Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Wicca in the Kitchen - Scott Cunningham 1990

Vegetables
The magic of food

Wait a minute!” you might be thinking. “Vegetables aren’t as interesting as other foods!” Perhaps. These green (red, purple, brown, white, yellow, and orange) foods, however, are just as important as desserts in magic. We’ve been trained by our society to desire sweet foods and to ignore veggies. Despite our transient desires, we can’t limit ourselves to eating only sweets.

That said, read on and enjoy yourself.

Artichoke

(Cynara scolymus)

Planet: Mars

Element: Fire

Energies: Protection

Lore: Greek legend states that the first artichoke was originally a beautiful woman. Some angry god (frankly, I don’t know which) was so jealous of her beauty that he transformed her into an artichoke.⁹²

The artichoke seems to have originated in the Medi-terranean region and in the Canary Islands. This vegetable was enjoyed in ancient Rome as a luxury food. The Romans preserved it in brine or vinegar (much as we pack artichoke “hearts” in oil).^{53, 92}

Magical uses: The artichoke is certainly delicious. Because it is a member of the thistle family, and due to its flower’s sharp points, the artichoke is eaten as part of protective diets.

Flavor with garlic or bay leaves for additional protective energy.

Asparagus

(Asparagus officianlis)

Planet: Mars

Element: Fire

Energies: Sex

Magical uses: As you prepare the asparagus to be cooked or steamed, visualize yourself enjoying sex. Eat with power.

Bamboo

(Bambusa spp.)

Planet: Sun

Element: Air

Energies: Protection, psychic awareness

Lore: Bamboo is an ancient symbol of longevity in China and Japan.³ It is also planted around homes to guard them. Hawaiian religion is rife with bamboo lore.⁷

Fresh bamboo shoots are poisonous. They must be cooked before they can be safely eaten.⁷¹

Magical uses: Bamboo shoots are added to protective diets. To further empower them with protective energy, mark a small pentagram on each shoot with a knife before adding it to food.

Bamboo shoots are also eaten to enhance psychic awareness. Use in salads with fresh sprouts to open your deep mind.

Bean

(Phaseolus spp.)

Planet: Mercury

Element: Air

Energies: Money, sex

Lore: Beans were a major part of the diets of many Mesoamerican cultures, including the Maya and the Aztecs. They’re still an important food throughout Latin America.

Plutarch states that beans were given in sacrifice to Harpocrates (the Graeco-Roman deity) in the month of Mesore. Apollo was also offered beans in sacrifice. The Egyptian king Ramses III offered 11,998 jars of shelled beans to the deities on one occasion.²³ Several ancient religions forbade priests and priestesses to eat beans.

The Romans offered beans to the dead at certain festivals. The Greeks and Romans also used beans for ballots: white beans for yes, black beans for no. Apollo was offered beans in sacrifice.

Beans were long thought to promote sexual desire if eaten. The famous English herbalist Culpeper recommended them for this purpose, while a father of the Church, Saint Jerome, forbade nuns to eat beans because they “tickled the genitals.”⁷¹

In England, insanity was thought to be the result of sleeping overnight in a bean field.⁹⁹ The white flowered beans, however, have long been sacred to the Goddess and were revered by many peoples.

Colonists learned the art of cooking Boston baked beans from American Indians.²⁹

Magical uses: Add beans to diets designed to increase wealth. If you make your own baked beans, add a touch of ginger, maple syrup, and other money-attracting foods during their preparation, and visualize as you mix and cook. Or, eat beans with the appropriate visualization to increase your interest in sexual activity.

Hot chili with beans is a protective dish.

Beet

(Beta vulgaris)

Planet: Saturn

Element: Earth

Energies: Love, beauty

Lore: Beets have been eaten for centuries by persons wishing to lengthen their life spans. Aphrodite, the ancient Greek goddess of love, was said to have used beets to maintain and increase her beauty.⁵⁶

The redness of this food dictates its use during harvest and for winter religious festivals such as Lughnasadh (August 1) and Samhain (November 1).

