:witch_cauldron: Weekly Witchy CHALLENGE - A Witch's Cauldron

[BryWisteria]

Merry meet!

Thank you once again to all those who joined in for last week’s Weekly Witchy Challenge - Honing Your Magickal Senses

With our senses honed and intuition enhanced, we’re ready to put them to good use! We’re exploring another favorite witchy tool this week

The theme for this week’s challenge is…

A Witch’s Cauldron

The cauldron is the tool of the Witch par excellence . It is an ancient culinary container imbued with mystery. In many magical traditions, it is the vessel in which Magical transformations take place . Wiccans see the cauldron as a symbol of the Goddess, the manifest essence of femininity and fertility. It is also a symbol of the element Water, reincarnation, immortality and inspiration.

From Spells8: Spellcasting Tools: Cauldron

Cauldrons come in many shapes, sizes, and styles- they may be made of various types of metal or glass and have anywhere from one to four legs (three legs common in Wicca witchcraft, with each leg being symbolic of one phase of the Triple Goddess). The one feature all cauldrons used with fire or heat must have is that they are made of sturdy, fireproof material.

A cauldron has many uses in rituals including indoor or outdoor ceremonial fires, scrying, holding ingredients necessary for the ritual, or burning items during a ritual.

From Spells8: Tools of Wiccan Witchcraft

Like all magickal tools, a cauldron serves their practitioner in whatever way best suits their needs and style of magick! There are many styles and types of cauldrons and even more ways to use them within the Craft.

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This week’s challenge is all about cauldrons - how you choose to take on this theme is up to you!

So are you ready? Because it’s…

CHALLENGE TIME!

From Spells8: Free Cauldron Printable Page

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STEP 1 : The Magickal Cauldron

This challenge is all about cauldrons - but as always, how you choose to take on this theme is up to you!

Still not sure where to begin? To help you get started, here are a few ways in which a witch might approach this challenge.

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Show Off Your Cauldron!

Have a cauldron of your own? Feel free to show it off and share all about it for your challenge entry this week!

You might share a little about:

• How you choose your cauldron (or how it chose you!)
• What materials it is made from
• How you use it in your practice
• Etc.

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Putting Your Cauldron to (Spell)Work

A cauldron’s primary use is to assist its witch in their spellwork. From brewing blends to providing a safe container for candle spells, there are many ways to put a trusty cauldron to work.

Consider exploring spells that involve a cauldron, or perhaps write your own spell!

Burning Bay Leaves for Wish Manifestation

Simmer Pots

No cauldron? No worries! A cauldron is waiting for you to use to cast and brew potions in the Spells8 Virtual Altar. Give it a try!

Enter the Spells8 Virtual Altar

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Cauldrons in Kitchen Witchery

Once upon a time, cauldrons hung over the hearth- the heart of the home. While many of us cook on a stove these days, the kitchen remains a heart within one’s dwelling and a place where wonderful (and delicious!) magick can be worked.

Cauldrons have traditionally been associated with transformations, creation, and rebirth.Contemporary witches sometimes use them to brew potions, combine materials for spells, steep teas, and more. Your pots, blender, and kettle are considered witchy tools.

From Spells8: Tools of a Kitchen Witch

Consider getting creative with the vessels you have available- whether it’s a pot or blender, you can make it into your brewing cauldron!

Kitchen Witchery: The Tools of a Kitchen Witch

Related discussions and resources:

• What’s Cooking in the Cauldron? No Bake Energy Bites Recipe

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Enchant/Consecrate/Cleanse your Cauldron

Want to enchant a useful household item to make it magickal? Consider enchanting a fireproof vessel to imbue it with magick and turn it into your cauldron! You might also consecrate it (designate it for specifically magickal uses) and cleanse it from time to time to remove negativity too.

Guide to Enchanting Items

For more information about enchanting, consider viewing the Coven’s entries in the previous Making Objects Magickal Challenge

Consecrate a Magickal Tool for Use in Your Practice

More consecration spells and ideas can be found in the Coven’s entries to the previous Consecration Challenge

Easy Cleansing Methods

More cleansing methods and negativity removal spells can be explored in the Coven’s entries to the previous Cleansing in the Craft Challenge

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The History of Cauldrons and Witchery

Feeling called towards research? For your entry this week, consider delving into magickal history to explore the history of cauldrons and how they came to be associated with magick. We’d love to hear what you discover!

