Also called kitchen witchcraft, hearth magic, stovetop potpourri, simmer pot spell
A simmer pot is a saucepan of water, fruit peel, spices and herbs kept on a low heat to scent and bless a home. It is the signature working of modern kitchen witchcraft, a style of magic built around cooking, the hearth and everyday chores.
Tonight's moon is read when the page loads.
Take care: Never leave a simmer pot unattended or let it boil dry, which can scorch the pan or start a fire. Keep it out of reach of children and pets, and do not use essential oils in the pot; their vapour can bother cats and birds.
A small doll of a witch on a broom hung in kitchens for luck and to keep pots from boiling over. A 1599 will from Shropshire leaves 'the witche in the kytchyn' to a son, showing the custom is old.
Cunningham's book listed the magical properties of everyday foods and gave menus for love, protection and money. It shaped the idea that cooking itself can be spellwork.
Many cultures honoured a hearth deity, from Roman Vesta to the Chinese Kitchen God given sweets before the New Year. Kitchen witches often borrow this idea by keeping a small shrine or candle near the stove.
Kitchen witchcraft as a named path is modern. Scott Cunningham's The Magic in Food (first edition around 1990, later Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Wicca in the Kitchen) and his books on herbs gave Wiccans a practical, home-centred magic, and later writers such as Rachel Patterson built 'kitchen witch' into a popular label. The older roots are household customs: the kitchen witch doll, recorded in a Shropshire will of 1599, and hearth gods honoured across Europe and Asia.
The simmer pot itself is a stovetop version of potpourri, the French word for a pot of dried fragrant petals. Stovetop potpourri recipes were common in American home magazines for decades, and in the 2010s and 2020s they took off on social media as 'simmer pots', often with witchy intentions attached. It is honest to call the simmer pot a recent craft trend that sits well with older hearth magic.
A loaf and a little salt carried into a new home or offered at its door, so the household will never go hungry and life there will keep its savour.
Before Chinese New Year, families send the Kitchen God back to Heaven to report on the household, first smearing honey or malt candy on his lips so his report will be sweet, then burning his paper image.
On the first day of each month, stand outside your front door and blow a pinch of ground cinnamon into the house to invite money and opportunity. This is a modern social-media custom from the early 2020s, loosely echoing older Hoodoo and Caribbean powder-blowing.
Tell us what you need and we will craft a custom spell, charm or reading for it. Or call to book a reading or a road blessing in person.
