Kitchen Witch: Beltane Celebration Recepies

May Day Maple Hearth Bread

This is a very crusty and somewhat dry bread that is incredibly delicious and almost pastry-like in its sweetness. It is ideal for May Day/Beltane celebrations.

Ingredients:
1 envelope active dry yeast
1/3 cup real maple syrup
¼ cup warm water (105ºF-115ºF)
3 cups flour
3 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup shortening


Directions:
Dissolve yeast in the water. Mix 1 ½ cups of the flour with the brown sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut in shortening. Dissolve the syrup into the yeast mix too. Add yeast mix to the flour mix; stir. Add flour until dough is easy to handle. Turn onto a floured surface and knead for 1 minute. Cover and let rise for 15 minutes. Form into round, place on cookie sheet. Let rise in a warm spot for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Slice pleasing image into bread top. Bake for 30 minutes. Bread is done when it sounds hollow when tapped. Loaf can be brushed with syrup or butter during last 5 minutes of baking.


NOTE: Your bread will have trouble rising if the syrup is too cold! Warm up the syrup if it has been in the refrigerator, it should be room temperature or warmer.

Yield: 1 loaf


May Serpent Cake

The serpent or snake is a symbol of May because of its ancient association with fertility. This association dates back to the earliest Pagan religions, and though later religions cropped up casting the serpent in a deceitful role, the Earth religions still honor the snake as a blessed creature this time of year. Its way of slithering along the body of the Earth made it an obvious phallic symbol, and May Day is full of such symbols (the maypole being the most well-known one).

The holiday of Beltane comes on the first of May and encourages those who celebrate life to greet spring's bounty with festivities, and that of course always involves food. This snake-shaped cake, incorporating appropriate seasonal ingredients, is a wonderful addition to a party table.


Ingredients:

3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
The zest of one orange
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
4 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons honey, boiling
1/2 cup strong espresso coffee
1 egg
1/3 cup amaretto or rum
1/3 cup wild cherry or raspberry jam
Garnish: 4 coffee beans and some candied orange peel, in slices

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400º F. Mix the sugar, spices, zest, soda, and salt into the flour in a bowl. Cut in the butter until little pebbles form. Pour in the honey, coffee, and liqueur, and mix in the egg. Mix the batter until everything is evenly distributed and you have a nice soft dough. Let it cool. Turn it out onto a floured surface and divide in half. Roll one half into an 18-inch rope. Make a deep trough down the center and fill it with jam. Seal it by bringing the edges up over the jam and pressing the seam together. Then flip it seam-side-down onto a parchment-paper-covered baking sheet. Arrange the snake in a circle, but don't press the ends together. Make one end tapered like the end of a snake's tail, and make the other end triangular like a snake's head. Press in coffee beans for eyes and orange rind for scales if desired. Repeat this process with the other half of the dough and bake them for 30 minutes.


Beltane Sugar Pie~

From about the middle of spring up through the harvest season, pies are wonderful celebratory foods. However, there's a difference between a "summer" pie and an "autumn" pie; usually the autumn pies will incorporate heavy foods (like potato, pumpkin, or sweet potatoes) while spring and early summer tend to be better matched with pies made of summer fruits like strawberries and blueberries. However, there is one type of pie often overlooked during this time of year: The CREAM pie. Milk and dairy may have already had their highlight in late winter and early spring (with Imbolc and Ostara), but in the old world this time of year still had milk available, and this is as good a time as any to enjoy it!

Beltane--May Day--is a perfect holiday to present a particular cream pie dusted with nutmeg. It's nice and milky and filling, and fits well with the Beltane lustiness and intentional gluttony even though it is comparatively bland in color beside all the festive red party foods that often adorn a Beltane table.

Ingredients:

1 cup whole milk
1 cup rich cream
1/2 cup butter
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
Ground nutmeg
Baked pie shell

Directions:
Melt butter in a wide pan on medium heat. Add the milk to the cornstarch in a separate bowl, letting the cornstarch soak up the milk before adding more; make sure it's an even mixture when all the milk is added. Add this milk and cream mixture to the butter in the pan along with the sugar, and stir it constantly until it thickens. (It will probably start to boil and then become thick--you'll know it when it's thick enough because it will attain a pudding-like consistency.) Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Pour it into the pie shell. Sprinkle with nutmeg. Once it's set, it can be eaten still warm from the pot or it can be chilled to set more firmly and served cold.

