#food in witchcraft

[rhythmlessgay]

NO! I REFUSE... I REFUSE TO BELIEVE THAT ENDING!

[heartnosekid]

"As the light is reborn this winter solstice, 

may your heart lift with the joy of new beginnings

and nature's blessings."

a blessed yule & winter solstice to all those who honor this tradition, from my home to yours. - ish 💕

🕯️-🪵-⛄️ / 🥂-🔥-🦌 / 🌨️-🍊-🎄

[bekkathyst]

A video so you can get the idea of how I made those marzipan chocolate pine cones! The chocolate part is just a batch of regular brownies - I just reduced the sugar a bit and added some almond meal. Then you just crumble it up shape it to make your pinecone base to stick the chocolate cereal into! You don’t have to put marzipan in the middle, but I love it 🥰

[lostinvasileios]

Have you ever felt so loved by your deities/love your deities so much it makes you wanna be spontaneous? Do something so out of character, out of the ordinary for you because your body is so full of their energy and love?

Sometimes I just sit around and contain the fierce urge to start doing the worm or whatever because of how much energy they give to me.

[aesethewitch]

Learning to Cook Like a Witch: Using the Scraps

Cooking can create a lot of waste. From peels and rinds to bones and leaves, people throw away quite a lot of scraps in the kitchen. And witches, as you may know, are experts in the art of the cunning use of whatever we’ve got around.

As a witch who spends a lot of time in the kitchen, I’ve had ample opportunities to get creative in my cooking craft. It helps that I grew up in a household defined by scarcity: not our own, by the time I was conscious enough to remember, but my parents’ poverty. It colored the way I learned to cook, using everything I possibly could, making enough to last, preserving what I didn’t immediately use, and creatively reusing leftovers and scraps.

There are some topics I won’t necessarily cover here. Composting is an option, but there are some bits of food scrap that don’t need to be composted — they can be saved and repurposed for all sorts of things, magic and mundane. Likewise, recycling, buying sustainably, and growing your own food when you can are all great options for reducing household waste in the kitchen.

For the purposes of this post, I want to focus specifically on food scraps. This is an organized list of kitchen scraps that I’ve used in a variety of other dishes and projects. I’m focusing primarily on food waste, not so much on packaging (such as reusing egg cartons, milk containers, boxes, and so forth).

Vegetable Scraps

Freeze leftover vegetable scraps to make stock. This is a fairly common bit of advice — save bits of leftover vegetables to make a vegetable stock or another kind of stock. It’s good advice! I keep a bag in my freezer that I put vegetable scraps in to save until I’m ready to make a new batch of stock. Not all veggies should be saved like this and used for stock! Some make stock bitter or otherwise unpleasant-tasting. Personally, I tend to freeze these for stock:

- The skins, ends, and leftover cuts of onions (just be wary of the skins; too much will make your broth bitter) - The ends of celery (not the leaves — they’re bitter!) - Corn cobs - Garlic skins, ends, tiny cloves that aren’t useful otherwise, and sprouted cloves - The ends of carrots (also not the leaves) - The ends of leeks - Pepper tops/bottoms (not the seeds)

I would recommend against putting things like potatoes, brussels sprouts, cabbage, and leafy greens in there. Potatoes don’t add flavor, sprouts and cabbage make the whole thing taste like those foods, and leafy greens end up bitter. If something has a strong, distinctive flavor (beets, sprouts), I wouldn’t add it to my freezer bag. These scraps often form the veggie portion of my Sick-Be-Gone Chicken Broth spell recipe!

Regrow leeks, green onions, and celery. Pop these in a bit of water and watch them grow back! It’s a fun experiment, and you’ll never have to buy them again.

Plant sprouted garlic. Aside from the fact that you can still cook and eat garlic that’s sprouted, you can plant a sprouted clove in a pot. Care for it well enough, and you’ll end up with a full head of garlic from that one clove!

Fry potato peels. Anytime I make mashed potatoes or peel potatoes for something, I always save the peels. Give them a thorough rinse and shallow-fry them in oil, turning them over until they’re golden and crispy. Toss them in a bit of salt and pepper while they’re still hot, and you’ve got tasty chips to snack on while you cook the rest of your meal! No need to cover them in more oil or anything — the heat will cause the salt to stick right to them.

