Food is essential to our lives. For many of us, the art of cooking and eating is a chore. For others, it is a great delight. And for some, the culinary arts and their products are indulgences. Food is substituted for love. Food is an excuse. Food is a god.
You’re about to embark on a journey into a familiar yet exciting realm. This book is a guide to choosing, ritually preparing, and eating foods to manifest necessary changes in our lives. The only tools that are necessary to practice this ancient branch of magic are food, common kitchen implements, and yourself. Food magic is a natural art, in which we unite our own energies with those that exist in food.
Part one of this book consists of introductory material: the processes of magic and cooking; foods associated with ancient festivals; vegetarianism; and a step-by-step guide to the practice of food magic.
Part two is an encyclopedia of magical foods. Concise articles explore the spiritual backgrounds and magical uses of hundreds of foods, including bread, fruits, vegetables, ice cream, tofu, sugar, chocolate, seafood, spices and herbs, nuts, coffee, tea, and alcoholic beverages. Many common and exotic foods are discussed. Why is bird’s-nest soup so prized by some Asians? What magical energies lie within apple pie, sprouts, oatmeal, and chocolate bars?
Part three could be called “The Magical Diet Book.” Eleven chapters describe fifteen diets, each designed to create a different change within the diner’s life: protection, love, money, psychic awareness, health, magical weight loss, and much more.
In part five I’ve collated some of the information contained within part two into tables for easy reference. A list of foods ruled by the signs of the zodiac and a table of the magical properties of fast food complete this section.
Finally, two appendices discuss magical symbols and mail-order sources of unusual foods, herbs, and spices.
This isn’t a book of gourmet cooking; nor is it a cookbook. It is a guide to transforming our lives with the foods that we eat. It’s a practical introduction to an ancient subject.
A Note on Notes
I’ve chosen to use this method rather than standard footnoting with good reason: it doesn’t burden the pages of the text with lengthy footnotes, yet it allows the reader to easily check the sources of any information.
Some statements aren’t followed by a number. I’ve lost the source for a few of them. Others are part of the knowledge that I’ve accumulated over years of study. Still others stem from oral sources or from the results of my own experience. In any case, a published work is unavailable for these few statements.
Numbers following a statement in this book refer to a specific entry in the bibliography. To find the source of the information contained within the statement, see the number list of books in the bibliography.