*I apologize in advance for the pic placement... the editor was not acting the same as usual and I wanted to make sure I go this out on time*
We draw near to another Sabbat of the Witch's Wheel of the Year: Imbolc. It's time to begin dusting off the equipment for another season of hard work. We've spent the dark half of the year reflecting and setting goals and now is the time to start the machine up again and get to making things happen.
From and agricultural standpoint, as we often first view for these holidays, it is time to dust off the tractors and pull the tools from the sheds. Animals are beginning to produce milk, specifically sheep from my research. It is time to bless our seeds and begin the manifestation of a bountiful crop.
This of course is what leads us to milkcake with candied seeds.
For the modern, non-farming witch, we can put a metaphorical spin on this or take it down a notch from a giant farm with our green witchery. Which we can talk about more below so as not to bore our "muggle" friends.
MILKCAKE w CHAMOMILE CANDIED SEEDS
Ingredients:
4 large eggs, room temp
2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 cup AP flour
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 cup milk (the fattier the better)
10 tbsp (a little less than 2/3 cup) butter, cubed
Preheat your oven to 350.
Beat eggs on high for about 5 minutes. They should become thick and light in colour as you incorporate air. This works best with room temperature eggs.
Slowly add the sugar to your eggs and combine. The colour will lighten and the mixture should become fluffy. Add in the vanilla as well.
In a separate bowl combine baking powder and flour. Slowly add this mixture to your egg mixture beating on low speed until it is smooth.
In a small pot heat the milk and butter just until the butter has melted. We don't want to scorch our milk so use a low temperature. Add this mixture slowly to your batter mixing just until combined. 
Grease a 13 x 9 in pan. Pout your batter into it. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. When it's done allow to cool on a cooling rack.
While this is cooking we can move onto out seeds. This was an experiment for me but it turned out quite well if I do say so myself.
We're going to start by making a chamomile simple syrup. Brew a cup of chamomile tea according to instructions or preference. I brew mine for 5 minutes. When finished, place this in a pot and add an equal amount of sugar. Bring this mixture to a boil, turn down the heat to a simmer. Stir regularly until the sugar is dissolved. This syrup is done, technically. If you want to keep some for another purpose like adding to cocktails remove some now. We only need 1/2 cup for the recipe. Continue simmering until the mixture thickens and resembles a honey-like consistency. Stir in your seeds. Turn this mixture out onto some wax paper in a thin layer and allow to set. In hindsight I should bake these too. I suggest the lowest heat setting and about 5 minutes. You want to keep a very close eye on them because they will burn fast.
When you are ready to serve crumble some of your seed mixture on top of your cake. For some added yum and dairy you can also top with whipped cream, best if hand made of course.
please ignore the checks... I pulled a noob move
On to the Metaphysical
So firstly, our discussion of Imbolc for the modern witch. Stepping outside the realm of the kitchen for a little bit but not too far away, we can talk about our gardens. The same as our ancestors would we can still bless our seeds. We don't necessarily have to bless them for a bountiful harvest but we can. We can also bless them for a more metaphorical growth. We can use them as a manifestation of our goals and wishes and as the plant grows our manifestation grows with it. It can be a constant reminder of your goals for the coming season.
For those of you that don't have a garden of your own, don't fret. We can continue breaking this down into the realm of visualization. Instead of blessing physical seeds we can use the visualization of a growing plant in our meditation and spell work. Set your intentions for whatever goal and use your mind eye to watch it grow. Keep this practice as something you do regularly to focus your energy. The same way seeing a physical plant is a reminder.
Now we can get into the recipe and its ingredients. As with all the other holidays we've been through I generally pull on the traditional foods but anything that is seasonal to you is appropriate. Our climate has changed significantly and we all live in different areas of the world. My seasonal foods wont necessarily be the same as yours.
For Imbolc, traditional foods include preserves, winter root veggies, dairy and lamb. Why? Because this is the end of winter. Our agricultural ancestors would be pulling on the last of their winter reserves and the few new food sources they have. Young sheep and the milk of their mothers. Now, I'm no expert in farming so I don't know if this is still the time that sheep begin to birth, looking out my window it feels early as we're just getting into the middle of winter here. My animal husbandry friends can let me know!
The biggest association I ever find with milk is that it is a great offering to the Fae and other trickster entities but not much beyond that. Personally I feel it has attachments with new growth as it remind me of a mother nursing her newborn. That fits very nicely with Imbolc as it is the earliest point that we begin to get ready for the coming growing season. Our goals are in their infancy and it is time to begin nursing them. Slowly but surely cleaning house and discarding the stagnant energy of being cooped up inside. (Again this feels early for me because Winter is kind of just getting underway, but tradition is tradition and we can all choose to celebrate this differently. In fact I did see something interesting in my research that some celebrate Imbolc on the 2nd full moon of the year which this year would be February 27th)
The second ingredient I want to look at is seeds. I think this one speaks for itself. Seeds are the beginning stage of plant's growth and we are beginning the manifestation of our goals for the year. I'm sounding very much like a broken record at this point so I will leave it at that.
The third is one that is less specific to this holiday and finds itself in the correspondences of many of the Sabbats, chamomile. I had to sit back and think about this one a little bit but I do think it is fitting. When I think about chamomile I immediately think about a good nights sleep and that didn't quite resonate until I thought about it a while because this is supposed to be when we start getting, "up and at 'em." Why should we have an herb here for rest? Well, how are we to get to work if we don't get a good nights sleep? If we don't recuperate from a days hard work we're not going to be able to perform well the next day. I think Chamomile is a great reminder to take care of ourselves. We need to remember that just because we are called to be active in the light half of the year doesn't mean there is zero time for rest; especially in our modern life when we don't actually have a season of rest.
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