Bougie Bruja Book Review: The Kitchen Witch, Green Witchcraft, Using Plants for Healing, & Witchery

If you’re here right now, I take it you just read my article on the Magic In Making Meals: 3 Ways To Conjure With Cooking. If you didn’t, here’s the link: https://www.bougiebrujas.com/2023/12/12/the-magic-in-making-meals-3-ways-to-conjure-with-cooking/ This is a short, sweet book review about different books that deal with cooking, herbs, and medicinal magic. So if you’re someone that likes to manifest with sugar, spice, and everything nice, this article is for you! Welcome to the first of many book reviews. The Kitchen Witch: Skye Alexander Kitchen Witches know home is where the heart is, and the way to the heart is through the stomach! Kitchen Witches, also called cottage witches, always want people to feel at home with them. They’ll make you “feel good” foods that will have you coming back for dinner time and time again! The Kitchen Witch by Skye Alexander does a deep dive into how to apply kitchen witch concepts into your daily life! She doesn’t just tell you what cooking tools to use, but she gives you a toolkit for life. Her ideas are very intersectional, and you can apply these same teachings to the rest of your spiritual journey. She also doesn’t just talk about the magic of cooking, but the magic of cleaning as well! She reminds us that cleanliness is close to Goddesses. She also reminds us to be mindful as we make our meals. Touching is a powerful way to exchange energy, and we have to touch our foods to cook. So if touching exchanges energy, and food gives us energy, we want to make sure that you’re channeling peace and positivity. Skye discusses the rituals and root work that come with cooking up recipes. She also gives the history of kitchen witchery, teaches you how to build your cooking craft, has an encyclopedia of herbs, and even includes the ways in which you can use them. So if you love to cook up both spaghetti and spells, then this is the book for you! This is a great book for teaching the modern witch how to put magic in their meals. 10/10 recommend. Green Witchcraft by Paige Vanderbeck This book here is a LIFE saver. If you’ve been trying to manifest a green thumb, and eat more leafy greens, then the Green Witchcraft book may be for you! This book goes through all the steps it takes to be a green witch. In the first two chapters, she goes through what it means to be a Green Witch, as well as talks about the tools you’ll need to be one. She also discusses the means of creating and cleansing a special space for yourself, in your home and yard, to recharge and do rituals. She then takes you on a deep dive of self reflection, by asking you to consider your relationship with the world around you. How do you feel about the elements? How do you interact with them? How do you work with them? How in tune are you with them? She then discusses the power of the elements, the cycle of seasons, the intuition in using our senses, and how all these things coincide. She also encourages readers to not only work with the world, but with the universe. Knowing how the sun and moon works with plants and seeds can promote growth. And being a green witch isn’t just for gardeners, and it’s not just for chefs (though she has chapters dedicated toward each!). She also has chapters solely for witches who want to learn how to brew their own teas, make their own topical creams, make herbals incense and elixirs, and just learn how to be more resourceful overall. She also teaches you how to make items such as dream pillows and spell bags predominantly herb based. She ends the book with her own recipes (which sound so good and I’ve yet to try considering this is a newer book I just got and read). It’s not many, so don’t be disappointed. It’s not a cook book! But it does incorporate many important components that come with cooking into this book. Using Plants for Healing by Nelson Coon Using Plants for Healing by Nelson Coon is a botanical Bible! If you’re trying to work on your green thumb, or trying to improve your health over all, then you will be using this book RELIGIOUSLY! Nelson Coon does not simply give answers, he prompts you to ask questions. He tells us the magic that could come from using medicinal plants. He has an optimistic outlook on the future of herbs and ferns dominating over the pharmaceutical industry, and he encourages other people to keep an open mind as well. He discusses the importance of incorporating plant healing in your daily routine, gives the reader a brief history about herbal medicine around the world, and teaches you how to collect and prepare your plants for medicinal use. The rest of the book gives detailed definitions of different health conditions, plants, and herbs. He tells us where these plants derive from, the conditions they could help heal, and provides the reader with a quick sketch of what the herbs look like. He even goes as far as separating well known medicinal herbs mixed with pharmaceutical lab made meds, from herbs and plants you can find around the house or grow at home (aka “Grandmas home made remedies”). He also discusses lesser known medicinal plants, advocating for how well they treat health ailments. Nelson Coon’s book is very inviting. It’s perfect for a seasoned or beginner bruja. He doesn’t want to leave you feeling dumb— only dumbfounded— by all the new knowledge. The only thing this book lacks is the recipe. It gives you the ingredients, tells you what they look like, and even tells you where you can regionally find them. It just doesn’t tell you how to mix them together medicinally to apply topically or take tonically. But, it does give a great amount of info about plants by