Traditional Tools in the Kitchen: Kitchen Witchery Basics Part 6

This might be the last of the Kitchen Witchery Basics Series! At least for a bit, I have a few more ideas brewing in my mental cauldron but they're not quite ready for the light of day. I may change my mind by the time next month's expository post is ready to be written. If you’re just finding this series definitely check out the rest of the posts in the series for a more complete “guide” starting here.

I wanted to bring together the general witch world and talk about tools in the smaller scope of the kitchen. There are a number of tools that get used in spell- or ritual work that don't necessarily look like they fit in the kitchen world but you can find kitchen versions of them. Or maybe they look the exact same but because you've been seeing through a mundane lens you didn't really notice they were witchy tools.

I want to quickly mention also that just because you can find these tools in your kitchen does not mean you have to use them as such and also if you’re looking to use tools, inside or outside your kitchen witchery, you absolutely do not need all of them (or any of them at all)! Many witches practice with just a few of these tools in their kit; it’s all up to what tools you feel will accentuate your inner power. Just like intuition over correspondence you are the strongest tool you can have. A fair amount of these can be replaced by your finger or your hands!

**Disclaimer, I don’t use all of these tools myself, in the kitchen or otherwise, so if I get something wrong please feel free to start a conversation below!**

For each of these I will give a quick description of the traditional tool and then the kitchen witch counterpart that I think fits its use. If you have another substitution that you use or one that you think of as you read through I would love to hear about it! Witchcraft is a journey not a destination and I am always looking to learn; and I know I have a lot to learn.

Starting with some obvious ones that everyone, even non-witches, know about...

Wand - A tool used to direct energy. Often made of wood.
A wooden spoon ( or any material of spoon for that matter.) You can do this different ways depending on your practice. I suggest having a spoon that is specifically used for this purpose rather than just using whatever spoon you come across in the kitchen. A wand is meant to be conditioned to be used as such. You can choose to use it to actually stir or you can have a decorative spoon that you use to direct energy from outside the bowl. Or perhaps you would like one of each. I chose a wooden spoon specifically because the majority of traditional wands are wooden and different woods (and therefore wands) have different correspondences. If that's something you're interested in I highly recommend looking into that for yourself.

Cauldron - a vessel used to contain physical aspects of a spell
A pot, a pan or a bowl. Pretty much any vessel you use to contain your spell will work. Of course the most appropriate would be an actual cauldron but I've heard kitchen witches refer to their crockpot as their “electric cauldron!” This is simply going to be anything you can put your spell ingredients in and infuse your intention. Again, you may want to have one pan or pot set aside for when you're doing spellwork but for many of us every time we enter the kitchen we’re doing at least a little magic, so this is completely up to you.

Besom - a ritual broom. mostly used for cleansing.
“A dirty station is a dirty mind,” is a phrase I heard a lot working in kitchens and i think it goes for magic too. If you are surrounded by unclean, negative or muddled energy your magic will not be as pure as it could be. This is where cleansing comes in. You should always work in a clean kitchen and not only for health reasons when it comes to being a kitchen witch. Clean doesn't ONLY mean physically. A besom is a great way to kick that unwanted energy out of your space. In most practices this should be a separate broom from the one you use to physically cleanse your space but it could just as easily be your regular kitchen broom. That is up to you.

Pentacle - a physical representation of the four elements and spirit
I want to talk about a pentacle in two different ways for the kitchen witch. One of which will tie into a possible upcoming installment of Kitchen Witchery Basics. The first is having a wall hanging. To make it extra kitchen witchy you could use kitchen utensils as the lines and/or use pictures of specific correspondences to represent the elements. The second way you could implement this is placing correspondences around your kitchen in the appropriate spots. Even better if you can manage to match up your stove with fire and/or your sink with water (but obviously home renovations aren't necessary to do this.) A little research will goa long way to find your personal correspondences for these but my first thoughts are: cinnamon for fire (perhaps a cinnamon besom,) your chalice for water, incense for air and a plant or mini herb garden for earth.

Moving on to some lesser knowns…

Robes - specific clothes you wear during ritual. Personal to each practitioner or coven.
This one’s pretty simple. An apron! Find an apron that makes you feel your best and put it one when you're planning to do some kitchen witchery. It doesn't have to be fancy, it just needs to make you feel like the powerful witch you are.

Athame - a ritual knife used to cut incorporeal elements (like energy)
Choose a specific kitchen knife to be your athame. I’m not sure how many Kitchen Witches use an athame as its not used for physical butting but if you feel the need to use one pick a knife and set it aside. It could be a butter knife, a carving knife really whatever you feel fits your needs.

Boline - a ritual knife used to cut physical elements of a spell (like herbs)
Choose a specific kitchen knife to be your boline. Just like the athame simply choose a kitchen knife and set it aside for only spellwork. Use it to cut your herbs and other correspondences but only when doing spellwork.

Chalice - a vessel used to hold ritual wine or offerings
Choose a specific glass and set this aside for offerings. In this case I think you could also use a measuring cup. As with pretty much every other tool it's up to you if you want to set aside a specific one and use it only for spellwork or if you want to just view the measuring cup you require as your chalice at the time.

Book of Shadows/ Grimoire - (we can get deeper into this topic another time, perhaps on my incoming twitch stream?) a spellbook. A book of study and personal notes related to your practice
Your recipe book! Start writing down your recipes and make notes on what ingredients correspond to what. Start a running list of your favourite or most used correspondences. If you practice outside of kitchen witchery you can do this in whatever book you already use or you can have a special one just for the kitchen.

And finally, one just for the kitchen…

Kitchen Witch - a guardian for your kitchen with an historic background. 
The kitchen witch originally hails from Europe (some say from Germany and others from Norway) and is seen as a guardian of the kitchen. She is there to watch over you and your concoctions. She is said to prevent boiling over and burning and help you always have the best outcomes both safety, taste and magic. She’s seen as a guardian of the home in general as well. She makes a great gift for the budding (or experienced) kitchen witch. I plan on making my own one of these days.

If there are tools I missed that you use in your practice (or have heard about in your research or the community) and want to know my opinion on the best Kitchen Witch substitution ask me in the comments below!