Save leaves for pesto. Yum, yum, yum. Pesto isn’t just all about basil, you know. Save the leaves from carrots, beets, radishes, and even celery to grind up alongside basil, garlic, salt, and lemon juice for a delicious pesto recipe.

Fruit Scraps

Save citrus peels. Peels from oranges, lemons, grapefruits, and other citrus fruits have a multitude of uses. Candy them for a sweet treat, dry them to add to potpourri or incense, or save them to put into a simmer pot for bright, sunny energy.

Juice the whole fruit. Again, thinking mostly about citrus fruits, when you need the zest from something but not the rest, don’t just throw away the fruit. Squeeze out all the juice you can. Even if you don’t need it right now, you can freeze it to use later in simmer pots, fruity waters, or anything else that needs a touch of juice.

Turn extra fruit and berries into jam or syrup. If you’ve got berries and fruit that are about to go off, or maybe the ends of strawberries, don’t toss them! Look up recipes for jam of the specific fruit you’ve got or make an infused syrup. Syrups in particular can be used for cocktails, teas, and desserts for an extra magical kick.

Pickle watermelon rinds. That’s right. Pickle those suckers. They’re so tasty. I’ve seen people make kimchi with watermelon rinds, too, though I’ve never tried it myself!

Save seeds for abundance work. Seeds in general are great for spells geared toward long-term success, new beginnings, and — when there are a lot of them — wealth. Different fruit seeds have properties that tend to correspond with the fruit they come from, so consider their potential purposes before you just toss them! (Note also that some fruit seeds are toxic; these would be suitable for baneful workings.)

Keep cherry stems for love magic. Have you ever done that thing where you tie a cherry stem with your tongue? If I’m eating cherries, I like to save some of the stems for love workings. Tie them into little knots like you might with string while envisioning ensnaring the love you’re looking for. I wouldn’t do this with a particular person in mind; binding someone to you is almost never a good idea. I’ve used it to attract specific qualities in a person of romantic interest: attentiveness, humor, kindness, and so forth.

Use pits to represent blockages, barriers, and problems. I most often use them in baneful workings, typically jammed into a poppet’s mouth or throat to keep someone from talking shit. It could also represent a sense of dread in that way — a pit in the stomach, uneasy and nauseating. But you could also use them in the sense of removal, ritualistically removing the pit or problem from a given situation.

Herb Scraps

Freeze or dry extra fresh herbs. Different drying techniques are ideal for specific herbs. I’d suggest looking up recommended methods before sticking anything in the microwave. If you’d like to freeze your herbs instead, I typically will lay them on a damp paper towel, wrap them up, place them into a freezer-safe bag, and then put them in the freezer. Most herbs will keep for a couple months this way. When you want to use them, pull them out and let them defrost right on the counter.

Make pesto. Again, pesto isn’t just basil! Experiment with tossing in different scraps of herbs to find out what combination you like best.

Reuse steeped tea. Particularly when I use loose herbal tea, I like to lay out the used tea to dry out. It can be burned similarly to loose incense, though the scent may be somewhat weaker than with herbs that are fresher or unused. I find that it’s fine, since I’m sensitive to smells anyways.

Toss extra herbs into your stock freezer bag. Just like with vegetables, extra herbs make welcome additions to a scrap stock pot. I always make a point to save sage, thyme, marjoram, and ginger. You can add just about anything to a stock pot, but be aware of the flavors you’re adding. Not all herbs will match with all dishes.

Protein Scraps

Dry and crush empty egg shells. This is one most witches will know! I use crushed egg shells for protection magic most often: sprinkled at a doorstep mixed with other herbs, added to jars, and spread around spell candles.

Save shrimp, crab, and lobster shells. They’re a goldmine of flavor. Toss them into water with veggies and herbs, and you’ve got a delicious, easy shellfish stock. Use it to make fishy soups and chowders that much richer.