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… And More!

The suggestions above are just a few ideas to help kickstart your creativity- if you feel called to explore cauldrons in another way, please feel free to do so!

As always, all witches are encouraged to embrace their own unique practice with how they explore the challenge theme

Burning Herbs in a Cauldron - Create a Sacred Smoke

Video shared in How to Burn Herbs with Charcoal Disks and a Cauldron

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STEP 2 : Share Your Experience

Click here for a note about challenge inclusivity

Everyone is welcome to join the challenge by practicing magick in line with the current theme. For lurkers and those who don’t feel comfortable sharing, it is absolutely okay to follow along with the challenge but keep your entry personal. Feel free to join in spirit and do what feels most comfortable for you!

That being said, please know that if you would like to receive a prize and a public shout-out, it is required that you share your experience.

Getting Your Credit

In order for your entry to be counted, all you have to do is write/share about your experience and label it as your challenge entry. There is a lot of chatting here (which is awesome- chatting and discussion are very welcome!) so please clearly write that it is your entry so I know to count it!

Where Should I Share My Entry?

Click here to learn where to share your challenge entry

You are welcome to post it right here- just click “reply” to this post and write your experience in the text box that pops up!

Alternatively, you could create a new post in the forum (this is good for when you have a lot to share and/or would like to discuss aspects of your entry not related to the current theme)

Note : If you do choose to create a new thread, please add the “challenge-entry” tag and/or add a hyperlink back to this post so that it can be easily found- thank you!

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Deadline

This challenge will close in 6 DAYS

To join in, please share your experience by:

Tuesday, November 28 at 7:00 AM EDT (Eastern US Time)
2023-11-28T12:00:00Z

(Note that the time zone is ET- if you don’t see your time displayed above, you can use this time zone calculator to check for your time zone!)

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Prizes

For their efforts, all participants will receive a special shout-out and a small prize!

Acknowledgments will be given in a Props and Presents Post that will appear in the forums on Tuesday.

After the challenge closes, you are still very welcome to post but please be aware that no additional prizes will be given. This discussion will remain open for about a week after the challenge finishes.

@Silverbear’s cast iron pan cauldron shared in Blessing Ritual

A warm reminder that the challenges are designed to be very open- everyone is encouraged to participate in a way that honors and reflects their unique practice

If you have any doubts about if something is acceptable to post or say, please double-check with the Forum FAQ and/or reach out to your friendly Moderator Team.

And for those new to challenges- welcome! Know that the goal of these activities is to help you further diversify and strengthen your abilities and to bring together the Spells8 forum family to inspire and support one another in creative ways

Picture from Canva

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Into the cauldron, to boil and bubble!
To cook up blessings or conjure trouble.
Whatever you desire to blend and brew,
Your cauldron is ready, it’s there for you!

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Blessed Be!

[BryWisteria]

We’ve got a new witchy emoji for the occasion!

[tracyS]

Toil, boil and trouble.

fun fun fun

[stavroula]

This is how i feel when I cook intentions in my pot

@tracyS

fun fun fun

[tracyS]

She’s such a happy witch. New meaning to job satisfaction
This is more my reality

Hail Chaos

[Artemisia]

Yay for a new challenge!!! ummm… I don’t think I even have a cauldron yikes!!!

[Ostara]

Use a pot for a cauldron. After all, that is what a cauldron is!

[starborn]

Ooh, I haven’t touched my designated cauldron in ages. Last thing I used it for was testing out some ritual spellfire, I think. It was pretty much like your gif, @tracyS. But it burned like an inferno for a good 5-7 minutes.

[Cosmic_Curiosity]

CHALLENGE ENTRY

Cauldrons and Witchcraft

What comes to mind when you hear the word cauldron? Ask this to people today and you would probably get similar responses…witches, witchcraft, potions. I would probably give the same answers myself. The word makes me think of the three old hags in MacBeth throwing in the eye of newt and toe of frog. Mr. Shakespeare has a lot to answer for!

I wanted to know then if the word meaning and its origins have any clues that link it to witches and the craft. The word derives from others but can be traced back to the Latin word calidus, meaning hot. This then gave rise to the word caldarium which means cooking pot or hot bath. The Norman French then derived the word caudron, also meaning cooking pot from which the Middle English caudroun was first used in the 13th century. This would develop to the word we use today. The common theme is cooking, hence why most households had one. There’s no mention of spells or witches or potions. So where did this link come from?