Magical uses: Folk magic states that if a man and a woman eat from the same beet, they’ll fall in love with each other. While this may not be the case (love is far more complex), beets should be added to love-attracting diets.

Cook and eat beets while visualizing yourself enjoying increased beauty. Remember: beauty is internal as well as external.

Broccoli

(Brassica spp.)

Planet: Moon

Element: Water

Energies: Protection

Magical uses: Broccoli is a fine addition to protective diets. Season with basil, garlic, and mustard seed for increased power.

Brussels Sprouts

(Brassica spp.)

Planet: Moon

Element: Water

Energies: Protection

Lore: Legend has it that brussel sprouts were created from wild forms of cabbage growing in Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar relied on cabbage to prevent or to cure the hangovers that usually resulted from his fabulous, excessive feasts. He was naturally disturbed that no fresh cabbage was available during the winter.

According to this myth, he ordered his head gardener, Brussel, to devise a method of growing cabbage year-round. By hybridizing, Brussel eventually succeeded in creating today’s brussel sprouts, which, indeed, are small cabbages and belong to the cabbage family.⁵⁶

Magical uses: Eat Brussels sprouts as a part of protective diets. Adding a bit of salt to them is fine, since salt is also a protective substance, but too much of anything (especially salt) results in ill health. Ill health leads to a lack of our body’s normal psychic protections. As an alternative to salt, try basil, dill weed, and mustard, all of which are protective flavorings.

Cabbage

(Brassica spp.)

Planet: Moon

Element: Water

Energies: Protection, money

Lore: Superstitious persons once placed cabbage leaves on their foreheads on the dreaded Friday the 13th to keep evil far from them—and, most probably, to keep them far from everyone else.⁵⁶

Around 621 B.C.E., officials in Greece passed a law calling for the death penalty for anyone caught stealing cabbages, a favored food.⁵⁶ Also, in Greece, the sad idea arose that eating several heads of cabbage everyday would cure insanity and nervous conditions.⁵⁶

Magical uses: Cabbage is a fine lunar food. Serve it by the light of the Full Moon after magical and spiritual rituals.

Like brussel sprouts and broccoli, cabbage is eaten to internalize protection. Flavor it with basil and mustard for this purpose. Or, eat salty sauerkraut for protection.

Green cabbage is added to money-drawing diets. For this purpose it is cooked with a solid silver coin. Or, flavor with dill seeds to attract prosperity. Cabbage soup is a tasty way to bring money energy into your life. The Roman naturalist Pliny recommended cabbage before sleep to prevent nightmares.

Carrot

(Daucus carota)

Planet: Mars

Element: Fire

Energies: Sex

Magical uses: Carrots have been consumed since the days of ancient Greece to induce the desire for sexual contact. Prepared and eaten with the correct visualization, carrots may play a part in overcoming psychological impotency.

Cook them with parsley and caraway for the best results.

Cauliflower

(Brassica spp.)

Planet: Moon

Element: Water

Energies: Protection

Magical uses: Eat fresh or cooked cauliflower as part of a protection diet. To increase its effectiveness, cook cauliflower with dill, mustard seeds, or rosemary.

Celery

(Apium graveolens)

Planet: Mercury

Element: Fire

Energies: Sex, peace, psychic awareness, weight loss

Lore: Roman women ate celery to increase their sexual appetites.

Magical uses: This plant’s aphrodisiac powers have long been celebrated. Celery soup was one of Madame de Pompadour’s favorite dishes for this purpose. Curiously, heated celery seems to emit a type of pheromone, the chemical sex-attractant naturally secreted by humans and animals. This could be why celery has been favored for this use for 2,000 years.⁵²

If you make celery soup, cook it with visualization. Such sex-stimulating foods are, of course, only effective if you eat them. They will have little or no effect when served to others.