Don’t discard roasted chicken remains. Use them for stock, just like the shells. I like to get rotisserie chickens on occasion since they’re ready-made and very tasty. Once all the meat has been stripped off the bones, simmer the entire carcass with — you guessed it — veggies and herbs for a tasty chicken stock.

Reuse bacon grease for frying. After cooking bacon, don’t throw away the grease right away. Melt it over low heat, strain the bits of bacon out, and pour it into a jar to put in the fridge. You can use it to fry all sorts of things, but my favorite thing is brussels sprouts. They pick up the delicious, salty, bacony flavor from all that rendered bacon fat. So good.

Other Scraps

Use stale bread for croutons or bread crumbs. When I reach the stale end of a loaf of bread, as long as it isn’t moldy, I like to tear it into pieces and toss it into the oven for a little while. Let it cool and then pulse it in a food processor, and I’ve got delicious bread crumbs! Or, cut it a little more neatly, toss it in oil and seasonings, and then bake, and now I’ve got homemade croutons for salads. You can really hone your herbs for both of these, tuning them to be perfect for whatever spell needs you have.

Small amounts of leftover sugar. I don’t know why, but I always end up with a tiny amount of white and brown sugar in the containers. This can be used in teas, of course, but I like to offer it up to spirits. In particular, my ancestors tend to appreciate a spoonful of brown sugar stirred into a small, warmed cup of milk. You can also look up mug cake or single-serving cookie recipes; often, they’re cooked in the microwave, and they only need a little sugar to make!

Keep vanilla bean pods. Vanilla is fucking expensive. When I have a little extra and want to really splurge for a special occasion, I’ll get a couple pods. And because they’re so expensive, I hate wasting any part of them. They’re good for love magic, sure, but you can also toss the spent pods in a jar full of sugar to make vanilla-infused sugar. I’ll often use the pods to make infused milks, too; warm the milk over low heat, add the pods, and let it steep like tea. It goes great in teas and desserts. For a nice self-love spell, sometimes I’ll melt chocolate into the vanilla milk and make hot cocoa!

Save the rinds from Parmesan and Pecorino Romano cheese. You might not be able to just bite into these, but they’re fabulous additions to a stock pot. They add a rich, umami depth to the flavors. I also like to throw these into pots of tomato sauce to add even more flavor to the sauce.

Used coffee is still coffee. After I make a pot of coffee, I’ll sometimes save the grounds by letting them dry back out. I wouldn’t make another cup of coffee with them, since all the flavor’s gone, but they’ll still have attributes of energy generation and smell great. I like to pack used grounds into sachets to hang in places where I want to encourage more energy and focus, replaced every few days or so. Coffee grounds also have high amounts of nitrogen in them, which can help plants thrive; just be careful about pH values in the soil! You don’t want to hurt your plants with too much acidity.

Final Thoughts

I hope you found these tips helpful! There are a ton more ways to save and reuse kitchen scraps that would otherwise go to waste. Sometimes, tossing stuff into the compost or trash can’t be avoided. But I’ve found that being aware of the possibilities can help diminish the amount that gets wasted.

If you have questions or other suggestions for reusing kitchen scraps, feel free to drop them in my inbox, reblogs, or replies. And if you did enjoy this post, consider tossing a couple dollars in my tip jar! Supporters get early and sometimes exclusive access to my work, and monthly members get bonuses like commission discounts and extras. (:

[kitchenwitchtingss]

50 KITCHEN WITCH TIPS TO MAKE YOU FEEL MORE WITCHY

(And other useful things I've learned over the years)

Hi! This is a list of dos, don'ts, tips, tricks, and other fun things that I've learned over the years. I always love finding more effective and efficient ways of doing things so if you have any cool things you'd like to add, leave them in the comments or reblog. I'd love to read it.

Anyways... On with the list ^_^

Light candles around your kitchen space (just make sure nothing flammable is near you)

Annotate your cookbooks with the correspondence of the ingredients.

Mediating is really good to calm the mind before cooking.

Cut oranges and lemons thinly, dry them, and hang them with twine around your kitchen

Need a cleansing tip? Open all your windows near your kitchen. Let some fresh air in.

