Stirring the Cauldron

What is a cauldron?

1. n. a large deep pot for boiling things in. (Oxford American Dictionary)
2. n. a site of mystical transformation, a place of heightened awareness of the spiritual connectedness of all things, a place to imagine and conjure a culture that honors and celebrates this connectedness, where people are creators first and consumers second, where we cook and eat wonderful food from the good earth, and praise Creation and the Creator for our many blessings.

Why do you stir the cauldron?

1. So the food won't stick to the bottom.
2. In order to stir up trouble for the current system of industrial agriculture and corporate control of our food system. By stirring the cauldron, we put our energy, intention, and love into the brew, as a prayer and hope for the revival of culturally and ecologically literate food ways.

What goes into the cauldron?

1. Locally and organically raised vegetables, grains, legumes, and fruits.
2. Meat, dairy products and eggs from animals that are treated with respect and love, fed biologically & ecologically appropriate diets, and slaughtered humanely.
3. Herbs, spices, and aromatics that celebrate, honor, & evoke the tastes, cultural roots, and culinary traditions of the peoples of the world.
4. precious, traditional fats and oils in their most natural form, including extra virgin olive oil, cultured raw butter, ghee, cold-pressed nut and seed oils, and animal fats such as tallow, lard, schmaltz, and goose fat from pasture-raised animals.

What comes out of the cauldron?

Delicious meals that:

• feed our bodies, intellects, and spiritual longings.
• create a sense of community and shared communion around food
• keep alive the diversity of culinary traditions from around the world
• help heal the planet from the toxic effects of pesticide use, mono-cropping, chemical fertilizer, genetic engineering, irradiation, and run-off from huge commercial feedlots
• rebuild the strength of small-scale and family-run farms, ranches, and food processors
• awaken our creativity and sense of aliveness
• re-connect us to our ancestors and the universality of being a human being on the planet.

Are you a Witch? Or a Wiccan?

No. Actually, I'm a faithful, church-going Christian. But I celebrate the pre-Christian, pagan part of my cultural history as well. I embrace the fluid line between agrarian, Earth-based spirituality and Christianity. I decry witch burnings and every form of oppression on the part of organized religion, and hold up what I consider to be the radical and liberatory message of Jesus: that God is with us (each and every one of us, equally), always and everywhere, and that God's power is far beyond that of any earthly institution. I live in forgiveness. I claim my wholeness. I am immeasurably grateful for the gift of spiritual community that I have found. For a (food related) article I recently wrote for my church's literary newsletter, check out Heaven's Leaven.