Yield: 1 9- or 10-inch pie


Beltane Sugar Pie II~

Another rich and creamy pie but slightly different. This pie is very sweet and creamy, and it 's laced with a hint of vanilla. Lots of sugar, heavy cream and flour are combined, and then milk and vanilla are mixed in. The filling is poured into an unbaked pie crust, dotted with butter, sprinkled with nutmeg and baked

1 prepared 8 inch pastry shell
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup heavy whipping cream
3/4 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 cup butter, chilled and diced

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (225 degrees C).
In a medium bowl, mix together sugar, flour, and cream. Add milk and vanilla extract, and continue to stir until mixture is smooth. Pour into pastry shell. Sprinkle top with nutmeg and dot evenly with small chunks of butter.
Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and bake an additional 45 minutes

Fried Honeycakes

These cakes were left in the garden to please Faery visitors. If you plan to leave an offering to the Faery, double the recipe to keep some for your family. They're scrumptious.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sweet white wine
2 tablespoons sugar
1 egg
1 cup honey
2/3 cup flour
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
Oil for frying
1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions
Beat the wine & egg in a medium bowl. Combine the flour, cinnamon, salt & sugar in a small bowl. Stir into the egg mixture. Let stand 30 minutes. Combine the honey & nutmeg in a small bowl.
Heat 1/2-inch of the oil in a frying pan until hot, but not smoking. Drop the batter into the oil 1 tablespoon at a time; fry until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Dip into the honey.
Yield: 1 1/2 Dozen.

May Wine

Ingredients:

1 bottle of white wine (German is ideal)
1/2 cup strawberries, sliced
12 sprigs of woodruff, fresh


Directions 
Pour wine into a wide mouth jar or carafe. Add the sliced strawberries and woodruff, and let sit for an hour or more. Strain and serve chilled.

Dandelion Salad

Ingredients

1/2 pound torn dandelion greens
1/2 red onion, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
In a medium bowl, toss together dandelion greens, red onion, and tomatoes. Season with basil, salt, and pepper.
Makes 4 servings

Candied Violets

Ingredients

1 Egg White
Granulated Sugar
Violets

Directions
Whip your egg white until it is frothy, but does not peak. Gather the Violets, washing them quickly in cool water and allowing them to drip-dry. Then, dip each Violet in the egg white and roll the flowers in the sugar to coat them evenly. Be careful not to put the sugar on too thick. Finally, leave the petals on waxed paper to dry for 1 day. These may be stored for several months in an airtight container (waxed paper between each layer.) without losing fragrance or flavor.

Strawberry Cookies

Ingredients
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1/4 cup milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 1/2 cups unsifted all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
red and green food coloring

Directions
Cream the sugar and shortening until fluffy, on medium speed if using an electronic mixer. Beat in egg, milk, zest, and extract. Sift flour and powder together in a bowl and gradually add to the other mix. Wrap dough in plastic and chill for 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Half dough and put the other half back in the fridge. Form dough into flattened balls and roll to 1/8 inch on a floured surface. Using strawberry-shaped cookie cutter, cut out cookies, and cut out little indentations like strawberry seeds if desired.
Put 1 tablespoon of water into each of two dishes and add a few drops of each color of food coloring. Paint the cookies with a paintbrush using the colors, making the body of the strawberry red and the stem and leaves green. Bake them on an ungreased cookie sheet for 8 minutes, then cool on racks. Repeat the process with the other half of the dough.
Yield: 5 dozen

Source
http://wyldwytchcraft.blogspot.com/ http://www.herbalmusings.com/beltane.htm

Candle Magic

The dancing flames of candles have been used as a Witches' tool for centuries. By setting the proper atmosphere, candles are used to help increase a spell's power, or to influence a particular power. Candles absorb one's personal energy and release this energy when burned Candle colour is very important when performing magick, for each colour emits a particular vibration and attracts certain influences. The following list is meant to be used as a guide in choosing a candle colour for your personal use. Please remember that colour is another "tool" and you need choose what works best for you in your magickal workings. If you do not have the colour mentioned for a particular need, allow your intuition and the Goddess guide you in choosing one for your purposes.

The candles you use should be ones you yourself make out of beeswax, using natural dyes and essential oils, if desired. Beeswax sheets are available at most hobby stores, and are a fast and easy way to make your own candles at home. Realizing this is not always possible, you may use what is readily available to you. Prior to using any candle in your workings you should cleanse the candle and anoint it with a small amount of oil during the waxing phase of the moon. This consecrates the candle and charges it with magickal energy. You can also carve or paint appropriate magickal symbols onto your candles, to further empower the candles with those energies. The heated tip of your athame works well for this purpose. It is best to use one candle per ritual or spell, and to not use a candle that has been used previously for another purpose. It is also best to allow the candle to burn out by itself, as blowing it out may disperse the energy contained within.

