For many Wiccans, the kitchen is the heart of the home because it represents the hearth of old that offered us food, warmth, and spiritual protection. For kitchen witches, the kitchen is even more significant as a spiritual hub and a workplace for magical endeavors. Before launching projects in the kitchen, a kitchen witch might want to cleanse and bless her sacred space. She can do any work she wants within a circle of protection even if she is not raising energy. This includes minor metaphysical jobs such as crafting oils and candles, or even mundane tasks such as cooking dinner. Here is an original ritual written by me. I kept it short and streamlined because kitchen witches often do not have much time to sandwich in (pun intended!) complicated rituals between mundane kitchen activities.

Step 1 – Cleanse your work space. Give your kitchen table a good scrubbing if you plan to use it as an altar. Then purify it and your kitchen with sound or smoke or salt water as I describe in Four Ways to Do A Wiccan Cleansing. You can also use your broom to sweep your kitchen floor, making sure to get into the corners and under the table. Work counterclockwise to rid yourself of negative energy and dirt because widdershins is the direction of banishment. While you sweep, say the following rhyme:

“Now I banish with my broom
All psychic sludge and dirt
Let pure white light fill this room
As I begin my work.”

Step 2 – Cast your circle and acknowledge the quarters. Stand and face the direction in which you like to begin spellwork. For most Wiccans, this will be east or north. Point with tool or finger and imagine yourself drawing a huge circle as you turn clockwise, acknowledging each of the entities that reside at the four points of the compass. Visualize light or chalk or whatever streams from your fingertip on the metaphysical plane and delineates your circle. Inscribe a complete circle by ending up facing where you started.

In each quarter resides an entity with elemental powers that you petition to watch over you, hold your circle, and lend its blessing to your endeavor. In the east is Air, to the south resides Fire, in the west you find Water, and Earth inhabits the north. Speak the following words as you face each direction:

“Air, lend me your intellect,
Fire, lend me your energy,
Water, lend me your intuition,
Earth, lend me your strength.”

Step 3 – Complete your project. Within this step, you might summon, commune with, and respectfully release the Lord and Lady. This would be the case in complex witchcraft, rituals, or celebration of esbats and sabbats. If your task is much smaller such as preparing a meal, you might simply work alone without formally invoking the gods.

Step 4 – Open your circle and thank the quarters. Face in the same initial direction as you started. For most Wiccans, this will be east or north. Point with tool or finger and imagine erasing or vacuuming up the line that delineates your circle as you turn COUNTER-CLOCKWISE, thanking the quarters at each point of the compass. Remember that widdershins is the direction of release such as when you take down a circle. Say the following words as you face each direction, assuming you start in the east:

Hail and farewell, Air.
Hail and farewell, Earth.
Hail and farewell, Water.
Hail and farewell, Fire.

When you turn to face the direction in which you started (in this case, east), you say, “The circle is open but never broken. So mote it be.”

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