Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Wicca in the Kitchen [Paperback]

Scott Cunningham (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 8, 2002

There's a reason caviar has a reputation as a love food, but a little vanilla or peppermint can work wonders too! You'll savor mushrooms like never before after experiencing their intuitive-raising effects, and a munch of celery will resonate with new meaning as it boosts your sexual desire and psychic awareness.

Virtually any item in your pantry can be used for personal transformation. From artichokes to kidney beans to grape jelly, food contains specific magical energies you can harness for positive results. This encyclopedia of food magic offers twenty-seven of Scott Cunningham's favorite recipes. Magical menus for more than ten desired goals including love, protection, health, money, and psychic awareness are provided as well.

This commemorative edition also presents special features and articles celebrating Scott Cunningham's remarkable life.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Scott Cunningham practiced magic actively for over twenty years. He was the author of more than fifty books covering both fiction and non-fiction subject matter; sixteen of his titles are published by Llewellyn Publications. Scott's books reflect a broad range of interests within the New Age sphere, where he was very highly regarded. He passed from this life on March 28, 1993, after a long illness.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The woman bent over the stone hearth, adding twisted
branches to the embers that glowed behind the andirons.
Once they’d sprung into flickering life, she stepped
outside to pump water into the old iron pot.
She returned to her house and placed the heavy cauldron
directly over the fire, positioning its three long legs
evenly around the blaze.
As the water warmed, she carved a small heart on to a
beeswax candle, placed it in a pewter holder on the kitchen
table, and lit its wick. She uncovered the baskets of strawberries
that she had gathered that morning. Removing
one, she placed it on the cutting board.
“Love . . . for . . . me,” she murmured.
Working slowly and deliberately, she transferred the
luscious fruits to the board, placing them in a pattern. She
soon had created a small heart fashioned of strawberries.
The woman made another heart around the first, then
another and another, until her supply of strawberries was
exhausted. She smiled and chopped the strawberries, imagining
what her life would be like once she’d met a man.
chapter one
Food Power!
While waiting for the water to boil, she took an apple from a
string hung from the ceiling. She carefully carved a heart into its
peel with a white-handled knife, saying:
“Love for me!”
The woman stared at the apple, smiled, and bit into the fruit.
The sweetness refreshed her. She slowly ate the apple, biting
clockwise around the fruit from where she’d first penetrated it,
slowly consuming the heart.
Later, the woman rose from her spinning and checked the pot.
It was nearly boiling. She took the cutting board to the openfaced
hearth and, using the white-handled knife, slid the chopped
strawberries into the rustling water. As the fruit dropped into the
cauldron, she said:
“Love for me!”
The cake of sugar had sat undisturbed in its ceramic pot for
three months, but now was the time. The woman gently added it
to the simmering, fruit-filled cauldron. It absorbed the water
and melted.
She sat beside the fire and took up a spoon made of cherry
wood. Slowly stirring, and moving the spoon in the direction of
the sun, the woman cooked her strawberry jam. As it boiled, she
said, over and over again in a voice barely audible above the
crackling wood and the bubbling water:
“Love for me!”
The practice of folk magic* utilizes a variety of tools to empower
simple rituals. These tools include visualization, candles, colors,
words, affirmations, herbs, essential oils, stones, and metals. Other
tools, fashioned by our hands, are also used, but these are merely
power-directors. They contain little energy save that which is provided
by the magician.
Another magical tool is at our disposal, a tool that contains
specific energies which we can use to create great changes in our
lives. This tool is all around us. We encounter it every day without
realizing the potential for change that exists within it; without
*See glossary for unfamiliar terms.
knowing that, with a few simple actions and a visualization or
two, this tool can be as powerful as the rarest stone or the costliest
sword.
What is this untapped source of power?
Food.
That’s right, food. The oatmeal you had for breakfast, your
salad-and-seafood lunch, even the chocolate ice cream that
topped off your evening meal, are all potent magical tools.
This isn’t a new idea. From antiquity, humans have honored
food as the sustainer of all life, a gift from the unseen deities who
graciously provided it. Food played an important role in religious
rituals for most cultures of the Earth as they entered the earliest
stages of civilization. Its essence was offered up to the deities that
watched overhead, while its physical portion, if not burned, was
shared by the priestesses and priests. Food became connected
with rites of passage such as birth, puberty, initiation into mystical
and social groups, marriage, childbirth, maturity, and death.
Not only was food linked with all early religions; it was also
understood to possess a nonphysical energy. Different types of
food were known to contain different types of energy. Certain
foods were eaten for physical strength, for success in battle, for
easy childbirth, for health, sex, prosperity, and fertility.
Though food magic was born in an earlier age, it hasn’t died
out. Foods are used in magic in both the East and West, though
the rationale for including them may have changed. Birthday
cakes are an example. Most birthday cakes contain iced wishes of
good luck. Why should we eat words? Originally, the words were
thought to contain the energies associated with them. So the
birthday celebrant was believed to enjoy both the cake and the
energy of the words. Birthday cakes are a contemporary form of
food magic, whether or not those who perpetuate this ritual are
aware of it.
While food magic has suffered from neglect in most of the
Western world (outside of religious connections), there are many
places where food is still viewed as a tool of personal transformation.
In Japan and China, specific foods are eaten to ensure
long life, health, love, even a passing grade on an examination.
Such rituals have continued for 2,000 to 3,000 years because
they are effective.
In my twenty-year excursion into the realm of magic, I’ve realized
that no part of our lives is divorced from its power. I began
researching the magical uses of food about seventeen years ago,
when I was struck with the knowledge that it, too, was a tool of
magic and could be used to create positive, needed change.
Many of my peers expressed disbelief when I first explained
the premise of this book. Locked into one particular viewpoint
concerning magic, they couldn’t grasp the simple idea that food
itself could be a force for magical change. Most of them agreed
that herbs contain energies. All right, I said. If herbs are properly
chosen and used, the magician can release their energies to manifest
a specific change. Right? Correct, they said. Well, herbs are
plants. Plants are food. And if food is properly chosen and used,
couldn’t the magician release its energies for magical purposes?
Of course they could, and they do. Doesn’t it make sense that
the rosemary a magician burns during a love ceremony could be
used in other magical ways—in cooking, perhaps? Since lemons
have been used for centuries in purifying rituals, can’t we bake a
lemon pie and internalize its cleansing energies?
This is the magic of food.
Both familiar and strange dishes can be found on these pages.
Their magical energies are clearly stated. Where needed, directions
for preparation are also given. I’ve included recipes where I
felt they were appropriate, though you’ve probably prepared, or
at least eaten, most of these dishes.
Every meal and every snack offers us a chance to change ourselves
and our world. We can empower our lives with the energies
of food. With knowledge and a few short rituals, we can spark the
powers naturally inherent in food, transforming them into edible
versions of the stones, woods, and metals used by magicians.
We must eat to live. Similarly, we must take control of our
lives to be truly happy. The tools for doing just this are in your
cupboards, in your refrigerator, and on your kitchen table.
Turn the page, and discover the magic that awaits!

