Kitchen Witchery, or the Cottage Witch

[Rakhel]

Okay. I have been reading a bit about the Kitchen witch. I am still slightly confused by the term.
It seems that the kitchen witch is nothing more than a domestic chef who enjoys what s/he does. Or is s/he?

I am a baker myself. I can somehow make bread taste good no matter what I do wrong, whether I missed an ingredient or bake it at the wrong temperature. So I do understand putting "love into what you cook and it will all work out"

But, again, how is a kitchen witch different from any other chef?

 

[Father Heathen]

Are there grill warlocks?

 

[Rakhel]

Are there grill warlocks?

Well, if there are kitchen witches, then it would make some sense that there are grill warlocks. But I don't think that answers the question.

 

[Quintessence]

The term "warlock" is not used in the Neopagan community. Where it is, it has an extremely negative meaning. It doesn't mean "male witch" it means "oathbreaker." Basically, a liar who betrayed their covenmates. Granted, this is the more traditional interpretation of the term. I don't doubt that given the rise of solitary practice and the lesser emphasis on covens, the term may be shifting in meaning, but I was certainly taught that you never, ever call someone a warlock without good cause (otherwise it's slander).

Kitchen Witches would not be the same as other chefs at all because they are doing ritual and spellcraft with cooking. Mundane chefs do not. The difference is pretty much that simple. Basically, the cooking is a religious act of devotion, not merely something to feed yourself.

Mundane chef = brews cup of tea
Kitchen Witch = brews cup of tea and chants a mantra to empower the brew with the ability to relax and calm the one who drinks it

Mundane chef = makes a blueberry pie
Kitchen Witch = dedicates the blueberry pie to a god/goddess while crafting it

Mundane chef = cooks a chicken
Kitchen Witch = gives thanks to and acknowledges the sacrifice of life for life during the preparation and consumption of the chicken

Make sense?

 

[Rakhel]

I think a lot of chefs would take offense at being called mundane.

So what you are telling me is that the only difference between a chef and a kitchen witch is what? adding a blessing or a curse?

 

[Quintessence]

Mundane as opposed to magical. Substitute the word "muggle" if you like it better; I basically mean the same thing by it. I don't intend either to be a snarl (offensive) word. :shurg:

The difference is intention and purpose; the philosophy is different. Mundane chefs don't do what they do for ritualistic or magical purposes. Kitchen Witches do. But honestly, there is doubtless some overlap between these categories. Arguably, some "mundane" chefs are actually doing a form of spellcraft, but they certainly wouldn't see it that way and it's not fair to them to slap a label on them that they don't want. The categories are ultimately constructs. To my mind, to say they're the same would be incorrect. Related, but not the same.

 

[Sylvan]

Anyone ever read "Like Water for Chocolate"? This novel is a fine manual for kitchen witchery.

I have to say I never really went for the term "Kitchen Witch". Does that mean one can only do their witchcraft in the kitchen or...? It's about as meaningful as the term "Kitchen Jew", not that there aren't likely numerous instances of doing positive magic in Jewish traditions surrounding food. It strikes me as part of a trend, much like "Hoodoo cooking".

A lot of my personal work for self and others involves making herbal baths and enchanting their contents. Does that make me a "Bathroom Witch"? I like to think that I'm just a witch who likes to take and make baths.

 

[Rakhel]

Anyone ever read "Like Water for Chocolate"?

I have to say I never really went for the term "Kitchen Witch". Does that mean one can only do their witchcraft in the kitchen or...? It's about as meaningful as the term "Kitchen Jew", not that there aren't likely numerous instances of doing positive magic in Jewish traditions surrounding food. It strikes me as part of a trend, much like "Hoodoo cooking".

A lot of my personal work for self and others involves making herbal baths and enchanting their contents. Does that make me a "Bathroom Witch"? I like to think that I'm just a witch who likes to take and make baths.

I had planned on asking this as well.

I, too, have noticed a lot of new terms where witchery(another new term for me) is concerned. Kitchen witch, green witch, hedge witch, garden witch. Hell, recently I actually ran across a term that was admittedly new. Jewitchery.

are the new terms a trend or just a way of identifying what type of magic(k) is involved?

 

[Quintessence]

I'm not a kitchen witch, so honestly, I'm not in a place to be answering a lot of this with any kind of expertise. The general impression I have gotten, though, is that kitchen witchery might refer to one of a couple things. At times I see the term used to refer to a set of magical practices – similar to how we talk about candle magic as a type of magical practice. Other times I see the term used to refer to a religion, way-of-life, or philosophy. A component of this is the intention to close the gap between one's mundane life and one's magical life by making something otherwise mundane a religious/spiritual act.

As for the other terms, they've been around for at least a decade, since they were all in use when I learned Neopaganism existed. I think it's important to understand that labels are somewhat... problematic within the community for a variety of reasons. I don't doubt some of the impetus behind the diversity of witch-labels is the need to convey one's sense of identity.

 

[Sylvan]

I would identify the impulse as something more akin to marketing, even if they've got nothing to sell.

When have you heard these terms when someone wasn't trying to sell you something, be it their book or...?

