Friday, September 22, 2017

Tarot Blog Hop Mabon 2017: Dining With Deity



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Welcome to the Tarot Blog Hop celebrating Mabon/Harvest Home 2017. Our wonderful Wrangler, Kiss Boglárka, and her co-Wrangler, Jay Cassels, have come up with a topic that is right up my alley and amazingly pertinent to this festival. Here's an overview:

"At Mabon, we can enjoy the harvest of what we have sown, giving thanks for what we have – and profiting of it as much as we can, also, profiting of what Nature gives us. If we just think of how much sunshine has nurtured and grown our harvest into what it is, and yes, we can benefit from all that vital power and energy of the sunshine if we prepare and eat food with love and respect – and this sunshine will literally turn into Light in us. And do not forget, Light becomes a blessing in those who share it with others" And therefore, to celebrate the Harvest of Light, we were invited to share a card or cards from the deck which we considered to be a representative of the bounty of the harvest, and suggest a recipe that Being would cook, and a sacred way it might be done, so that the bounty of life and the celebration of Light could be shared. And so, here's my suggestion:





My primary Goddess-Mother is Brighid of the Celts, and She is the Daughter of Cups in my primary Tarot deck, the Haindl Tarot. And when I think of her symbolism, I think of the Three Fires of Brighid, Fire in the Head, Fire in the Heart, Fire in the Hands, which are explained as Knowledge, Passion, and Creative Ability. So--fire for cooking, and fire for thinking and fire of caring and sharing...we're going to make an Irish dish that represents the bounty of the Waters, the Land, and the Sky, the three Realms or the three elemental energies of the Celts. So--Let's start with an appetizer of Smoked Salmon and make a  main dish of  Roast Goose, served with Colcannon, and serve it with a lovely bottle of Irish Whiskey and some Irish Coffee to finish. In order to prepare the meal in a sacred and thankful way, one does the cooking in a kitchen where candles burn and an herbal incense burns, and one makes offering to the Gods of all the finished foods on one's sacred offering plate, and toasts Them with Irish Coffee.

And here's the recipe for that Colcannon, which combines Land and Sea in some amazing ways and speaks to the soul of Irish cooking:




3 cups Irish potatoes, new ones with the skin on
1 cup chopped cabbage
1 cluster of green onions, chopped
1 quarter pound of bacon
Butter
Sour cream
Irish whiskey

Cook the new potatoes, with skins on, in a pot of water which just covers them, along with the chopped cabbage and green onions. While they are cooking, let the bacon cook to a light brown. When the potatoes are done, mash them in a bowl with about one stick of soft butter, a half-cup of Irish whiskey, and a cup of sour cream. Add the chopped bacon, stir thoroughly, and place on very low heat for 30 minutes to mix the flavors. Serve with your roast goose and enjoy your smoked salmon as a side dish/appetizer, and you eat and honor the return of light, the three realms, and the Gods who have given us the gift of life, food, and harvest home. Blessings of the Light to you!



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