With a different visualization, eating fresh or cooked celery is soothing and brings peace.

Add celery seed (as a seasoning) to foods to strengthen psychic awareness. Celery is also a part of weight-loss plans.

Chervil

(Anthriscus cerefolium)

Planet: Mercury

Element: Air

Energies: Weight Loss

Lore: Folk magicians once boiled chervil with pennyroyal. The resulting brew was thought to cause its drinker to see double.⁵⁶ The plant was named cerefolium to honor its ancient use in festivities directed to Ceres, the goddess of grain and vegetation.⁹⁴

In earlier, rougher times, many died from combat wounds due to infection. In the 1500s, wounded men were given chervil juice to drink. If they kept it down the chervil predicted that they would live. If they “cast it up,” the wound was mortal.⁵⁶

Magical uses: Chervil can be hard to find, but is well worth seeking, especially as it can be of help when trying to lose weight. Juice a bit of this plant every day, visualize, and drink to maintain or to regain your desired figure. For added power, eat in a salad with chickweed.

Chili

(Capsicum spp.)

Planet: Mars

Element: Fire

Energies: Protection

Lore: From archaeological evidence found in Mexican caves, chili peppers seem to have first been cultivated 9,000 years ago.^{29, 90} The Aztecs are said to have used chili peppers in rituals designed to exorcise spirits from possessed persons.¹⁰⁰

Chili peppers were recently banned from one state’s prison system because the burning vegetables could be used as weapons. Curiously enough, during the seventeenth century, Spanish invaders were repelled in some parts of South America by the smoke from burning chilis.²⁹ In contemporary New Mexico, the core of a red bell pepper is still burned on a Friday night to prevent evil from harming humans.⁸⁰

Magical uses: Though there are dozens of varieties, the most commonly seen in U.S. markets are jalapeno, cayenne, and “bell” peppers. Add any of these to diets designed to guard against negative energies. Chile rellenos, stuffed (vegetarian or otherwise) peppers, and jalapeno jelly are three examples of protective foods.

By the way, all peppers (except black pepper) are members of the same family. If you don’t like extremely hot peppers, try the milder pepperoni (the ones served in Italian restaurants), a dash of cayenne, pimento, or the sweet, firmly fleshed bell peppers in your magical protective diet.

Chives

(Allium spp.)

Planet: Mars

Element: Fire

Energies: Weight loss, protection

Lore: Chives may have been first grown in what is now Siberia, near the shores of Lake Baikal, one of the deepest lakes in the world.⁵⁶ Chives were considered to be powerful aphrodisiacs.⁵⁶

Magical uses: The great herbalist Gerarde stated that eating chives would surely “attenuate or make thinne,” and these mildly flavored onions are worth trying if you’re adopting a weight-loss way of life. Though they are difficult to find fresh in grocery stores, they are easily grown at home. Chives even grow well in containers.

For protection, tie a chive into a knot, add to food, and eat. Do this with visualization!

To be rid of a nasty habit or some personal problem that has been vexing you, tie the problem into a chive with a knot and bury. Do not uncover it.

Cucumber

(Cucumus sativus)

Planet: Moon

Element: Water

Energies: Peace, healing

Lore: Fresh cucumbers were once placed under swooning women’s noses (remember swooning?). The odor was supposed to rouse them from their faint.

In Africa, the Nuer sometimes consecrate a small wild cucumber and sacrifice it in place of a treasured ox during important ceremonies.²⁹

Magical uses: Add cucumbers to peace-inducing diets. Peel and munch on one of these raw, whole fruits for quick relief from stress. Or, eat cucumbers while recovering from illness to speed the healing process. Visualize as you eat.

Eggplant

(Solanum melogena var. esculentum)

Planet: Jupiter

Element: Earth

Energies: Spirituality, money

Magical uses: These natives of China were originally small, egg-shaped and white, unlike our massive purple specimens. Eat cooked eggplants to increase spirituality. If you’re fine in this department, visualize increased money while dining on the vegetable.