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Llewellyn Publications; 3 edition (November 8, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738702269
• ISBN-13: 978-0738702261
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #77,739 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #8 in Books > Education & Reference > Encyclopedias > Cooking
  • #36 in Books > Education & Reference > Encyclopedias > Mythology & Folklore
  • #48 in Books > Education & Reference > Encyclopedias > Religion

More About the Author

Scott Cunningham practiced magic actively for over twenty years. He was the author of more than fifty books covering both fiction and non-fiction subject matter; sixteen of his titles are published by Llewellyn Publications. Scott's books reflect a broad range of interests within the New Age sphere, where he was very highly regarded. He passed from this life on March 28, 1993, after a long illness.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

77 of 78 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cunningham Magic from the Kitchen, April 2, 2003

By 

Boudica (Ohio USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Wicca in the Kitchen (Paperback)

The original title of this re-release is "The Magic of Food" from 1990. Llewellyn has put this book back into print.

I love the opening lines "Food is essential to our lives. For many of us, the art of cooking and eating is a chore. For others, it is a great delight. And for some, the culinary arts and their products are indulgences. Food is substituted for love. Food is an excuse. Food is a god."

Scott explores all these aspects of food, as well as its magical properties and how this magic affects us and can be worked into our lives. The first part of the book is a small introduction to the magic of cooking, associations, tools, histories, practicing food magic and even some discussion on vegetarianism.

The meat and potatoes, if you will, of the book are the sections on specific types of foods. The foods are broken down into groups, like bread and grains, fruit, spices and herbs, etc. Common names, specific names, ruling planets, ruling elements, energies, lore and magical uses are explored, explained and looked at in its uses in magic and healthy living.

Mini-discussion on uses of salt in foods, substitutes for additives that do not promote overall good health, the healing qualities of foods, little known facts on food usages and food preparation make each of the topics covered interesting as well as useful.

"Nuts & Alleged Nuts . It is curious that one contemporary slang term for insanity is "nuts," as in, "That politician's gone nuts." In the past, these crunchy foods were thought to bestow wisdom, not mental derangement.*"

Footnote "*Then again, wisdom and insanity are often subjectively determined."

Scott's wit and humor are prevalent throughout the book as well as generous helpings of his wisdom and vast knowledge base.

And we are also treated to "Scott's Favorite Recipes". Appetizers, such as magic herb toast, beverages, desserts, main dishes. all here for you to consider and concoct in your own kitchen. Even magical soups and romantic salads are here for you to consider.

The book has a good table of contents, indexed, and contains a good glossary, tables of correspondences and bibliography. There is a mail order resource list which appears to be current, where you can get those hard to find ingredients.

Overall, a good book for your library, a better book for your kitchen and an essential book to have in your Cunningham library. boudica

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must for the Wicca with cooking aspirations, February 14, 2004

By 

wiccawitch (Pine Bluff, AR) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Wicca in the Kitchen (Paperback)

Scott Cunningham does it again, this time with a wonderful tome that's part cookbook, part philosophy of food.

Cunningham divides the book up based on food groups, and there's so much information on each that you'll probably never look at your spice rack in much the same way again. Cunningham goes into detail about the associations of each type of food, but his book is structured in such a way that you can easily see how to assemble the ingredients for whatever magickal effect you desire.

The book's highlight is its recipes. The desserts are amazing, and the magickal soups are the kinds of things you wish you could order on a menu. Whenever they put up a Wiccan restaurant in my hometown, I hope they'll use this book as a guide.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Food Magic, December 14, 2003

By 

Pieter "Toypom" (Johannesburg) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Wicca in the Kitchen (Paperback)

Wicca In The Kitchen is the result of more than 17 years of investigation by one of Wicca's most important authors. Cunningham shows how one can effect change in any area of life by selecting food for its magical properties and consuming it with a specific goal in mind. Wicca In The Kitchen includes lists of magical correspondences for every kind of food and supplies magical diets for certain universal goals, including love, health, protection, abundance and psychic awareness. Organized by category, it also provides 27 of the author's favourite recipes and their magical applications. It is a delightful book that ought to appeal to all those interested in bringing a little magic into their lives and especially to Wiccans or to anyone whose hobby is cooking and who is looking for something that is a bit different. The book concludes with a glossary of terms, a bibliography and an index.