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5 Quick & Easy Spells Every Kitchen Witch Should Know, by Gwion Raven

(Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal.)

One of the biggest advantages of being a kitchen witch is being in your magickal workshop practically every day. There's a good chance that you'll be in the kitchen at some point during each day, even if you're just doing the dishes or re-heating your coffee. Each time you find yourself stirring a pot of stew or toasting sesame seeds or reading a recipe, you have an opportunity to practice magick.

I have favorite spells I do all the time, and virtually all of them happen in the kitchen. The spells are easy, fast, and, most importantly, effective.

1. Sweep Away Your Troubles
My kitchen floor always needs sweeping. I can't tell you how many times a piece of carrot shoots off the cutting board and lands somewhere out of sight. Sweeping the kitchen happens several times a week in my house, so it's the perfect time to do a little magick.

I grab my trusty broom and start sweeping. As I do, I think about my day. What needs sweeping away? Is there a conversation I'm holding onto that I shouldn't be? Are my thoughts a little cluttered today? Sweeping gives me the opportunity to clean the kitchen and clear away anything that's bothering me.

Find a place in your kitchen to start sweeping. Move in a counter-clockwise direction. As you sweep, say, "I'm sweeping away my troubles. I'm clearing the cobwebs. I'm cleansing anything that doesn't serve me right now."

If you need to pack a bit more "oomph" into this spell, add a ¼ cup of white vinegar to a gallon of warm water and add five drops of your favourite essential oil and mop the floor. I use lavender, as it is calming. You might choose lemon for cleansing; cinnamon to warm up a cool mood; or peppermint for clarity, tranquility, and an uplifted mood.

2. Cooking with Charm Bags
Charm bags are used in many different craft and folk magick traditions. Typically they might contain combinations of herbs, stones, and charms. There's a kitchen witchery version of charm bags, too. In French cooking terminology, you might know these as bouquet garni: wrapped bundles of herbs to flavour soups, stocks, teas, and milk drinks. It's a long-held magickal belief that herbs can heal us, inspire us, and protect us. What better way to use charm bags than right in the meal you're preparing?

It's easy enough. Cut two six-inch squares of cheesecloth. Place them on top of each other to form a double layer. (You can also use a muslin bag.) Add combinations of herbs, such as thyme, parsley, and rosemary. Tie the bundle with cooking twine and store them in a cool, dry place for up to three months. I tend to make up a big batch and store it in a sealed mason jar. You can make charm bags with herbs you associate with certain conditions, like Happy Home or Love or Abundance.

Here are two versions I use all the time.

Abundance Bouquet Garni
Many of these herbs are associated with abundance magick.

• 1 tablespoon dried tarragon
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 bay leaf

Love Bouquet Garni
These are some of my favorite herbs to inspire love.

• 1 tablespoon of dried basil
• 1 tablespoon dried fennel
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• Zest of one lemon

3. Prosperity Cake
I love ginger cake. I can eat it any day of the week. It's easy to prepare and even easier to imbue with a little prosperity magick. I'll give ginger cake as a gift, especially if I know someone could use a little more prosperity. Cinnamon, cloves, and ginger are often associated with prosperity.

Ingredients

• 1½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 2/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 2/3 cup mild-flavored molasses
• 2/3 cup boiling water
• 1 large egg

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F.
2. Grease a 9x9 pan with butter then lightly dust the pan with flour.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients, except the sugar.
4. In another bowl, mix the melted butter, sugar, molasses, and hot water.
5. Whisk in the egg.
6. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and give it a good whisk. You want to make sure there are no dry clumps, but it doesn't have to be silky smooth.
7. Pour mixture into your greased pan and bake for about 35 minutes. Let the cake cool for a few minutes before cutting into slices.

4. Get Outta Here
On occasion, a person comes into my life that I'd rather not have there. When more polite ways of asking them to leave have been exhausted, I head to the kitchen and make up a big batch of Get Outta Here. Hoodoo practitioners will recognise this formula as a version of Hotfoot Powder, and that's exactly what it is. I'm a big believer in using what works and, let me tell you, this little bit of magick does the trick every time.

The ingredients are simple enough; you probably have most of them in your cupboard right now. More, shall we say, potent versions add graveyard dirt in the mix. You're welcome to gather that if you choose.

A word of caution, though, before you make this. You'll be sprinkling this powder in front of your doorway or putting it in the shoes of the person you're wanting to leave, or even dropping it carefully around the office, in the places they walk. Make sure you really want this person out of your life.