Cutting sigils into apples, pie crusts, and carved potatoes.

Save lemon and orange rinds, freeze them, and then use them to clean the garbage disposal.

Make infused oils and honey: Things like garlic honey, lavender honey, herb oil, sun oil, moon oil, dandelion oil, and other different edible oils are very fun and useful to make.

Hid sigils in pages of your cookbooks and kitchen witch journals.

Add some plants! Snake plants and spider plants don't need too much light, and growing your own herbs in your kitchen is awesome too. Basil, lavender, thyme, aloe vera, rosemary, etc. are good fits. You could also add some plants that require more sunlight on the kitchen window sill. Like cacti and succulents.

Bring crystals into your kitchen space such as rose quartz, clear quartz, amethyst, or whatever you want the space's intentions to be.

I keep a small money tree on the sill, along with cacti for luck and protection.

Make a simmer Pot! Mostly because it makes the whole house smell good, easy, and fun.

Stir clockwise for best results!

Learning how to pickle things is actually pretty witchy. Plus, anyone could do it as it requires absolutely no kitchen experience. You could pickle any vegetable, even if you don't like pickles. I originally learned this after having to take shelter from a natural disaster. A person brought a bunch of stuff and taught us how to pickle things with different spices and herbs. Very fun!

Decorate your kitchen with your favorite stuff. Crystals, decor, heat mits, that cool mushroom cake stand you've been eyeing at the World Market for the past 2 weeks, cool looking curtains, sun catchers. Why stop there? Paint the walls, hang shelves full of marked-up cookbooks that are a little too well-loved and thumbed through.

Wanna be the person that has the amazing-smelling house every time people come over? Syrups take some time to simmer down, it's actually a pretty good time to leave it on the stove to simmer. Since syrups have a lot of aromatic ingredients, it acts as a really good-smelling simmer pot.

Hang up herbs to dry with twine from cabinets that are rarely used.

Invest in that new set of plates and cups.

Homemade jams, butter, sauces, and syrups are your best friend.

Crochet or knit your own dish rags, pot holders, etc.

Don't pour extremely hot things into a glass that's not Pyrex, it will break, and you will be very sad about it.

Don't cook anything while extremely upset or emotional (For safety reasons)

Make recipes you want to make, not just because you'll like the effect. Make it because you think it's tasty.

Chinese Five Spice works in place of herbs for protection and luck spells a lot of the time! It's cheaper to buy 1 spice than 4 different spices that total up to 15 dollars when you could just spend 3-4 dollars.

Take a shower before cooking (I don't know how to explain this one other than it makes you feel better)

Don't use microfiber/plastic material clothes on hot burners, it will fuse to the burner and melt. It is VERY hard to get off.

I don't know if I need to put this one but I did see someone do it so nonstick pan = wooden utensils and plastic utensils, metal pan = metal utensils. Do not use a metal spoon in a nonstick pan, please. It can make you very sick.

Keep your pets away from hot oil, open ovens, and hot pans.

You can proof bread dough in the fridge overnight if you don't have the time to bake, or want to eat fresh bread right in the morning.

Need a quick witchy meal for dinner in 12 minutes? Use premade tomato pasta sauce and doctor it up with thyme, rosemary, and garlic, for protection and distilling stagnant energies. Serve with pasta of your liking.

You can substitute Butter for Crisco/shortening, buttermilk for 1 cup of milk + 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar or lemon juice, and heavy cream for 1 cup of half and half plus 2 tbsp of butter.

Use leftover animal bones to make bone broth

Teach yourself the art of bread scoring (It's fun, and you can show it off to your loved ones!)

Collect and hoard your own and others' family recipes.

Sometimes the food doesn't have to be a spell, sometimes it just makes you feel good and you don't know why.

Listen to your favorite music in the kitchen, it makes the monotonous things like chopping veggies move faster.

Invest in a vegetable chopper if you don't like chopping vegetables.

Find a really good hot cocoa recipe and make it once a week. Master it. Just for your own happiness because hot cocoa is really good. You could also be the friend/family member that makes the best hot cocoa ever.

