🍬 Weekly Witchy CHALLENGE- Trick-or-Treat! Give Me Some Sweet Spells to Eat

[BryWisteria]

That sounds like a really fun memory, @Garnet- the Halloween party you made for your kids must have been such a blast!

Congrats on your first witchy Halloween, @Peaches! I’m drooling at the thought of your simmer pot- it must have smelled amazing!

So many delicious goodies on the menu, @mary25- you had a true Halloween/Samhain feast! That chilli sounds lovely and nutritious, thank you so much for sharing your beloved recipe

A beautiful food blessing- thanks for sharing @Princess_Tara!

What a fun family tradition, @moonshadow! And I love your notes on Pumpkin Magick- the Jack O Lantern Blessing is absolutely perfect And of course the seeds as well! It sounds like you and your family had a very blessed Halloween- thanks for sharing!

Tada! Look at that fine pumpkin, @Kasandra- great job! And oh my goodness- 200+ bags!?! You must have been busy! I’m sure the kids appreciated them Lovely seed blessing as well- hope you had a fun holiday!

Pumpkin smoothies sound amazing @mary25! Can’t say I’ve ever had one before, but I like just about everything pumpkin- would love to give this a try!

Despite a limit on time you really worked some wonderful magick, @stephen! The pumpkin bread, seeds, and treats all sound lovely, and your altar looks fantastic Great job- hope you had a fun time!

Hooray for Taco Soup, @Rowan! I’m sure it turned out lovely. Hope you had a nice dumb supper and adventure- did you find the local legend? Sounds spooky but fun! And I love the pictures- looks like a blast!

I guess your pie kept the pentacle for itself, @Amethyst- oh well, the thought was there! And I’m sure it was a very delicious pie for prosperity too Beautiful blessing- thanks for sharing and hope you had a lovely holiday!

Yum yum! Beef stew is a favorite, @IrisW- hope it turned out well for you!

That pentacle pie looks delicious, @Peaches!

It sounds like you had a nice holiday, @phoenix_dawn- and hooray for the tasty pumpkin seeds! Keep on resting and take good care of yourself

Goodness I would love some of your nana’s Chicken-and-Dumplings, @steph- they sound delicious! It sounds like a lovely holiday treat that brought back some happy memories. Thanks for sharing!

You are so kind to bake for your neighbors, @Misfitbabe! It looks like you had a lovely holiday- good for you
(And excuse this, but it’s a mandatory question I have to ask as a moderator- if the children in the photo aren’t yours, did you receive permission from their parents to post their picture online?)

[BryWisteria]

We didn’t quite get around to carving the pumpkin this weekend (we chopped and baked one up two weeks again for pumpkin bread and soup and needed a break lol ), but we did have a little birthday ceremony!

One candle because we are lazy

My partner worked as a pastry and cake chef in the past and made me a Polish tort (birthday cake). Light vanilla cake in three layers with homemade whipped cream sugar frosting, peaches, and ground dark chocolate

We celebrated with the usual good wishes and candle blowing (which many believe was originally a pagan tradition ). I’m only slightly ashamed to say I singlehandedly ate half of the cake by myself over 24 hours- it was that good

Today is what could be the “Polish version of Samhain”- All Saint’s Day. Today, most people around the country will make some time to go to their local cemetery. We will dress up nicely later today and head to my partner’s ancestors graves to clean them, and place candles and flowers as offerings

While All Saint’s Day is a largely Christian holiday (and Poland is a very religious country), I’m learning that many local traditions actually predated the arrival of Christianity and there are still hints of local Slavic traditions to be found. It’s interesting to see and I’m excited (and honored) to celebrate tonight!

[Misfitbabe]

It’s my son and neice!

[Amethyst]

Sounds like you had a happy birthday @BryWisteria! Your tort looks awesome! Happy belated birthday!

[moonshadow]

@BryWisteria many bright blessings! Happy Birthday!

[Susurrus]

Happy Birthday @BryWisteria!

I posted my entry for the Weekly Challenge here, it’s a bit lengthy. it includes pictures of our evening. My husband came out to play photographer because it was the 2nd year that the 3 of us got together for Samhain.

@Rowan so funny story… on Saturday night my neighbors had a costume party with some mutual friends & everyone was dressed up. My husband… never dresses up so didn’t have a costume. He found a white sheet & cut to eye holes in it & walked over. The first thing my kids & I said was that he needs a bag with rocks & he needs to add some more holes & maybe sunglasses to really pull the Charlie Brown costume together Dammit I wish I had the picture. I will find it & add it when I can.