WHITE:

A balance of all colours. Symbolizes peace, purity , innocence and power of a higher nature. Promotes peace, tranquillity, purification; truth, spirituality, and sincerity. Also used for meditation, truth seeking, spiritual enlightenment, summoning spirit guides, astral travel, and to enhance psychic abilities. Can be as protective as black and may be substituted for any colour candle. Healing properties include treating broken bones, relieving dental pain and increasing milk production in nursing mothers. White is also a Goddess symbol.

YELLOW:
A stimulating and uplifting colour that is the colour of creativity; intelligence, confidence; movement and energy. Connects to clairvoyance, divination, wisdom, learning; imagination, and inspiration as well as the power of concentration and communication. Used in healing skin conditions as well as stomach complaints and menstrual cramps. Yellow symbolizes the element of Air.

ORANGE:
Is a stimulating and energizing colour. It connects to attraction, stimulation, control, personal strength, authority, and power. Also encouragement, adaptability, luck, and sudden changes. It attracts the characteristics wanted from other tools, spells and rituals. Very good for healing coughs, colds and asthma as well as arthritis and exhaustion.

GOLD:
Colour that promotes understanding and attracts the powers of cosmic influences; intuition, persuasion, charm and confidence. Beneficial in rituals intended to bring about fast luck or financial benefits, or in rituals honouring solar deities.

PINK / ROSE:
A positive colour symbolic of emotional love, nurturing relationships and romance. Promotes spiritual awakening, healing of the spirit, femininity, friendships, honor and morality. It is the standard colour of rituals to draw affections and brings friendly, lively conversation to the dinner table. Excellent for treating anxiety and depression, as well as ailments of the heart.

RED:
The fiery, invigorating colour of energy and life. Always connected to blood, birth and death; and sex. Connects with love, passion, fertility, physical energy and strength. Increases magnetism in rituals and is used in defensive magick. Also emotes courage and enthusiasm. Good in health, strength and vigor spells and defensive magick. Used in healing neuralgias and exhaustion. Red symbolizes the element of Fire as well as being a God Symbol.

PURPLE/VIOLET:
Vibrating colour that is highly spiritual and traditionally connected to mysticism, inspiration, wisdom, idealism, purification; success, peace; and power. Aids in meditation, sensitivity and higher psychic talents; as well as connecting to idealism, ambition, power, success and household protection. Healing properties include the treatment of allergies, sleep disorders and stress-related disorders.

MAGENTA:
A combination of red and violet that is a very high vibrational frequency that tends to work fast. This colour energizes rituals where immediate action and high levels of power or spiritual healing are required, such as quick changes, exorcism or spiritual healing.

BROWN:
An earthy, balanced colour, used to attract money and financial success. It aids in emotional stability and balance, eliminates indecisiveness, improves powers of concentration, study, intuition, and telepathy. Also connects also to finding lost objects. Aids in the protection of familiars and household pets as well as animal healing.

INDIGO:
A vitalizing colour of inertia; used to cleanse the spirit and remove fear. Used in rituals that require a deep meditative state, to neutralize another's magick, or to counteract negative energy. Healing properties include dementia, depression, and mental disorders.

BLUE:
A cool colour that soothes and relaxes. Blue is a primary spiritual colour, used in rituals to obtain wisdom, tranquillity, harmony, peace, inner light and truth. Connects to inspiration, occult power, protection, understanding, good health, patience and loyalty. Aids in meditation as it connects to intellect and mind. Promotes happiness, laughter and joviality. Used in treating insomnia, high blood pressure, and minor wounds. Blue symbolizes the element of Water.

GREEN:
The colour that connects to nature, fertility, and rejuvenation. Stimulates work involving financial issues and money; aids good fortune, prosperity, luck; ambition and success. Bringer of love and renewal, it is an emotional soother and balancer, used to counteract greed and jealousy. A good colour for treating headaches, colds and nervousness. Green is the colour of the Earth element and is a Goddess Symbol.

SILVER / GRAY:
Neutral colour that removes negative energy or influences and encourages stability. Useful when pondering complex issues during meditation and in magic, this colour often sparks confusion; it also negates or neutralizes when needed. Helps develop psychic abilities and attracts the influence of the Goddess.

BLACK:
Burned for positive purposes, this colour opens up the deeper levels of the unconscious. Black is used in rituals to induce a deep meditational state and is good for banishing evil or negativity. Connects to self control, quiet power, and resilience, as it absorbs negativity and destroys it; offers strength and support in spells; protects from retribution and is also an aid during loss.