One reason could be the link to herbal medicine and the fact that cauldrons would almost certainly have been involved in the brewing of remedies. Perhaps the adding of a range of (what may have seemed) strange ingredients and somehow “magicically” creating a cure may have been misconstrued by those with little or no understanding of the medicinal properties of natural ingredients. It may have been that people saw the cauldron therefore as a vessel of transformation or of having alchemic powers. This would undoubtedly raise suspicions among those who knew no better.

Cultural tales and mythology also Contrinute to the link. I will explain few examples:

In Welsh Mythology, Cerridwen was goddess of transformation, wisdom and inspiration. She had a cauldron that had the power to give knowledge and inspiration. She wanted to brew a potion of wisdom for her son, who was unattractive and lacked intelligence. The brew needed magical ingredients had to be simmered for a year and a day.

Cerridwen gave a boy called Gwion the job tending to and sturring the brew in the cauldron. As Gwion stirred, three drops of the potion splashed onto his thumb, burning him. He sucked his thumb and gained the wisdom and inspiration intended for Cerridwens son. He was sacred and shapenshifted before running away.

When she found out, Cerridwen set out to.find Gwion by shape-shifting. Eventually, Gwion transformed into a grain of wheat and was eaten by Cerridwen who had changed into a hen. Cerridwen became pregnant with Gwion’s spirit and gave birth to a beautiful child, whom she named Taliesin. Taliesin grew up to become a renowned poet and prophet.

Here, the cauldron symbolises the vessel through which wisdom and inspiration can be created and the myth shows how they can come from a seemingly ordinary item.

Even in fiction today, the cauldron shop in the Harry Potter universe is called Cerridwen’s Cauldrons. In the UK, the handmade cosmetic brand Lush have a bath oil called Cerridwens Cauldron which it sells under the tagline, a love spell for your skin.

Irish mythology also mentions the Cauldron of Dagda. Dagda was linked with strength, fertility and abundance. He also had a cauldron with magickal powers.

The cauldron was said to be able to give an unlimited supply of food and drink, meaning that no one would ever go hungry. The cauldron was also said to have healing powers fornthose whonate or drank from it. It was said that Dagda used his cauldron to feed warriors between a battle of the Gods and creatures called the Fomorians. This gave them the strength tondefeat their enemy.

Druids also used cauldrons for purposes other than cooking.They considered them as sacred and linked them to abundance and transformation. It also represented the womb of the Earth Mother and was seen as a container of wisdom form the higher realms.

I think then that the magical uses of cauldrons in these myths are likely to have filtered down through time, becoming part of works of fiction like MacBeth. These would have been widespread and people.would then have made links to their humble cooking pot and something more.divine (or sinister when it came.to witch trials etc).

I am just guessing here based on my limited reading but see this as a real possiblility.for the links between cauldrons and witches.

Blessed be

Alan

Sources

cauldron | Etymology of cauldron by etymonline

https://snowdonia.gov.wales/discover/history-and-heritage/mythology-and-folklore/ceridwen/

The Dagda - Wikipedia.

[Nixi]

Hmm…I could go two ways with this one

[BellaB]

CHALLENGE ENTRY

I have only used my cauldron a few times. I have had positive experiences each time.

This picture is from a healing spell that I cast for a friend. She knew that I was going to cast it that day but didn’t know exactly what time. Of course, I silenced my phone so that I wouldn’t be interrupted. After I finished and cleaned up, I looked at my phone and there was a message from her. She wrote, “ If you just did something, I felt everything ease right now.”
She felt it from 3000 miles away💜

[MeganB]

Oh my Gods, I have the perfect idea for this challenge!

@Cosmic_Curiosity

I am just guessing here based on my limited reading but see this as a real possiblility.for the links between cauldrons and witches.

I think your links are probably very accurate! There are cauldrons in so many different cultures - and to go a bit further in regard to Irish mythology and The Dagda, there is also the concept of the Three Cauldrons known as the Cauldrons of Poesy! I’ll explore that a bit more in my challenge entry, but I have to go get some sources first!

[Ostara]

Yesterday after I read about the Cauldron challenge, I was going through a box on my altar. It had nothing to do with the challenge at all, but I found a little cauldron charm. I have no idea where or when I got this. This is not my challenge entry, but I wanted to share. I have a charm bracelet, and even though I’m in the broom closet I can wear it on that bracelet and no one will even notice.

