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Melissa Madara

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Books by Melissa Madara

The Witch's Workshop

Empower yourself as a self-sufficient witch, and become a master of the natural arts!

This in-depth guide, accompanied by step-by-step images, will show you all the craft and design skills you need to make your own, personalized and fully adaptable magical toolkit.

Melissa Madara, magical expert, herbalist and witch, shares 60+ unique projects and techniques, many of which revive spells from the history of witches past. Approachable for beginners and stimulating for established practitioners, the crafts are clearly explained through luscious photographs, detailed research, useful charts, and easy-to-follow instructions. Once you are directly in touch with the power of these crafts, understanding deeply the processes and the associations of magical ingredients, you can be inspired to create all your own unique formulations. Chapters include:

  • Incense, including kyphi temple incense, which once billowed from the temples of ancient Egypt, to house blessing incense for cleansing any new home.
  • Inks, including dragon's blood ink and botanical drawing charcoals.
  • Oils, such as flying ointment or the world's first known chemist Tapputi's royal salve.
  • Natural dyes for creating stunning eco-printed ritual gowns or a spring equinox altar tablecloth.
  • Papers, like Japanese knotweed paper or autumn equinox corn husk paper.
  • Powders essential for rituals and spells such as scrying powder and banishing salt.
  • Candles of all shapes and types, including poured, dipped and molded.

With all of this knowledge, you can create altars, rituals and spells that are highly specific, personal and in touch with your natural environment.
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The Witch's Feast

The feast is a meeting place between family and friends, between humans and gods.
 


This decadent collection of enchanting dishes is an indispensable companion to kitchen witchcraft, revealing the storied history and seductive art of magical cooking. With witch, herbalist and chef Melissa Jayne Madara as your guide, explore five facets of the occult through food: traditional recipes, the wheel of the zodiac, devotional meals to the planets, seasonal feasts to celebrate solstices and equinoxes, and practical spellwork.
 
Recreate a pagan feast of lamb roasted with milk and honey, with cheesecake baked in fig leaves for dessert.
 
Celebrate a Gemini birthday with herbed fondue, followed by lemongrass pavlova.
 
Align with the poetic pleasures of Venus with edible flower dumplings, or commune with Saturn over blackberry pulled pork sandwiches.
 
Enjoy the vibrancy of the spring equinox with herb and allium quiche with a potato crust, radish salad with cherry blossom vinaigrette and jasmine tea shortbread.
 
Share an evening of storytelling over mugwort and catnip divination tea, or embody an otherworldly spirit with ritual bread masks.
 
Packed with ancient knowledge, practical advice and witchcraft expertise, this book will help you develop your craft through culinary creativity. Gather, share, and rediscover the most fundamental of human rituals: the divine indulgence of the senses and the soul.
 

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