@steph I love chicken & dumplings too! & we have biscuits n’ gravy for dinner or breakfast. It is definitely getting to be comfort food time.

@phoenix_dawn they look delicious.

Amazingly, not only was my daughter late by 45 minutes for Trick or Treating , she didn’t even carve a pumpkin! We have the fully intact pumpkin sitting on newspapers in the kitchen. It was weird to have this be the 1st year in 20 that we didn’t have a carved pumpkin out front.

[Kasandra]

Happy belated birthday @BryWisteria!

From the looks of it, it seems hope everyone here had a blessed Samhain! I had a great time these last three nights!

Last night, I lit an orange and black candle, offered some beef jerky to the Dragons and meditated on what I have learned since last Samhain. The list is very, very long. Some of the things I learned were: giving thanks each and every day, meditation, various teas and their health benefits, astrology, Draconic Magick, Cat Magick, Dream Magick, magickal properties and health benefits of various herbs, magickal properties of crystals, reading Tarot and Oracle cards, seven Chakras, shadow work, reading auras, and how to write my own spells (I now have over a dozen in my BOS), and more that I might be forgetting.

By next Samhain, I’d like to learn more about all the dragons from around the world, do some more research so I can answer if Yahweh (from the Old Testament) was actually a dragon, learn more about the constellations (since the dragons in my newest oracle deck are connected to the stars) and connect more with my Dragon Guardian.

For some the winter months are depressing since it’s colder and the days are shorter. I ended my ritual by meditating on the more aspects of winter. The season allows us to appreciate the warmer and brighter days of spring and summer, (it also gives me a refreshing break from the heat and humidity), we can spend more time with family and friends, and the colder, longer, and snowier nights are an excellent time for some quiet introspection. Honestly, meditating by candlelight with a hot cup of tea on a cold night is an underrated method of unwinding!

[Rowan]

@BryWisteria Happy Birthday!
Hope your day was filled with beautiful moments and gifts both physical and blessings from the universe, just as you are a gift to our coven.
@Susurrus that is too funny! Can’t wait for the pics!
@Amethyst that is a beautiful verse/blessing!

[anon87969570]

Well I didn’t cook anything, but I did find some things and add some altar offerrings. Hope that counts.

Samhain Offerrings

Stopped by the store to get some garlic for an offerring to Hecate tonight, and found these black grapes and golden berries - how perfect for Samhain! And the grapes are called Moon Drops! Adding these to my altar tonight! [20211031_235306]

My Samhain Altar

Okay this temporary until I can get a better piece of furniture ( I’m looking for the “right” piece) [20211029_172402] Here’s the glass skull with oak leaves close up [20211029_172447]

[RyuWyn]

¡Hola a todos!

Wishing you all a Happy Samhain, I hope you had a great day full of magick and light!

I celebrated Samhain yesterday with my little brother, who came home to visit, and we spent all day together. At night, we dressed up and went outside, I dressed up as a witch and he used a costume I used 2 years ago, a Hogwarts student. I felt like I graduated and he’s now studying this whole world of magick, haha.

So, we went outside and enjoyed the night, many people were outside too, with their costumes. There was music, motorcycles, and cars caravan all dressed up and throwing candies to the air, the environment was full of energy and fun.

After that, we came home and performed the Samhain spell found here, he knows I’m a witch now and yesterday, was the first time he joined me in a spell, but not only him, because some other friends joined the spell virtually, each one of us honoring our families and dead ones. I lead the spell the best way I could but in the end, everyone was happy to spend some time together doing some magick.

This is my best Halloween for me so far, the first time I celebrate it as a real witch, honoring and remembering my Great Granny who joined us yesterday too. I feel thankful and blessed with the Goddess and God, the Universe, la Pachamama, and myself, for finding the way that lead me here.

Thank you also to you, guys, for being you. May the Goddess and God bless every and each one of you.

Here are some pics:

[IrisW]

I didn’t get a chance to take a photo of my beef stew, disappeared far too quickly! But I have made enough for several meals so may get a shot when it’s reheated!

