Aleuromancy
An ancient divinatory practice which utilized flour. Sentences were written on pieces of paper, each of which was rolled up in a little ball of flour The balls of flour were thoroughly mixed up nine times and then divided amongst the curious, who anxiously waited to learn their fate. The custom lingered in remote areas into the nineteenth century.
Apollo, who supposedly presided over this divination form, was surnamed Aleuromantis.
Bread of the Dead
Serve with milk or hot chocolate, and offer some to your departed ancestors, so they may breathe in its essence and be nourished, before you gobble it up yourself!
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 Tablespoons sugar
1/4 t. salt
1 egg
2/3 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
10 drops anise extract
Mix all of the above until smooth. Heat the oven to 400 degrees and grease a cookie sheet. With clean hands, mold the dough into a round shape with a knob on the top (which will be a skull) or into smaller round shapes, animals, faces or angels. Place dough on cookie sheet.
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 T. flour
1 t. ground cinnamon
1 T. melted butter
Mix together brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and melted butter for the topping. Sprinkle topping on dough and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. When cool, decorate the skull shaped knobs, animals or faces with icing sugar to make eyes, nose and mouth.
These cookies can be made on Hallow’s Eve. They can be shaped like people and the herb rosemary is added to the dough as a symbol of remembrance. Some of the cookies are eaten while telling stories or attributes of special ancestors, reminding us that we still have access to their strengths–or perhaps a predisposition to their weaknesses. The rest of the cookies are left outside by a bonfire as an offering. This can be a solemn ritul, but it need not be.
Ingredients for the cookies:
1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
1 c. butter or margarine (softened)
1 egg
2 t. vanilla
1 t. almond extract
2 1/2 c. all purpose flour
1 t. baking soda
1 t. cream of tartar
1 1/2 T. chopped rosemary
Heat oven 375 degrees. In a large bowl, beat sugar, butter, egg, vanilla, almond extract, and rosemary until creamy. In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar. Fold flour mixture into sugar mixture. Beat until dough forms and refrigerate for three hours. Divide dough into halves. Roll out one portion to 3/16 of an inch on a floured surface. Cut out with gingerbread women or men cutters and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Repeat rolling and cutting with second portion. Bake for 5-7 minutes.
Lammas Bread
2 cups warm milk
2 packages dry yeast
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup brown sugar
Mix together in a large bowl, cover and set in a warm place until doubled (about 30 minutes).
Add the following:
3 Tbs softened butter
2 cups unbleached white flour
Stir until bubbly.
Mix in the following:
1 cup rye flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
With floured hands, turn the dough onto a floured surface and gradually knead in more white flour until the dough is smooth and elastic.
Place the dough in a large greased bowl, turning once so that the dough is greased, cover with a cloth and set in a warm place until it doubles in size (about 1 hour).
Punch the dough down and divide in two. Shape into balls, flattened at the top and place on a cookie sheet. Cover and set in a warm place until doubled. (about 1 hour) When the final rising is almost complete, use your athame and carve a pentagram in the centre of the loaf as you recite a blessing of thanks to the Grain Goddess.
For variety, once the bread has been separated in two, shape the dough into figures symbolizing the God and Goddess of the Grain.
Cover and allow to rise until doubled.
Beat together:
1 egg
1 Tbs water
Brush the loaves and bake in a preheated oven at 300 degrees for 1 hour.
Share this blessing of the Goddess during your Lammas Feast.
Calendar of the Sun
17 Solmonath
Fornacalia: Day of the Ovens
Color: Brown
Element: Fire
Altar: This ritual should be performed in the kitchen, with the altar built on top of the stove or inside the oven. Set a brown cloth with a red candle and many loaves of bread on wooden trays.
Offerings: Give some of the loaves of bread to those who have need of it.
Daily Meal: Everything baked – breads, cakes, pies, casseroles.
Invocation to Fornax
Goddess of the Oven
Lady of Fire Enclosed,
Sacred Baker of our food,
We all started as dough,
Raw and soft and unformed,
And we were patted into shape
By those who raised us,
Yet we could not bring ourselves
Fully grown to the table
Until we had endured
The hardening flame.
Be kind to us, Lady!
As we go through life
Let us not be scorched
Or spared the fire
But bring us gently through
To be our final selves.
Chant: Baker of the Loaf of Earth
We endure your fire
(One of the loaves is broken and handed around and shared, some more are set aside to eat later, and then the rest are taken to some deserving place and donated.)
If there is someone you fear, be it an ex-partner, a relative who visits only to cause trouble; a neighbor whose complaints become menacing or someone who lives with you whose rages are unbearable, you can supplement very necessary official support with a spell. No one should live in fear of another, but bullies, physical and mental, often succeed by making the victim feel to blame. As well as restraining the bully, this spell may provide you with the sense of power to seek help.
Items You Will Need:
Some red dough (childrens’ play dough or ordinary dough with food coloring added); a freezer bag with a tag that ties.
Best Time To Perform Spell:
An hour or so before you know or fear the anger will erupt.
The Spell:
“So are you bound from rage and anger, from causing danger and harming me/(name victim). I freeze your violence in immobility. So must it be until am free of you.
Shortest Day Ham Loaf
Mix all ingredients above and shape into 2 individual loaves. In a saucepan combine:
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup vinegar
1 teaspoon dried mustard
1/2 cup water
Bring sauce to a boil, pour over the loaves, place loaves in a 350 degree oven and bake for 1 hour, basting regularly.
Witches Of The Craft® 