by Tess Whitehurst
According to legend (and no one knows exactly how much fact) an Ethiopian goatherd named Kaldi discovered coffee. The story goes that Kaldi noticed that his goats became particularly wired when they grazed on a certain small tree. After relaying his findings to a local clergyman, the clergyman roasted the tree’s seeds, brewed them with hot water, and served the resulting beverage to monks, who suddenly found themselves able to meditate and study until late in the night.
As you’re probably aware, today coffee is big business. And, while it’s a natural commodity—second only to oil in its economic value—the business is still growing! People around the world incorporate it into their lives in varying ways: as a drink, a cosmetic ingredient, a flavoring, and even a health supplement.
Below, you’ll find a summary of coffee’s primary magical uses, as well as some ideas for incorporating coffee into your magical work. Please note: because of unfair business practices and slave labor, please be sure to look for the “fair trade” symbol before purchasing your coffee. Additionally, coffee production is particularly hard on the environment, so buying organic when possible also helps matters to some extent.
Abundance
With creamy white blossoms that look and smell luxuriously like jasmine, vibrant red “cherries” that glow with happiness, and glossy green leaves that flutter abundantly like so many dollar bills, the lovely coffee tree undeniably resonates at the frequency of wealth. In practical terms, this is mirrored by the fact that coffee is such a huge commodity all over the world and that literally billions of people fuel their moneymaking efforts with a ready stream of freshly brewed java.
If you can visit an actual coffee tree (which would probably mean that you’re in Africa, Hawaii, or South America), spending time in quiet contemplation with one would be an excellent way to increase your wealth consciousness and help magnetize abundance. Just relax, breathe, appreciate the tree’s unique beauty, and feel yourself receiving an energy infusion directly from the tree.
Or, to energize your wealth-production endeavors, create the following charm and place it in your wallet.
Coffee Bean Finance Energizing Charm
On a Thursday during a waxing Moon, empower nine coffee beans in bright sunlight for at least thirty seconds. Do the same with a shiny, freshly washed and dried coin and three allspice berries. Then, using hemp twine, tie all ingredients into a piece of bright red fabric. Hold it in both hands and say,
Wealth awaken, wealth arise;
Abundant blessings energize.
Coffee can also support abundance in the form of lush and vibrant plants and gardens. I’m talking about using coffee grounds as a natural, eco-friendly (and basically free, if you were just going to throw them away anyway) fertilizer. Simply scatter old coffee grounds in flower beds, outdoor pots, and any outdoor area where you want your plants to thrive. This, in turn, supports financial abundance and all forms of blessings: simply giving back to the earth with intention and love is a way of enlisting the earth to give back to you in the physical world. In other words, nourishing the soil is a form of sympathetic magic, as it simultaneously nourishes the soil of manifestation for you in all areas of life.
Activation
There’s a reason so many of us make coffee our first priority in the morning: it gets energy moving. So simply adding coffee beans to any magical working can speed things along and jump-start your results. In many ways, coffee’s magical dynamic matches that of Ganesh, the elephant-headed deity and famed “remover of obstacles” of the Hindu pantheon.
Here are some ways to incorporate coffee’s magical activation properties:
Add a few coffee beans to any charm to help speed up the results.
Drink coffee before a spell or ritual to help get your own personal energy moving and to infuse your magic with clarity and speed.
Place a jar of coffee beans on your desk or in your work area. Open it up and inhale the scent to refresh your mind and senses as desired.
To cut through red tape and get a sluggish situation moving, place a small image of Ganesh on your altar, light a red candle, and request his assistance. Then place a small bowl or shot glass of coffee beans near him as an offering.
For extra activation during any spell or ritual before which you choose to cast a circle, create a visible border of your magical circle using coffee beans. After the ritual, place the coffee beans in a sealed jar to use them again for future rituals.
Clarity
You’ve probably heard the statistic that a cup of coffee before a test lends itself to an improved test score. Similarly, we can incorporate coffee into our magic and ritual work when clarity is required. For example, lighting a candle, setting an intention for precisely the type of clarity you desire, and mindfully drinking a cup of coffee can serve as a simple magical ritual to cut through feelings of confusion and stress and help you find precisely the divine guidance and inner quiet you seek. Alternatively, coffee flower essence can be employed as a gentle, vibrational, noncaffeinated alternative. Simply place two to four drops in a bottle of water and drink throughout the day until clarity is achieved. Or, for an extra-strength clarity boost, try the following bath.
Coffee Flower Essence Bath
Draw a warm bath and light a white soy candle in the bathroom. Place forty drops of coffee flower essence in the bathwater. Stand outside the bath, direct your palms toward the water, and visualize very bright white light coming down from above, entering the crown of your head and moving down to your heart, through your arms, and out through your palms into the water. Visualize and imagine the water pulsating with this blinding light, as if it’s completely filled and surrounded in a miniature Sun. Say,
Clarity, I call on thee.
