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Harvest 2005
Editorial: Exploring the Presence of Food in Neo-Pagan Spiritual Practice
BY Amanda
Food has always been one of my favourite subjects... and pastimes: especially when enjoyed in the company of others. As a teenager, my friends and I used to scour the city looking for new, interesting (and affordable) places to dine. As a young adult, I would hang out in the cooking sections of public libraries, gleefully planning my next theme meal for my friends: Authentic Mexican this month, south Indian the next, maybe followed by Creole, Indonesian, or perhaps a home-made dim sum! Then off I'd go, travelling around town in search of the exotic ingredients called for in the recipes.
Through food, I learned about different cultures, ecologies, religions and celebrations. I would hazard to say that every culture, whether geographic, family or religious, has at least one tradition (and probably many more) rooted in the preparation and consumption of food. Surely contemporary neo-Pagan traditions are no different?
"Food. A gift from the gods, food both sustains us and brings us together. We offer food to the gods in sacrifice, and to each other in friendship. Many cultures have deep, often religious, traditions rooted in the preparation and consumption of food. What traditions do neo-Pagan paths hold, and what is our relationship with food?"
That was the question we posed to the local and greater Pagan community. What we got back was food for thought relating to the diverse table of contemporary neo-Pagan, and usually North American Wiccan, spiritual practice.
In Food and Spirituality, A. Murphy-Hiscock takes us beyond the often harried act of preparing and eating food simply for bodily sustenance and into a more spiritual realm: that of honouring nature's presence in our lives as both a source for physical and spiritual nourishment.
Ceri Young tackles a different relationship with food: the ritual role. Beyond Cakes and Ale explores how food has and can be used to bring a new dimension to ritual and spiritual practice.
In Food! Glorious Food! Newcomer to Montreal, Whaledancer, gives her take on why food seems to play such an important part in our lives and religious practices. While Mike, from rural New Brunswick, chose in his article, Respect the humble Apple, to focus on a single, humble crop, familiar to us all.
I, personally, take a look at some of the foods traditionally and commonly associated with the Greater Wiccan Sabbats, or cross-quarter holidays, and pose the question: "Do these food associations make sense to us in our Canadian climate?"
We've also reprinted two pages titled Loving the Body from the latest book by Starhawk, The Earth Path. In it she explores the relationship between our bodies, our connection with the land we live on, and the food we consume.
Finally, what theme issue would be complete without some pertinent book reviews.
We hope you enjoy this theme issue.
Let the feasting begin!
Amanda is the Managing Editor of WynterGreene. She works as a freelance writer.
Illustration by Lauren Foster MacLeod
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