Samhain Ancestor Altar

 

Kitchen Altar

Items needed: wooden cutting board, small cauldron or small cast iron pot, dried bay leaves, potted herbs, wooden spoon, herbal incense/and holder, clear quartz, tiger’s eye and carnelian crystals, a jar full of salt and dried herbs and an orange or red candle.

There is so much magic to be found through cooking and working with many types of food, herbs and spices. Growing up, much of our family time surrounded food and meals. For our family, it was a form of “ritual”. We would gather for many reasons, share a meal and then sit at the table for hours laughing and enjoying each other’s company so for me kitchen witchery was a natural extension of the “magic” that happened around the table.

Pick a small corner of your kitchen where you can set up an altar that will help you to focus when you are in the kitchen preparing food for your loved ones.

Start with a wooden cutting board and in the centre of the altar place a small cauldron, perhaps one that you don’t use or a cast iron small pot of some sort. Place some dried bay leaves into the cauldron to represent protection and success. 

Keep a couple of your favourite potted herbs on your altar to represent abundance (basil and mint work well). They will be charged with positive energy as they sit on the altar and add that extra magic to your cooking. A wooden spoon is placed to the left as a connection to our foremothers or caretakers and all they did for their families. Herbal scented Incense is also placed alongside the spoon using an incense holder. Place a piece of clear quartz crystal, tiger’s eye and carnelian to the right of the cauldron. Clear quartz is a stone that can help keep you grounded while you are working your “magic” in the kitchen. The tiger’s eye is a stone for protection and abundance. Carnelian is for creativity. Place a jar nearly full of salt and dried herbs such as rosemary, thyme, parsley, sage, and basil. You want to be able to shake up the jar so leave some room at the top. These represent protection, wisdom, remembrance, healing, cleansing, strengthening and abundance at the bottom of the cauldron. OR fill it with dried beans, rice and seeds to represent abundance. The other piece to this altar is adding a candle that is either orange or red to represent the “fire” of your cooking. Prior to the start of creating your meal, light the candle and light your incense. Take a couple of minutes just to focus your mind and energy on the act of creating a meal full of love. You can say a little kitchen prayer or a quick chant such as: “I ask the Divine to bless my cooking and help me to infuse it with vitality, love and healing. Protect me as I work and bring me clarity in my endeavours. Thank you and Blessed Be” After you have completed your cooking say thank you to the Divine and make sure that the candle and incense have been extinguished. Depending on your tradition, you may want to take a small portion of your cooked food to use as an offering. You can place your offering outside for the Divine and all it’s creatures.

The scent of food is such a big part of enjoying food and stimulating our senses so that we do enjoy our food that much more. For many cultures, food is an integral part of their lives. It is the time for families to reconnect and share their love and energy with and for each other. The food is infused with a loving energy that is consumed by each member and through this we are connected to each other. 

The photo below is an example of a kitchen altar.