Women,
Magic & Creativity
Reviews by Dawn
Brunke
Witch
in the Kitchen: Magical Cooking for All Seasons
By Cait Johnson (Destiny Books, 2001, softcover, $16.95)
Author Cait
Johnson wrote this book for all who would like cooking and eating to
be a more magical and soul-satisfying experience. In this, she
succeeds marvelously. Johnson is a friendly, insightful and witty
guide who presents a wide variety of recipes, rituals, spells,
meditations and creative ideas as building blocks through which we can
all deepen our relationship to food as well as our connection to
ourselves and the earth.
Johnson combines sacred notions with playful creativity. Arranging
the recipes, rituals and meditations to reflect the changing cycles of
the earth, she invokes the seasonal goddesses to make food preparation
and eating a more nourishing spiritual practice.
What's particularly great about this book is the author's homey
writing style and lovely sense of humor. She laughingly confesses to
having scorched soups by distractions, while urging all of us to
banish perfectionistic shoulds and should nots from our lives. Have
fun, is Johnson's refrain. She offers songs of thanks and celebration,
encouraging us to create our own "kitchen magic" (an entire
section is focused on this) and view the kitchen as a sacred space of
power, joy and excitement. Even such ordinary (and dreaded) tasks as
cleaning become magical under Johnson's sparkling care - sing a
special cleaning song, she advises; make yourself a cleaning crown!
This is a well-written, humorous, yet surprisingly deep and
ultimately magical book. It would be an excellent gift this holiday
season for all kitchen-witch wannabes in waiting.
A
Book of Women's Altars ~ How to create sacred spaces for art, worship,
solace, celebration
By Nancy Brady Cunningham and Denise Geddes (Red Wheel, 2002,
softcover, $19.95)
As author Nancy Cunningham notes,
“When a woman creates an altar, she re-collects the scattered parts
of herself, reconnects with her inner beauty, and reflects on the
Essential Feminine within her psyche. Her altar represents her
essential self and becomes a visual metaphor for her woman-spirit…It
is a place of her own where she can take time to make sense of the
insane pace of life, where she can find the space to simplify, where
she can just sit and stare.”
As the title implies, this book
explores much of what you think it might, answering such questions as
what is an altar; why make an altar; how does one create an altar, and
what can one do at an altar. Cunningham also looks at seasonal and
special intention altars; that is, altars that are by their nature
specifically focused, designed to be impermanent or changing.
Illustrated with sharp black and
white photos – some depicting altars, some surprising visuals of
nature and our relationship to nature – this book has a simple yet
elegant layout, with some terrific placement of Cunningham’s poems,
short meditations, words of advice and suggestion. Also included are
ideas for special ceremonies, personal rituals and those aimed at
larger gatherings and celebrations.
As with Johnson’s book,
Cunningham encourages creativity and a breaking of rules and forms.
Her ideas are presented gently, as an encouragement to us all to
breathe deeply and happily, to find peace as we rejoice with our own
unique expressions of self.
The
Old Girls’ Book of Spells ~ The Real Meaning of Menopause, Sex, Car
Keys, and Other Important Stuff
By Cal Garrison (Red Wheel, 2002, softcover, $15.00)
As
Cal Garrison, the funny and feisty author of this hilarious yet
totally serious book, notes, “menopause is a portal that takes us to
higher levels of awareness….As crones, we have ‘the gift,’
girls!”
This book is a witty, forthright,
and oddly whimsical assortment of spells, charms, rituals, projects
and ideas that add up to (as the back cover notes) just “about
everything any woman of a certain age might want – and how to get
it.” The spells and charms may be simple or fairly complicated, yet
are always intriguing (who would have known that wolf’s hair is the
greatest thing in the world to protect yourself with?). They range
from the helpful (spell to heal the body after major surgery; charm to
ward off bad dreams) to the calming (the “ready for the nuthouse”
spell); from the slightly manipulative (the “kiss up to the judge”
spell) to the downright emphatic (the “God, you’re such a
nuisance, please disappear” spell); from the general (money charms)
to the incredibly specific (spell to help you resolve a messy
inheritance case; spell to use when it’s time to move and you have
no place to go). As you may have guessed, Cal doesn’t mince words
(“Dealing with Depression, Bad Moods, Bitchiness & Hormonal
Insanity” was one of my favorite subtitles).
Whether you’re in desperate need
of a potent spell or just need a good, healing laugh this winter, this
book has it all. A great gift for your favorite crone or crone-to-be.
Winterlake
Lodge is one of three remote lodges owned and operated by chef Kirsten
Dixon and her husband Carl. Located on Finger Lake, mile 198 of the
Iditarod Trail, the Lodge marks the fourth checkpoint on the trail. As
might be expected, the food at Winterlake is based in “simple,
hearty fare” of backcountry Alaska, although Dixon’s cuisine also
reflects her training in French cuisine. Ingredients are influenced by
the seasons and the natural ebb and flow of availability. In a similar
fashion, this lovely book is arranged into four seasons, with essays
and recipes presented with fine attention to detail and supplemented
by the gorgeous photography of Fred Hirschmann.