Many people dislike the strong taste of eggplant. If you happen to be one of them, you’ll be happy to hear that you don’t even have to eat this purplish food to benefit from its energies. To manifest additional money in your life, split an eggplant into two equal pieces. Place a one-dollar bill between the pieces, tie them together, bury them in the earth, and never dig them up. Money will come to you (but you’ll be out a buck).

Endive

(Cichorium endivia)

Planet: Jupiter

Element: Air

Energies: Physical strength, sex

Magical uses: Endive is overlooked today as a salad green. This is a shame, because it can be eaten to promote physical strength (and is certainly safer than steroids).

Endive is another of the many foods that are thought to create sexual desire. Who am I to argue with long-standing tradition?

Greens

In general: Greens are linked with fairies in Scotland and Ireland. This may be one reason why green has long been thought to be an unlucky color. Additionally, greens were once rarely found at wedding feasts and receptions for the same reason—the celebrants didn’t wish to offend the little people.³⁵

In folk magic, greens of all kinds are eaten for money.

Leek

(Alliurn spp.)

Planet: Mars

Element: Fire

Energies: Protection, physical strength

Lore: Leeks are steeped in myth and folklore. In twelfth-century Persia they were worn over the left ear to prevent intoxication. Gerarde, who lived in sixteenth-century England, thought they produced nightmares. In his time, a leek was hidden inside a black cloth and placed under the pillow of an ill person to effect a cure.⁵⁶ Leeks were also regarded as solemn protection against fire and lightning.

Magical uses: Leeks are good protectants, as you might expect from a member of the onion family. Make leek soup or add leeks to a stew for this purpose.

Additionally, they can be eaten for increased physical strength. According to tradition, Welsh soldiers rubbed fresh leeks on their bodies for success and vigor in battle. They also believed that the magic juice would protect them from wounds. The leek is still a national symbol of Wales.¹¹⁴

Lettuce

(Lactuca sativa)

Planet: Moon

Element: Water

Energies: Peace, money, celibacy

Lore: Lettuce was sacred to the god Min in ancient Egypt. Min, whose graphic depictions as a phallic god were deemed obscene a hundred years ago, also ruled over vegetation of all kinds.²³

Lettuce seems to have been his favorite due to its greenness and the fact that the core, when squeezed, exudes a milky sap that was probably associated with semen. Lettuce was naturally related to the act of procreation and to fertility. It was commonly stocked in tombs and offered to Min.²³

At least one Roman emperor was so enamored with this vegetable’s restorative properties that he had an altar, complete with a statue, built to the plant.¹⁵

Magical uses: A Mexican woman once told me that when her young children were “crybabyish” or hyperactive, she’d simply put them in a bathtub with lettuce leaves. This calmed them.

Wild lettuce contains opiates and the juice was once drunk to bring on natural sleep. Today, lettuce is eaten with visualization for peace and tranquillity, even though the common head lettuce found in grocery stores contains virtually no opiates.

Like other salad greens, lettuce is added to money-attracting diets. Use in a salad with fresh dill weed for increased money.

Lettuce is also eaten (in direct contrast to most other foods) to cool sexual desire and, curiously enough, to prevent seasickness.

Mushroom

Planet: Moon

Element: Earth

Energies: Psychic awareness

Lore: Pharaohs in ancient Egypt ate mushrooms, but the common people did not. Romans believed that mushrooms provided strength to the body.⁵³

Mushrooms, like all fungi, have long been regarded with suspicion. Their seemingly miraculous appearance overnight after a good rain, their mysterious ways of propagation, and their eerie appearance have put them into a thousand magical spellbooks and fairy tales.