SABBAT CANDLE COLOURS:

Samhain : Black, orange
Yule : Red, green & white
Imbolg : Red, pink & brown.
Eostara : Green, yellow & gold
Beltaine : Dark green
Litha : Green, blue
Lughnasadh : Yellow, orange
Mabon : Orange, brown & yellow


ASTROLOGICAL CANDLE COLOURS

Aquarius (January 20 - February 18) : Light Blue or Pale Yellow
Pisces (February 19 - March 20) : Aquamarine
Aries (March 21 - April 19) : Red
Taurus (April 20 - May 20) : Green
Gemini (May 21 - June 21) : Yellow or Orange
Cancer (June 22 - July 22) : White or Dark Green
Leo (July 23 - August 22) : Gold or Yellow
Virgo (August 23 - September 22) : Gray or Marbled
Libra (September 23 - October 22) : Royal Blue
Scorpio (October 23 - November 21) : Black or Red
Sagittarius (Nov. 22 - December 21) : Dark Blue or Purple
Capricorn (Dec. 22 - Jan. 19) : Black or Dark Brown


DAY OF THE WEEK CANDLE COLOURS

Sunday : Yellow
Monday : White
Tuesday : Red
Wednesday : Purple
Thursday : Blue
Friday : Green
Saturday : Black

SOURCE
http://www.unc.edu/home/reddeer/magick/candle.html

Energy

Whenever we work magic in order to change things around us, the power of will is nothing more than us directing energy towards the universe in order to construct that in which we desire from a spell. For us to understand these changes, we must be aware of what Energy means.

"The human body is an energy system... which is never a complete structure; never static; is in perpetual inner self construction and self destruction; we destroy in order to make it new..."

- Norman O Brown, Love's Body


The word ENERGY evokes images of power lines and outlets, or your metabolism, or a person running and being all hyper. However, the energy around us flows through an invisible web that connects us all to each other. A witch needs to become sensitive to that flow of energy; connecting through the channels and let it flow through you is the only sure way that your magic will work effectively. Even though we - as living things - are filled with energy (personal energy), we must also use the energy around us so that our own personal stach does not weaken and thus bring the body to an unhealthy state.

There are many forms of energy, being the one which is visible to us the most common (like a rainbow in the sky after a rainy day, or the light that the moon brushes out). As I've stated before, personal energy is the energy that we have in our bodies, the one that makes us go round and round. Metabolism, nerve impulses, body heat, all those count as personal energy. In order for the body to stay healthy, this energy has to be in perfect balance within.

The Earth energies are the ones we connect to when we are in ritual. It is the energy of the planet, the one that gives birth to all living things. It has been called mana or shakti kundalini. Avobe the Earth is the energy of the sky, the energy of the Sun and stars. Then we have the divine energy. This kind of energy is the one that does not belong to the polarity of Earth and Sky. It's pure divine energy, what we call unconditional love, used to create sacred spaces and rituals. The energy that is all loving, all knowing, beyond all good and evil.
During ritual, the things we use during our encounter with the God/Goddess is a symbol of an energy that exists on another plane. How well we understand the representation of such symbols and the energy that they carry is how efficient our magic can be. In order to bring through this divine energy, a circuit of communication must be set up in the form of visualization, symbols, ritual, and meditation. To keep the energy from dissipating, we use the magic circle.

Sources
Conway, D.J. Magick of the Gods and Goddesses: Invoking the Power of the Ancient Gods.
Cuhulain, Kerr. Full Contact Magick: A Book of Shadows for the Wiccan Warrior.
Penczack, Christopher. The Inner Temple of Witchcraft: Magick, Meditation, and Psychic Development.

Beltane Fire Burns

In this holy night we turn,
Let the Beltane Fires burn!
Bless the lady and the lord
Call to them and beg threefold
Dance and sing and call out loud
Turn around and shout it out

In this night the gates are down
See the fairy folk dance till dawn
In this night let the fires burn
Dance and dance ‘till the night will turn
Shout out loud and bless the love
Call it out and dance above

Fire! Fire! Burn so high
Shine so high in the Beltane sky
Warm our hearts with your heat
Till they are drumming in the same beat
Spring sky over our heads
Leaves and flowers are our beds
Let us dance and let us love
Beltane sky is high above

Fire! Fire! Burn so high
Burn into our hearts and the Beltane sky
Brothers and sisters, bless this night
Call out loud and celebrate bright
Lord and lady, blessed be

I’m calling out so mote it be!