Here’s the recipe adapted from one in my slow cooker book. I’d say these quantities serve four but they’d be very generous portions…

---

Italian Beef Casserole

Ingredients:

• 800g beef braising steak, chopped coarsely (or similar, I used diced beef from Tesco)
• 30g plain flour
• 1 tsbp olive oil or frylight
• 1 large brown onion, chopped coarsely
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1/2 tsp chilli flakes
• 125ml dry red wine
• 400g can chopped tomatoes
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 500ml beef stock
• 2 dried bay leaves
• 1 large red pepper, chopped coarsely
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 4 tbsp fresh basil, chopped coarsely
• 1 large courgette, quartered and sliced thickly
• 150g chestnut mushrooms, halved

Method

1. Toss beef in flour to coat, shake off excess. Heat half the oil in a large frying pan and cook the beef in batches until browned. Transfer to slow cooker.

2. Heat remaining oil in same pan and cook the onion, garlic and chilli, stirring, until the onion softens. Add the wine, bring to the boil and boil uncovered until the liquid reduces by half.

3. Stir the onion mixture into the beef with the chopped tomatoes, tomato paste, bay leaves, pepper, oregano and basil. Cook, covered, on low for 8 hours.

4. Add courgette and mushrooms for last 30 minutes of cooking time. Discard bay leaves and season to taste.

The recipe recommends serving with polenta, mashed potato or pasta. However, I served ours with steamed kale and rye bread.

[MeganB]

No new thread for me this week but I did bake some banana bread and cookies last week. The banana bread ended up being eaten by my household but the cookies got handed out to my daughter’s friends.

The recipe is actually Paula Dean’s recipe with one slight change by me, and that’s a substitution of plain yogurt for eggs only because I didn’t have any eggs

[Susurrus]

Thank you for sharing your evening with us & I’m happy that you & your family connected last night too after the social festivities It sounds like a lot of fun to be a part of there! The pictures are fabulous too, I really like them, you both looked great!

@IrisW that sounds delicious! I love beef stew & I think I have more than a couple of recipes for it in my crockpot & for the stovetop. What is the name of the cookbook ? I wonder if it’s available here? (If you don’t mind me asking

[IrisW]

I suspect it isn’t. It’s actually one I picked up in Lakeland made by the company itself when I bought my first slow cooker from them (it’s a kitchenware store here in the UK, not sure if they’re anywhere else).

[Susurrus]

Aaawww that makes sense that it wouldn’t be readily available. It sounds delicious, beef stew is 1 of those things that sometimes tastes even more delicious after it has been reheated the next day. Lasagna is 1 of those meals too. Thank you for sharing!

[IrisW]

Add spaghetti bolognese and chilli con carne to that list! I think beef is just one of those meats that makes dishes taste better on a reheat

[Susurrus]

Absolutely, those are good additions too! My husband would be so upset that I didn’t mention chili I think you’re right because each of those dishes has that ingredient!

[Amethyst]

@Rowan

@Amethyst that is a beautiful verse/blessing!

Thank you, my dear!

[BryWisteria]

This challenge is now CLOSED

I don’t know about you all, but my tummy is rumbling for all the delicious magickal munchies and sweet spellwork shared this week- thanks for sharing!

A Props and Presents post will soon appear with shout-outs and prize details. Please keep an eye on the main page of the forums.

Note : This post will remain open for continued discussion for a few more days, but no additional prizes will be given after today.

Hope you all had a lovely Halloween and Sabbat- Blessed be!

[BryWisteria]

Your son and niece are adorable, @Misfitbabe! Apologies for asking- when it comes to minors, safety is essential! We always ask to check for permission from the legal guardians. So long as permission was given, that’s great! Hope you all enjoyed a fun celebration

Thank you so much @Amethyst, @Moonshadow, @Susurrus, @Kasandra, and @Rowan! It was a low-key but fun bday with maybe a bit too much cake haha

Thanks again for sharing your lovely challenge entry in the other thread, @Susurrus- it sounds like you all had a blast at Halloween!

It sounds like you had a really powerful time reflecting and meditating, @Kasandra- you’ve come a long way over the past year! Perhaps I shouldn’t put words in the mouth of deities, but I imagine it’s safe to say they are proud of you You’ve set some wonderful goals for the year ahead- may it be a very blessed one for you!

You are very sweet, @Rowan- thank you!

Resources and offering ideas are always welcome and appreciated- thank you, @anon87969570!

That sounds like fun, @RyuWyn- I’m so glad you and your brother had such a lovely Sabbat celebration! The two of you enjoyed the best of both Halloween and Samhain together- I’m sure it will be a treasured memory for both of you Thanks for sharing!

Ohhhh that beef stew looks delicious, @IrisW- and from the sound of it, it went really fast! Always the sign of a great recipe Thanks so much for sharing!

Banana bread and cookies- delicious treats, @MeganB! Sounds like they were gobbled up quickly, I imagine they were amazing!