Kitchen Magick

Indigenous Australians do it with dancing and dreams, the Japanese do it with tea, and at Christmas we might put out a mince pie for Santa, and a carrot for his reindeer.

All of these are examples of rituals. As human beings, we seem just to gravitate towards performing sets of actions like this: this desire to perform things ritualistically is deeply ingrained in us as humans. We see them in every human society, across every time period - references to rituals exist in ancient Egyptian hierogliphs from five thousand years ago, and we constantly create new ones today. They can provide us with social cohesion, when we join in shared rituals and create a sense of belonging and group identity. They can connect us with the spiritual, offering us a sense of meaning and purpose. And they also offer us psychological well-being, providing us with comfort and a sense of control in uncertain times.

Sometimes, though we seem to find that we’re disconnected from the psychological connection and sense of continuity which rituals bring us. In modern life, many fewer of us will go to church on a regular basis, which provided both a source of comfort to many, and also a sense of passing down traditions and values. We can all too easily look down on these sort of rituals, but I think we’re loosing something when we do so.

We can, however, create our own rituals, and inbue them with meaning. There are differences between rituals and traditions, and one of those is that you can create new rituals, and they can be just as good as older ones.

Here is a great example: our kitchens and our cooking as opportunities for ritual. We might start with just being more aware of what we’re doing when we cook - even if it’s just stirring some pasta as it boils. When we’re making a cup of tea, we don’t need to try and recreate a formal Japanese tea ceremony, but we can still take a minute as we stir the pot, or watch the teabag infuse, and feel a sense of connection with all the past moments when we’ve done this, and our ancestors have done this, going back hundreds of years.

If we look at the elements of rituals, they are about a structured and often styalised approach to a set of specific actions and words, following particular rules, with an element of performance. All of those can be present in simple acts in the kitchen, if we take time to notice them.

We can even add the symbolism that’s often present in rituals: some might go as far as setting aside a small corner of the kitchen to light a candle when we’re cooking, and put a few herbs there, or even a teaspoon of what we’re cooking in a saucer, while we take a moment to give thanks that we have the luxury to do this.

So try it out: create a tiny little ritual in your life, something you do several times a week, and hook into that a moment of open awareness. See how it feels to you, and if it works, pass it on!