie, candy, marzipan, and chocolate ice cream, even though these foods are suffused with money energies. If none of the nonsweetened foods in the “Money” chapter appeal to you, have a regular meal and make the dessert magical.

Eat foods that you enjoy.
Piling your plate with steamed broccoli and brussels sprouts for protection is fine—unless you detest these foods. If you truly don't enjoy certain foods, they'll be ineffective magical tools precisely because of your lack of interest in them. This will result in the diet's failure.

Attune with all food before eating.
Even if every dish doesn't fit into your magical diet, sense the food's energies and prepare yourself to absorb them. This is one of the side effects of prayer before meals (though you need not pray): it thanks the provider of the food and prepares the diner's body to receive the food.

Consult your physician or an alternative health practitioner before making drastic changes in your diet, and before fasting or embarking on any weight-loss program.
This is just common sense.

Avoid foods that cause allergic reactions.
There's no reason to brave an outbreak of hives just to gain the magical properties of strawberries. Substitute a dish with similar energies.

Write up a weekly diet plan.
This makes it easier to determine how the foods linked with your need will fit into your meals. You can deviate from this, of course.

Do not use any magical diet in conjunction with an outside weight-loss program.
The two usually don't mix. Weight-loss programs are designed for one reason: to drop pounds. Magical diets are designed for many other purposes.

Use one diet at a time.
Concentrate on creating changes step by step. You can, of course, eat foods listed in other diets. Simply don't empower them, and they'll have little magical effect.

Don't switch diets from one day to the next.
Allow the diet a proper amount of time to manifest your needed change. This might occur in a few days, a week, or a month.

Finally, give something back.
Those of us who view food as a ritual tool acknowledge its sacredness. We regularly donate food to local charities. Not only does it give us a good feeling, it also helps those who, at present, can't eat without our assistance. The most needed items usually include: peanut butter, canned beans and corn, full-strength (not condensed) canned soup, powdered milk, and other nonperishable, easily prepared foods. Check your local social service agencies for the location of nearby food banks and assistance organizations.

On with the diets!

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