Some mushrooms are delicious and quite safe to eat. Others are delicious and quite deadly. Accidental deaths still occur each year when amateur mushroom hunters pick the wrong kind of wild mushrooms to enjoy in natural meals.

Mushrooms containing hallucinogenic substances have been used for ritual purposes in Mexico, South America, Siberia, and in many other parts of the world.¹²³ They remain a popular (and illegal) street drug in parts of the United States.

Magical uses: Add normal culinary mushrooms to meals to heighten psychic awareness.

Olive

(Olea europaea)

Planet: Sun

Element: Air

Energies: Spirituality, health, peace, sex

Lore: The olive was sacred to Aten in ancient Egypt.⁶⁹ Olive oil, which was in great demand in the ancient world, actually led to the downfall of Greece. Farmers began growing olives almost exclusively while ignoring food crops. This began Greece’s dependence on imported foods. When import lines were cut, Greece and its populace suffered.¹⁰⁴

Oil was used in hundreds of ways in the ancient world, but it was always linked with religion. It was necessary for the creation of the scented oils used in both religious and magical rituals. In Greece, olive oil was the most popular ingredient for these purposes.

The Romans disdained the use of butter in cooking. They moistened bread with olive oil (as we use butter) and also cooked food in oil.¹⁰⁴

Magical uses: Add olives or olive oil to spirituality inducing diets. Olives are perfect for post-ritual feasts.

Small amounts of olive oil can be added to health diets. Visualize!

Olives are also eaten for peace and for the release of stress. If this isn’t a problem, olives (and the oil) are suitable for arousing sexual desire.

Onion

(Allium cepa)

Planet: Mars

Element: Fire

Energies: Protection, weight loss

Lore: The great city of Chicago was named for the local Indians’ word for the wild onions growing in the area—chicago.⁵⁶

According to ancient Egyptian incantations, onions were included in charms designed to keep potentially harmful ghosts from children.²³ Celebrants at winter solstice festivals in Egypt wore onions around their necks.²³ Onions also played a role in the mummification process.⁶⁹ Though it has often been written that the pyramids were built by onion- and garlic-fed slaves, all Egyptians ate onions in those days. Onions, bread, and beer made up the basic ancient Egyptian diet.¹⁰⁴

In old Rome, the naturalist Pliny wrote that runners should eat onions daily for speed and endurance.⁸⁶ About 1394, an Arab writer recommended onions boiled together with green peas and spiced with cardamom, cinnamon, and ginger to create sexual desire.⁵⁶

Three hundred years later, the English herbalist Gerarde prescribed the use of onions in weight-loss diets; their low caloric content makes them ideal for this. Even if they are well boiled, he states, onions will not lose their “attenuating” quality.³⁶

In contemporary Guatemala, men eat onions to retain virility and to procreate children, even into advanced age.

Magical uses: This sharply scented plant has long been revered and utilized in magical ritual. In general, onions are eaten to boost our protective armor, which is created by a flow of energy from the body. They can be used in any form whatsoever for this purpose; the sharper the taste, the more effective the onion will be. Onions have long been kept in the kitchen, halved, to absorb evil.

Or, as Gerarde recommended, eat onions daily as part of a weight-loss plan.

Pea

(Psium sativum)

Planet: Venus

Element: Water

Energies: Love

Lore: During the Inquisition, peas were thought to be standard food for “Witches.” They have always been sacred to the Mother Goddess.

Magical uses: Cook peas with basil, coriander, dill, or marjoram. Cook while visualizing this simple food as a powerful love attractant. Then eat.

Poke

(Phytolacca americana)

Planet: Mars

Element: Fire

Energies: Protection

Magical uses: All parts of this Native American plant are poisonous, save for the young shoots. These are cooked and eaten for protection.

