Edible Offerings

They are eatable, edible, consumable, and safe to put in your belly. You know this because it is part of the dinner you made for your family. Perhaps it is a special dish for a holiday - or your favorite snack from the grocery store. The point is you can consume them because they are food!

When looking to offer up cakes and ale to Deity I always wondered if I was doing it wrong. While this practice sounds good on paper – sharing a meal with the entities that help you in your magical and daily lives – also felt….wasteful. Mostly because the books I got the idea from did not tell you what to do with the food and drink when you were done with it. If they did tell you what to do after the offering was on your alter for 24 hours or however long – it was just “DO NOT THROW IN TRASH”. I feel like I’m missing something here.

Upon further digging into what to do with consumable offerings (food, drink, snacks) some additional ideas popped up. One was to only offer up fresh fruits or vegetables that could be buried in the yard or composted. While I like this idea, the rising food costs makes buying an apple or a cucumber simply for the purpose of sitting it on an altar for a few hours seem frivolous.

Sharing coffee or water with Deity and then pouring it outside, or down a sink, is also something that appeared in my search for answers on “What the heck do I do with this now?!?!?” inquiry. However, this still rubbed me the wrong way. I don’t want to use food and beverages as an offering if the only way to no longer have exposed foodstuffs on my altar is to throw it away. I need to serve an additional purpose for my conscious.

This may be a result of my past food insecurities and acknowledging that has driven me to determine for myself what I will do. At first I simply avoided offering edible items as offerings. Flowers, stones, drawings, incense, candles and herbs worked just fine for me. That being said, I lean strongly towards kitchen witch and really want to offer what I make on holidays to the entities that help me get through my life with joy. So – I just decided to define things for myself. While I’m sure others have, can, and will come to this conclusion on their own – here is what I’ve decided to do going forward.

What I Do

To set the scene, I have two cats with no idea the difference between a flat surface they are allowed to be on and a flat surface that will give me heart palpitations. This means the two dedicated altars in my house get catted on the regular. I am not going to yell at my little hell panthers because they feel the need to do what they do, which is loaf and be adorable in the middle of my workings. So to accommodate for that most of the super fragile altar decorations remain in storage unless I can close the cats out of the room. This also means that leaving food or drink out is just INVITING those furry little fluffs to invade the altar space and take it over as their own.

I also have a tall dog and children in my house who don’t ask before they grab things that look yummy. The children are old enough to know better, but the siren call of snacks is often too much for them to ignore. A solution must be had if I’m going to successfully offer consumables to Deity and have it not disappear into the stomachs of the inhabitants of my house. Another risk is my husband goes "Who left this dish here?" and then removes it when I'm not looking (in his defense he put the plate back and offered apologies to the brethren).

The first thing I did was get dedicated plates for the altar. These are your normal, run of the mill, feed your family dinner on them, wash in the dishwasher plates. However, they are the opposite color scheme from the actual dinner plates we use and live in their own cabinet away from the kitchen.

The second thing I did was take a travel coffee mug that seals completely and set it aside for drinkable offerings. Not only does this help keep dust out of the liquid, but it also prevents industrious cats from drinking the coffee set out. Because they will. I already had this cup, I just wrote on it in sharpie “MOM’S – DO NOT USE”.

Finally, I decided the parameters of what I will actually offer.

Food –

• Things that will not go bad if they sit out for a few hours (Oreos, apples, oranges, sealed candy)

• If it is a cooked item – something that will be OK to sit out if it is covered.

• Items that I have acquired / cooked for my family to eat that day – after all the point for me is to share a meal with Deity.

Beverages –

• Also, that which will not go bad if it sits out for a few hours.

• Non-alcoholic (I share alcoholic beverages differently)

• Things that taste good both hot and cold

The Action

When I have decided to offer my consumables, I will set them out on their special food safe dish either wrapped in a paper towel, tin foil, or even in a sealed Tupperware onto my altar. Always with the intention of sharing with Deity to ask for continued support or to welcome them into the day’s celebrations. I will pour part of my coffee, water, or Gatorade into the travel mug with similar intentions.

Then I will go about my day!

At the end of the day, I will dedicate time to sit at the altar and consume the offerings.. If the items are shelf stable (such as sour patch kids, or Oreos) I may continuously snack on them throughout the week instead.

This method makes me happy as I know I’m giving to the energies that support me, and I’m not wasting the food afterwards. Not only that but the food and drink is now charged with the positive influence of those energies.

Final Thoughts

If I had to pick ONE THING about witchcraft in general that does not sit well with me, it is the level of waste that occurs. This is honestly a human condition – but I see it in so many spells where you use something once for a spell when it is really a re-usable item! I do my best to find small ways to modify my approach to reduce waste and still accomplish the essence of the task. I truly don’t think the universe would take issue with that.

Recipe

Ok – so I did not tell you that I’m going to share a recipe at the end – so you can’t get mad at me for the uber long life story that proceeded it. The first time I used my modified approach to sharing food at my altar was with Bannock bread I cooked for Lughnasa. I had never made this recipe before, and I went on an internet rabbit hole to find many different recipes, a handful of memes, and some tips and tricks from a cookbook to make what you see below. It was delicious and tasted like pancakes. Please enjoy!

AMBER'S BANNOCK BREAD

INGREDIENTS

· 2 cups Gluten free flour

· 2 tablespoons baking powder

· 1/4 cup sugar

· 2 tablespoon brown sugar

· 1/4 teaspoon salt

· 3 tablespoons butter

· 1 cup milk

· Cinnamon to taste in the dough

· Cinnamon sugar for sprinkling over once cooked

· Oil for frying

· Cast Iron skillet

DIRECTIONS

1. Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl

2. Make a well in the middle of the flour and pour in the milk and add pats of butter

3. Mix the dough well until it forms a smooth ball (I use a hand mixer)

4. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and allow it to rest for at least 10 minutes. The dough will not rise during that time but the dough will be easier to manipulate after resting.

5. Turn the stove to medium heat and add just enough oil to cover the bottom of your cast iron skillet.

6. Divide the dough into small balls and place aside on a lightly floured plate

7. Lightly flour your hands and flatten the balls into discs

8. When the oil is hot but not smoking add the disc shaped dough to the pan

9. Fry on one side until a bottom crust is formed, approx 2 minutes

Flip the dough and fry on the other side for an additional minute or so.

ENJOY!

Notes –

• You can use regular flour. I’m allergic to wheat so I use Gluten Free stuff.

• If you don’t have a cast iron skillet, a regular skillet should work just fine.

• I have used avocado, olive, and vegetable oil for the frying stage. Use what you feel comfortable with.

• You can add something other than cinnamon to flavor the dough – I like to make mine sweet so I stick with things that taste good with pancakes like pumpkin spice or anise.