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@sol-hailstorm
Candle making.
Jesmonite trays and candle holders.
COCA DE SANT JOAN A MIDSUMMER RECIPE FROM CATALONIA
Midsummer to Saint John’s Eve is a very magical period in the Northern Hemisphere, we celebrate the longest day and the shortest night of the year, the heat of the sun and the ripening of the summer fruits. On these days of warmth and light the veil between the worlds fades and magic impregnates the air. The air we all breathe.
On these dates spirit communion and communication are easier to achieve and rituals by sacred places are common. We purify ourselves jumping over fire, burn our wishes written in paper in the bonfires, we wash ourselves beautiful, healthy or young with morning dew and some even collect ashes from the burnt fir trees for protection spells. These are just a few examples of Midsummer traditions I grew up with and that we share with other nations across the Northern Hemisphere.
Midsummer/Nit the Sant Joan/Nit de les bruixes (St John’s Eve or Witches’ Night) is huge in Catalonia and these dates are very often a key element in Catalan mythology. It’s the time when fairy queens kidnap their lovers, when girls become fairies and when witches cast powerful spells to name a few. I could probably write a book or two on the Catalan Midsummer but I thought I would share something you can make, personalise and enjoy at home. We love food and we love this brioxish Midsummer cake which is traditional, delicious and travels pretty well wherever you want to eat/offer it.
Let the baking commence!
Ingredients for the dough: ⦁ 300g white bread flour ⦁ 2 eggs ⦁ 45g sugar ⦁ 30g butter ⦁ 7g salt ⦁ 60g water ⦁ 2 tsps vanilla extract ⦁ ½ tsps cinnamon ⦁ 1 tsps lemon zest
Ingredients for the custard: ⦁ 50g yeast ⦁ 500ml milk ⦁ 40g corn starch ⦁ 100g sugar ⦁ ½ tsps lemon zest or the skin of 1 lemon ⦁ 1 cinnamon stick ⦁ 1 vanilla pod or 2 tsps vanilla extract ⦁ 3 egg yolks
Toppings:
⦁ Sugar
⦁ pine nuts or slices almonds or hazelnuts ⦁ fruit ⦁ 1 beaten egg (to brush)
Part 1- the dough ⦁ We’ll mix the flour, the eggs, sugar, salt, lemon zest, vanilla, cinnamon, yeast, water and 10g butter all together. Slowly, we’ll add the rest of the butter, 10g at a time, making sure our dough is smooth and everything is well incorporated. ⦁ We’ll work the dough well. When the dough is not sticky any more, we’ll take a piece and stretch it. If the dough is stretchy and it doesn’t break, it’s ready. We’ll let it rest 30 minutes. ⦁ We’ll stretch the dough into our desired shape, usually oval or round, an inch thick more or less. We’ll brush it with the beaten egg and let rest until it doubles its size. The longer the rest, the better, so we’ll give it at least 3 hours.
Part 2- the cream/custard ⦁ We’ll take 5-6 spoons of our 500ml of milk and use them to dissolve the corn starch in a cup. ⦁ We’ll heat the rest of the milk in a saucepan with the lemon peel, the vanilla and cinnamon stick. ⦁ We’ll beat the egg yolks with the sugar in a bowl. ⦁ When the milk starts boiling, we’ll turn the fire down and remove the lemon peel and cinnamon stick. Then add the milk with corn starch and the egg yolks with sugar and mix well. We’ll stir it well in the saucepan at a low heat until thick and finally, we’ll let it cool down covered in cling film.
Part 3- Assembling and baking ⦁ We’ll transfer the cream into a pipping bag. ⦁ We’ll brush the dough with egg again. Sun motifs are common and fitting but some people will just draw lines with the cream to ensure there’s a bit of cream through the whole cake. ⦁ Another option is dividing the dough in two and using the cream as a filling rather than a topping and decorate with fruit or nuts on top. ⦁ We’ll finish dusting the cake with sugar and baking it at 220 Celsius for around 15 minutes or until golden.
Your cake will be your interpretation of Midsummer, of the season and of the spirit of the place where you live. For this reason, I haven’t being specific with the fruit used for the toppings, while someone may choose to use fruit or not, I would always advice using local produce. If you have the chance to grow or pick your fruit, even better.
I also like to make another traditional Midsummer cake made with puff pastry and filled with the custard (leftover from the recipe above) and berries. Topped with a bit of meringue and pine nuts.
Happy Midsummer everyone!
*This recipe was first published in Witch magazine, Midsummer special. Available at Issuu.