Focaccia Bread Lasts a very long time, and it's very easy to make!

Keep a first aid kit near where the oven is, in case of burns, cuts, or serious injuries where time is everything.

Quick Bread and no-rise loaves are simple for beginners, tasty, and take little time. They also feel very witchy to make.

Study a bit of Herbalism! It's fun and really helps better understand the herbs you're putting into your food.

While something is boiling, put your wooden spoon over the pot to minimize the chance of something boiling over.

Try a bit of coffee magick, it's simple to get into, and gives you a boost of energy to take on the day!

If you're over 21, wine-making is a very interesting way to celebrate the sabbats. Just with that, make sure you KNOW what you're doing. With anything fermented, there's always a risk if you don't store things correctly. Apple wines, strawberry wines, dandelion wines, etc. all very cool to experiment with. If you're not over 21, vinegar is a similar way to experiment.

Hang up some witchy things, sigils, photos, cool magnets, and other things that give you joy on your fridge. (Sometimes if you are lucky they have some fun magnets at five below)

If you live in the US, for some reason, there are a lot of books in the book section dedicated to witchcraft and spirituality. At least where I live. And they are all under 5 dollars!

Teas are the cheapest and easiest things you can practice being a kitchen witch.

[faithvarvara-art]

Some sweet treats with Gothic Inkeri! 🖤🖤🖤 Now available for preorder www.trendynot.com 🖤

[deepwaterwritingprompts]

Text: I try all the Prince’s food first. So many seek to influence his choices through magic, not a week goes by without bread that tastes like bloodlust, or a sip of wine that tastes like forgetting.

[foodandfolklore]

Kitchen Witch Cheat Sheet

It can be so confusing remembering all the different properties of food. Flat out over whelming to be honest. So instead of having a long sheet with every food you cook with and 10 properties it could have, start with this. It'll be a rule of thumb to help remember some basics.

Elements

If a food is spicy or has a lot of energy/Passion, it likely has the element Fire. Black Tea, Chocolate, and Jalapenos are examples.

If a food is very light or fragrant, it likely had the element Air. Onions, Herbs, and whipped cream are examples.

If a food is juicy, runny, or comes from the ocean/lake, it likely has the element Water. Apples, Milk, and Fish are examples.

If a food doesn't fit into any of the previous categories, chances are it has the Element Earth since all food comes from the earth.

Properties

Any food that has been a backbone staple will have Prosperity properties. Rice, Wheat, Oats, Cabbage, Quinoa; anything that has allowed a people to prosper.

Foods that have spent a lot of time directly in the ground will have strong Grounding properties. Beets, Potatoes, Carrots, and other root vegetables. Additionally, foods that have been through a grounding process also tend to have good Grounding properties. Coffee and Ground Meat for example.

Spicy spices are good for banishing and protection. Black pepper, Cayenne, Chili Flakes, Gochujang ect. If you hate spicy food, stick with Salt and maybe Garlic/Onion powder.

There will be some exceptions and overlap. This is just to help if you're starting.

[samwisethewitch]

We're doing a Lord of the Rings movie marathon tomorrow, which will be the first time I've watched the whole trilogy in one sitting. To celebrate, I decided to make a full day of hobbit meals to eat as we watch.

I apologize in advance, but I need a place to geek out about my Book Accurate Shire Cuisine, so this is going to temporarily become a food blog for a few hours tomorrow.

[nihonnojihifukainomajonoseiiki]

I made some strawberry freezer jam for a love spell.

This strawberry freezer jam will not only bring sweetness but will also carry your love magic, manifesting the intentions you’ve infused in it.

Ingredients

2 cups fresh strawberries, hulled and mashed (symbolizing love and passion)

1 ¾ cups sugar (for sweetness in love)

4 tablespoons lemon juice (for clarity and purity in relationships)

1 packet of powdered pectin

A pinch of pink Himalayan salt (for protection in love)

Instructions

Clean your workspace and set the mood with candles or rose quartz. Focus on your intentions for love and affection as you begin.

