Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Wicca in the Kitchen - Scott Cunningham 1990
Cakes, Sweetened Breads, Cookies, & Pies
The magic of food
Humans have always eaten sweetened foods. Honey has been in use since at least 8000 b.c.e. Cave paintings of humans gathering honey attest to this.71 Date syrup and grape syrup were also commonly used throughout Meso-potamia and the Mediterranean region for sweetening purposes.29 Until fairly recently, only India and Hawaii used sugar as their major sweetener (see chapter 13 for further information about sweeteners).
Sweetened breads and cakes have always been linked with religion and folk magic. The history of these foods is a journey through dozens of cultures and peoples around the globe.
Babylonians baked cakes for the goddess Ishtar in the shape of male and female human genitalia, and served them during fertility festivals.12 Selene was honored with crescent-shaped cakes; Hermes with those in the form of a herald’s rod.93 Cakes marked with the images of the horns of the moon were offered to Astarte.29 The Greek goddess Artemis was honored each month with round cakes, upon which burning candles were placed.124
In China, moon cakes are baked in honor of the autumn moon festival. A small table is placed on a patio and piled with the round cakes and fruit. Family and relatives eat them in sight of the lunar orb.3
In Teutonic Europe, sweetened breads were formed into the images of humans and animals and were offered in place of living sacrificial victims. The twisted breads now made in Germany have a religious and magical origin. They were made and given to the goddess Holle by her worshippers to avoid her punishment: rumpling of the hair.93
Serbian Gypsies transferred the power of edible cakes to their symbolic form. To cure headaches cakes, roosters, suns, knives, snakes, and acorns were embroidered upon the affected person’s clothing. These symbols dispelled the evil eye, once believed to be the true cause of headaches.14
All cakes and sweetened breads are ruled by the planet Venus and the element of water, and so are imbued with loving energies. Today, cakes and sweetened breads are still important symbolic foods at birthdays, weddings, and religious festivals throughout the world. Here is some of this magic.
Birthday Cakes
Offering a special cake to a person enjoying a birthday is a custom of obscure origin, but almost certainly is meant to magically ensure that the recipient won’t suffer poverty or hunger during the coming year. Birthday cakes may also be related, in some way, to astrology, for the sun is (obviously) in the same position in the zodiac on the day of birth every year. Small candles might have originally been placed upon the cake in the shape of the person’s zodiac sign. Created from sacred foods (grain, butter, sugar, and eggs), cakes are uniquely linked with the divine and are perfect gifts on birthdays.
Why do we write on special-occasion foods, such as birthday cakes? This involves the idea that the act of eating words (even those created out of icing) magically transfers the energies represented by those words to their eaters. “Happy Birthday” and “Good Luck” carefully written on cakes were originally more than kind gestures—they were ritual assurances of just these things.
Some scholars claim that our modern birthday cakes, topped with candles, are related to those once created for Artemis.124 The lit candles are reminders of the sacred fires of this goddess. Additionally, when a child woke on its birthday, German peasants lit cake-borne candles.
Blowing out the candles and “making a wish” are obviously remnants of forgotten magical rituals—perhaps those performed to gain the favor of Artemis. The next time you’re presented with a candlelit cake, visualize your wish as you blow.
The color of the candles is important. Use white candles for protection and purification; pink for spiritual love; red for sexuality; blue for peace and healing; purple for healing and spirituality; green for growth, abundance, and money; yellow for clear thinking, and orange for energy.
Round cakes represent spirituality, while square and rectangular cakes symbolize prosperity. If you make a cake for a friend’s birthday, put much love and positive energy into it. Ice it with appropriate symbols, and words, visualizing all the time. If you wish, place the candles on the table around the table, instead of on top of the cake.
All-natural cakes, sweetened with honey, frosted with honey icing, and containing whole grains, can be served to those who forgo conventional “junk foods.” Fresh, chopped fruits can also be added while keeping their magical energies in mind (see chapter 11).
Wedding Cakes
The history of wedding cakes is quite long. These nuptial goodies have their origins in the ancient custom of couples ritually eating sacred foods during the marriage rite. At some times and in some places, a couple needed only to eat or drink food together to be married.
It seems that the wedding cake is descended from the Roman confarreatio. This special cake was crumbled over the bride’s head during marriage feasts to ensure fertility and plenty during the couple’s life together.31 The cake was, of course, sweetened with honey. Guests kept pieces of the cake, much as wedding guests of our own time take home slices for “good luck.”46 In the Victorian era, unmarried English women placed pieces of wedding cake under their pillows for dreams of their future husbands.82
Some American Indian tribes made cakes for marriage celebrations. An Iroquois bride, for example, baked a cornmeal cake and gave it to the groom. This was an important part of the ceremony.31
The roses so often found decorating wedding cakes today are symbolic wishes for love. They are probably the modern form of the crystallized rose petals and violets that were once placed on the completed cake.
