The kitchen is the perfect place to explore elemental witchcraft. With earth, air, fire, and water at your fingertips, it's an elemental playground. Let's start making some magic.
Elemental witchcraft uses the four elements of earth, air, fire, and water, to help you align your vibration and manifest your intention. In some practices or specific spells, you may want to call on one element specifically, while at other times, a balance of elements if more helpful.
Kitchen witches have ready access to the four elements at all times, so working with these energies is perfect for anyone looking to focus their practice around hearth and home.
Earth
Earth represents stability, comfort, and the material realm. This includes things like work, money, and our basic needs like food and shelter. You can call in earth energy in spells for abundance and prosperity, stability, nurturing, and safety. Anytime you need to feel grounded, it's good to connect with this energy.
The element of earth can be represented in a variety of ways in the kitchen. From the metal and wood that make up your pots, pans, and utensils to the fruits, vegetables, and herbs you're putting in your cauldron, these all connect you to the Earth that created them.
Some foods may have an association with other elements, but they all come from the earth, so you can always fall back on this with anything that grows in the ground. Some foods that are specifically associated with this element are:
- beer
- blackberries
- bread
- butter
- cheese
- chocolate
- coffee
- corn
- honey
- pomegranates
- potatoes
- rice
- spinach
- sweet potatoes
- tea
- wheat
Call on the grounding energy of these ingredients to help you cook up a spell that will make you feel deeply rooted and stable. Here are a few recipes to help you tap into earth energy.
- Potato Rolls - with both potato and wheat, and obviously you'll want to add butter before eating
- Whipped Ricotta - add lots of herbal magic to this cloud of cheese
- Savoury Sausage Bread Pudding - bread and cheese will keep you grounded
Air
Air is commonly tied to the mental realm, to thought, logic, and communication. Air is the most difficult element to see and touch, but it is absolutely critical to life. We can survive three weeks without food, three days without water, but only three minutes without oxygen. Air feeds our brains, quite literally.
Call on the element of air in spells for wisdom, clear communication, or even writer's block.
If there's a natural place to experience the element of air to its full potential, it's in the kitchen. Full of steam and vapor and enticing aromas, air carries the energy of cooking around your entire home, inviting people to gather around the table to share in your creation. It's also one of the few places you can actually see the element of air in action with the steam rising off hot food. Occasionally there's smoke as well, but hopefully that's by design and not because you left something in the oven too long.
There are, of course, some foods that are specifically corresponded to this element, and they can help bring more of a tangible experience to this ephemeral element.
- almonds
- bananas
- black beans
- cheese
- cherries
- chia seeds
- coffee
- figs
- hazelnut
- lavender
- lemongrass
- maple
- oregano
- pine nuts
- pomegranates
- rice
Create a recipe that focuses on the element of air when you need to have an important or difficult conversation over dinner. Ask the ingredients to give you the wisdom to choose the right words. Here are a few recipes to try.
- Lemongrass Gin Cocktail - this drink could help loosen your tongue
- Lavender Cake - to bring some calm to the conversation
- Fig Jam, Crispy Prosciutto & Brie Grilled Cheese - ask this sandwich to make you smarter
Fire
Fire is perhaps my favorite form of elemental witchcraft. It's power is undeniable, and it is something that certainly requires cautioun and respect. But like all the elements, warmth is something that we can't live without. Humans' ability to control fire makes us unique amongst all species, so we should always use that power wisely.
This element is tied to inspiration, motivation, and action. Think of the "fire in the belly" or a "burning desire." Fire represents those things that drive us to do what we do. It is fast moving and energetic, but can quickly become destructive if it gets out of control.
Call on the element of fire when you want to speed up spells or you are seeking extra motivation or energy from the Universe.
In the kitchen, this element is most commonly found at the stove and oven. Our ancestors would have always kept the hearth fire burning. Today, we have the luxury of electricity and gas piped right into our homes, which is a technological miracle that we should give thanks for on a daily basis.
Some anthropologists theorize that our big brains can be attributed to the fact that our ancient ancestors started cooking their food. This freed up energy in the body from digesting and allowed us to evolve greater cognitive capacity. Now we sometimes see cooking as a chore, but I try to stay humble every time I see the flame on my stovetop or feel the heat from my oven.
Foods that represent fire should not be too surprising. They tend to be spicy in flavor, bringing their own heat to a dish along with the fire used to cook it.
- beer
- black pepper
- cayenne
- chili peppers such as habanero, jalapeno
- chives
- dark chocolate
- cinnamon
- coffee
- coriander
- corn
- cranberry
- dill
- figs
- ginger
- lavender
- leeks
- limes
- mint
- mustard
- olive oil
- onion
- paprika
- pineapple
- pomegranates
- rosemary
- tequila
- thyme
- turmeric
Make something full of fire energy when you're feeling sluggish. It will wake you up and light a fire under your ass to help you get things done. Try these recipes for a bit of inspiration.
- Chicken & Goat Cheese Pasta - made with fresh rosemary
- Gnocchi Chili - add extra cayenne to really heat things up
- Stem Ginger Biscuits - with a deeply zingy ginger flavor
Water
Water is the cradle of all life, and none of us can live without it. This element represents our emotions, our intuition, and our subconscious. It connects us to all things and shows us how to flow. Humans spend their first nine months living in water, so we can connect to this element to help us get back to our purest form.
Call on the element of water whenever you want to connect with your subconscious or your higher self. If you're struggling to let your emotions flow, water, even in the form of tears, can lead you to more emotional openness.
In the kitchen, we are once again blessed as modern witches to have access to fresh, clean water at the turn of a knob. I give thanks for this all the time because I know there are still people who have to walk miles each day to carry their water home. And of course, we use water as a method to cook as well as a food/drink, in and of itself.
Beyond just adding water to dishes or drinks, you can also incorporate this element with water corresponded foods.
- beer
- butter
- cherries
- white chocolate
- coconut
- cranberry
- cucumber
- honey
- lemons
- lettuce
- limes
- passion fruit
- raspberries
- rose
- rum
- strawberries
- thyme
- vanilla
When you're feeling out of touch with your emotions, help yourself reconnect with some watery foods. Here are a few recipes that might get the feelings flowing freely again.
- 5 Minute Microwave Lemon Cake - for a serious dessert or emotional emergency
- Crispy Honey Chicken - grab your chopsticks and eat it in front of the TV while watching your favorite sappy movie
- Rose Quartz Cocktail - the perfect love spell for yourself or others
I hope this has given you some ideas on how to use elemental witchcraft in your kitchen. You can listen to our podcast episode about elemental magick to learn more about all the ways that the four elements can be incorporated into your witchcraft practice.
And be sure to find me on Instagram to tag me in your elemental witchcraft creations.
Leave a Reply