Fill my senses, set me free,
With light and bloom of sacred tree.
As I will, so mote it be.
Relax and soak in the bath for twenty to forty minutes.
Goddess Energy
One of my favorite authors, Isak Dinesen, wrote, “Coffee, according to the women of Denmark, is to the body what the Word of the Lord is to the soul.” (Incidentally, she and coffee had an intimate relationship: she owned and managed a coffee plantation for a time, as she wrote about in Out of Africa.) Indeed, not just the beverage, but the tree herself also possesses a seemingly divine energetic charge, with a vibration reminiscent of a powerhouse goddess such as Pele or Ishtar. And, like all plants with five-petaled blossoms, she is sacred to the archetypal Great Goddess.
Speaking of goddesses and coffee, have you heard of the coffee goddess Caffeina? It’s more than likely that she’s a recent addition to the roster of popular divinities, but she’s quite appropriate for our modern age, wouldn’t you say? If you’re a coffee lover, consider creating an altar to her in your kitchen. Perhaps create and frame a postcard-sized image of a goddess rising from a cup of coffee, and hang it near the place where you prepare or enjoy your coffee. You can also take a moment to thank Caffeina and sing her praises just before partaking in your first morning cup.
And, to regularly infuse yourself with goddess energy and enhance your radiant beauty in the process, employ the following exfoliating face scrub.
Repurposed Coffee Ground Face Scrub for Goddess Energy and Radiant Beauty
At sunrise on the morning of a Full Moon, combine used, finely ground coffee grounds and a bit of sweet almond oil or jojoba oil in a small jar. Hold it in both hands and say,
Goddess of Morning, Goddess of Light,
Share with me your beauty so bright.
Use as you would any exfoliating scrub. Make up a fresh batch before each use, or refrigerate any unused portion between uses.
Grounding and Protection
It may seem counterintuitive that something that wires you can also ground you (no pun intended), but in many cases, it’s a fact. Particularly for those of us who are sensitive and who are not naturally accustomed to being in the hustle and bustle of the modern world, a simple cup of coffee can provide the energetic adjustment we need to bring us up to speed with mainstream activities and responsibilities. It can also tighten and focus our personal energy fields in such a way that we are not as overly open to the thoughts and feelings of others. Of course, this is not ideal for every person in every situation, but it can certainly come in handy at certain moments, such as when we must drive on busy roads, run errands in frenetic environments, or brave dense crowds.
When employing coffee for this type of purpose, you might bless it beforehand by employing a ritual like the following blessing.
Coffee Blessing for Grounding and Protection
Hold your cup of coffee in both hands. Consciously send roots of white light down from your tailbone and legs deep into the earth. See these roots of light going deep into the core of the planet, and let them drink up the vibrant, golden white light they find there. Bring this light up to your tailbone and see it fill your body, protecting and grounding you in the process. Send this light through your palms into the cup, and say,
Sacred water and sacred tree,
Combine your magic and bless me.
Grounded, safe, protected, free,
For your powerful magic I now thank thee.
Drink mindfully, feeling the magic sealing up your energy field in a healthy and focused way.
Productivity
Like a gift of a single red rose given with the intention to enhance romantic love, there are some magical ingredients that are so potent, even nonmagical people make use of them. And, as modern-day workplaces are well aware, a coffee bean potion (also known as coffee), drunk to increase productivity, definitely works like a charm.
While coffee has many health benefits, it can also increase stress and anxiety and can cause stomach problems because of its high acidity. But did you know that cold brewing your coffee and straining it through a paper filter makes it much healthier? It cuts the acidity by up to 75 percent and removes many of the harmful components. Plus, it’s delicious! Here’s how to make a coffee potion that’s better than the average joe:
Cold Brew Coffee Potion for Productivity and Wealth
Combine one cup of coarsely ground (fair trade) coffee with four cups of cold or room temperature water. Place in the fridge for fourteen hours. Put a basket filter in a strainer and strain. Store the liquid in the fridge and use it as a concentrate: mix one part coffee with two parts nondairy milk. Sweeten to taste with agave nectar or maple syrup and sprinkle with cinnamon.
A final few words of advice: as with all good things, moderation is important! Provided it agrees with you and doesn’t cause anxiety or digestion upsets, don’t overdo it with the coffee drinking; one or two cups a day are plenty. And coffee dries out the body, so always be sure to drink plenty of water along with your coffee to keep a healthy hydration balance. Enjoy your coffee, and go forth, energized!