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

Salt, Vinegar, Soup, & Noodles
The magic of food

Okay, okay. So maybe these subjects don’t have much in common. I just couldn’t find any other place for them.

Salt

(a mineral, sodium chloride)

Planet: Earth

Element: Earth

Energies: Grounding, stopping psychic awareness, protection

Lore: In the ancient world, salt was created by three processes: mining in the earth from long-dry ocean beds; boiling the water collected from salty springs until only the mineral was left; and evaporating sea water in flat lakes or salt pans.¹⁰⁴ This last method is still in use throughout the world and, indeed, the Morton Salt company has just such an operation less than twenty miles from where I sit writing this. Salt pans, carved from volcanic rock at the edge of the Pacific Ocean, can still be seen in many coastal areas of the world.

In the past, salt was one of the most sought-after substances. Human life is not possible without some salt in the diet, for the body cannot produce salt on its own. One theory suggests that our dependence upon salt is a vestige of the past. A popular theory (now somewhat disputed) states that all life emerged from the salty, briny sea.²³

Those peoples far from the sea or from salt deposits had to be content with eating naturally salty foods and meat.¹⁰⁴ The salt trader’s cargo was more precious than gold, and they were constantly subject to attack.

Salt played important roles in early religions. Some priests and priestesses of ancient Egypt were forbidden to eat salt due to its connection with the god Set^.23 Other sects, however, did use salt. The Greek historian Herodotus records that during one Isian festival, which included lamentations at the death of Osiris, lamps were lit after being filled with a mixture of oil and salt.²³

Though the Greeks didn’t add salt to their sacrifices until a rather late date,²³ they and the Romans dedicated salt to Poseidon and Neptune. Tiamat, the ancient Sumerian goddess of the sea, was also offered salt in ritual.²³ These uses are obvious acknowledgements of the link between salt and the ocean.

Roman soldiers were paid “salaries” with salt, and the substance was so precious that anyone caught selling it to the enemy was put to death.²³

The Finnish sky god, Ukko, was credited with creating salt. He threw a spark of heavenly fire into the sea, thereby making the once-sweet water salty.

There are few records of salt use in the New World, but we do know that the Aztecs worshipped Huixtocihuatl, the salt goddess.⁸⁰

The sacralness of salt lives on. While cooking, some Arab women throw pinches of salt across soups and stews with the belief that it will blind and drive away any demons that may be hovering over the food.⁵⁷ In contemporary Iran, a frightened person pushes a finger into salt and then puts it on to the tongue to remove fear.

The Japanese dispel unwelcome guests by sprinkling salt over the house entrance. Every morning, some restaurant-owners place small piles of salt at the entrance to their businesses, one on either side of the door. This attracts prosperity and customers to the business.⁵⁴

Spilling salt is a negative omen throughout the English-speaking world, though this superstition is slowly disappearing.

One of the greatest teachers of our era, Mahatma Gandhi, began India’s peaceful independence movement by publicly marching with many of his followers to Dandi. There he made salt—an illegal activity for private citizens.¹⁰⁴

Magical uses: In magic, add salt to grounding diets if you’ve kept your head in the clouds for too long. Small amounts are sufficient to effect a refocus from the spiritual to the physical world.

Salt is useful in shutting down psychic awareness, so avoid eating salted foods if you’re trying to accomplish just the opposite.

Small amounts of salt are added, with visualization, to protective and money-attracting foods. An overabundance of salt in the diet, however, will cause serious physical problems. The disease or ill health that will result greatly diminishes psychic protection. Eat salt moderately!

Vinegar

Planet: Saturn

Element: Fire

Energies: Purification, Protection

Lore: The first vinegar consisted of wine that had “turned.” According to contemporary American folklore, giving away vinegar is tantamount to giving away “luck.”⁴⁶

Magical uses: We know this tangy, acidic liquid from its use in pickling and salad dressings. But vinegar is quite useful in magical diets. (Use only apple-cider vinegar. White vinegar shouldn’t be used internally.)

Folk magicians wash quartz crystals in a mixture of water and vinegar to purify them. Similarly, a few drops of vinegar placed in a glass of water (or added to such foods as salad dressings) are used to purify our bodies, minds, and emotions.

Fill three small, shallow vessels with vinegar. Place these around the house to remove negativity. Drain the bowls and refill as necessary.

Vinegar is also protective. For a potent protective food, slice one raw onion. Place into a bowl and add equal amounts of vinegar and water to cover. Let sit, covered, in a cool place for twenty-four hours. Eat the onions as a zesty, protective relish during meals.

Soups

Generally speaking, soups are ruled by the moon and by the element of water. Here are two famous soups and some of their magical lore.

Bird’s-Nest Soup. Many Westerners have heard of this Chinese delicacy. The price for the raw nests is currently around one thousand dollars a pound, due to the increasing difficulty in collecting them. The birds (a certain kind of swallow) build their nests in virtually inaccessible cliffs in China, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam. Demand always outstrips supply, for there are many throughout Asia who love a good bowl of bird’s- nest soup.

This tempting delicacy isn’t made from sticks and twigs, as I once thought, but from the hardened strips of the birds’ saliva, which they use to build their nests. The substance is washed and cleaned of extraneous matter until it is a mass of white, sponge-like material.

Bird’s-nest soup can be eaten for pure enjoyment (though crab, shrimp, and ham are often added to the thirty-five-dollar bowl of soup to enhance its taste). Usually, however, it’s consumed for magical purposes.

The soup is believed to provide youth and health to its diners, to clear women’s skin, and to remove all forms of blemishes. Bird’s-nest soup is eaten before important examinations in order to ensure success. Regularly eating bird’s-nest soup is thought to maintain health, and it is also considered to be a potent sex arouser.²⁹

Few of us will ever eat it, but it’s an intriguing food that had to be included here.

Chicken Soup. The ancient peoples of Harappa, in the Indus Valley, were probably the first to domesticate the jungle fowl. This once-wild bird eventually became the chicken, and spread throughout the world.¹⁰⁴

One of our favorite cures for the common cold, chicken soup has been proven in scientific tests to have some benefits. Drinking hot chicken soup clears the sinuses and relieves stuffiness.²¹ This is thought to eventually kill the viruses that cause colds.

A pregnant woman in Chad (an equatorial African country) is warned not to eat chicken. If she does, she’ll suffer a painful childbirth, and the child itself may even be deformed.²⁹

In contemporary Egypt, the exact reverse is believed. Pregnant women eat chicken to supply the extra strength needed during the birthing process. Egyptian men eat chicken soup to promote virility. A man about to be married will down gallons of the stuff for several days before his marriage, so as not to have a disappointing wedding night.²³

Noodles

I’ve already mentioned soba, the buckwheat noodles that the Japanese eat for money (see chapter 8). Noodles almost certainly originated in ancient China and spread from there to India, the Middle East, and finally to Europe.¹⁰⁴ Some claim that Italy created them, but this is doubtful. It is curious that many Italian and Chinese dishes that utilize noodles are somewhat similar. Spaghetti is popularly believed to have been introduced into Italy by Marco Polo upon his triumphant return from the Far East (but I’m not getting into this argument).¹⁰⁴

Noodles are a staple food throughout China and Japan. In rural Japan, every town has a noodle shop. Running water may be provided by pierced bamboo poles that divert a stream right through the store. Farmers flock to these shops to eat the hot, nourishing noodles.

In China, noodles are symbols of long life. They are eaten on special occasions, such as anniversaries and birthdays, to bring success and good fortune. deTraci Regula, a friend of mine, says that to eat a long noodle on the Chinese New Year’s Day brings only the best of “luck” during the coming year.