Customer Reviews

The Real Witches' Kitchen: Spells, Recipes, Oils, Lotions and Potions from the Witches' Hearth

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is FULL of wonderful recipes & is a great companion to the Real Witches Handbook. For those not familiar with Kate West, she's a Brit high priestest & writer. Her books are easy to read & well organized for both beginner & advanced students.

Because her work is read in different countries all over the world, there are 1-2 measurement units that require conversion to US standards. But these are simple elementary conversions. However the bulk of her recipes are in standard formats any wiccan would find in any other book. The oils, teas, & bath products recipes are given in drops, tsp, & tbsp (standard). The dry insence, potpourri, & herb recipes are given in parts (standard).

The only "tricky" measurements are in the food recipes. Since some but not all of her readers are American, she gives recipes in standard units that are familiar to most countries. (All Europeans, Austrailians, & Americans are familiar with pints.) If you prefer your measures in cups, then just remember back to 5th grade math: 1 (british)pint=2.5cups (1 US pint=2cups). And if you look right there on your measuring cup, you will probably have measurements for ounces listed right along side the cup measurements since 8oz=1cup. Or you can simply remember: 1 oz=2 tbsp

This is not rocket science, folks, so don't be scared off by customer reviews complaining about having to do simple conversions. Many times, Ms. West supplies conversions for you, such as a Harvest Moonshine recipe with calls for "8 pints (20 cups) water". Really, the pints measurements are the only "confusing" aspect, (if you are so inclined to be confused).

ALL US recipes use cups, tbsp, tsp, drops, pinches, pounds, ounces, & parts......and so does Ms. West. However, if you prefer your recipes in a different format than given, you can always write down your own version in your Book of Shadows. I had no problems following the recipes though.

This book has so many great recipes & craft/gift ideas it would be a shame to allow fear of simple math to scare you away. Here is a review of the Chapters & content which will hopefully help you in your decision on whether you would like this book:

- Introduction
1. Witchcraft & Empowering your Herbal Work. (Craft facts/info)
2. Guidelines for Buying, Using, & Storing Herbs/Plants. (13 tips)
3. Soap & Bathing Preparations. (26 recipes)
4. Oils, Lotions, & Potions. (21 recipes, blessings, & usage tips)
5. Candles & Incenses. (7 candle techniques, scents/colors, 20 incense recipes)
6. Feasting Around the Wheel of the Year. (6 specific recipes, countless tips, info, & food associations, suggestions & traditions during the Sabbats)
7. Breads, Cakes, & Biscuits to Honour the Godess & God. (12 recipes, info on design, special ideas & tips.)
8. Soups & Foods to Strengthen & Heal. (21 recipes + info & tips)
9. Brews & Teas. (10 recipes, herbal info & associations, tea reading, etc.)
10. Looking Good & Feeling Fine. (Inner/outer beauty, weight, hair, skin, feet/hands, 10 scent recipes)
11. Herb Satchets & Gifts. (15 recipes, 6 gifts, flower info)
- Terms & Definitions
- Further Information (Recommended Reading)
- Index

I was so excited to bring this book home and couldn't wait to start making my own soaps, lotions, candles and incense. Upon reading the directions for these things however, I realized that I really had no need for the book. For example, she advised that to make soap you should buy castille soap, melt it and add herbs and oils to it. I think I could have figured that one out without the book. There was a section on bath teas which were simply steeped herbal teas dumped into a bath (of course if you don't mind a gritty bath you can just throw the herbs in the bath water). The creative projects were all far less than creative, the recipes less than appetizing, but the section on personal grooming was condescending and downright wrong. I think the page that most upset me was about head lice. She advised that to deter them one should not wash their hair often and to treat them wrap a combination of oil, lavender, rosemary, eucalyptus and geranium on the head in a plastic bag and then pick out the stunned nits. Stunned!? I'm all for natural cures but in the case of head lice stunned simply isn't good enough for me. Don't waste your money on this book. There are far better ones out there.

I bought this because I expected there to be recipes for making soaps, my own healing & bathing products, experimenting with older recipes & so on. The rave reviews for these recipes must be from someone who has NEVER written their own chant, or read a single other Wiccan-type book, and has such a short-term memory problem they don't realize almost all the recipes, even--or especially--the Healing &/or Magick Intended use the EXACT SAME INGREDIENTS in about 80% of these so-called recipes!

