Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Wicca in the Kitchen - Scott Cunningham 1990
Nuts & Alleged Nuts
The magic of food
Ionce despised nuts. To the young kid that I once was, they were dry, hard to chew, and came in difficult-to-open packages. I eventually realized that there were other varieties besides walnuts (which I still don’t relish), and that even cracking them could be fun.
The title of this chapter refers to foods often mistaken for nuts (brazil nuts) as well as at least one substance (sesame) that, though a seed, has a nutty flavor.
It is curious that one contemporary slang term for insanity is “nuts,” as in, “That politician’s gone nuts.” In the past, these crunchy foods were thought to bestow wisdom, not mental derangement.****
In any case, nuts are gifts from trees, the largest vegetable life forms on our planet. Trees were once worshipped as deities, or as the abodes of divine beings and spirits; nuts, the fruits of these trees, were sacred and magical.
Generally speaking, all nuts were thought to be useful for promoting physical fertility—the ability to produce children. Heart-shaped nuts were carried to promote love, while all double nuts (those rarities in which two nuts are formed within the shell) were considered to be the luckiest of all.
Today, we’re rediscovering the importance of nuts in our diets. Here are some reasons why we should eat more of them.
Almond
(Prunus dulcis)
Planet: Mercury
Element: Air
Energies: Money, healing
Lore: In the past, five almonds eaten before drinking were believed to prevent intoxication. They probably would—if the taste of the nut changed one’s mind about imbibing.120
In what was once known as Persia (modern-day Iran), almonds were used to cure insomnia, to stimulate lactation in nursing mothers, to relieve headache, and to guard against the evil eye.120 Today, candied almonds are given as presents to the guests at Italian weddings.
Magical uses: Eat fresh almonds, roasted almonds, or other almond dishes to bring money into your life. Or, crunch these delicious nuts to stimulate health and to speed the body’s healing processes. Eat with visualization!
Marzipan, an Arabic invention,104 can also be eaten for these uses.
Brazil Nut
(Bertholletia excelsa)
Planet: Venus
Element: Earth
Energies: Love, money
Magical uses: This food, which is technically a fruit, is a delicious addition to love-inducing diets. Make banana bread with chopped brazil nuts for a potent love loaf.
Brazil “nuts” can also be used to bring increased money and prosperity. To do this, draw a small five-pointed star on the “nut” with visualization and eat.
Cashew
(Anacardium occidentale)
Planet: Sun
Element: Fire
Energies: Money
Magical uses: These nuts can be eaten to increase your income. Tasty Yuletide cookies created with cashews are perfect for this use, as is the Chinese dish of “cashew chicken.” Or, eat them right out of the bag.
Chestnut
(Castanea spp.)
Planet: Sun
Element: Air
Energies: Love, conscious mind
Lore: At one time, Europeans left chestnuts on the table after eating supper on Samhain (November 1) to nourish the poor deceased souls of the dead.61
Magical uses: Roasted chestnuts, immortalized in the classic Nat King Cole song, are an excellent inducement to love. Though you might be tired of reading this, do remember to eat them with visualization. Chestnuts are also consumed to strengthen the conscious mind.
Coconut
(Cocos nucifera)
Planet: Moon
Element: Water
Energies: Spirituality, psychic awareness, purification
Lore: The coconut is one of the world’s most useful trees. As many as three hundred products can be made from the fruit, husk, flower stalks, leaves, and trunk. Found in tropical areas around the world, it was probably spread from its currently unknown place of origin by ocean currents and by the migration of humans.
In ancient Hawaii, coconut was offered to many deities, including Kane. Coconut groves were worshipped as spiritual places linked with the divine.7 Throughout the Pacific, Hina, goddess of the moon, is linked with the creation of the original coconut.7
Magical uses: This white, round nut would naturally have lunar symbolism, with all that implies—moistness, love, spirituality. Eat fresh coconut before or during rituals designed to boost your spiritual awareness. It is also a fine psychic-awareness food. Coconut is also useful for inner purification, if eaten with the proper visualization.
Whole coconuts are kept in the kitchen for power. Fresh coconut is best for magical and culinary purposes, but the shredded, packaged kind will do in a pinch.
Hazelnut
(Corylus spp.)
Planet: Sun
Element: Air
Energies: Wisdom, conscious mind, fertility
Lore: This tree, and its round, delicious nuts, played important roles in European folklore and folk religion. Linked with deities of the sky, the hazel was considered a guardian against lightning, damaging storms, and fire.37 Hazelnuts were once placed into small bags and given to the bride on her wedding day.114
Magical uses: The hazelnut is thought to bestow wisdom on those who eat it. Wisdom isn’t merely the accumulation of knowledge; it is the ability to correctly assimilate and utilize information. Hazelnuts stimulate the conscious mind in order to bring us closer to wisdom.