Potato

(Solanum tuberosum)

Planet: Moon

Element: Earth

Energies: Protection, compassion

Lore: The potato is a native of Peru, where it was first cultivated by about 34000 B.C.E.¹⁰⁴ It was introduced to Spain (and subsequently throughout Europe) in 1534.¹²⁰ It was immediately claimed that the potato was a sure-fire cure for impotency. At times, it was sold for the equivalent of 1,000 dollars a pound.¹⁰⁴

Potatoes lost favor in 1728 in Scotland, where cultivation of the potato was prohibited because it was an unholy nightshade that wasn’t mentioned in the Bible.¹²⁰

Practitioners of American folk medicine carried potatoes in their pockets to cure rheumatism.⁴⁴ In England, toothache sufferers carried a piece of potato to vanquish the pain (this was probably most effective while going to see a dentist).³⁵ Those who dine on new potatoes are granted a wish.⁶⁸

Magical uses: As with many root crops, potatoes are added to protective diets. They should be seasoned with onions, chives, dill weed, rosemary, or parsley for the strongest effect.

Additionally, owing to this vegetable’s lunar rulership, potatoes can be eaten to instill compassion.

Pumpkin

(Curcurbita spp.)

Planet: Moon

Element: Earth

Energies: Healing, money

Lore: According to early American lore, if half a pumpkin is left exposed in the kitchen, negative energies will arrive to spoil the cooking.²²

The pumpkins carved with faces and lit with candles on the last night of October in the United States are related to the similarly prepared turnips carried by children in the U.K. They are created to scare away evil.

Pumpkins are sometimes featured in Samhain celebrations by Wiccans as symbols of the fruitfulness of the earth and of the God’s death beneath the sickle of time. These round, orange vegetables are also symbols of the Mother Goddess.

Magical uses: Add pumpkin dishes to health diets. Dry, roast, and eat the seeds, or enjoy such delicious treats as pumpkin pie and pumpkin bread.

Pumpkin is also a nutritious money-attractant. Make a pumpkin pie and add cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg to flavor it with money-drawing energies.

Radish

(Raphanus sativus)

Planet: Mars

Element: Fire

Energies: Protection

Lore: Wild radishes, eaten before breakfast, were once thought to protect the diner from being flogged and to enable one to overcome all obstacles and enemies.

Magical uses: Slice thinly and eat for protection, especially in salads with onions, bell peppers, and other protective foods.

Rhubarb

(Rheum spp.)

Planet: Venus

Element: Earth

Energies: Love, protection

Magical uses: Rhubarb is native to China, where it is still used in medicinal herbalism.¹⁰⁴ All parts of the plant are poisonous save for the red stalks.

Rhubarb is a love food. The zingy taste ensures zingy, exciting relationships, if rhubarb is prepared with visualization. Rhubarb or rhubarb/strawberry pie is one of the ultimate love foods. The addition of sugar (necessary if rhubarb is to be enjoyed) seals the loving qualities of this Venusian vegetable.

A wedge of rhubarb pie makes an excellent protective dessert.

Seaweed

Planet: Moon

Element: Water

Energies: Weight loss

Lore: Seaweed (more correctly, sea vegetables) are surprisingly nutritious foods that are rarely found in Western diets, except as processed food additives (such as carageenan).

In Cornwall, pieces of a seaweed known as Lady’s Tresses were placed on small stands near the chimney to guard seaside cottages from fire.³⁵

Seaweed is eaten throughout the year by the Japanese, who also serve it on their lunar New Year for happiness.⁴⁶

Magical uses: Add seaweed to your diet if you wish to lose weight. Seaweed has been prescribed for this purpose since ancient times. Dried kelp (a generic term for seaweed) is available in all health-food stores.

Soy

(Glycine max)

Planet: Moon

Element: Earth

Energies: Protections, psychic awareness, spirituality

Lore: We know soy in two forms: soy sauce and tofu. While soy sauce has always enjoyed popularity in the West as a flavoring for Chinese food, tofu is only now gaining ground as a nutritious alternative to meat. It is especially popular with vegetarians.