Source
http://gwenhwyfar28.deviantart.com/art/Beltane-Fires-Burn-17816444

Beltane Ritual for One

A Ritual for One from Rae Beth's 'The Wiccan Path'

Preparation

Prior to this rite you should have made ready a wooden wand. This should be a branch from an Oak or Hazel tree. Remember, do not take the wood from a living tree!

The wood can be cut into the rough shape of a phallus in which case it should be of the appropriate size and shape. On the other hand, a simple branch, peeled of its bark, and about 13 inches long and half an inch thick is also acceptable. Place the wand upon your alter within the Circle.

Prepare a dish of earth and place it upon the alter beside the wand.

The Rite

Cast the Circle and invoke the Lady and the Lord. After the invocation, dance and chant to raise power for magical activities and then earth the power into an unlit candle, placed inside the cauldron, at the center of the circle. Chant the following (or make up your own!):

Beltane!
I dance with delight
on Beltane's night.
All senses freeing,
I dance for being.
The flower and the flame
of love's own rite
shall blossom. Sun
embrace Earth, bright.

Light the candle to the Sun. This is the Beltane fire, our modern substitute for the hilltop bonfires of our ancestors. The Bel fire is an invocation to the Sun God to bring blessing and protection for the coming year. This is sacred fire with healing and purifying properties. As you light the candle, be aware of its power and significance. Say:

I light this candle to the Sun.

Now take up a dish of earth. Bless it in the name of the Goddess.

Lay your hands upon it and say:

I bless, consecrate, and set apart this earth,
in the name of the Triple Goddess. May this
be sacred earth, set apart for magic. For
earth is of the Goddess, being her sacred body.

Remember that the Goddess is not only of the Moon, but of the Earth and of the farthest stars. She is the Triple Goddess of the Circle of Rebirth, the Mother of All Life. Decorate the dish of earth with flowers.

Now, take a wooden wand and oil it with vegetable oil. Bless it in the name of the Lord of the Day, the youthful, ardent one, the Lord of Life, the God of the greenwood. Pass it swiftly through the candle flame, the Bel fire, so that it becomes magically imbued, 'charged', with power. Place the wand upon the dish of earth, saying as you hold it there:

As the wand is to the earth,
so the male is to the female
and the Sun to our blossoming world.
Joined, they bring happiness.
May the God of Life give ___ {something you want, for example, peace on Earth}
May the Goddess bring it forth!

Sit quietly for a while, and picture the blossoming of what you have desired in life. The spells and invocations of all of us, all working on themes like these, must eventually bear fruit, because life is on the side of peace. Leave the earth and wand upon the alter.

Walk deosil three times around the circle, then spiral into the center. Go evenly, with grace, meditatively. Sit beside the candle flame, allowing yourself to feel peaceful. Gaze into the flame.

The next part is different depending on whether you are man or woman.

For a Woman: visualize a red rosebud in your womb. Always your womb is the source of your creative power, whether you are pregnant with a child, an idea, a work of art or an intention. Close your eyes and picture the light from the candle streaming into your womb so that the rosebud blooms, unfolds. Hold the image for a while, feeling the silkiness, smelling the scent, the freshness, seeing the color of the fully open rose within you. Feel the strength and power of your own fully blossomed capabilities. Say:

I am woman,
strong to conceive and to create,
to give birth and to tend.
As I am daughter of the Goddess,
and blessed by the God, may I ___

{here name what you wish to bring forth in life. For example bring healing to others or write my book whatever matters to you}

Feel the strength and creative force within your womb, the center of your being. See the power being channeled, flowing into the desire you have just voiced. Open your eyes. Always, the rose is within you.

For a Man: Visualize a bright flame. This burns within your sexual center, a point at the base of the stomach, just above the pubic hairline. It is your own male strength and energy which may rise through your body to be released as giving, fertilizing power, in any form, or may be the potency which impregnates, creating a physical child. It is the force which blesses and bestows, a healing and creative energy, like the shining Sun. Visualize also that you are sitting in a garden and that a rose tree is in front of you, the roses in bud. Say:

I am man,
and in my passion is beauty,
in my warmth is life.
As I am son of the Goddess,
and blessed by the God,
I offer my strength and vitality to ____

{name the area of life, the place, activity, or committment you choose}
Visualize the light streaming from you to a rose upon the tree causing it to unfold, to blossom. Your flame is lowered by this effort. Much has gone out of you, the flame sinks down. Wait and watch, until a pink light streams from the rose towards your body. At its touch, just above the pubic hairline the flame resurges. It burns highter and stronger than before. Open your eyes. The flame is always within you.

Source
http://www.tryskelion.com/tryskelion/beltane2.htm