One of the most powerful moments I experienced as an ancient history student was when I was teaching cuneiform to visitors at a fair. A father and his two little children came up to the table where I was working. I recognised them from an interfaith ceremony I’d attended several months before: the father had said a prayer for his homeland, Syria, and for his hometown, Aleppo.
All three of them were soft-spoken, kind and curious. I taught the little girl how to press wedges into the clay, and I taught the little boy that his name meant “sun” and that there was an ancient Mesopotamian God with the same name. I told them they were about the same age as scribes were when they started their training. As they worked, their father said to them gently: “See, this is how your ancestors used to write.”
And I thought of how the Ancient City of Aleppo is almost entirely destroyed now, and how the Citadel was shelled and used as a military base, and how Palmyran temples were blown up and such a wealth of culture and history has been lost forever. And there I was with these children, two small pieces of the future of a broken country, and I was teaching them cuneiform. They were smiling and chatting to each other about Mesopotamia and “can you imagine, our great-great-great-grandparents used to write like this four thousand years ago!” For them and their father, it was more than a fun weekend activity. It was a way of connecting, despite everything and thousands of kilometres away from home, with their own history.
This moment showed me, in a concrete way, why ancient studies matter. They may not seem important now, not to many people at least. But history represents so much of our cultural identity: it teaches us where we come from, explains who we are, and guides us as we go forward. Lose it, and we lose a part of ourselves. As historians, our role is to preserve this knowledge as best we can and pass it on to future generations who will need it. I helped pass it on to two little Syrian children that day. They learnt that their country isn’t just blood and bombs, it’s also scribes and powerful kings and Sun-Gods and stories about immortality and tablets that make your hands sticky. And that matters.
Halloween (or Castanyada, or Tots Sants in Catalan) has its origins in the pagan religions practised in Europe for millenia before the arrival of Christianism. These were dates to honour the ancestors and prepare for winter. People would deep clean their houses and decorate them with candles, lamps and carved parsnips or pumpkins. Children would knock at their neighbours houses and get sweet treats in exchange for a song or solving a riddle. People would cast lots, read the future and attempt to contact their dead. Cemeteries were clean and redecorated and preparations were made to ensure people had enough food to survive the winter.
Across Europe it was common to leave a plate of food at the table for the ancestors to dine with the family. Over time people started bringing these food offerings to the cemeteries and this is how Catalans came to bring (and eat) panellets at the tombs of their deceased. These little marzipan cakes would have been previously blessed by a priest, tradition lost now that Catalan society is much more secular. Today, while people may bring flowers to the cemeteries, they will most likely skip the church’s service and eat the panellets at home. In fact, panellets are often made at home. They’re pretty simple little cakes easy and fun to make at home with children.
The ingredients we’ll need are:
1 medium size sweet potato 250g of ground almonds 200g of caster sugar 2 eggs lemon zest 100g of pine nuts/chopped almonds 7-8 spoons of dissecated coconut aprox. 50-60g of cocoa powder aprox. icing sugar as many bowls as flavours we want
The measure given above will make around 20 panellets of 3-4 different flavours.
Firstly, we will prepare the marzipan by baking the sweet potato until soft. We’ll let it cool down a bit, peel it and mash it with a fork. Then we’ll add the sugar and the lemon zest and mix all ingredients with our fork. When the sugar is incorporated, slowly, slowly, we add the ground almonds and 1 egg. We’ll work the mixture with our hands and let it rest covered in cling film inside the fridge overnight (or at least 4 hours).
Next day we will divide the marzipan in 3 parts to make panellets of different flavours and we’ll separate the yolk from the whites of the 2nd egg into 2 different bowls/containers and beat them.
For the pine nuts/almonds panellets we will portion our marzipan and shape little balls an inch or so wide. We’ll wash them in the egg white and coat them in the nuts. Before baking, we’ll brush them with the egg yolk.
For the coconut panellets we’ll mix the marzipan with the coconut, shape it into balls or cones, wash them in the egg white and coat them with more coconut.
For the chocolate panellets we’ll mix the marzipan with the cocoa powder, shape it into balls and coat in icing sugar for a dusty finish.
Lastly, we will bake the panellets at 200 Celsius for 10 minutes. Optionally, we can decorate them too.
Enjoy!
This panellet is slightly bigger than the others, I froze some nutella in an ice tray and coated with the marzipan. It turned very well and it looks perfect with a little marshamallow on top.
Home cinema
(via)
Dear you,
This is a pick a card mini reading with 4 piles. These readings are general and may not resonate with everyone but if you come across this reading and feel it was fate, then I hope you find it helpful or interesting :)
Decks used are Amor et Psyche oracle cards by Georges Barbier and Rachel Paul, and Sexual Magic Tarot by Laura Tuan and Mauro de Luca.