The Chinese have eaten soybeans for at least 2,000 years and the Japanese for 1,000.⁹⁸ People in both cultures usually eat them in the form of tofu. In Japan, two deities, Ebisu and Daikotu, are involved in the old-style preparation of tofu. Symbols of these deities are burned into the side of the wooden boxes used to measure the soybeans to be processed into tofu. This blesses them with the energies of Ebisu and Daikotu.⁹⁸

Throughout Japan, fried tofu is an acceptable offering at the inami, agricultural shrines that dot the countryside. These shrines are dedicated to agricultural deities.⁵⁴ On the Japanese New Year, handfuls of roasted soybeans are scattered onto the floor in homes and temples. These “beans of good fortune” are then thrown through an open window to the chant of “Out with evil; in with good fortune!”^{54, 60}

In the 1600s, the Emperor Nintoku established the Women’s Mass for Needles. In this ceremony, a cake of tofu is situated on the household altar. Women push all the needles which have been bent or broken in the past year into the cake of tofu. This is done to give the needles—thought to be the spirits of people whose bodies have been sacrificed in service—a gentle resting place.⁵⁴

Magical uses: Add soy sauce or tofu to protective diets. Soy sauce is ideal for this due to its extreme saltiness (though too much is, of course, hazardous to good health). For protection, stirfry tofu with onions and other vegetables of similar energies.

Tofu is also eaten for psychic awareness (particularly if one is searching for alternatives to meat), and to induce spirituality.

Spinach

(Spinacea oleracea)

Planet: Jupiter

Element: Earth

Energies: Money

Lore: In the United States, spinach is remembered as the favorite food of a popular cartoon character, upon whom it magically bestowed great physical strength. This green, leafy vegetable seems to have been introduced from Persia (present-day Iran) to Europe in the fifteenth century; it was soon used on fasting days.⁴⁵

Magical uses: Steam spinach and eat as a part of prosperity diets. Flavor with sesame seeds or nutmeg for added power.

Spirulina

Planet: Venus

Element: Water

Energies: Physical energy

Lore: After they’d arrived in what is now known as Mexico, the Spaniards observed the Aztecs eating what was described as “green foam” or “green mud.” The custom disappeared as the lakes surrounding what is now Mexico City were drained, and the food remained a mystery for hundreds of years.

It seems that the Aztecs ate large quantities of spirulina, the “modern” wonder algae that thrived in the lakes. Spirulina, which is nearly 70 percent protein, contains all the amino acids necessary for human life, as well as seven vitamins.²⁹

Magical uses: Spirulina is available in tablet and powder form. It can be added to food or eaten alone, with visualization, to boost physical energy. All health-food stores stock it.

Sprouts

Planet: Various

Element: Various

Energies: Various

Magical uses: Though sprouted seeds have long been a part of Asian cooking,⁷¹ we’ve only recently introduced them to our salads and breads.

Generally, all sprouts are fine for promoting psychic awareness. Here’s a list of some specific sprouts and their energies:

Alfalfa (Venus, earth): Money, psychic awareness

Bean (Mercury, air): Protection

Mung (Mercury, air): Spirituality

Soy (Moon, earth): Spirituality, psychic awareness, protection

Sunflower (Sun, fire): Protection

Squash

(Curcurbita spp.)

Planet: Sun

Element: Fire

Energies: Spirituality

Lore: Squash was cultivated in the Americas as early as 4000 B.C.E.¹⁰⁴ Several American Indian tribes honored this plant. One striking Hopi kachina is depicted with a squash head, and squash-blossom necklaces are modern reminders of the original sacredness of this simple plant.

Magical uses: Eat this vegetable in dishes designed to increase awareness of the nonphysical reality around us. It is a fine spirituality-inducing food. At least for magical purposes, a squash is a squash, baked or fresh, acorn, hubbard, or zucchini.

