A Blessing Of Bread

The point cannot be argued that this is the prettiest place I've ever lived. I have always wanted to live in the lush, rich soil of the countryside. I hoped one day to call the mountains home-and I got my wish. In  Appalachia we have four distinguishable seasons. And I am thrilled by that. I am also thrilled by the abiding culture of bygone days; it is easy to find the roots of this place if you know what to look for and where to look for it. Right now we are on the cusp of the season of harvest: the tractors are in the fields mowing hay and the tops of the corn have gone to tassel and are turning to tan husks. Morning air is crisp, and there is a haze of fog that lingers long into the day.

This part of the country was settled by Eastern European immigrants, most notably of Scot-Irish decent. It's good to live in the place your ancestors settled, and knowledge of  that was a bonus when I moved here. I love the history of this place... but not the feel of the back-woods politics, or the inherent intolerance of the fundamentalist/evangelical religious community in the surrounding area.

As I write this, we are about six weeks away from the Autumnal Equinox, the official start of the Fall season, but Nature is no respecter of calendars and planetary shifts. I suspect we are yet to have some rather warm days, but right now it is cool at night... and perfect for bread baking.

Bread is wonderful and earthy. When it's made at home using natural ingredients its infused with your personal energy as you knead the loaves. You can pour any intention you choose into it, thus making it a tool for magick. By varying the ingredients and adding herbs, you can manipulate the correspondences batch by batch. In this way, bread is truly useful in spell casting.

The addition of nuts, in particular, represent manifestation because they are literally the seeds of the tree. Dried fruits such as raisins or apricots bring in the energy of the whole fruit, depending on what is used. Consecrating the ingredients before adding them to the mix activates their energetic vibration to a higher level. Corn is a particularly good all-purpose ingredient, and it which can be used as corn flour, corn meal, or whole. If you are making a loaf for protection, use chopped garlic or onion, a pinch of crushed red pepper, or sprinkle the finished loaf with sea salt. Sweet dough makes a loaf to use when asking for companionship or love to come into your life and is appropriate to use during the Great Rite or sharing the Grand Communion in a public setting.

In the previous post I included my favorite wheat bread recipe[ http://amethjera.blogspot.com/2016/07/john-barleycorn-and-other-legends-for.html ], but there are an unlimited variety of recipes available, and you can use any of them successfully. Most of the batches can be broken down into several small loaves or rolls if you don't want to make one large loaf. It stores simply if kept cool and dry and keeps a week or more.

Happy baking!