fire & cauldron

fire burn and cauldron bubble

[fireandcauldron]

"Julia makes the best Milky Way cakes."

"Like the candy bar?"

"Yep. The candy bars are melted and poured into the batter. It means 'Welcome.'"

Emily looked over to the cake Julia had brought yesterday morning, still on the counter. "I thought an apple stack cake meant 'Welcome.'"

"Any kind of cake means 'Welcome,'" he said. "Well, except for coconut cake. You give coconut cake and fried chicken when there's a death."

Emily looked at him strangely.

"And occasionally a broccoli casserole," he added.

-- The Girl Who Chased The Moon by Sarah Addison Allen

[fireandcauldron]

But I had an idea. While Mom put groceries away, I rummaged around in the pantry, grabbing flour, some spices, and a can of crushed pineapple. Dumping those on the counter, I fished out a mixing bowl and some measuring cups and went to work.

“What are you doing?” Mom asked, setting the paper bags of food on the counter.

“Making a cake,” I replied. I measured out a tablespoon of vanilla as Mom walked over to the bowl, taking in the assembled ingredients. “Hummingbird cake? Fancy. Who’s the lucky recipient?”

“Miss Saylor.” Reaching in one of the drawers, I pulled out the biggest spoon I could find.

Mom gave me a careful look. She knew what hummingbird cake meant. “And what did you do that requires a ‘sorry I screwed up’ cake?”

-- Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins

[stormystormystormystorm-deactiv]

How to Choose Recipes for Kitchencraft

Step One: Research the magical properties of food and culinary herbs that are within the range of what you would like to accomplish.

I’m looking to make a spell that brings a family member a good job, great finances and financial opportunity, and encourages them to move. Ingredients with properties such as luck, finances, opportunity, etc, would be great places to start to build an ingredients list.

Step Two: Compile a manageable list of ingredients from your research.

After researching I find that Cabbage, Beans, Rice, Onion, Cilantro, Garlic, Basil, Orange Peel, Bay Leaf, and Sage have the properties I want.

Step Three: Google for recipes containing the core components of the ingredients list.

For mine, that core was the Cabbage, Rice, and Beans. The Google search would have been for recipes containing those items primarily.

Step Four: Choose a recipe.

I settled on Black Beans and Cabbage over Rice, and modified the ingredients list to also contain minute amounts of the other ingredients necessary for my spell.

[wrathfulclam]

I’m the worst kind of witch ever, the kind that cleans.

Sophie, Howl’s Moving Castle  (via descensum-and-such)

[fireandcauldron]

There's a Witch in the Kitchen

Perhaps your first thought is a love potion being brewed up, or aphrodisiacs being served up.

Or maybe you see salves setting on the counter. Rows of jars for healing, for seeing, for flight.

Is there an altar or shrine in the corner? Are there offerings of milk and bread for the spirits? 

Do you think there are charms hanging from the cabinet doors, or just a very well stocked spice rack?

There may be visions of neo-Wiccans cooking seasonally appropriate food for the upcoming Sabbat.

If you're creative you might think of your neighbor whose sugar cookies never fail to end an argument, a special tea that causes you to dream of your future, or a stew that always manages to call someone home, no matter how long they've been away.

Poisoned apples, birthday candles, black eyed peas and collard greens on New Year's Day.

The continued chant of "please let this taste good, please let this taste good." over an improvised recipe.

Lunches packed not only with food, but happiness and love and protection. 

Whispered prayers over glasses of water and homemade ice cream to loosen the tongue for midnight gossip.

Deities, spirits, ancestors, family. 

I don't call myself a kitchen witch, but I understand how you could wander in there with your cauldron and your wooden spoon and never come back out. There's enough magic in the kitchen to last a lifetime.

[fireandcauldron]

In my house, we have plenty of space...in theory. But we have no real furniture yet, so everything just ends up kind of...everywhere.

That means sometimes my altar spaces and reading spaces are temporary. This will be taken down and put away soon, but the space was there for when I needed it. I love having permanent altars and shrines, but I've grown to appreciate these moments when they happen.

[hellboundwitch]

Hellbound Witch's Chant for Creaming Butter and Sugar by Hand

"I am a motherfucking witch and this motherfucking butter and motherfucking sugar will cream together, god dammit.”

[fireandcauldron]

Simple Popcorn Divination

There are a lot of great reasons to make popcorn on the stove, and divination is one of my favourites. (It usually is.)

After I make some popcorn, I like to add a little more oil in the pot, toss in a few kernels, throw the lid on, and ask some questions. The easiest way to do that is to assign each kernel a meaning or a value (preferably a small number, so that it doesn't become too difficult to keep track of -- I'm fond of three) and then ask a question.

Some ideas:

Yes/No

Option A/Option B/Option C

Earth/Wind/Water/Fire

North/South/East/West

Summer/Autumn/Winter/Spring

I'm a big fan of the first two, although I usually do yes/no/unknown rather than just yes or no.

Whichever kernel pops first can be taken as your answer, although it's also worth mentioning that the order in which the kernels pop is another thing you can pay attention to.

It's also a fun fortune telling game with friends or family. Everyone adds their own kernel and and a question like "Which of us will be most successful?" can be asked. (Or if you want to star in your own horror film, "Who is going to die first?" is a spookier choice)

Note that I really recommend keeping the lid on your pot while you do this -- it's dangerous to have your head hanging over hot oil as you stare into it.

Also, if you prefer adding your kernels to hot oil rather than cold, you can do this before popping the rest of your popcorn, which also helps to make it more discrete.

[loupblaster]

A witch house

Original drawings

[kvotheunkvothe]

Home is where, when you go there and tell people to get out, they have to leave.

Jim Butcher, Dresden Files (via kvotheunkvothe)

[libraford]

Kitchen Witch.

I have a policy about fire: If I can use it in a craft, I will. 

[fireandcauldron]

I couldn't help myself, and I decided to start my new blog off with a spread! It's kitchen themed, so it fits, right?

This is the Back Burner Spread -- when you feel overwhelmed by your responsibilities, or you're not sure where to start or what to focus on, sometimes you just have to put some things on the back burner.

Cards 1 and 2 are your Front Burners:  the areas of the situation that you'll want to keep your focus on. They may require immediate attention, or need frequent observation or action.

Cards 3 and 4 are your Back Burners:  these are more minor things you can let rest. Put them aside for now and focus on the issues that came up in your first two cards, and check in on these when things are a bit less hectic.