Many people, of course, dislike squash. If you’re one of them, avoid this food or eat sweetened zucchini bread.

Sunflower

(Helianthus annuus)

Planet: Sun

Element: Fire

Energies: Protection, success

Lore: Sunflowers were viewed as symbols of the sun by the ancient Incas of Peru. Gold crowns inspired by this flower were reportedly worn by solar priestesses during rituals.⁹⁰

Many Mexican gardens contain sunflowers, since their presence is thought to confer “luck.” Women still eat sunflower seeds for help in conceiving a child. In the United States, the seeds are gathered at sunset and eaten to gain a wish.

Magical uses: Hold your hands over a small bowl of roasted sunflower seeds. Visualize them bursting with the energies of the sun—protection, success, triumph. Then eat them to bring these powers inside yourself. Or, add to protective salads and other dishes.

Sweet Potato

(Ipomoea batatas)

Planet: Venus

Element: Water

Energies: Love, sex

Lore: An English cookbook of 1596 includes the preparation of a sweet potato tart intended to excite sexual desires. ²⁹

Those sweetened, orange tubers often served at Thanksgiving are actually sweet potatoes, not yams. Yams certainly do exist and are eaten in large quantities in Africa, Central and South America, and the West Indies, but not in the U.S. True yams are massive tubers, growing to as long as seven feet and tipping the scales at more than one hundred pounds. Compare these to our “yams” of November and you’ll readily see the difference.

Magical uses: Cook and eat sweet potatoes to expand your ability to receive as well as to give love. Flavor with cinnamon, ginger, and a dash of honey or sugar to further empower them with loving energies.

Or, prepare them with visualization and share with a mate for enhanced sexuality. Inform your partner of the food’s power.

Tomato

(Lycopersicon spp.)

Planet: Venus

Element: Water

Energies: Health, money, love, protection

Lore: Known as zictomatl by the Aztecs,⁸³ the tomato is an ancient food. When it was introduced into Europe in the sixteenth century, the tomato was regarded with suspicion. It is botanically related to nightshade, which is obvious from studying the plant’s leaves, flowers, and even fruit. Everyone assumed that its fruits were also poisonous, despite the tales of the inhabitants of New Spain (Mexico) eating it and surviving.¹⁰⁴

The fruits became known as “love apples” and were finally accepted into the dietary regime. At some point in the past, the tomato was considered to be a lucky food, and the red tomato pincushions that are still made today are a survival of this idea.

Lonely women once dried tomato seeds and enclosed them in a piece of cloth. They wore this charm around their necks in the hope of attracting men.²⁵

Magical uses: Tomatoes can be used in a number of ways. Tomato sauce, tomato juice, and the popular Italian combination of sun-dried tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and basil are just some of them.

For health, eat fresh tomatoes, or cook them with sage and rosemary.

Mixing basil, cinnamon, or dill weed with tomatoes creates an especially potent, money-attracting food.

For love, season tomatoes with rosemary, or eat them while they’re fresh and bursting with juice.

To bring protective energy inside yourself, flavor tomatoes with black pepper, bay, dill, or rosemary.

Truffle

(Tuber melanospermum)

Planet: Venus

Element: Water

Energies: Love, sex

Magical uses: The Romans believed that truffles were created by thunder.²⁷ Add truffles to foods designed to increase your ability to give and to receive love. If that’s not the important issue, eat truffles to increase sexual desire.

Watercress

Planet: Mars

Element: Fire

Energies: Protection, fertility

Lore: In the ancient world, watercress was thought to strengthen the conscious mind. The Greeks (who knew the plant as kardamon) ate watercress to gain wit.⁵⁵ Classical Romans munched the spicy green leaves to stimulate their brains.⁸⁶

Magical uses: Add watercress to protective diets. The sharp taste and the plant’s habit of growing near flowing water makes it ideal for this purpose. Eat with visualization, as always.

Watercress is also eaten to promote physical fertility.