Best,
L
The deck used for this readings is The Illustrated Herbiary by Maia Toll. I just bought this lovely deck recently and I’m loving it. Being a herbalism enthusiast I just wish the deck included more herbs!
The cards are quite big, especially if you have tiny hands like me, and the artwork is beautiful. The accompanying book includes a ritual and a reflection on each card.
Please note all the quotes below are taken from the book and are Maia Toll’s words.
Pick a card mini reading, 3 cards on each pile.
The Greenwood Tarot.
I was planning to upload something yesterday for Summer Solstice but unfortunately I had a bad migraine and I couldn’t get much done at all. I hope you find something helpful in these mini readings. They’re very general and may not resonate with everyone as this is a pick a card reading with only 5 options, but you may find it entertaining.
I hope you all had a great Midsummer!
COCA DE SANT JOAN A MIDSUMMER RECIPE FROM CATALONIA
Midsummer to Saint John’s Eve is a very magical period in the Northern Hemisphere, we celebrate the longest day and the shortest night of the year, the heat of the sun and the ripening of the summer fruits. On these days of warmth and light the veil between the worlds fades and magic impregnates the air. The air we all breathe.
On these dates spirit communion and communication are easier to achieve and rituals by sacred places are common. We purify ourselves jumping over fire, burn our wishes written in paper in the bonfires, we wash ourselves beautiful, healthy or young with morning dew and some even collect ashes from the burnt fir trees for protection spells. These are just a few examples of Midsummer traditions I grew up with and that we share with other nations across the Northern Hemisphere.
Midsummer/Nit the Sant Joan/Nit de les bruixes (St John’s Eve or Witches’ Night) is huge in Catalonia and these dates are very often a key element in Catalan mythology. It’s the time when fairy queens kidnap their lovers, when girls become fairies and when witches cast powerful spells to name a few. I could probably write a book or two on the Catalan Midsummer but I thought I would share something you can make, personalise and enjoy at home. We love food and we love this brioxish Midsummer cake which is traditional, delicious and travels pretty well wherever you want to eat/offer it.
Let the baking commence!
Ingredients for the dough: ⦁ 300g white bread flour ⦁ 2 eggs ⦁ 45g sugar ⦁ 30g butter ⦁ 7g salt ⦁ 60g water ⦁ 2 tsps vanilla extract ⦁ ½ tsps cinnamon ⦁ 1 tsps lemon zest
Ingredients for the custard: ⦁ 50g yeast ⦁ 500ml milk ⦁ 40g corn starch ⦁ 100g sugar ⦁ ½ tsps lemon zest or the skin of 1 lemon ⦁ 1 cinnamon stick ⦁ 1 vanilla pod or 2 tsps vanilla extract ⦁ 3 egg yolks
Toppings:
⦁ Sugar
⦁ pine nuts or slices almonds or hazelnuts ⦁ fruit ⦁ 1 beaten egg (to brush)
Part 1- the dough ⦁ We’ll mix the flour, the eggs, sugar, salt, lemon zest, vanilla, cinnamon, yeast, water and 10g butter all together. Slowly, we’ll add the rest of the butter, 10g at a time, making sure our dough is smooth and everything is well incorporated. ⦁ We’ll work the dough well. When the dough is not sticky any more, we’ll take a piece and stretch it. If the dough is stretchy and it doesn’t break, it’s ready. We’ll let it rest 30 minutes. ⦁ We’ll stretch the dough into our desired shape, usually oval or round, an inch thick more or less. We’ll brush it with the beaten egg and let rest until it doubles its size. The longer the rest, the better, so we’ll give it at least 3 hours.
Part 2- the cream/custard ⦁ We’ll take 5-6 spoons of our 500ml of milk and use them to dissolve the corn starch in a cup. ⦁ We’ll heat the rest of the milk in a saucepan with the lemon peel, the vanilla and cinnamon stick. ⦁ We’ll beat the egg yolks with the sugar in a bowl. ⦁ When the milk starts boiling, we’ll turn the fire down and remove the lemon peel and cinnamon stick. Then add the milk with corn starch and the egg yolks with sugar and mix well. We’ll stir it well in the saucepan at a low heat until thick and finally, we’ll let it cool down covered in cling film.
Part 3- Assembling and baking ⦁ We’ll transfer the cream into a pipping bag. ⦁ We’ll brush the dough with egg again. Sun motifs are common and fitting but some people will just draw lines with the cream to ensure there’s a bit of cream through the whole cake. ⦁ Another option is dividing the dough in two and using the cream as a filling rather than a topping and decorate with fruit or nuts on top. ⦁ We’ll finish dusting the cake with sugar and baking it at 220 Celsius for around 15 minutes or until golden.