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
• ½ teaspoon dried mint
• 1 rusty nail (or the rusty scrapings from a nail)

Instructions
Mix everything together in a small mason jar and seal it with a lid. Write the person's name on the lid of the jar. Light a small, black chime candle or birthday cake candle. (As with any fire magick, never leave a lit candle or flame unattended.) Dribble a few drops of hot wax on the lid and stick the candle on the lid. The candle will only take a few minutes to burn all the way down. While it's burning, tell the mason jar full of Get Outta Here mix to get to work removing this person from your life. When the candle is fully burned out, let the wax cool down and set. Then sprinkle the mixture, a little at a time, as needed.

5. A Meal Shared
By far, this is my favorite kitchen witchery spell. It's deceptively simple, yet its impact can be profound.There are three parts to this working, each as important as the other.

The first step is to invite someone to share a meal with you. If you have a roommate, friends, or family that live in the same household as you, they could be easy choices. If you live by yourself, this might be an opportunity to ask a friend, neighbor, or co-worker over. Perhaps there's someone you'd want to share a meal with that lives hundreds of miles away. Online video chats totally count! However you do it, ask someone to set a time with you to share a meal.

The second step is to create the meal. Again, circumstances may dictate exactly how you do this, but see if you can make a meal together. Perhaps your shared meal includes shopping. Maybe you do the cooking and they set the table. If you're sharing a meal with someone online, do your best to prepare the meal at the same time. The key is that each person has a hand in the meal, somehow.

You get to choose how elaborate the meal is. Maybe you pull out all the stops and prepare a feast for the ages. Perhaps it's a nice cup of tea and store-bought scones.

The third step is to talk, but there's a catch to this. Try and avoid work talk or gossip. Chat about the food you've just made, ask them about a favorite meal they remember, and ask why that meal is so important to them.

There are a couple of guidelines that I suggest here.

• Ask a few basic dietary questions so that you'll know what, if any, food types should be avoided.
• Set a minimum time limit. In other words, let them know the meal will last at least sixty minutes (or thirty minutes or two hours).
• Unless it's absolutely vital, agree to limit or completely avoid interacting with a phone, tablet, or other device that gets you online. See if you can devote the entire time to sharing the meal. If you're sharing a meal online, agree that no other devices are allowed.
• If they offer to help clean up after the meal, let them.

There's a particular magick in sharing food with other people. Two mini chocolate chip cookies served with a side of conversation and generosity can leave you more satisfied than a seven-course meal served in the world's fanciest restaurants.

The Magick Of Food
My kitchen is nothing special. It's not huge. I don't have all the latest gadgets. There's a stove, a fridge, some sharp knives, wooden spoons, a few pots and pans, and a collection of treasured cookbooks. I bet it's a lot like your kitchen.

However, when I think about what I do in my kitchen, the spells I practice and the meals I make, then it transforms into a wondrous, magickal place. Kitchen witchery feeds and nourishes me and all those with whom I choose to share food. Kitchen magick connects me to the seasons and to the vibrant bounty of nature. Relationships are forged and mended and remade over cups of coffee. Covens and magickal deeds have been birthed over late night snacks, whipped up with a moment's notice.

I believe in the magick of food, because I see it working every day.

Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal. Copyright Llewellyn Worldwide, 2020. All rights reserved.

I was born on July 10, 1965. I am very psychic/intuitive and sensitive in every way. This can be burdensome and exhausting, because I take in so much visible and invisible stimuli. I do realize it is a gift, however, and I am trying to figure how I can best use it for myself and others. I also have Attention Deficit/Hyperactive Disorder, and while I can focus on the spiritual realm within, I have a hard time focusing on my job as a night auditor at a hotel. My work is very detail-oriented, and I am constantly getting interrupted by guests and the phone ringing. I get off track easily and it takes me too long to get back "in the groove" and refocus on what I was doing. It can be very overwhelming at times, but I believe I do have the potential to do a good job. I've been here for five months, and am getting pressure from management to "get it together." I am wondering what I should ask my angels/spirit guides in order to get the help I need to do a good job. Right now my intuition is telling me that I might be getting fired soon, even though many of the guests have praised me to management. Do you think angels/spirit guides can help with ADHD?

Patty

Dreamchaser:

I know you don't want to hear this, but I really feel you are in the wrong job. Each one of us has to find work that suits our personal strengths and weaknesses, and your current situation is just not ideal given your ADHD issues. This work is too detail-oriented, and you are just interrupted too often. Towards the end of the shift, it is practically impossible for you to get back on track. As a result of all of this, you are under tremendous stress every time you go to work.

Patty, you are SO good with people. The guests even comment on how kind and helpful you are. This is one of your strong suits. I think you should consider working with people instead of numbers and details.

I am a HUGE proponent of using our guides, angels, God, helpers of all kind, etc., to help us find the perfect job for us. I am living proof of the wisdom of this approach. By now most of you know I worked as an accountant for many years. I could not stand going to work, and would hit the snooze button at least twice every morning.

