A Spring Kitchen

March 16, 2006

A Spring Kitchen

Spring kitchens are airy, fresh places where we feel stimulated,

energized, alive with possibilities. The first step in making our

kitchens places of inspiration is old fashioned spring-cleaning.

Even those of us who loathe housecleaning as a tiresome, thankless,

repetitious, and endlessly boring chore can learn to enjoy the

process of marking our territory with magick.

By the end of winter, the world looks a bit scruffy and neglected.

Dead leaves and fallen branches litter the ground, along with

remnants of snow pocked with grime. Just as a gardener needs to

clear away the winter debris to make room for spring growth and

flowering, so it can be a good thing to clear away debris from our

kitchens. Make space in your life for fresh, good things to grow.

Take some time in early spring to decide on your kitchen essentials:

What is truly necessary for you? What could you do without? Give

away anything that doesn't serve you. When your kitchen is clean and

uncluttered, your spirit can breathe.

Once your kitchen is as clean as you feel like making it, you may

want to celebrate the stirring of new life with a few essential

springtime decorations. Flowering bulbs and bare tree branches can

both be placed in water and allowed to bloom. Teardrops of glass

hung in the window catch the light like melting icicles. Dark,

earthy, winter colours give way to the lighter, more airy ones of

spring--a pastel rag rug for the floor or a woven mat for the table

may refresh your spirit. Look for shades of mouth-watering yellow- green, violet, rose, pale blue, silvery dove-gray, and a tender

yellow the colour of the emerging sun. These are the colours that

will help you to envision, to plan, to be inspired.

Spring is associated with air, and with thoughts, ideas, and words.

You could invoke the power of words in your kitchen by writing a few

important ones here and there. Use large letters if you want them to

be seen(in a border around the ceiling, perhaps), or hide tiny ones

in secret places. Get yourself some magnetic poetry for the fridge.

What are the words that you need in your life? Is there a special

quote that you could frame or incorporate into your kitchen?

By the Spring Equinox, the birds are returning and the world is

filled with wings, nests, and the heart-lifting sound of their

singing. One traditional and pleasant way to commemorate the birds'

return is to include a nest or two in your kitchen. You could buy one (Spanish moss, twig, or wicker nests look very realistic), or you

could find a real one(as long as it isn't being lived in anymore),

or create your own.

Fill your nests with eggs. Traditionally, eggs have held a place of

special veneration as objects of power and magick. Egg-decorating is

an ancient way to honour this season. And you may want to tuck in a

feather or two, as well--these are especially meaningful if you've

found them yourself.

There are egg-shaped soaps available now that would be fun in a

nestlike soap dish on the sink(look for nice all-natural herbal egg- soaps in specialty stores or gift catalogues). Or, to make your own,

try grating leftover bits of soap into a bowl, mix with a little

water, and shape small palmfuls into eggs by hand. If you throw in a

few leftover coffee grounds, your soap will have a wild-bird-egg's

speckled look and will also be a good deodorizer for oniony hands.

Whenever you wash with a bar of egg-soap, let the symbol remind you

of the incredible power to create that lies in your hands--and in

your heart, your spirit, your mind.

The first tender vegetables of the spring garden make a welcome

appearance now. The tiny carrots, cheery radishes, asparagus spears,

and the earliest new peas to sprout up in gardens may be found on

everything from teapots to vases to dinnerware to teatowels, which

let you invite their hopeful message inside as well. Or you could

paint or stencil that veggie of your choice somewhere special:inside

a cupboard door to cheer you whenever you open it, for instance.

By late spring, the world is strewn with flowers. Make a place on

your table for a vase spilling over with blooms, or find an O'Keeffe

print to brighten your wall. The sensual beauty of flowers has age- old associations with love, sex, and pleasure, and late spring is

certainly the time for those. To invite the power of loving

sensuality into your kitchen, choose fabrics and accents in shades

of rose to remind you of your own sacred petals. Consider making a

rose-patterned pillow for your power place; then, every time you sit

there, you will be embowered by these rich symbols of the Goddess.

“If you are discouraged it is a sign of pride, because it shows you trust in your own powers. Never bother about other people's opinions. Be humble and you will never be disturbed. Remember St. Aloysius, who said he would continue to play billiards even if he knew he was going to die. Do you play well? Sleep well? Eat well? These are duties. Nothing is small for God.”

~ Mother Theresa20th century humanitarian

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