Public - Newsletter

Welcome to our August 2026 Kitchen Witch newsletter

Happy Lammas or Lughnasadh! It is, as I saw written today somewhere, "Sunflower Season"

Another busy month for us here at KW. We had a meet up in the middle of last month and decided to go to a very nice garden centre cafe to chat about all the things that are whizzing around our brain (you notice that I said 'brain' in the singular, as we are sure that we share one between us) and of course, to chat about all things KW. We spent the whole day plotting and planning - interspersed with a very nice brunch and coffee, then later on - cake, strawberries and cream and elderflower and mint coolers. 

A lot of work has gone on behind the scenes and there is still work to do, but when it is all ready, we will share it with you. I promise you, it is all good!

This month we are heading up to Sutton-in-Ashfield to the fabulous Fenix Flames shop as guests for their monthly moot. We are looking forward to seeing Angela and Claudine and meeting lots of lovely people who have booked a space. 

We will also be doing our Triad Readings the following evening but have pencilled in a visit to Sherwood Forest during the day. I am rather hoping to bump into Michael Praed who played Robin of Sherwood circa 1984-86. 

Have a lovely month

Ness x

Rune for August by Ness

The rune for this month is Kenaz - the rune of the Pine Torch. Are you in the process of making some changes this month? Maybe a change of job or thinking of moving to a new home? Going into partnership with someone? Kenaz asks us to shine a torch into all the dark corners - to see what is lurking there that you didn't see before, if anything. Make sure that you have all the facts and relevant information needed. Communication is the absolute key here. Spend time gaining the clarity that you need before moving forward.

The very dry spell with high temperatures have had an affect on nature this past couple of months. I have spotted ripe blackberries, ripe sloes and the harvest of wheat in a nearby field was already complete by early to mid July. Some plants seem to have thrived despite the lack of rain - burdock is blooming, thistles are flowering, wild arum seeds are standing tall and proud and my rosemary bush in my garden is positively loving this weather - well it would, seeing as it's native to the Med. A lot of my plants have suffered, despite the regular watering. I think they are missing a drop or three of rain, rather than the water from my tap, with who knows what added to it. 

Out in nature, the hawberries are starting to ripen, there is a huge amount of blackberries this season and I am keeping my eye on the elderberries. Queen Ann's Lace plant is in flower - quite a pretty flower, often mistaken for Cow Parsley, Hemlock or Hogweed. All of the plants are from the carrot family, but each are very different - Hemlock and Hogweed are particularly unpleasant. 

The ground could really do with some decent downpours of rain but I have noticed that the ground was wet with dew early one morning. Not enough to hydrate the earth, but every little helps. 

Magical Mayhem

If you are a follower of our KW blog, you will have seen this post advertising our new online chat with a theme. Rachel will still be hosting her Witches Weekly chat on a Friday morning and the Waffling Witches will also be a regular appearance on a Friday morning too.

We are having a little break from the online rituals which has been running regularly since 2020 and decided to shake things up a little. These Magical Mayhem online events will be hosted on a Saturday evening whenever possible and will run for 2 hours - we find sometimes that an hour is not always enough time to fit in all the questions that you lovely folk ask us.

Streamed to all the usual places - our KW YouTube channel and Rachel's YouTube channel and Witch & Author Facebook page. 

If you don't yet follow our blog, we post book reviews by our lovely Heather, written work by some of our fabulous KW students, anything else that we find of interest and there is an extensive back catalogue of spells, rituals, information on herbs and plants and lots of other wonderful witchy words of wisdom. 

You can find our KW blog and also Rachel's blog by clicking on the links below:

www.kitchenwitchheath.net/blog

http://rachelpatterson.co.uk/blog

 The Theft of Sif's Hair by Heather

The third gift — an enormous hammer (1902) by Elmer Boyd Smith

Sif is a Norse Goddess associated with harvest, abundance, cycles, fertility and the earth, She is married to Thor.  She was reputed to have the most beautiful, long golden hair, which is believed to represent the golden fields ready for harvest. 

In the Prose Edda there is a story of Loki creeping in and shaving Sif’s head whilst She slept, thus causing Her severe emotional trauma and the threat of the harvest failing!  As with most of His tales, it appears Loki is just being mischievous for the sake of causing chaos, however the tale continues with Him returning with many of the items that we now associate with Odin, Freyr and Thor, as well as Sif having even more abundant and beautiful hair.

