The House Witch: Your Complete Guide to Creating a Magical Space with Rituals and Spells for Hearth and Home - Arin Murphy-Hiscock 2018

The Magic in Everyday Objects
Magic at the Hearth

IN HEARTHCRAFT, magic is a way of consciously drawing on the energy of the spiritual hearth to enhance the activity you are engaged in. In many paths magic and spiritual practices are separate, but in hearthcraft the magical activity both supports and draws from spiritual activity. As so much of hearthcraft revolves around love, nurturing, and protection of what you consider sacred, positive goals can be the only ones envisioned.

Another way of looking at magic within the context of hearthcraft is as transformation of some kind, a task performed with the intent to weave together energies in order to initiate some sort of spiritual transformation, rejuvenation, or growth. With that in mind, this chapter looks at kitchen folklore and customs and the energies associated with the equipment found and used in the kitchen.

The Magic in Everyday Objects

The materials you work with all possess their own energies. Here’s a look at the common materials found in the kitchen and their associated magical energies to help you get a handle on what they contribute to the energy of your home. Being aware of these energies means you can actively incorporate them into your spiritual work and take advantage of their benefits.

Metals

There were seven main metals known to the ancients. Each was associated with a planet (which in turn had already been associated with a deity) and assigned a sympathetic set of associations and correspondences. The seven metals of the ancients were gold (associated with the sun), silver (the moon), quicksilver (Mercury), copper (Venus), iron (Mars), tin (Jupiter), and lead (Saturn). Many of these metals are still used in today’s homes and are listed here with their associated energies.

Iron and Steel

Iron is one of the most common elements found on earth and is thought to be necessary to life in trace amounts for most living organisms. Cast iron, one of the most common forms of iron found in the kitchen, is made of iron, carbon, silicon, and trace amounts of manganese. Steel is another common form of iron, alloyed with carbon to strengthen and harden it, along with other trace elements such as tungsten. Magically, iron is believed to deflect magic and psychic energy and increase physical strength, making it a common choice for making protective charms and talismans or for iron filings in amulet bags and gris-gris pouches. People of various cultures have carried nails, keys, and other iron-made items with them as protective and defensive talismans. Iron nails used to be hammered above doors and windows to prevent entry by evil spirits.

If you are looking for a way to incorporate iron into your magical or spiritual work and don’t wish to use cookware or utensils, using a piece of hematite is an excellent alternative. Hematite is a pewter-colored metal used in magical work for grounding and protection. Lodestones, pieces of stone with iron in them that possess a magnetic charge, are also used in magical work to either draw certain energy toward them and the bearer or to deflect certain energies away. Either hematite or lodestones on your altar or shrine will lend their energies to your spiritual hearth. Alternatively, you can eat foods high in iron such as dried fruit, dark green vegetables, nuts, whole grains, and red meat, among others.

Iron and steel are used magically for defense, protection, grounding, strength, energy, willpower, and courage.

Copper

Copper is an excellent conductor, and cooking pots and pans are often made entirely or partially of this metal. Traditionally, copper is associated with Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty. It revitalizes, refreshes, is associated with healing, balances outgoing and incoming energies, and is also associated with attracting money. Just as copper is an electrical conductor, it also conducts magical energy. It is an excellent metal to have around the hearth and home, as it enhances energies such as harmony, abundance, and attraction of positive energy.

Magically copper can be used for work regarding kindness, fertility, peace, harmony, arts-related undertakings, and friendship.

Aluminum

One of the most abundant metals on earth, aluminum is naturally found in several stones such as garnets and staurolite. Aluminum is usually anodized for use in pots and pans. It is a very dense metal, despite its lightness.

As one of the more recent metals, it does not have as many magical associations with it as classical metals such as copper or iron do. Modern associations are travel, communication, and other subjects associated with mental activity. As aluminum is very resistant to corrosion, it may also be used to enhance staying power or permanency and to resist unbeneficial change.

Tin and Pewter

Tin is most often found in the form of pewter. Modern pewter is tin alloyed with antimony, but older pewter alloyed the tin with lead and copper. Used for making cups and plates and other housewares, pewter is also commonly used for small figurines and jewelry. (Interestingly, Mexican pewter is in fact made of aluminum alloyed with other metals, not tin.)

Magical associations for tin and pewter include business success, legal issues, wisdom, growth, success, healing, and abundance.

Porcelain, China, and Earthenware

These ceramic-based materials are all made from clay and kaolin clay bases with various other materials added to them to create certain effects. They are usually glazed to make them watertight. Clay is an earth-based material, and so these items carry the basic associations of abundance, stability, and fertility.

Glass

Glass is basically melted and fused silicon dioxide with various minerals added to provide stability. Pyrex contains boron; lead glass or crystal contains lead to increase light’s refraction to cause a sparkling effect. Silicon dioxide is found naturally as sand or quartz, both also associated with the element of earth and therefore with the energies of stability and abundance. The quartz category covers many of the stones commonly used in New Age practice such as agate, jasper, and onyx, as well as the translucent stones commonly referred to as quartz. In general, quartz stones are associated with energy, healing, and protection, among others for particular stones.