Kitchen witches work their magick in the home, often with food and herbs. If you want to include deities into your practice and on your kitchen altar, here a few awesome kitchen goddesses you may want to call on to protect your hearth and home.
At the moment, I don't work with deities in my witchcraft practice. I choose instead to call on specific energies and work with the abundant love I believe is at the source of the Universe. But I am fascinated by the archtypal energy found in the world's myths. I love learning about different goddesses and being inspired by them.
Many well known deities rule over grand ideas like love, war, the sea or the moon. But kitchen witches work closer to home. What about those deities who ruled over those humble but vital things like home and hearth?
I'm sharing a few kitchen goddesses who may inspire you. You may wish to call on them, add them to your altar, or just learn more about them to keep their energy alive.
Hestia
The Greek goddess Hestia rules over hearth, home, domesticity, family, and state. Traditionally, Hestia would receive the first offering of every sacrifice in the household. When a new colony was established, the flame from Hestia's public hearth at her sanctuary would be carried to the new settlement.
It's fascinating that in some traditions, sacrifices would go first to her before any other gods. It just shows how important the home fire was to survival. No one wanted to risk upsetting her. Devotion to Hestia was usually the responsibility of the leading woman of the household. In Roman culture, Hestia became Vesta.
Cerridwen
Cerridwen is a Welsh goddess who presided over the cauldron of knowledge, inspiration, and transformation. She apparently had a very unattractive son, so she created a potion in her cauldron to grant him wisdom and poetic inspiration. With a true mother's love, she brewed this potion for a year and a day, but it didn't quite work out the way she hoped. It's a dramatic tale. You should definitely look it up.
Remember her as you stir your own cauldron to bring gifts to your family and loved ones.
Brigid
Brigid is an Irish fertility goddess who is often pictured with a cauldron. She may be well known to witches as she is honored at the sabbat known as Imbolc. Animals associated with Brigid include hedgeogs, cows, and swine. The protection of livestock is one of her charges
She is among the divine mothers and is a spirit of fertility and sexuality. Today she is known as St. Brigid in the Catholic tradition. Like Hestia, she is also associated with fire. She is also strongy associated with birth and the protection of midwives.
Annapurna
This Hindu goddess of food and nourishment is a manifestation of the goddess Parvati. In one of her four hands she holds a golden vessel of porridge, with a golden ladle in the other. According to legend, Parvati and her husband Shiva got into a bit of a spat where he said everything in the material world was an illusion and humans didn't need it. Parvati, who rules over the material world, decided she'd show him and removed herself from the world, taking all the food with her. As you can imagine, everyone, including the gods, got pretty hungry.
As it turns out, Parvati had been hanging out in the city of Varanasi, which had the last kitchen. In the guise of Annapurna, all the gods had to come to her begging for food. She fed them and taught her husband a powerful lesson.
Hinduism is a beautiful and complex religion. If you've not grown up with it, you should definitely do lots of your own research before working with this, or really any of the deities mentioned here.
Demeter
Demeter is the Greek goddess of harvest and agriculture. So while she doesn't preside over the kitchen exactly, much of the food prepared there comes from her domain. In modern times when most of our food is grown far away, the kitchen seems like a good place for modern witches to honor her. The mother of Persphone, she also presides over the cycle of life and death. Other names include Cybele, Ceres, and Corn-Mother.
She presided over the harvesting of grain. She is symbolized by the poppy that grows among fields of barley. Honor her whenever you bake or cook with grains.
Edesia & Bibesia
Edesia is the Roman goddess of food. She presides over banquets alongside Bibesia, the goddess of drink. Edesia ensured that the harvest was successful. You may want to honor them when preparing a feast for friends and family.
Working with and honoring deities and kitchen goddesses can be a powerful part of your witchcraft practice. Study and honor the deity you are called to with respect so that you may have a mutually beneficial relationship with them. As always, do your own further research to know what is truly best for your practice.
Sources: Wikipedia, Thalia Took
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