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

Health & Healing
Magical food diets

These two subjects are intimately linked. If we’re successful in maintaining good health, healing won’t be necessary. During a period of illness, we naturally wish to regain a state of good health. Thus, the goal common to both of these subjects is health itself.

Nutritionists have always recognized the importance of a balanced diet in maintaining good health. Many MDs don’t accept this, but they’re in the business of restoring health, not preserving it. Medical doctors have little training in the role that nutrition can play in creating bodily health.

There are many nonoccult methods of achieving this state. Eat four or five small meals per day, not two or three large ones. Never skip breakfast. Eat more vegetables, grains, and fruits than meat. Cut your intake of fat, sodium, and white sugar. Increase the “fiber” (roughage) in your diet by eating less processed food and more whole grains, fresh vegetables, and fruits. Regularly exercise for at least twenty minutes a day.

Many guidelines to maintaining health have been published. Check the library or your local bookstore for recent, authenticated books. Avoid all fad diets.

Because this is a book of magic, you’ll find no more nutritional information in this chapter. I’ll be suggesting foods, however, that you can add to your diet to regain or to maintain good health. Such foods must be part of a balanced, sensible diet or they won’t be effective.

At the risk of being repetitive—see your doctor before starting one of those “miraculous healing” diets.

Healing

No doctor, herbalist, psychic, magician, or Witch can heal you. There are no miraculous cures that others can perform on your body, mind, or emotions. No spells or rituals can create instant health.

Still . . . doctors, massage therapists, chiropractors, herbalists, psychics, magicians, and even Witches can boost the body’s healing process. They can help you to overcome disease and negative conditions. This is accomplished by sending energy to you by one of two methods:

—through prayer, laying-on of the hands, massage therapy, and simple magic (the projection of healing energy into our bodies).

—through the administration of energies in physical form such as herbs, tinctures, teas, Bach flower remedies, essential oils (through aromatherapy), as well as certain prescribed medicines.

If you’re sick, consult a qualified, experienced health practitioner of your choice and follow her or his instructions. Eat some of the foods in this chapter, visualizing health as you prepare and consume them; eat nothing that would interfere with the advice of your health practitioner.

Spices and Herbs

Allspice

Garlic (not garlic salt)

Peppermint

Sage

Charge before adding to health-giving foods. Use garlic in place of salt for seasoning dishes.

Vegetables

Cucumber

Olive

Pumpkin

Sprouts

Tomato

Eat fresh with visualization.

Fruits

Apple

Lemon

Peach

Pineapple

Watermelon

Other Health Foods

Foods to Avoid

Canned foods

Deep-fried foods

Fast food

Fatty foods

Processed foods

Preserved foods

Salt

Sugar

Very heavy desserts of all kinds

Preparing and Cooking Health Foods

Just before cooking or preparing foods, place a pinch of dried, ground sage into a spoon. Using a potholder if necessary, hold the bowl of the spoon over one of the stove’s gas jets or a candle flame until the herb smoulders and releases its healing scent.

Burn a blue or purple candle while cooking, visualizing health (or healing).

Bake a loaf of whole-grain bread. Just before you put the bread into the oven for baking, use a sharp knife to cut an equal-armed cross on the top of the loaf. Bake and eat.

Such dishes as these are most appropriate:

—a salad of cucumbers, tomatoes, and sprouts with a dressing of olive oil and apple cider vinegar mixed with powdered rosemary and sage.

—an apple pie sweetened with concentrated (frozen) apple juice and cinnamon—no sugar.

—unsweetened applesauce (make at home or buy unsweetened).

—small amounts of marzipan, fashioned into equal-armed crosses.

Recipes

Healing Apple Crisp

2 cups apples, peeled and sliced

1 teaspoon lemon juice (freshly squeezed)

1⁄2 cup honey

1⁄2 to 3⁄4 cup graham crackers, crumbled

2 tablespoons butter, melted.

Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C).

Visualize yourself in glowing, radiant health as you peel and slice the apples, squeeze the juice, and crush the graham crackers.

Turn prepared apples into a 9 x 9 baking dish. Mix the lemon juice into the honey and pour over the apples. (If the apples are very tart, use slightly less lemon juice and slightly more honey.) Combine the crumbled graham crackers with the butter and sprinkle over the apples. Bake at 375°F (190°C) for 30 to 40 minutes (until the apples are tender). Serve topped with cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

Serves four.