What is a Kitchen Witch

What is a Kitchen Witch? By my definition, it's someone who uses the energy of food and cooking to create magick. The kitchen is a sacred space of alchemical creation. It's super awesome.

Before I became a witch, I was already spending a lot of time in my kitchen. It was a place I could relax and be creative. It was a place I experienced so much joy and pleasure. The kitchen was my high vibe sacred space before I even knew what all those words meant. So when I heard that you could be a kitchen witch, I wanted to sign up immediately.

If a witch is someone who channels the energy within and around them in order to manifest their intention, then a kitchen witch is just someone who primarily does this through food and cooking. The magical practice and spell crafting mainly focus on herbs and other edible ingredients as well as elemental magick. Their sacred space is the kitchen, the hearth, and sometimes the home at large. Kitchen witchcraft can be considered a branch of hearth or cottage witchcraft. The titles aren't super important, and like with all of witchcraft, there's no rule book saying what you can and can't do as a kitchen witch.

What are some kitchen witch tools?

Traditional witchcraft tools like the cauldron, athame, wand, and chalice can all be found within the kitchen. Any cooking pot or pan can become a cauldron, a symbolic womb for holding your spell creations. An athame takes on a much more practical approach, as any knife you use to chop your food could also be used. Your wand is your spoon, spatula, or other cooking utensils. Use them to channel your energy into whatever you're cooking. Your chalice can be any cup, bowl, plate, or other receptacle that holds your food, which is also your spell.

Some practitioners keep separate tools specifically for their magical practice that are consecrated just for this use and not for mundane food preparation. Other witches, like me, choose to believe that all cooking is sacred and magical, and therefore all kitchen tools contain magical potential. What activates them is your intention. Do what feels right to you.

How do I practice witchcraft in the kitchen

If magick is setting an intention and focusing your energy on it, then the possibilities for kitchen witchery are limitless. Here are just a few examples of common magical practices and how they can be translated into kitchen magick.

• Cleansing - This is an important part of spell work and good for general energetic hygeine. Cooks know it's important to keep a clean kitchen as well. Make your cleaning magical by bringing intention to your practice. You can also incorporate herbs through the use of essential oils in your cleaning products. Consider wiping your countertops or scrubbing your dishes in a counter clockwise motion to drive away negative energy. Follow your cleaning with a smoke cleanse to release any stagnant energy from your space.
• Protection - Lots of basic kitchen ingredients are used in protection, especially salt. Recite a simple incantation for protection every time you season your food, or toss a pinch of salt over your shoulder to spread the protective energy around. Keep an open container of salt on your counter to absorb negative energy.
• Spellwork - Any recipe can become a spell by learning a bit about the magical properties of your ingredients, then calling on those specific energies when cooking. You can also just use your intuition if a food or recipe has a strong emotional connection for you. This will be enough to summon up the energy you desire. You could also create a new recipe based on an energy you're trying to cultivate and the ingredients that correspond with that.

Do you need to cook to be a kitchen witch?

If you hate cooking, you might not want to dedicate yourself to being a kitchen witch. That doesn't mean you have to be an amazing chef to work with this form of witchcraft, though. Even simple things like brewing a cup of tea can become a magical practice.

You can create a simple elemental spell with the tea leaves as your earth element, the water as, obviously, the water element, the kettle as your fire, and the steam as air. Set an intention as you make your tea, maybe calling in correspondences of whatever herbs you're working with. Use the time that the tea is steeping to meditate on your intention. Stir your tea clockwise to attract or counter clockwise to repel energy. And as you sip your tea, be present and aware of the energy you are taking into your body. Kitchen witchcraft can be as simple as that.

Do I need a kitchen altar?

No, you don't need anything but your intention to do any type of witchcraft. A kitchen altar can be fun, though. You can also make it practical by incorporating some of the things that you use most often in your cooking into your altar. For example, my salt cellar is both a protective earth element on my kitchen altar as well as an easy way to keep my food well seasoned. My wooden spoons and utensils are there to channel my energy and also keep my food from burning. Here are some ideas for things you can include on your kitchen altar.

• A dish of salt - for protection
• A pepper grinder - also for protection but with a hit of fire energy
• Crystals - choose ones that will help you cultivate the type of energy you want in your space
• A candle - consider unscented so it doesn't interfere with using your sense of smell in cooking
• A mortar and pestle - to represent the god and goddess
• Herbs - living or dried
• An image of your deity, ancestors, or guides

Again, you don't need any of these things, and these are just a few suggestions. Create what feels good to you.

I like to keep the barriers to entry low or non-existent when it comes to witchcraft. I believe we all have the power of magick within us, and all we need to do is wake up to it and begin to use it with intention. Be your own unique kind of kitchen witch, and that's how your magick will work best for you.

What are some of the ways you like to practice kitchen witchcraft? Let me know in the comments below. Or get in touch on Instagram to share photos of your kitchen witch creations.