Your cake will be your interpretation of Midsummer, of the season and of the spirit of the place where you live. For this reason, I haven’t being specific with the fruit used for the toppings, while someone may choose to use fruit or not, I would always advice using local produce. If you have the chance to grow or pick your fruit, even better.
I also like to make another traditional Midsummer cake made with puff pastry and filled with the custard (leftover from the recipe above) and berries. Topped with a bit of meringue and pine nuts.
Happy Midsummer everyone!
*This recipe was first published in Witch magazine, Midsummer special. Available at Issuu.
I really don’t feel like we as a society are talking enough about this
TURN THE FUCKING AUDIO ON
Decks: Heart of Faerie Oracle by Brian & Wendy Froud + Jolanda Tarot.
1- Shell
New season, new beginnings for those that picked the shell. After a time of turmoil, confusion and/or uncertainty, we will finally start receiving some good news and entering a more positive period with new projects, people and opportunities. Whatever uncomfortable situation we find ourselves in right now, it won't last much longer and we will soon rise above our problems and worries. This new season we may be meeting a new lover, finding a new job or enrolling in a course that may change our lives. Any new project or relationship we enter during this season will help to grow enormously, providing us with outlets to explore our potential, creativity and passions. It will be a time to rediscover ourselves in some of our facets.
Official Pagan Tartan
We'd like to welcome you to the newly woven Official Pagan Tartan!
Created in Scotland in celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Pagan Federation!
The Scottish Register of Tartans is an online database of tartan designs, established by the Scottish Register of Tartans Act 2008 and admin
CARLINE THISTLE
A Basque legend says in old times men and women lived in darkness, hiding in caves, not daring to venture outside more than strictly necessary. Witches and evil spirits chased and terrorised them constantly, and in despair they prayed to Amalur, Mother Earth, for protection. Amalur heed their prayers and gave birth to Ilargi, the Moon, and her silvery light filled the world and scared the witches and the evil spirits away. Amalur's human children lived in peace for some time until the witches and evil spirits grew used to Ilargi's light and started chasing them again. They prayed to Amalur once more and she gave birth to Eguzki, the Sun, who shone brighter than her sister and scared the witches and evil spirits into hiding. Men and women were finally able to leave the caves, they built their first houses and basked in Eguzki's light. But Eguzki and Ilargi took turns watching over people and when Eguzki rested and the night fell, the witches and evil spirit sneaked inside the houses and tormented them. They prayed once more to Amalur, who filled with compassion for her children, created a flower with the shape and the brightness of the Sun. People kept it at home and its thorns and solar power kept the witches and evil spirit away forever more.
This mystical flower is a carline thistle (carlina acaulis). Basque people call it eguzkilore (sun flower), and across the Pyrenees is also known as cardo de bruixas (witches' thistle) and card caderner (goldfinch's thistle) among other names. Pyrenean people have dried and pinned carlines on their doors to protect themselves and their houses from evil spirits and curses for centuries, if not millennia. The best time to pick a carline is said to be St John's Eve or Midsummer's Night.
The name “carline” comes from Charlemagne who is credited with discovering the flower, guided by an angel, and using it to treat the bubonic plague.
Carline thistle is native of alpine regions and grows at high altitudes between 1,100 m and 2,450 m.
A member of the Asteraceae family, carlines are completely covered in thorns, even their fruits, and they have a single big flower of silvery white or yellowish petals. They attract bees and butterflies during their flowering season and provide nutritious seeds for birds , such as goldfinches, during autumn and winter. Carlines protect their polen by closing their petals during humid days and they continue to open and close depending on the weather even after they have been cut and dried. They also open during the day and close at night exposing all their thorns which are said to keep witches entertained all night long counting them, something they cannot resist and that prevents them from breaking into the houses during the dark hours.
Carline thistles are highly appreciated in traditional medicine for their antibacterial, diuretic, antimicrobial, antispasmodic, carminative, diaphoretic, emetic, digestive, and purgative properties. They are used to treat skin conditions, toothache, and common cold and flu. Carline thistles are edible and can be cooked while still young and tender. To eat them, we just need to remove the leaves one by one, and eat the tender fleshy bits and heart, and discard the rougher parts of the leaves.
I don't own the pictures. Found on google.
Recommended documentary, a bit old but very interesting. I often wish people were more open minded, more receptive to that which cannot be easily or scientifically explained.