In a bowl, gently mash the strawberries while visualizing the sweetness and love you want to attract or strengthen.

Combine the sugar, lemon juice, and mashed strawberries. Stir in the powdered pectin and mix thoroughly. If using rose water, dried petals, or vanilla bean, add them now.

As you stir, repeat a love-focused affirmation, such as: “With sweetness and love, this jam I create, To nurture the bonds and open the gate. A love that is pure, a love that is true, Let this magic work, through and through.”

Let the mixture rest for 10 minutes to allow the flavors to meld and the pectin to activate.

Pour the mixture into a clean glass jar, leaving a bit of space at the top for expansion in the freezer. Seal tightly.

Place the jar in the freezer. As you do, visualize the love energy being preserved within the jam.

Use a spoonful of the jam in a romantic breakfast with your lover or crush.

[kyaraben-time]

Source: xaya106x on Instagram

[savingsallow]

Calling All Members of Hogwarts Food Club!📣✨

— I asked Feenky to prepare something special for us!

@espressoristretto-patronum @not-that-evans @ps-cactus @accio-bagel @alibasnur @ravenwind-75 @acslytherpuff @diana-bluewolf (bc i know chris loves food 🤪)

[vanalex]

[namelessmm2]

Spookysweetober 2024!

Day 13 Hot Drinks + 14 Cranberry / Day 15 Zombie Diner + 16 Moonlit / Day 17 Basket + 18 Midnight Ritual

Are you ready for Halloween?

Try spooky spicy hot drinks on a chilly night~! ☕🎃

[aesethewitch]

Pumpkin & Squash Autumn Soup

‘Tis the season for autumnal dishes and treats! A few weeks ago, I had a delicious autumn harvest soup at a little mom and pop restaurant, and I just had to create one of my own. This recipe is the result! (You might've seen me #soup posting about it recently!)

This recipe makes a lot of soup! It can feed a crowd all at once, provide lunches all week long, or even be frozen for long-term soup enjoyment. Just be careful reheating!

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 Butternut Squash

1 Small Pumpkin

2 T Oil

1 T Honey

1 T Salt

1/2 Small Onion, diced

2 Cloves Garlic, diced

 Chicken or Vegetable Stock

1 1/2 c Apple Cider or Apple Juice

1/2 c Brown Sugar

2 T Cinnamon

2 t Allspice

1 t Salt

1/2 t Pepper

Apple Cider for pureeing (optional)

3/4 c Heavy Cream

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Peel and halve the squash. Halve the pumpkin. Scoop the innards out of both gourds. Drizzle the cuts sides with oil and honey, then sprinkle with salt.

Lay the pumpkin cut side down and the squash cut side up on a lined baking sheet.

Roast for 45 to 50 minutes or until easily pierced with a fork.

Allow to cool slightly to avoid burning yourself. Peel the skin from the pumpkin, then cut both gourds into large cubes.

In a large soup pot, saute the onions and garlic until soft and translucent.

Add the pumpkin, squash, stock, cider, brown sugar, cinnamon, allspice, salt, and pepper. Mix thoroughly.

Simmer gently for 15 to 20 minutes.

Allow the mixture to cool some, then puree in batches. If needed for a smoother puree, add 1 tablespoon of cider per batch.

Transfer the pureed soup to a clean pot. Stir in the heavy cream gradually.

Heat the soup gently over low heat. Do not allow it to boil.

Serve with a sprinkle of cinnamon and brown sugar and a drizzle of heavy cream.

Recipe Notes:

If your stock is particularly oniony or garlicky, omit the onions and/or garlic. The soup will end up tasting of onions otherwise, and that’s not the flavor profile we’re looking for! If the stock isn’t strongly flavored, you can use as much as 1 cup of stock; if you do, decrease the amount of cider or juice accordingly. The liquid should add up to about 2 cups.

If you’d rather use milk than heavy cream, I would use no more than a cup. It should make the soup creamy but not watery or too loose — this soup is meant to be quite thick! If you substitute with a non-dairy milk, I would suggest unflavored soy milk. Something with added flavors will change the soup’s overall taste, possibly even overpowering the other ingredients.