Such an important part of an important ceremony is still fraught with superstitions: the bride should never make her own wedding cake; neither bride nor groom should taste it until the appropriate time;46 the bride should keep a piece of the cake (as long as she has it, she’ll have the love of her husband); spice wedding cakes denote a spicy relationship.
In 1861, the wife of Horace Mann wrote Christianity in the Kitchen, a curious conglomeration of information based on the theory that an unhealthy diet hindered morals. Among her astounding conclusions: since wedding cake is difficult to digest, it is immoral and un-Christian.104
Is it just a coincidence that the two substances most often used to flavor wedding cakes, chocolate and vanilla, are both powerful love stimulants?
Sweetened Breads
The major difference between cakes and sweetened breads is that the latter usually contain yeast, whereas cakes do not. As soon as the art of leavened bread-making became popular, honey or date syrup was certainly added, along with spices and other ingredients, in order to produce a pleasing variety.
Sweetened breads are still baked during religious festivals in Europe (especially for Easter) and Mexico (for All Soul’s Day). Certain cakes baked for Halloween and Christmas are quite popular in Scotland, and German stollens are well-known. Pre-Christian Brits baked cakes for spring festivals. One of these breads is still with us today, in a conveniently sanitized form.
Hot-Cross Buns
Long before the advent of Christianity, Europeans celebrated the coming of spring with rituals dedicated to the sun and to the earth, which were viewed as symbols of the God and the Goddess. The spring solstice, which falls on a day between March 21 and March 24 each year, was a welcome breath of life after the chilling months of winter.29, 44, 114
In these rituals, some of which were dedicated to Eostra (from which our word “Easter” is derived), small, sweetened buns were baked and eaten to encourage the returning fertility of the earth. These ritual breads, created with carefully stored grain and honey, were marked with phallic symbols as visual representations of the sun’s fertilizing influence upon the earth and humans.29, 44, 114
As Christianity spread across Europe, the uses of these Pagan breads was altered by the new faith. The phallic symbols, regarded with unnatural horror, were transformed into more “seemly” crosses.‡‡‡125 Hot-cross buns became a part of Easter celebrations and were dedicated, if a bit tardily, to the Christian story of resurrection. The conversion was so complete that hot-cross buns were even given to religious pilgrims traveling through English villages.119
Perhaps not curiously, hot-cross buns retained their mystic energies in the popular mind. They were eaten on Good Friday to bring a year of good luck. They were used to cure certain illnesses. Hung in the house, they guarded it from fire and evil of all kinds and were said to last indefinitely without getting moldy. (In Cornwall they were hung from the bacon-rack.)114 Sailors believed that having one on board prevented shipwrecks, and hot-cross buns were even placed in granaries to keep out rats. A modern American superstition states that placing a hot-cross bun in a cupboard on the spring equinox ensures that “you’ll know no hunger for ages.”46
The magical properties ascribed to the simple hot-cross bun are memories of a time when they were much more interesting symbols firmly linked with the old Pagan religions of Europe.
Pan de Muerto
On November 2, All Soul’s Day, many Mexicans visit family graves to perform a ritual rooted in pre-Christian times. Along with orange marigolds, they bring a special sweetened bread baked only for this occasion.
This joyous time includes a feast in which the dead are invited to participate. The feast affirms the inevitability of death in the minds of the living and reaffirms the value of the departed. This is quite a healthy ritual.83
In the United States, All Soul’s Day (a Catholic holy day) is exoterically celebrated as Halloween, with its attendant masquerades, parties, and occult themes. Some of the European-based motifs have been transferred to Mexico, but the honoring of the dead is of ancient, pre-conquest origin.
In late October, bakeries throughout Mexico and the southwestern United States offer pan de muerto, “bread of the dead.” I’ve long relished the unique flavor of this specialty food. If you have Mexican bakeries (panaderia) in your part of the world, check them during this month for pan de muerto. If they don’t have it, ask for it. If you still can’t find any, make some yourself next Halloween—and revere.
Pan de Muerto
1 teaspoon anise seeds
3 tablespoons water
1 package dry yeast
1⁄2 cup warm milk
31⁄2 cups sifted, all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup melted butter
6 eggs lightly beaten
1 tablespoon orange flower water
Grated rind of 1 orange
1 egg, beaten
Coarse or red sugar (for topping)
The night before, place anise seeds in 3 tablespooons of water in a pan. Bring to a boil, turn off heat, and let stand overnight. On the following day, strain out seeds and discard. Sprinkle yeast over warm milk to soften. Add anise water to the yeast. Add enough flour to make a light dough. Knead and shape into a ball. Let stand in a warm place until doubled in bulk (about 1 hour). Sift together the remaining flour with salt and sugar. Beat in melted (and cooled) butter, eggs, orange flower water, and grated rind. Knead on a lightly floured board until smooth. Add the dough ball. Knead together until smooth and elastic. Cover with cloth and let the dough rest for 11⁄2 hours, or until doubled in bulk.