[Susurrus]

Ooohhh… I’ll have to figure out how I want to do this one! How exciting I have a couple, but use them for different things. I can’t wait to be able to do this one!

[crystal59]

Challenge entry- I love my cauldron it is by far one of my most used tools in my practice! I use it to burn things so I can send my wishes up to the Gods I also use it for offerings and potions. I’ve learned a lot about how to maintain my cauldron over the years how to season and wash it properly and most importantly how to honor it as a vessel in my practice.

[korvo]

Challenge Entry

An interesting departure from western use, the cauldron 鼎 has a two-fold meaning in Chinese history and Taoist Neidan 內丹術. Three-legged cauldrons made of bronze were commonplace, dating back to the Bronze Age and used in cooking as well as ritual offerings (human and animal). The cauldron 鼎 symbolized power and conveyed status. A second meaning used in Taoist Neidan (which is training, meditation and alchemy of ‘inner martial arts’) treats the human body as a cauldron 鼎, to contain the Three Treasures of Jing, Qi and Shen—essence, life force and spirit. Through practice it is believed one can transform and conserve these energies, preserving healthy and leading to immortality.

My own use of a cauldron (mine is a small cast iron one) is as an object of meditation to remind me of the deep connection that exists between the body and spirit; I also light joss sticks on its inverted lid, which reminds me of the incense burning at the ground of an entrance to any Taoist temple; and lastly I use it in spell casting, burning sigils and other paper tokens in it (as it is a fire friendly tool).

[Cosmic_Curiosity]

Oh i saw the three cauldrons mentioned in my reading but it didnt elaborate so it will be interesting to read about this.

[EvaCVM]

Challenge Entry

Well, this is another one of those challenges where I take a more metaphorical approach. And that is because I do not own a legit cauldron. But, most of the time I use my pot to brew and cook.
I especially like making magic, sweet treats in the oven.

The teas and potions I make in my teapot .

Also, I would like to share a winter drink, for a good health and to warm yourself .

Magic Sea Buckthorn Tea with Honey and Cinnamon
Ingredients:
▢100 grams or 3.5 oz sea buckthorn fresh
▢2 sticks cinnamon
▢500 ml or 2 cups boiling water
▢2 teaspoons honey

Wash the sea buckthorn berries and discard any broken ones. Transfer to a tea can and muddle the berries with a pestle until the juice is released. Add cinnamon sticks. Pour boiling water into the tea can and let rest for 5 minutes. Strain and serve with a teaspoon of honey per cup.
Enjoy

That is all from me.
Simple and sweet

[tracyS]

CHALLENGE ENTRY

Cauldron, or could I call it a firepit.

Loki is a god of fire, so I do use fire alot in my practice, and love to burn stuff (not quite a pyromaniac, but close ).

I do alot of cleansing and banishing spells in my cauldron. It’s a little thing, made of cast iron. I make my black ash in my cauldron too.

My dedication to Loki was done in my fireplace (can that be classed as a giant cauldron? ). In my fireplace I burn offerings to Loki, meat mainly, one time I offered him meat and pasta (the pasta didn’t burn, guess he doesn’t like pasta ).

The weirdest cauldron experience, was when I did a huge cutting off spell, letting go of my previous path, ready to embrace Loki and bring him to the forefront of my life, instead of being in the background, as he had been for years, and it split my cauldron! I asked the lady at the shop where I bought my new cauldron about this, and she said some spells are so powerful, they break the cauldron. It’s a sign the spell is complete. I remember feeling a huge release as it cracked.

So, me and cauldrons are good friends, I like my fire rituals, I prefer the fireplace (I can make bigger fires ) and I haven’t needed the fire brigade to come and help, so we’re good.

Here’s to my trusted cauldron

[Artemisia]

Challenge Entry - A Witch’s Cauldron

I generally use size and material-appropriate vessels when I need a container and haven’t ever actually purchased a true caldron before. I’m a bit of a If-I-Don’t-Need-It-Don’t-Buy-It kinda person so instead of passing on this challenge, I decided to make one that would work symbolically if needed in a ritual.

I had a brief period today where I had energy and no fever but this was my first time making a multi-part hollow vessel and there were lots of little mistakes and inconsistencies, but overall I accomplished what I set up to do - create a mini cauldron.