It’s really important to let the pureed mixture cool before adding the heavy cream, and to bring the soup back up to serving temperature gently, without boiling! If you add it while the mixture is hot, it has a chance to curdle and break, ruining the soup’s texture. Similarly, boiling the mixture with the cream in it can cause scorching. Be gentle in your reheating. If it becomes too thick due to evaporation, add a couple tablespoons of water or cider to loosen it.

On that note, this recipe makes quite a bit of soup. When reheating leftovers, I recommend not using a microwave. Instead, I would reheat it on the stovetop. You can use a microwave, of course, but I would heat it in short increments, stirring in between to keep it from boiling in the microwave.

This soup is on the sweeter side. It would make a solid companion to a salty sandwich or spicy salad. It would also go well with a savory biscuit like my rosemary biscuit recipe! If you’d prefer to have it be a little less sweet, you can reduce or completely omit the brown sugar.

When you scoop the innards out of the pumpkin and squash, don’t throw everything away! Separate out the seeds and give them a rinse and let them dry. Then, toss them in a light coating of oil and sprinkle some salt on them before roasting in an oven at 325 degrees F for about 15 minutes (stirring halfway through). Pumpkin and squash seeds make a tasty, crunchy snack! Or, you can use them to garnish your soup!

Other spices you could add that would fit well include clove, nutmeg, and ginger. These flavors are ones you might recognize as being part of a pumpkin spice blend! If you would prefer, you could absolutely substitute a pre-mixed pumpkin spice blend for the cinnamon and allspice in this recipe.

Magic Notes:

Pumpkin and squash are both emblematic of the autumn season where I’m from. They’re classic harvest foods. I most often use them for abundance, gratitude, and reaping what I’ve sown. I’ll also use them (particularly the seeds) to “replant” luck magic that lasts all year long. It lies gently dormant over the winter so that in the spring, it’ll sprout and grow throughout the following year.

Apples are another symbol of the autumn harvest where I live. I grew up harvesting them with my family, communing with the same orchard of trees since I could walk on my won. Each variety has its own particular energy. The cider I chose has a blend of apples, but it’s primarily made with bright, sour-sweet, early-season apples. In general, I use apples for love of all types, joy, and health. Cider also often has spices in it, but this orchard makes their cider without. I prefer it that way so that I can control the flavor and magic impact more closely.

Speaking of spices, we’re adding cinnamon and allspice to this recipe. Both are warm, fiery spices. I tend to use cinnamon as a sort of “battery” to give spells a bit of get-up-and-go. Allspice is a spice I frequently use for general good luck purposes and the sort of warmth you’d find near a hearth fire. It’s a comforting, soothing sort of luck.

Brown sugar is brown because of the molasses in it. Molasses is sweet, but it’s sticky and slow. I tend to use brown sugar for a gentler, slow-burn sort of affection. I find that it lasts longer than white sugar’s effects, but it does also tend to be on the subtler side.

The primary magic in this recipe is in the sharing. If you’re using whole gourds, you’re going to end up with a lot of soup. I would strongly suggest directly serving this to others, speaking or thinking a short incantation, blessing, or prayer over each individual bowl to bring that person prosperity and comfort for the upcoming cold season. Serve yourself last, wishing yourself the same.

As with many of my other recipes, a cup of this soup makes a wonderful autumnal offering for a spirit altar. Pair it with a cup of warmed cider, salty biscuit, and chocolate dessert, and you’ve got a really solid dumb supper.

This recipe can have any number of magical effects, depending on what you choose to focus on. My top suggestions are: gratitude, love (familial and platonic, in particular), joy, and luck.

I hope you enjoy this delicious soup recipe!

If you enjoy this recipe or like my other content, consider throwing a couple dollars in my tip jar, commissioning me (for a unique recipe of your own or for divination services!), or buying a recipe card from my shop! Supporters of all types saw this recipe a full week early, and they get full access to all locked posts — even ones from last year! Monthly members get even more perks like discounts and exclusive monthly tarot readings.

You can also view this recipe over on Ko-Fi here.

Happy soup season!