Lesson 5 of 365: Cakes, Ales and Celebratory foods

Lesson 5 of 365: Cakes, Ales and Celebratory foods

Since we began to understand the natural world, those who would be Witches, would memorize and share different types of foods. For different purposes, for different reasons.  This would in time mature into herbalism and plant magic, then into our sciences. No simple task, to our great understanding and knowledge of these foods, plants, ingredients, is beyond any previous day in history. It can be overwhelming, and feel less than the incredible magical our age of nearly unlimited ingredients.  

Today, as we talked of Birthday Spell, and the ceremonial cake, the sharing of food and water has always been deeply sacred. It is an understanding that to be human is to eat. Magic has always surrounded the growing, creating, and sharing of food. To have enough, to store abundance, and to know their hidden powers upon mortal beasts including us humans.

So we here the terms of Cakes and Ales, and many try to translate late it to Christian communion, and it’s not parallel.  By offering and sharing a piece of bread, sweet, or other food form, in the name of the gods, it gives us energy and a tie between the earth, the body, the spirit and the gods themselves.  It creates a conduit of energy, one that happens at that very moment, This act draws in generations of memories, so old that we are not sure where they began. This reaches out a promise, that we will meet again, and share this food, it’s an act of peace and goodwill.

The Ales, or the drink can be anything, is served, it goes one of two ways, and that is a shared bottle passed around a circle, or poured caps where we toast. Both ways have historical components. At festivals passing the bottle was the most common, in the cities it was the cup. As Coiv has changed our attitudes, we will see how we will share the common drink.

Sharing this from a Witches perspective, which includes tea and biscuits, midnight margaritas’, or other shared celebrations, these can be a celebration in a flash or one that can last for days. Any chance to share bread and drink is an important ritual, done in gratitude that gives us soul sustaining energy.

To Do Cakes and Ale:
Place a Bread unto a Serving Plate.
Place the Drink in a Serving Pitcher.

Cast your hands over the food, feel positive energy radiate from your heart and allow it to pour mentally from your hands.
State your intention and say “May this food be blessed?”
Serve the bread to every member
Serve the drink, only if individual cups.
Caster raises Bread, Saying ‘to the God’
Caster raise Cup/Pitcher Saying ‘to the Goddess’
and finishing “To us all”
Eat the Bread, Drink the drink.
For some it will be pass the bottle (maybe again someday soon)  and share the food.

This is a very basic way of doing it, and there are many ways to do this. You just need to perfect it as your expression.

Blessings
Ed the Pagan

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Ed 'the Pagan' Hubbard

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