Our wise elders from hundreds of years ago knew this very well: herbs, flowers, and many plants, trees, and vegetables bring abundance into your life. They utilized this knowledge to the benefit of their communities and were forward-thinking; many a garden, grove of trees, vineyard, and orchard were planted by our forebears who wanted to provide for their children’s children and future generations. Not only were they ensuring their communities would enjoy the bounty of plentiful fruit, nuts, grapes, and berries, but they were also leaving behind a legacy of beauty and prosperity.
I also had the great fortune to grow up in the countryside on a farm. Much of what I know I learned from my wise aunt about herbs to gather in the wild, like which foods to cook for love, money, luck, health, and in celebration of the high holidays. It is exciting to go to the garden, the grocery store, or the farmer’s market and bring home the ingredients for positive life change. In addition to the secrets to magical cooking, I learned from this wise woman that the first task to undertake is to clean your kitchen and purify it. If anything needs repairing, fix it. Any utensils, pots, or pans that are banged up can be donated. If your kitchen curtains look shabby to your eye, make or buy new ones. If there is a bag of rice or beans past the prime, compost away. You should clean the cooking space in both the practical sense and also to cleanse it in the magical sense. Health is wealth, really and truly. Prepare your kitchen and altar to be used for the purpose of prosperity.