 

[Quintessence]

I don't see it as a marketing tool at all nor have I ever felt it's a term used to sell me something. That kind of aggressive marketing is virtually nonexistent in Neopaganism. I'm sorry, but I don't consider a book merely sitting on a shelf to be someone trying to sell me something. That's about the only context I've ever seen where you could stretch it to call it "marketing."

Now, instant spell kits? That I can understand being interpreted as a marketing gimmick.

EDIT: also, take a gander at this (link) which offers a decent basic summary of kitchen witchery. Patti does some good stuff; I've been watching her writing for a while.

 

[Sylvan]

I think we may be thinking of different intensities of activity to be described as 'marketing'. I'm not necessarily thinking anything aggressive here. And as I said you don't even actually have to be selling something. It's all bound up in the concept of 'cultural capital', and an analysis of the modern culture surrounding the practices generally known as witchcraft and paganism through this lens. Which might be dumb, I admit.

Lets look at the landscape of books on modern pagan witchcraft. We can begin with things like "Buckland's Big Book" which was a sincere attempt to convey a particular tradition to things like Scott Cunningham where the goal was to create a solitary path particular to oneself through an accumulation of favorable imagery. Then the internet occurred, and a culture that used to be conveyed within the structure of covens and whatever wider social universe surrounded them exploded into being.

How does one attract attention to oneself in this kind of environment, assuming you feel the need to share a particular approach you are taking? You give it a name. Some of these names are quite functional and serve a purpose. For instance 'celtic shamanic witchcraft' could be expected to involve techniques of shamanic journeying in a celtic mytho-context. Balkan traditional witchcraft (great book on it here) could be expected to conform as much as possible to the believed practices of the traditional witches of the Balkan region. In each of those contexts I would imagine there is "kitchen witchcraft" taking place. This is why I think calling yourself a kitchen witch as a set term is a little ridiculous. Writing a book on kitchen witchcraft from the perspective of your tradition, with recipes and so on, would be quite alright. But the idea that there is a substantial distinction between kitchen witchery and any other form of witchcraft strikes me as a little off.

 

[Quintessence]

Well, if we want to discuss the idea of "cultural capital," that should be it's own thread, I think. Pointing a finger at kitchen witchery by itself strikes me as unfair and a mischaracterization of the practice. Describing it as a "cultural capital" phenomena strikes me as very academic; a label sociologists would slap on the movement that doesn't accurately describe the feelings and motivations behind the people actually practicing things. It has the potential to be very disrespectful to the actual people, and I'm getting some feeling of that from this thread. I don't think it's intentional, but the emotionless rhetoric of academic comparison tends to step on toes without thinking. I suspect that at least some of the folks that do identify as kitchen witches view their practice as distinct from other forms. Suggesting they're not "different enough" to warrant their own description is kind of disrespectful.

"Oh, there's not a real distinction between Wicca and witchcraft... so you all should just call yourself witches." That's kind of how you're sounding. You're rejecting the label they want to use for their identity. Which, while that might be technically correct by some constructed academic perspective, isn't respectful of the people. Am I making sense? This makes me wish I could speak to kitchen witchery better as it's own tradition, but I really can't since I know too little about it. There's nobody here to defend their name. It's not fair to them.

 

[Sylvan]

I feel you. No disrespect intended of kitchen witches reading this here, and we welcome and request your commentary.

I guess the bottom line for me is that witchcraft has always been in and of the the kitchen, along with all the other areas that an individual witch might be. Recognizing that as opposed to say "high magic ritual style witchcraft" is fine, but branding is branding. Not trying to make some kind of definitive statement here, because every circumstance is different and requires its own context, just explaining my basic reaction to the term and similar ones.

 

[Quintessence]

Gotcha.

 

[Nayana]

From my understanding and readings, Kitchen witchery usually is someone who turns cooking into an act of ritual/worship/spell. Although not one myself I remember reading up on it a while ago. Kitchen witches usually have an understanding of the different properties of herbs and spices, both esoteric and "mundane" uses. Also kitchen witches may learn how different herbs and spices interact with one another and how to work with the energies and properties of each substance to enhance the effectiveness of the dish/tea/preserve/whatever they have made.

They may use different coloured utensils depending on the intent eg. using a blue cup to serve someone a medicinal tea for their sore throat. Blue is the colour of the throat chakra and they will use it to enhance the medicine and help with recovery. It also may include cooking and preparing certain things on: certain days of the week, certain phases of the moon or certain months to correspond with the energies they would like to infuse into their preparations. An example of that are the dishes we prepare for our holidays, like using cinnamon in puddings at Christmas and such (not a great example). Although most people will blindly follow tradition, a kitchen witch will try to understand the reasons behind usage of ingredients and see to enhance their effectiveness.

It is certainly something that is not new but now people have decided to look closer into it and explore what it means to them.

People have been combining different traditions and paths, I think it is quite uncommon for someone to identify solely as a Kitchen witch, it really seems to be a part of peoples magical practises. It isn't uncommon for the "kitchen" magic to extend into the garden as that's where a lot of the produce comes from and allows the witch to cultivate their plant from the seed to maturity and connect closely with the energy of the plant.