Lastly, there is one recipe that looks good enough to try, for a type of fermented fruit mead, though I don't know how original it is. At least it won't be a total loss; besides those 5 ingredients are just a booster--the magick comes from within.

Instead of learning how to make liquid soaps, shower gels & such, THE AUTHOR TELLS US TO BUY READY-MADE PRODUCT and just add oil and herbs to that! That isn't exactly a unique recipe, it's a hodge podge of someone else's product taking the place of what was supposed to be the auhthors recipes. If you are looking for detailed and unique recipes, look ELSEWHERE! This is a lot of hype but no substance unfortunately. I had truly hoped that THIS time the book would be what it says it is. Sigh.

This book promises recipes for making your own candles, potpouri, lotions, soaps, and sundry other crafty items. What it delivers is instructions that boil down to "making your own lotion (or soap, etc) is difficult. So start with some pre-bought unscented lotion and add these oils." Many pages are then taken up with 'recipes' of scent blends to acheive various magical ends, when one page listing essential oils with correspondences would have more than sufficed, and would have encouraged more personality and creativity. The same list for herbal correspondences would also have been much better than the pages of tea blends for 'protection', 'health', etc. These 'recipes' are a waste of space and a cop-out on real research, essentially mediocre instructions for the uncreative. The food recipes are just as unexciting. Where the book borders on the patronising is the section on 'grooming', in which the author instructs the reader (whom West assumes is female) to clip her fingernails regularly, to use soap, and to rub lotion into dry skin. Combine all these facts with the author's annoying overuse of the word 'whilst' and the book becomes incredibly irritating. Taking as evidence the handy glossary of terms like 'magic', 'rite', and 'spells', this book is obviously geared toward the curious spectator who will not mind the book's complete lack of bibliography.

I was given one of Kate West's other books (RW's Garden), and thoroughly enjoyed it, even if some of the information was rather common knowledge. I bought this book in the hopes of finding something that could be helpful to reference, with perhaps some new recipies and ideas to try.

Unfortunatly I was sorely disappointed. The fact that the author suggests the use of pre-made lotions and soaps is bad enough, but the fact that there appaears to be little research other than her own trial and error makes it all the worse. And to add insult to injury, my copy was missing four pages. Luckly this meant that I could take it back for a refund, but it just made the experience that much more annoying.

In short, look at other books before buying this one - there are pleanty out there that deal with the advertised subject material in greater depth.

An interesting little cookbook, with some great pictures perfect for colouring in. The presentation and background information on the sabbats and accompanying recipes is good, however the recipes them selves fall short of the mark. I've tried several of them, and found them difficult to follow. The book is written by a British woman, but for an American audience, so everything is a little mixed up. The names of the ingerdients are different from those of which we're used to, and the measurements are way off. Instead of either metric or basic cooking imperial, West uses measuremets in gallons, quarts, ounces, etc. rather than cups, teaspoons, etc. which are much easier. I had to use an online measurement converter in order to understand what the recipe was trying to say. I would have prefered it in normal recipe format. We can chalk it up to the culture barrier West must have experienced, but the editor should have caught this discrepancy. All in all it's a cute little book, with some good recipes once past the measurement problems. I hesitate to recommend it, but if you're a competent chef and familiar with the strange measurements I think it would add interest to your book collection.

The recipes in here taste great! I love the energy carrot soup with the orange juice broth. The marzipan is wonderfull as well. The marzipan dosn't contain toxic chemicals like the ones at the store so that is always good.

I use this book all the time I cant imagine my kitchen witch library without this book now that I have it. There is so much jam packed into this book that makes this book so amazing! There are ideas for sabbats and esbats there is info on soaps lotions and hair wash.. You can even find home made medicine ideas. I love this book and think anyone that is a kitchen witch or interested in learning more about kitchen witchery this is a must have!!!

Lovely book filled with recipies for a healthy natural life. Everything from creating aromatherapy forumlas for colds and flue, insect repellants, fomulas for negative thinking, bath and body products, to food. Highly recommended.

I found this book very interesting. I love growing plants & I like the option to make my own products instead of buying products that I don't know what all is in them.