Hearth Craft
Hearth Craft
“An rud a nitear sa chuil, thig e dh’ionnsaigh an teine” ~ What’s done in the corner will come to the hearth.
“No matter where I serve my guests, it seems they like the kitchen best” ~ A decorative plate that once hung in my Great Grandmother’s kitchen.
In these modern times, in Western society especially, the home of today is centered on the television. The furniture is placed strategically around it; the couch or sofa faces it and the faces of the family are also turned towards it. Often our most prized family photos, trophies, mementos and the like rest on or near it. Surely if archaeologists one day dig up the bones of our civilization, they will think the television was our God.
But before primetime TV and soaps operas took over our lives, before Nintendo and Xbox, the household and everyone in it would gather around the family stove, and before that, the hearth. The hearth was such in integral part of European (and Colonial) culture that there was no separating hearth and home, fireside and family. In fact, the word for “hearth” in Latin is “focus”.
Hearthcraft is working with the magick and… Continue reading
A Beginners Laying the Hedge
A Beginners Laying the Hedge
An Excerpt from the Hearth Craft Class currently going on at Walking The Hedge’s Forum, feel free to join in, or follow along at your own pace.
This ritual can be preformed anywhere in your home or yard that has a hearth element to it. For the purposes of this lesson, the default will be the kitchen.
One can feel a tad exposed and vulnerable the first few times they attempt to contact the spirit world. So for this class, we will be placing a magickal protective barrier around our workspace. We will be Laying the Hedge.
A hedge or hedgerow is a line of closely spaced shrubs and tree species, planted and trained in such a way as to form a barrier or to mark the boundary of an area. For this exercise, we will be creating a hedgerow around the ritual area both as a protective barrier and also to help us stand at the axis of the worlds.
Hedge laying is the term used by farmers and gardener for the creation of a traditional hedge, it is a complex and careful art, with many different styles, that requires much foresight, planning and… Continue reading
Hearth Craft Class Starts Jan 5th
Please come and join the wild geeks of Walking the Hedge in a fun and informal Hearth Craft Class lead by Juniper and Broom Ridin’ Vikki!!
Each class will be posted in the Hedge’s Classroom in our Forum, on Mondays. It will run 6 to 8 weeks.
Join for the whole class, or drop in when you can. All are welcome and debate and discussion are as well.
Some of the topics will include:
An Introduction to Hearth Craft
Who Practices Hearth Craft?
Home and Hearth Folklore
Tools of Hearthcraft
The Witches Spoon
Kitchen Safety
Hallowed Hearth
The Hearthstone
Creating a Sacred Kitchen
Cleaning Naturally & Spiritually
Hearth & Domestic Deities
Living and Working with Household & Hearth Spirits
The Makings of a Kitchen Shrine
Finding the Ancient Hearth in a Modern Home
Hearth Flame Ritual
A Beginners Laying the Hedge
We Are What We Eat
The Spirit of Culinary Herbs
The Spirit of Fruits, Roots, Berries & Vegetables
The Spirit of Meat & Dairy
The Spirit of Grains & Cereals, Nuts & Seeds
Correspondences: Figuring it Out For Yourself
Sacred Gardens On a Small Scale and a Tight Budget
Around the Wheel in Eight Hearths
Daily Rituals
What is… Continue reading
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