• Crafting Articles

    In The Kitchen With Skarlett

    Apple Cider Donut Cake     Apples are one of the sacred foods of Samhain. In Celtic tradition, apples were buried at Samhain to feed the dead as well as used in various forms of divination. Apples are good for faerie protection, abundance, protection, long life, health and creativity. Butter is there to bind things together and to ease transitions. Cake mix for happiness. Eggs for fertility and beauty. Sugar for attraction, love and romance.     Now to the apple pie spice: Allspice for money drawing and good fortune. Cinnamon for protection, wealth and passion. Cloves for abundance, lust, protection and courage. Ginger for protection, power and prosperity. Nutmeg…

  • Reviews

    Book Review – The Unofficial Wednesday Cookbook: Recipes Inspired by the Deliciously Macabre TV Show by Iphigenia Jones

    Book Review The Unofficial Wednesday Cookbook: Recipes Inspired by the Deliciously Macabre TV Show by Iphigenia Jones Publisher: Ulysses Press 144 Pages Release Date: August 29, 2023         My inner child is Wednesday Addams. So when I was offered the chance to review The Unofficial Wednesday Addams Cookbook, how could I refuse? First, the book is in purple and black; those are so my colours. It is entertainingly written. It is not too cutesy, but kitschy enough to be cool. It’s almost too much to hope that the recipes are any good… The recipes are fantastic. They are presented in a simple, straight forward manner (so easy,…

  • Crafting Articles

    In the Kitchen with Skarlett

    Slow Cooker Chili for Mabon   With Mabon upons us, thoughts turn to goat’s horn bearing fruit, grain and other harvesty goodness. No..I did not eat the funny mushrooms. I am referring to the Cornucopia also called the horn of plenty. It is a symbol of abundance and good fortune. It is commonly pictured as a large horn-shaped basket overflowing with the fruits of the harvest such as grains, fruits, vegetables and nuts. Small wonder it is adorning American tables at Thanksgiving and various other harvest related celebrations. A possible origin for the cornucopia was in ancient Greece. When Zeus was a baby, his mother hid him away from Cronus…

  • Spells & Rituals

    The Rite Way

    A Ritual Making Harvest Stew   To celebrate the second harvest, this ritual consists of making a vegetable stew infused with magical intentions. It is written for a solitary practitioner, but can easily be adapted to a group. You will need more than an hour to complete this ritual. Read through it to know what you will need, making changes to suit your circumstances. Begin by purifying and cleansing your ritual space of any energy not aligned with the highest good; in this case it will most likely be the kitchen. You can sweep the space, ring bells, smudge it with herbs, or asperge the perimeter with water or other…

  • Reviews

    Book Review – Backyard Witchcraft: The Complete Guide for the Green Witch, the Kitchen Witch, and the Hedge Witch by Cecilia Lattari and Betti Greco

    Book Review Backyard Witchcraft: The Complete Guide for The Green Witch, The Kitchen Witch, and the Hedge Witch Written by Cecilia Lattari Illustrated by Betti Greco Publisher: Ixia Press 160 Pages Release Date: September 14, 2022         Backyard Witchcraft is a lavishly illustrated book that focuses on modern homespun witchcraft with an emphasis on herbal cunning tradition. In the Introduction, we learn all about the author’s approach to magic as an expression of plant relationship, and the three types of witchcraft that she will be discussing: green witchcraft, kitchen witchcraft, and hedge witchcraft. A bit like a witchy internet meme in book form, the book includes a…

  • Monthly Columns

    Notes from the Apothecary

    Notes from the Apothecary: Asparagus June is the final month for harvesting asparagus in many places, which makes it an ideal plant to look at for our Summer Solstice edition of Notes from the Apothecary. This unusual vegetable crops up in plenty of mythology and folklore throughout the ages, and is used by many modern witches and pagans for love, lust, and luck magic, among other things. Asparagus, or Asparagus officinalis, is a perennial which means it grows back year after year. It’s a flowering plant, and, if left to mature, may produce small white or yellow flowers and orange berries. It’s one of those plants that looks wildly different…

  • Interviews,  Monthly Columns

    Witch Hunt

      There are witches all around us. You can find them anywhere… The Witch on Wheels has been documenting her findings.   Meet Cheyenne Falls I met Cheyenne and her fiancé as they began building their skoolie at the homestead in Georgia I visit twice a year. We got to talking about our paths. One of the things I liked is that she, too, worked with death, and was not squeamish about bones and such. I also enjoyed the meals we shared, typically with her doing the cooking. Working in the lodge kitchen, the range was her altar, a wooden spoon her wand, pots and pans her cauldron, food her…

  • Crafting Articles

    The Kitchen Witch

    The Humble Boxty Many years ago, I went out with a guy named Tim. We were just kids; I was a little older than he was, but we were still kids, basically. I was twenty and he was eighteen. At that time, the drinking age was eighteen years old in New York State. We went to a lot of concerts and to clubs that featured live music. Tim was a major Deadhead and I loved anything I could dance to. But like so many young people, we drifted apart. I didn’t hear from Tim for many years – not until I reconnected with him on Facebook around 2007 or so.…

  • Monthly Columns

    Notes from the Apothecary

    Notes from the Apothecary: Wild Garlic     Wild garlic or Allium ursinum is a fragrant perennial plant with tiny clusters of white flowers atop long, lush green leaves that don’t grow any higher than most people’s ankles. It’s also known as ramsons in Europe and ramps in the United States. Other related plants such as Allium canadense and Allium tricoccum are also called ramps or wild garlic, and just to be more confusing, you might also hear them called wild leeks or wood leeks. Whatever you call them, there’s no escaping the fact that these plants are one of the most delicious smelling harbingers of spring. In the woods…

  • Crafting Articles

    The Kitchen Witch

    Blueberry Pie   Nothing says summer more than blueberry pie! Whether you’re using fresh blueberries picked from your own patch or from a blueberry farm or blueberries bought at a farmer’s market or blueberries frozen from an earlier picking session, this is probably one of the quintessential pies of summertime. Perfect with vanilla ice cream, it’s a treat that everyone loves. I have made blueberry pie several times in my life. Usually I just make my standard pie crust – the simple one I have memorized and have made hundreds of times – and simply mix fresh blueberries with sugar and flour and then bake until the crust is a…