Pinch off 2 walnut-sized chunks of dough (for decoration). Divide remaining dough and shape into round loaves. Place on greased baking sheets. Roll out some of the reserved dough with a rolling pin into 4 thin ropes about 5 inches long. Stretch out ropes, flattening ends until they resemble bones. Allow to rise. Cross two bones on each loaf, attaching with beaten egg (to resemble crossed bones). Roll remaining dough into another thin rope. Cut off small pieces, shape into teardrops, and attach to loaf with beaten egg between bones.
Remember, as you do this, to recall the symbolism of the season—the deepening of winter and the lessening of the earth’s fertile energies. Recall passed loved ones and friends with happiness, not sadness.
Cover lightly with a cloth and let stand until just doubled in bulk. Lightly brush loaves with beaten egg. Sprinkle with coarse sugar (or red-dyed sugar). Or, leave plain. Bake in preheated 375°F (190°C). oven for about 30 minutes. Yield: 2 loaves.
Cookies
Cookies are sweetened, distant relatives of the flat breads served by our Neolithic predecessors. Cookies have always been baked into specific shapes for ritual and magical purposes.
Sugar Cookies
Many of us have eaten cut-out sugar cookies at Yule. As mentioned in chapter 7, bell-shaped cookies were once eaten for protection and to drive away evil. Cookies in the shapes of animals represent the sacrifices that were once offered to the goddesses and gods.
If you make simple sugar cookies, cut them into specific shapes representing your magical goals. Such cookies make strong magical tools. Remember to visualize as you mix, cut, and slide them into the oven (see Symbols, page 341, for more ideas).
A wide variety of cookie cutters is available. Specialty cutters available at Yule and Halloween offer a wealth of possibilities. Crescents, stars, brooms, “Witches,” suns, and many other styles are available. Use your imagination (and, if all else fails, a sharp knife) to carve your magical symbols.
Fortune Cookies
Ah yes, those ancient Chinese divinatory devices! Actually, fortune cookies were probably invented to advertise a Chinese restaurant in California during the 1920s. Still, they bear a resemblance to an ancient Roman practice. This method, known as aleuromancy, consisted of writing messages on slips of paper that were enclosed in balls of flour paste. These were mixed together and randomly distributed in order to reveal their receiver’s fortunes.
The modern version is more pleasing to the palate. Making your own gives you the opportunity to truly personalize the fortunes, and it’s a good way to spend a rainy afternoon. Try it—your fortune cookies will be the hit of your next party, dinner, or ritual gathering.
Take a large piece of clean white paper. Cut into 48 strips of paper, each about 1⁄2 inch wide and 3 inches long.
Sitting before them with a pencil, close your eyes and clear your mind. Contact your psychic awareness. Allow it to send messages to your conscious mind.
Then start writing the fortunes. Write whatever pops into your head. Write neatly. If nothing comes to you, here are some samples that you can use to spark your imagination:
—Those who wait, do not
—Luck lies around the corner
—Speak not to strangers
—Wait until the wind rises
—Happiness is found within
—You will not want
—Love is on the breeze
—Rippling water answers you
—The stars shine upon you
—You are blessed
—Wealth lies before you
—Do it!
Or, if you’re as bad at writing fortunes as I seem to be, draw one magical symbol on to each slip of paper.
Now, to making the cookies. The “secret” here is to use soft, clean cotton gloves. These are indispensable (unless you’re really into pain) for the process of folding the cookies. Cardboard (not plastic) egg cartons are also essential. Here’s how to do it:
Fortune Cookies
1⁄2 cup melted butter
3 egg whites
3⁄4 cup sugar
1⁄8 teaspoon salt
1⁄4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon instant tea
2 tablespoons water
The fortunes
Burn a light blue candle in the kitchen as you work. Mix together the egg whites, sugar, and salt in a bowl. Stir in vanilla, flour, tea, water, and melted butter individually. When well mixed, chill for at least thirty minutes. Heat oven to 350°F (177°C).
Drop a rounded teaspoon of the chilled dough onto a greased baking sheet. Using the back of the spoon, spread the batter until it makes a thin, 3-inch circle. Repeat to form a second circle—but form no more than two at a time. Bake 3 to 5 minutes or until the edges turn brown. Just before they’re done, put on the cotton gloves. Remove the pan from the oven. Using a spatula, lift one cookie from the sheet. Place on a clean, unfloured surface. Working quickly, lay one fortune across the center of the cookie. Lift one edge and fold over to form a half circle. Holding the cookie at the ends, place the middle of the fold over the rim of the cardboard egg carton. Bend down the ends. Carefully place the cookie into an egg hole in the carton to cool. Quickly repeat this entire process with the second cookie.