It was what most people considered a "great" job: I made a lot of money and I was "in the game." I had a good reputation for being thorough, and everyone thought I had a very bright future. I was in line to become a partner. Despite all of this, I dreaded going to work. I finally asked the Universe (and all the helpers in it) to put me where I belong, and I wound up at Psychic Chat.

Your destiny gave birth to you; your destiny will find you if you allow it. I strongly advise you to start asking out loud for help from the Universe. Ask your angels to lead you to your perfect working situation.

I don't want to sound naive and I'm certainly not a doctor, but I believe if you are in the right position for you, your AD/HD will not be a glaring problem. The old cliche "if you have lemons, make lemonade" keeps coming to mind. Even if you suffer from ADHD, you can find a good job for you. Instead of asking your angels to help you with your AD/HD, I would ask them to help you find the place where your unique gifts can do you and the world the greatest good. It worked for me!

You have to ask yourself why you want to keep this job so badly. Since it's causing you so much stress, perhaps losing it would be for the best!

I wish you the ideal career for you.

*****

Astrea:

ADD and AD/HD afflict so many people now. I often wonder what happened before these conditions were so readily diagnosed. I know that you are not trying to find excuses for what's going on in your life, and that you're challenged by a very real condition.

However, it sounds to me like you're not just a night auditor - you're the night receptionist and desk clerk too! You seem to be doing YOUR job plus two more. No wonder you get scattered with all of those interruptions.

While I'm sure it is much more pleasant to engage in conversations with the guests than to crunch the numbers tucked away in some office, you're getting in trouble just for doing your job. Perhaps you could have a calm talk with the person who hired you and discuss moving to a full-time desk position where your talents and abilities could be put to better use.

If the hotel hired an additional person to be the night auditor, you could stay where you're most needed and do the job you most enjoy: interacting with the guests and serving as a representative of the hotel.

Your Guides and Angels want to support you in this, but you have to help them to help you. They're not sure what it is you want them to do. Since you feel you need some help remaining focused, here is a short ritual that may help you access the information you need.

The Japanese hold a festival for tailors called "The Festival of Broken Needles." A shrine is built from the broken needles that tailors saved through the year. These are intended as an offering and reminder of the work the needles have performed over the course of the past twelve months.

In honor of this festival, ask your Guides and Angels, "What are my broken needles? What tools do I rely on now?" Once you have chosen them, build a little shrine of your tools to include your Guides and Angels in your work. Burn an orange candle to represent the "harvest" or what you must reap from your job. Burn a brown candle for new duties and endeavors at work. Carefully reflect on your job and ask your Guides and Angels to continue to be with you and support you in this area of your life. Before you blow out the two candles, say a prayer of thanksgiving, and ask for the highest and the best blessings to come your way. Then be on the lookout for positive changes!

Astrea:

Many times in life we hear, "You will always have what you NEED, but not necessarily what you WANT." Your spirit must have needed to experience the feeling of leaving your human body, and the suggestion in the next chapter of Sylvia Brown's book was all it took to get you there.

Even though you hadn't read it yet, your SOUL recognized the title of that chapter as something it had been seeking, and your soul, knowing that you had that reference to read after your experience, got with it and out you went!

While I don't usually recommend her books, Sylvia Brown has a wide reaching and powerful effect on lots of people. A Gemini like you would be able to relate easily to her writing and put it to good use. Synchronicity - you gotta love it!

I like your description of "getting caught." That's exactly what it feels like, isn't it? One minute you're free and hovering above the room, and the next minute, ZAP! back down into your corporeal form you go!

As a little kid, I loved that "feeling of return." With practice, most of the time we can control that event, but sometimes, when our physical ears hear a distracting noise or something else occurs to knock us back into reality, back we go. With practice you will be able to control your return better.

I find it interesting that you were visiting your mother-in-law and not someone in your own genetic family. Evidently, you and your husband got married for reasons that are even deeper than love. His family's interest in "psychic stuff" will nurture your children in such matters and help them to grow into their own abilities.

You'll never have to be concerned that when your daughter visits them, she'll be discouraged from exploring her own psychic life and power. My parents encouraged me to develop my psychic senses in a time when it wasn't nice to even discuss such things in public. Heck, it's STILL not considered a great topic at the dinner table in some families!

Your kids will get to talk about it ALL and ask questions and read and study. This is going to give them such an edge in life! Talk with your husband about how you want to present this to your kiddos, so that you are united in your approach and ready to tell them their experiences are all natural and okay.

A word or two of warning: Geminis often have difficulty staying grounded in REAL LIFE. Don't get so strung out on your ASTRAL life that you neglect what you're doing here on Earth.

You are at the beginning of a long journey to learn where your power really lies. Try to be patient with this process and take your time.