Feast

In the Charge of the Goddess it says “and you shall sing, dance, feast, [...] all in my praise, for mine [...] is joy on earth”. I suggest we do just that!

A traditional part of Wiccan ritual is “cakes and wine”. Depending on your tradition and persoanl preference, the drink may be wine, mostly red wine, juice, mead or any other beverage. The food is most often cookies, or a cake, but may be anything else. During the ritual, food and drink are blessed by the God and the Goddess and shared. The most obvious meaning of this part of the rite is “communion”: sharing in a small feast, eating and drinking with everyone present (and with the Gods), thus building a sense of community. Obviously, this part of the ritual is also a way of explicitly receiving the blessings of the Gods. Additionally, it is a reminder of the cycle of life and death.
If life is hectic and there is not enough time, it is quite common – and perfectly all right – to simply go and buy a bottle of wine and a box of cookies. However, if you have the time, try my recipe for ritual cookies. Most of the ingredients are quite mundane, but the most important part is mindfulness and love.


Recipe ritual cookies
For the dough:
500 g flour
250 g sugar
250 g butter
4 egg yolks
zest of one lemon
For the icing:
juice of one lemon
confectioner's sugar


For preparation, make sure you have all the ingredients and enough time. If you want to choose an appropriate music – either quiet and relaxing or suited to the season. Begin with a short meditation to relax, to let go of everyday stress and anger, and a short prayer or call to the Gods.
Then, weigh all of the ingredients for the dough into a bowl and knead it into a smooth dough. Of course, you can do that with a food processor, but this time I suggest you do it with your hands. Reflect upon each of the ingredients: Where does it come from? Is it grain, dairy product? What steps have been necessary to get it into the form in which you are using it? Meditate on the abundance of nature that nourishes us.
Once the dough is ready, place it in the refrigerator for at least one hour. Use that time to prepare anything else you need: space, rolling pine, cutting form, baking sheet. Then, go back to meditation. Meditate on what the cookies are going to be used for, and what that rite means. What layers or meaning are there to the rite? In the end, ask the Gods to bless you as you prepare the cookies, and to bless the products of your hands.
Then, preheat the oven to 180°C (corresponds to 360F). Take a part of the dough out of the refrigerator and roll it to a thickness of approximately 3-5 mm. Take your cutting form and cut out individual cookies. Use symbolic forms, such as moons, if possible, but if not, just use what you have or use a knife to cut triangles or squares. Place the cookies on the baking sheet and bake them for approximately eight minutes. Be careful with the time: They are ready when they are golden, do not let them get too brown. The actual time may depend on your oven.
In that way, bake all of the dough into cookies and let them cool. Always be mindful of the purpose for which you prepare them, and of the presence of the Goddess and the God.
Last of all, combine confectioner's sugar and a bit of lemon juice into a glaze and cover the cookies with it. If you want to, you can even draw symbols with it. Allow the glaze to dry and collect the finished cookies. They keep for approximately a month, so you can prepare them in advance.

Of course, you can go through this process with a completely different recipe.