Continue until you’ve used up the dough. Bake no more than two cookies at a time; otherwise they’ll stiffen and you’ll be unable to bend them.
Pies
Pastry probably originated in ancient Greece.105 It was learned by the conquering Romans, who spread the art throughout their empire. Pastry isn’t used only to hold sweet foods, of course; English pasties and dough-wrapped fish come to mind. The lore of sweet pies, however, is so compelling that I’m limiting my remarks to them.
Pies were once illegal. Oliver Cromwell, that humorless gent who ruined countless English parties in the 1600s, banned all pies in the Commonwealth. Why? Because they gave people pleasure, which was the last thing this tyrannical, fanatical Puritan wanted. Fortunately, Charles II ascended to the throne in 1660 and restored the enjoyment of pies throughout the land. A new royal was rarely so well-received.105
Why are American pies round and not square? This custom began during colonial times in the United States (I guess our Puritans were open to some forms of pleasure). The deep square or oblong pans used in Europe required far too much precious fruit, so the corners were cut off and the pan was made shallow. Hence, our round pies.105
Magically speaking, round pies induce spirituality, and square pies promote prosperity. Pies topped with intricate lattice-work crusts are useful in protective diets. The choice of fruits is important when making (or even buying) a pie. Choose them for their magical energies. Here’s a quick list of some of the more common pies and their magical qualities (fruit is more thoroughly discussed in chapter 11):
Apple: Love, healing, peace
Apricot: Peace
Banana cream: Money
Blackberry: Money, sex
Blueberry: Protection
Chess (custard): Spirituality
Chocolate cream: Money, love
Coconut cream: Spirituality
Cherry: Love
Key lime: Love, purification
Lemon: purification, love
Mince: “Luck,” money
Peach: Love, health, happiness, wisdom
Pecan: Money
Pineapple: Love, healing, money, protection
Pumpkin: Money, healing
Raspberry: Happiness, love, protection
Rhubarb: Protection, love
Strawberry: Love
This magical information also relates to tarts, cobblers, and turnovers. Visualize as you mix, bake, and eat!
Mince pie is a special case. Throughout England and Europe, mince pies are baked and served on New Year’s Eve. Just after midnight, a piece is eaten, with a wish (and attendant visualization). This also bestows money on the eater.
While baking pies, lightly mark a pentagram on the upper crust (if it has one; if not, mark on the lower crust before baking. This guards the pie during the baking process. Or, cut slits. Alternately, lightly trace symbols related to your magical goal into the pie’s crusts (see “Symbols,” page 341).
At one time, pastry left over from forming the crusts was baked and left as an offering to the spirits who were thought to inhabit the kitchen. I remember my mother baking these remnants, sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon, and serving them to us. They often seemed to taste better than the pies themselves.
Pancakes
To close this chapter, a short look at pancakes—those bubbly, light-brown things that fly off the griddle and often hit the bottom of our stomachs like a pound of granite.
Pancakes are “luck” foods around the world. In England, Shrove Tuesday is known as Pancake Day. To eat a pancake on this day ensures a year with plenty of money, food, and luck. This custom stems from pre-Christian roots.
Before the destruction of their folk practices, Russians used to celebrate the coming of spring with a special ritual. They drove an image of Masslianitsa, the goddess of butter, on a sledge around the villages, singing and enjoying themselves. The decorated figure was then burned (ouch!) and the celebrants feasted on blinni, a traditional Russian pancake, to end this Pagan festival.79
Today, many groups still call upon the power of this basic dish. They do this by having fund-raising pancake breakfasts that dimly echo the wild feasts of earlier times.
Pancakes are linked with the two most important gifts of the earth—grain and milk. No wonder they’ve been honored. Here’s some of my pancake magic:
For Money
Short on cash? Make up some buckwheat pancakes. Pour them onto the griddle in the shape of a dollar sign. Visualize. Cook, flip, and serve with maple syrup (another money-attractant).
An All-Purpose Pancake Ritual
While visualizing, quickly pour any pancake batter onto the griddle in the reversed shape of some magical symbol (such as a pentagram). Flip, cook, and eat.
A Pancake Divination Ritual
Several years ago, I ran across a simple and delicious pancake divination that I’ve shared with many friends.
Make the batter from scratch, stirring clockwise and visualizing your question. If you have no specific question, simply blank your mind.
Pour the batter onto the griddle. Push the rounded tip of a wooden spoon into the center of the uncooked pancake against the griddle. Randomly move it, asking your question.
When it’s time, remove the spoon and flip the pancake. Symbols will appear on the browned side. Use your psychic awareness. Interpret them to give you a glimpse of possible tomorrows.