Using Bread for Spellwork this Lughnasadh Bread Recipe & Spell for Success No matter how you celebrate it, baking bread...
Using Bread for Spellwork this Lughnasadh
Bread Recipe & Spell for Success
No matter how you celebrate it, baking bread is an important part of this sabbat! Agriculturally speaking, in the Northern Hemisphere this was the time the first harvest of grain was ready to be cut so bread would be a part of the feast if the fields were fertile. For our bread spell, we will be using the bread baking process to manifest our intentions.
You can use your favorite bread recipe for this or the one at the bottom of this post, but don’t forget corn is also a grain that would be ready to harvest around this time so cornbread is another option! Baking the bread in the oven represents the intentions coming to fruition. The spellcraft part of this process happens right before we put it in the oven. We will be using food coloring to etch our intentions into the dough with sigils and symbols. But first, let’s make some natural food coloring for you to use!
Make Your Own Food Coloring
The reason we are using food coloring is to add color magick to the intention of your bread spell. All you need to do is pulse one or more of the listed ingredients in a food processor or blender and strain the pulp so that you have juice. You can also cook them down to half their volume first for a stronger color. If you have a juicer, feel free to use this instead!
- Spinach for green: prosperity, luck, fertility
- Beets for red: passion, love, courage
- Blueberries for purple: spirituality and wisdom
- Carrot for orange: confidence, authority, success
A Recipe for Success
Once you have your colored juice of choice, choose for example a rune, a pentagram, a sigil you created, or all of the above based on your intention for the bread spell. If you want to do this spell but can’t think of an intention, protection magick is always good to do at this point in the Wheel of the Year since we are heading into the darker half. Drizzle the food coloring in that shape on the top of the bread, focusing on your intention (sorry, I don’t have an image for this). Then transfer to the oven and bake like normal, trusting the process of the bread becoming edible and nourishing is bringing your intention to fullness.
The window to work with the fae folk is still open but this is the last sabbat where the fairies are active in our realm until Beltane. If you work with the fae, once your bread has been baked and cooled you can offer the first slice of your bread to them. You can also offer it to whichever deities you work with on your altar. Since most of us don’t actually harvest our own grain, the first cut of bread symbolizes the sacrificial first cutting of the grain.
Traditional Protection Spell
Another option for protection is an old Anglo-Saxon tradition. Break the first cut into four pieces and bury or crumble it in the four corners of your property. This was a popular home protection spell done for Lammas that also invited blessings on your home.
Eat the rest of the loaf, or better yet, share it with friends who you wish to bless. Traditionally, the first bread baked from the ceremonially cut sheaf of wheat was taken into the village and shared with the community. Sharing your intentional loaf of bread is a modern way to honor this tradition!
Bread Recipe
Ingredients:
- 1 cup warm water
- 1 packet active dry yeast
- 2.5 – 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons high quality olive oil (I like Bertolli Extra Virgin Olive Oil)
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- Assorted dry, ground herbs, e.g., oregano, basil and rosemary. You can also sub Italian Seasoning.
Optional:
- fresh herbs to decorate
- 1 tablespoon egg whites
Instructions:
- In a large mixing bowl, combine warm water with yeast and sugar. Stir thoroughly. Allow the yeast to “activate” by leaving it to bubble, about 10 minutes.
- In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, dry herbs, black pepper, and garlic powder.
- Add olive oil to wet ingredients. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet until mixture is no longer sticky. Knead the dough until it stretches.
- Cover the bread with a clean towel. Leave it in a warm area (a sunny window is great) and allow it to rise until it doubles in size (about 1 hour).
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Form dough into 5 separate balls about 4″ in diameter.
- Use a knife to cut a few slits in the dough. If you’re using the food coloring, drizzle it on now.
- Bake 10-15 minutes.
- While bread is baking, bring a small pot of water to boil. Fill another bowl with ice water. Dip fresh herbs in boiling water for 5-10 seconds. Then dip them in ice water. Lay them flat on paper towels and put more paper towels on top. Press with a heavy skillet.
- About 3 minutes before the bread is fully cooked (just beginning to brown, but still looks raw) pull them out of the oven. Brush the tops with egg whites. Working carefully, arrange blanched herbs on top of the egg whites on the bread, then brush more egg whites on top to “seal” them in.
- Pop the bread back in and let them finish browning.
- Allow them to cool on a wire rack for a few minutes before slicing.
You’re done! Don’t they look amazing? Enjoy!
For more on Lughnasadh correspondences and a Harvest Festival click here.
Resources:
- Wolfe, Sarah Esmae, “Lammas Bread Spell: Recipe for Success.” Green Witch Living
- Moody Moons, “Lammas Artisan Mini Herbal Bread Rounds Recipe (Lughnasadh).” Moody Moons, 22 July 2018
Be magickal, y’all!
