Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Wicca in the Kitchen Read Free

live. Similarly, we must take control of our lives to be truly happy. The tools for doing just this are in your cupboards, in your refrigerator, and on your kitchen table.
    Turn the page, and discover the magic that awaits!
    [contents]
    â€  See glossary for unfamiliar terms.

Chapter Two
    Magic
    S ome words are necessary here regarding the practices described in this book. This information is vital to the correct practice of food magic.
    â€œMagic is supernatural.”
“Magic is evil.”
“Magic is dangerous.”
“Magic is illusion.”
    These statements, all false, have been passed down to us by earlier generations of nonpractitioners. Only those who haven’t worked magic believe these ideas to be true. All of the statements have also been made about many other practices in earlier times: mathematics, chemistry, psy chology, psychics, astronomy, and surgery. These and many other arts and sciences have been pushed from the darkness that lurks behind such statements into the light. They are no longer considered to be supernatural, evil, too dangerous, or illusionary.
    At least two aspects of our lives haven’t yet been ushered into this august group: magic and the religious experience. Hardline scientists and those sharing their worldview lump these two together because, to them, they’re fantasies with no basis in fact. Magic, to them, can’t possibly be successful, because there are no known laws governing the mechanism at work in magic, and no known force that could empower it. They often view the religious experience with a similar mixture of amuse-ment and contempt.
    Unfortunately (for these scoffers, that is), magic works, and the religious experience does exist. Telling an individual who has established a personal relationship with deity that deity doesn’t exist will produce predictable results. The same is true of magicians: they don’t believe that magic is effective; they know that it is.
    The basis of magic is power. Though magicians have used it for thousands of years, we still don’t know exactly what “power” is. But we do know how to work with it.
    Magic is the movement of natural but subtle energies to manifest needed change. These energies exist within ourselves, within our world, and within all natural objects on it. These energies, whether in avocados or in our own bodies, share a common source, even if their specific manifestations are quite different. What is this common source? Each religion has given it a different name .
    Three types of energy are used in magic. These are personal power, the energy that our bodies possess; earth power, that which resides within our planet and within plants, stones, water, fire, the atmosphere, and animals; and divine power, which has not yet been brought to Earth in specific forms.
    Magic always utilizes personal power. In folk magic, Earth power is used as well: the magician arouses (or awakens) her or his own power through visualization or physical exertion. Then Earth power (the energy that resides within natural objects) is awakened through visualization. Visualization (the process of creating images in the mind) fine tunes these energies, altering them in order to make them useful for a specific purpose. Once this has been accomplished, and it is easily done, the magician blends the two types of energies. This is usually done through visualization, but there are other techniques available. Food magic is unique in offering a very natural method of uniting these two energies.
    For example: Marjorie wants to increase her income. She’s working hard at her job and brings home a regular paycheck, but she can’t seem to get ahead of her bills. She has a need: more money.
    Being familiar with food magic, she decides to add one money-energizing food to each of her meals. She checks part three of this book and comes up with three foods for the first day: oatmeal for breakfast, a peanut butter-and-grape