This book is essentially about my life and how I live and work as a kitchen witch. It is my Book of Shadows, my Kitchen Witch’s Grimoire. It covers what it means to be a witch, how we work, what we do and how we celebrate the turning of the seasons. It is packed full of information about all sorts of subjects from a breakdown of rituals to reading auras, along with meditations, recipes for oils, incenses and spells and a huge amount of crafts to make for each Sabbat. The information herein does not follow any strict tradition; it is my own interpretation of witchcraft melding together my Wiccan training with kitchen witchery, ways of the Old Craft and a bit of hoodoo thrown in for good measure. You can also find a lot of information about magical
cooking, herbs and gardening in my first book, Pagan Portals: Kitchen Witchcraft, it’s not included here because I didn’t want to duplicate!
I believe magic and the Craft to be fluid and flexible, it is ever changing and we are ever learning.
This is from the opening to Rachel Patterson's Grimoire of a Kitchen Witch. I think the bit of a book where the author lays out their intentions is always a helpful thing to look over. I tend to know from an intro whether the book is going to suit me or not, and I very much enjoyed this one, precisely because it's a personal interpretation drawing on experience coupled with a willingness to improvise.
'Grimoire' sounds a bit sinister and dangerous (I think) but this book is anything but. It's a warm, often playful, insightful and inspiring take on a very down to earth kind of witchcraft.