The nuts are age-old symbols of fertility, and so can be eaten with visualization if this is a problem.
Macadamia
(Macadamia spp.)
Planet: Jupiter
Element: Earth
Energies: Money
Lore: There is little ancient lore concerning macadamia nuts. Native to Australia, they have become quite popular in the United States in the last fifty or so years. The best crops are grown on the Big Island of Hawaii.
Magical uses: Nutritionists describe the macadamia as “the richest nut.” Though high in calories, the macadamia has an unmatched taste. Eat macadamias—plain, made into candied brittle, or in pies—to manifest increased money in your life. But be prepared to pay handsomely for these yellowishbrown treats.
Peanut
(Arachea hypogaea)
Planet: Jupiter
Element: Earth
Energies: Money
Lore: Peanuts have an ancient history. Native to South America,71 they were extensively cultivated by the Aztecs and the Mayas.120 Soon after the conquest of Mexico, the Spaniards and the Portuguese brought the peanut to Spain, Africa, the Philippines, Java, China, and Japan. It soon became an important food crop around the world.71
Here in the United States, however, peanuts were looked down upon as a food of slaves and of slaveowners.120 If not for the untiring efforts of the Afro-American botanist, statesman, chemist, and educator George Washington Carver, we might not be enjoying peanut butter sandwiches, ice creams, and brittle today.
Magical uses: This is another nut that is not (a nut, that is). Peanuts are actually seeds that grow underground.71
Raw or roasted peanuts are powerful money attractants. They can be eaten in any form, with visualization, to increase prosperity. Peanut butter.and grape jelly sandwiches are an excellent money food, particularly if made with oat bread.
Pecan
(Carya illinoensis)
Planet: Mercury
Element: Air
Energies: Money, employment
Magical uses: The word pecan is Algonquin.
I’ve always admired the exquisite gooiness of pecan pie. I was introduced to the wonderful flavor of pecan cake on my second visit to New Orleans, and have added this treat to my roster of magical foods.
Both of these dishes, as well as pecan pralines, pecan butter, pralines-and-cream ice cream, or anything else made with pecans, can be eaten as a part of money diets. The plain nuts themselves can also be enjoyed by themselves.
Eat pecans when seeking employment.
Pine Nut
(Pinus spp.)
Planet: Mars
Element: Air
Energies: Money, physical strength, love
Lore: Pine seeds were an important part of the diets of many American Indian tribes, for whom these “nuts” were a major food source.33 They were also known and eaten throughout the Mediterranean region.61 To the Chinese, they symbolize friendship and constancy. Pine nuts are actually naked seeds.
Magical uses: Visualize and eat pine nuts for money. Or, eat them for physical strength, as the ancient Romans did. Pine nuts can also be used to promote all forms of love.
Pistachio
(Pistachia vera)
Planet: Mercury
Element: Air
Energies: Love
Lore: Native to Asia, the pistachio has been consumed since at least 7000 B.C.E.71 I find it curious that processed foods containing pistachios, such as puddings, are artificially colored green, while the shells themselves are often dyed red.
Magical uses: Eat pistachios for love.
Sesame
(Sesamum indicum)
Planet: Sun
Element: Fire
Energies: Sex, fertility, money, protection
Lore: Sesame was known in Egypt since at least 200 B.C.E., and possibly earlier.23 Grecian brides received sesame cakes as symbols of fruitfulness. In ancient Athens, the seeds may also have been connected with serpent worship. In Rome, sesame was sacred to Hecate, goddess of the crossroads and of the Waning Moon.35
Ancient Babylonian women ate halvah, a sweet food made of sesame seeds and honey, to encourage the desire for sexual relations and to enhance their sexual attractiveness.15
An old ritual of unknown origin: “So men know not the evil that you do, mix eleven grains of wheat with sesame seed and wine and the juice of a (nonpoisonous) yellow flower and drink it daily.”
Magical uses: Sesame was once known as the most fruitful of all plants. Women can follow the example of their ancient Babylonian counterparts by eating the seeds to stimulate sexual feelings. Sesame is also useful for encouraging conception.
Sesame-flavored foods can be eaten, or sesame seeds can be sprinkled onto foods, to draw money. With proper visualization, the seeds are also used for protection.
Walnut
(Juglans regia)
Planet: Sun
Element: Fire
Energies: Conscious mind, protection
Lore: Walnuts are native to North America, Asia, and Europe.71 The ancient Greeks believed walnuts to be one of the foods eaten by the goddesses and gods.64 Walnuts were used to treat problems of the brain in European folk medicine (because of this nut’s remarkable resemblance to this organ).
These are the nuts that I didn’t enjoy as a child. I still don’t like them, but many people do. These furrowed nuts can be eaten for increased intellectual abilities. Alternately, walnuts can be added to protective diets.