Mindful Eating
Witches love good food. It is a way to show appreciation for the bounty of the earth and to celebrate the blessings in our lives. And no feast would be complete without some self-indulgent comfort food and sweet desserts.
So how do we draw the line between what feeds the soul and what feeds the body—and do we even have to? We all want to eat well. But what does that mean, exactly? If you are a Pagan, there is more to the concept of eating well than just eating a healthy, well-balanced diet, although that’s important, too. (And no, fries in one hand and a brownie in the other is not the kind of balance I am talking about here.)
For Witches, with our strong connection to nature, it is as important to eat mindfully as it is to eat healthily. Mindful eating means not only taking care to eat foods that are good for you but also paying attention to how you eat them and where they come from.
Awareness and Appreciation
For our ancestors who lived on the land, it was easy to remain conscious of the day-to-day origins of the food they ate; after all, they were the ones doing the hunting, gathering, planting, and harvesting.
But for those of us who get our food primarily in sterile packages from large grocery stores, it can be very difficult to make the connection between the food on our plates and the fields, streams, or animals from which it came.
To me, mindful eating includes being aware of what went into getting what I eat from its place of origin to my dining-room table. Once you start paying attention to where your food comes from, you may want to change the way you eat.
For instance, how far does your food travel to reach you? Much of what we eat today is not grown anywhere near us. Fruits and vegetables that come from out of the country or across many states are often raised specifically to hold up to the strains of long-distance travel. What appears to be fresh when you see it in the store is often, in fact, many weeks old. Furthermore, food that is transported hundreds or thousands of miles can be tough on the environment in terms of the amount of fuel it takes to ship it, and it may require more pesticides and preservatives.
Many Pagans are trying to be more conscious of where their food comes from, buying locally raised produce and meat when they can, and eating the foods naturally in season locally during any particular time of the year. This has the added benefit of supporting local farmers and putting fresher, more nutritious food on your table.
Of course, the best way to make a connection with the food you eat is to grow some of it yourself. If nothing else, having a garden and raising your own vegetables helps you tune in to the seasonal changes and gives you an appreciation for how much work it takes to produce a single tomato. In addition, when you grow your own food, you can control what goes into your soil or onto the plants. Most, although not all, Witches try to keep their gardens as close to organic as they can.
Even if you can’t have a garden of your own, you can try to be more aware of where your food comes from and maintain an attitude of conscious appreciation and gratitude for the work and sacrifices that go into feeding you.
Some Pagans say a blessing over their food before they eat in an effort to remind themselves to be grateful and as a way of expressing that gratitude to Mother Earth. You can try saying something like the following:
I give thanks for the food before me, gifts of the earth, and I eat it with appreciation and gratitude for all that it took to provide it for me. May it help me to be healthy and strong. So mote it be.
There are Witches who feel that it is better not to eat meat because of the strong connection between us and the animals who share the earth with us. Others feel that consuming meat is a part of the never-ending cycle of life and death. There is no right or wrong answer here; each of us has to make that decision for ourselves.
What I do believe, however, is that those of us who choose to eat meat need to do so with appreciation for the sacrifice that has been made. I was a vegetarian for about eight years. These days I eat some meat, although it is not a major part of my diet. On those occasions when I do eat it, I always try to take a moment to say thank you to the animal that died so that I might continue to live.
Part of my attitude is colored by an experience I had when I first went back to eating meat after many years of being a vegetarian. This was only a few years into my Pagan practice, and I was still feeling my way in many areas, including this one. I ran into an interesting question of ethics in the process. It turns out that my power animal is a flock of sheep. (Seriously. Yes, I was hoping for something powerful and dignified like a hawk or a wolf. I got a flock of sheep. Please stop laughing now.)
So here was the question: Is it really bad karma to eat your power animal? One of my favorite kinds of meat was lamb. But was it against some kind of rule to still eat it? To be honest, I thought it probably was. But to find out for sure, I asked my power animals directly the next time I was in a trance state. The answer I got surprised me.
I was told, “We would be honored to help support your body.” (One of the ways you can tell if the answer to a question comes from outside as opposed to inside is that the answer is completely different from the one you were expecting.) And so I do occasionally eat lamb, but always with gratitude and respect.
None of us can eat the perfect diet all the time. It is often a matter of compromising between eating healthy and the very real limits on the amount of time and money we have to put toward our food. As Pagans, however, we need to try to add our connection to nature into the equation as often as we can.
Food as Celebration
One of the great things about celebrating the sabbats with other Witches, at least for me, is the feast that usually follows the ritual. For one thing, our love of food (and of feeding each other) often results in a truly spectacular array of edibles. But more than that, and the main reason for the feast, is that Pagans have traditionally celebrated the turning of the Wheel of the Year with foods that reflect both the holiday and our appreciation of the earth’s bounty.
The Pagans of days gone by followed the cycles of the year in everything they did; these cycles were as much a part of their lives as the rising and setting of the sun. Their close ties to, and dependence on, the land made them constantly aware of the seasonal changes and all that came with them. To these folks, a good harvest meant the difference between survival and starvation, and the first signs of spring signaled the beginning of the end of the lean times of winter. They celebrated with feasts to express their joy and to give thanks to the gods.
Few of today’s Witches are at the mercy of the changing seasons in the ways that our ancestors were. But we still observe the eight holidays of the Wheel with feasts for the same reasons they did and additionally to strengthen our connection with the land and those who came before us.
Even if you are a Solitary Witch, you can make a special meal featuring the foods that are celebrated at that particular sabbat—for instance, bread at Lammas or milk at Imbolc. And if you are gathering with a group of fellow Witches, there is nothing better than a feast shared with those who share your joy and gratitude. And as everyone knows, there are no calories in the food we eat at feasts with other Pagans!
Balance
The goal of eating mindfully is not so much a matter of trying to follow an impossible set of rules or never allowing ourselves food or drink we know is bad for us. After all, eating is not just a matter of taking in sustenance but also a joyful celebration of living our lives to the fullest.
Instead, eating mindfully is all about balance, as is much of everything else that we do in our lives as Everyday Witches. We try to balance the need for a healthy body with the limits placed on us by our often-hectic lives. We do our best to eat in a fashion that is good for both us and the earth, and we remember to be grateful.
After all, our bodies are a living manifestation of God and Goddess, and they deserve to be nurtured like the little piece of the divine that they are.
Something to Think About:
What is your favorite food? Do you know why it is your favorite? Does it most feed body or soul? Does it remind you of your childhood or some special occasion? Is it a healthy food?
Something to Try:
At the next sabbat, research the origins of the holiday and the types of foods that were traditionally served. Try to create a feast that features these foods in as healthy a way as possible.