When the theft of Sif’s hair was discovered and Loki accused, He offered to travel to Svartalfheim to engage the help of the Dwarves, the best crafts folk in the nine realms.  There He preyed on the pride of the sons of Ivaldi, persuading them to prove their skill, so they not only forged new hair for Sif that would grow and curl once placed on her head, but also two other items: Skidbladnir, the finest of all ships, which always had a favourable wind and could be folded to fit in a pocket – this was entrusted to Freyr, and Gungnir, the most lethal of any spear that would always hit its mark, which became Odin’s.

Not satisfied with these though, Loki boisterously praised the sons of Ivaldi and their skills, making sure that the brothers Brokkr and Sindri overheard Him. When they confronted Him, Loki bet his head on their inability to produce anything better, they readily accepted the wager. However, as they worked Loki shapeshifted into a fly so He could distract them as they worked.  Their first creation was a boar with golden hair named Gullin-borsti who radiated light, could run faster than any horse, in every world and universe and who was given to Freyr. The brothers second article was a magnificent ring named Draupnir, which had the ability to produce eight new golden rings of equal weight every ninth night, this was claimed by Odin.  The third and last item the brothers made was a hammer named Mjollnir, which was of consummate quality, never missed its target and would return to its owner after being thrown. This was given to Thor.

We will never know if Loki planned the whole sequence of events, however, without His mischief some of the most recognisable belongings of the Gods would never have come into existence.

https://mythopedia.com/library/prose-edda-brodeur-1916/skaldskaparmal/

Rosemary Focaccia Bread

A recipe from Rachel’s book Practically Pagan Cooking, which is one of the August recipes and perfectly celebrates Lammas and first harvest.

I have added the magical properties of the ingredients.

500g/1 lb strong white bread flour – prosperity, rebirth, abundance, joy, celebration

1 teaspoon salt – cleansing, purification, protection

7g/2 teaspoons dried fast action yeast (1 sachet) – transformation, time, patience, abundance

3 tablespoons olive oil – spirituality, integrity, passion, fertility, healing, peace, protection, luck

300ml/10 ½ fl oz warm water – cleansing, purification, clearing

A few sprigs fresh rosemary, chopped – protection, love, lust, mental powers, purification, healing, sleep, dreams

Olive oil, rosemary sprigs and sea salt to drizzle

Method

Pop the flour into a large bowl and add the salt and rosemary. Stir in the dried yeast.

Pour the olive oil in along with the warm lukewarm water and mix together. The dough will be slightly sticky, a wet dough makes a good focaccia! If the dough appears dry, add a dash more water.

Oil a board with a little olive oil and turn the dough out. Knead for about ten minutes (5 minutes if you use a mixer with a dough hook).

Pop the dough back in the bowl, cover and leave in a warm place for an hour to 1 ½ hours, until doubled in size.

Grease a baking tin (approx. 20cm x 30cm) with olive oil.

Turn out the dough and very gently press it into the baking tin. 

Try not to handle it too much but lightly push the dough into the rectangle shape of the tin, it doesn’t need to be perfect. Now push your finger into the dough at regular intervals to make dimples. Tuck a few bits of rosemary into the indentations. 

Cover and leave to rise for a further hour.

Preheat the oven to 425F/220C/Gas 7.

Uncover the dough and drizzle over some olive oil and give it a sprinkle of sea salt.

Bake for about 25 minutes until it is a lovely golden brown. Turn out of the tin as soon as it is out of the oven. It doesn’t keep very well so I advise eating it warm on the day of baking (it shouldn’t be too much of a problem…)

Corn Husk Doll/Goddess by Heather

To make this simple doll, you'll need some corn husks. If you're using dried-out husks, soak them in water for a couple of hours to soften them up, fresh husks won’t need this as they’ll still be supple. You'll also need some yarn or ribbon, and a few cotton balls.

Take a strip of the husk and fold it in half. Place two or three cotton balls in the middle, and then twist the husk, tying it with string to make a head. Leave a bit of husk in the front and back, below the head, to create a body. Make a pair of arms for your doll by folding a couple of husks in half and then tying it at the ends to make hands. Slip the arms between the husks that form the body and tie at the waist.

Arrange a few more husks, upside down, around the doll's waist. Overlap them slightly, then tie them in place with yarn, it’ll look like she has her skirt up over her face. After you've tied the waist, carefully fold the husks down, so now her skirt comes downwards, towards where her feet would be. Trim the hem of the skirt so it's even and let your doll completely dry.

When your doll has dried, you can leave her plain or give her a face and some hair by using some soft yarn, you can also add clothing, an apron, beadwork, whatever your imagination can create.  Place in a central part of your home to bring in abundance and happiness.