Magical Mondays: Salt & Pepper Shakers
Monday August 4, 2008
Magical Mondays: Salt & Pepper Shakers!
© Getty Images
If you're new to Magical Mondays, this is a new discussion I've started here on the blog. Each week (on Monday, obviously) I'll post a mundane sort of item with a photo -- you probably won't see anything that's considered a "traditional" magical item. No crystals, herbs, or statues of pink unicorns. The idea is to see how many magical uses we can come up with for the item. No right answers, no wrong answers, just sharing ideas. Post your suggestions in the Comments section, and see what other readers have to say as well!
This week's item: a salt and/or pepper shaker -- use one, or use 'em both! What are you going to do with yours?
Comments
I’m going to use mine to represent the Lord and Lady on my alter to remind me of the Salt of the Earth and the Spice of Life.
Since salt melts ice or snow you could use it in a spell to rid yourself of any cold feelings towards others or the coldness that you feel from others towards you.
Something like:
With this salt I ask that the feelings of ice be melted away to reveal the true problem so that I may understand and work to resolve.
I think of both black pepper and salt as having power to banish negative energy, and since the shakers would make the sprinkling so easy, you could use them in blessing houses, or at least the kitchen. I’d add a bit of chili pepper and some ground cloves to the pepper shaker.
I would use em’ both!not only is salt & pepper a seasoning for foods,BUT…it’s also used magickaly,Salt purifys & protects,pepper is used for banishing.Many Centuries ago..salt was used to purify many things including foods from unclean spirits,pepper was used to banish those unclean spirits or situations. I am pretty sure that is where the saying:”Salt & pepper go together ,they are the spice of life.” came from ! =)
Whenever I see the little black and white shakers, I think of a bride and groom. As part of a wedding present, I would buy brand new salt and pepper shakers, fill them appropriately, and while doing so concentrate on the bride while pouring the salt, and the groom while pouring the pepper. I would think about all the good qualities I knew about these two people. Then, in a small black and white pouch, I would sprinkle some of the salt, some of the pepper and add some gems, herbs, or charms and say a litle blessing over it for marital bliss. Then I’d give the newlyweds the shakers and the pouch as a gift. I’d make sure before hand that the couple was alright with that type of gift tho.
Salt and pepper shakers are good vessles in which to place sacred herbs, ground up used for ritual sprinklings/blessings and to use in the Casting of the Circle.
Also they are great for carrying herbs and salt and pepper to be used in casting of spells or other magickal workings.
I would use both to place candles in sand from the beach.I would also fill them with natural saltwater (holy water) and of course to season our food!! I would think of fun and positive ways to use both in spell and ritual works. Be positive and blessed be to all!
I would use them to make the east and west quaters boundries of my circle.
Wedding gifts what a wonderful idea!
I would use them in casting a circle – pepper to banish negativity and then salt to cleanse and protect the circle. Also, there is a New Orleans tradition of sprinkling your doorstep with salt the first Friday of every month to lay down a magical barrier of protection and goodwill for your home. I would use the pepper before to banish negativity. I love the convenience of shakers and use them myself in magical workings.
I’d use the salt to represent Earth on my Altar, and for any grounding work.
I’d use the pepper for banishing
For the actual shakers, I’d use them prior to ritual for cleansing, possibly with the a mixture of salt and water blessed to create Holy Water, or something else, depending on the ritual / work I’m doing.
Glenn, South Wales, UK.
my first thought was for the Lord n Lady, but I also liked what anavin sad. I learn soemthing new every day, on how to see and think outside the box. I am loving Magical Mondays! This was a great idea, patti!
I would use them for the Lord and Lady, and for salt to purify and pepper for banishing.
Since I don’t use salt and pepper shakers, or even pepper, as hubby and I don’t like pepper, this gives me a new reason to use a pair: magic! Thank you for letting me share.
As a representation of balance and harmony ( Yin Yang etc.)on an alter or in whatever form I was using Both salt and pepper are used in protection work I might use them in setting a protection circle or in house blessing shaking the salt and pepper around the perimeter. both would also be suitable for cleansing and clearing rituals too Though I usually toss my spices and herbs rather than shaking them .
Salt for bring in money and peper for taken the negitive out of the money. Example: Money is evil. Money is love.
Salt & pepper shakers are really great tools to help teach your little ones how to sprinkle blessed water or herbs. They’re easy for little hands to hold & it’s easy to find the kind that won’t break when dropped. By three or so, most kids can follow directions, but this generally prevents the water or herbs from being “dumped” in one place. Or for bigger jobs, a nicely re-purposed & cleansed plastic Parmesans cheese container (a la Kraft)can be used the same way.
Salt and pepper shakers come in a wide variety of symbolic images – roosters, pigs, chili peppers, stars and moons – to use them for magickal purposes is no great leap. I enjoyed the posts but many seemed focused on the salt and pepper inside with many twists that had not occurred to me. I use different symbolic shakers for a variety of purposes including casting circles, etc. One I did not see was to shake charged seeds when planting a garden. Some seeds are quite tiny and disbursing them with a shaker ensures they don’t all sprout in one place. I use my green shakers decorated with ferns to ensure fertility. Drop a tiny agate or two in the shaker for extra oomph!
I am somewhat in line with Luna. I already use my shakers as a reminder for many things. Mine are frogs, which I associate with my mother who has passed away from Cirrohsis so I use them to remind me to be moderate in all things (her drinking was obviously not in moderation) and to be thankful for my loving relationship with my kids (mine wasnt with a drunken mother) and to live life fully as she died at 55 and I am already 40. They also remind me of her quirkiness and her strength of character and her loving moments so in general I use them to remind me to be a better person. I could get another pair in a duck theme to remind me of my grandmother and another of ladybugs to remind me of my uncle, etc etc. Charging the salt with the good things from each person and the pepper for banishing the bad traits.
I like to use salt and pepper shakers to add ground herbs to the dish of candles that I’m using tea lights in. It adds a delicious non-messy fragrance in the circle.
I grind my herbs, spices, resins, etc. and put them into salt and pepper shakers more for convenience than anything. I hold many of my ritual fires in a remote location that can only be accessed by boat. Not only do the shakers help me transport my mixtures safely, they also make it easier for me to add them to the fire. I did enlarge the holes though.
I have enjoyed reading all of your responses to Magical Mondays. What a great idea
Blessing to you all.
If you get several salt and pepper shakers, and fill them with energized sand, you can set them in your windows for protection. You can also paint the outside to add more protective energies. My friends and I did this to keep out unwanted visitors (seen and unseen), and it’s worked very well.
I use a saltshaker at work when the ladies get too harsh – I stay behind when they go to lunch, and shake-shake-shake. It really helps, and no one has ever noticed!
The peppershaker is good for the lunch itself, and as a “cover.”
I find it’s much easier keeping a shaker with salt on it than a dish. A dish of salt tends to get filled with dust and other unwanted bits of yuck. And the salt because much easier to sprinkle when creating a magick circle!
It’s Sunday, and I am just now wading into my e-mail! The garden is coming in, and I have been trying to make cheese this week for winter use when goats go dry. Cow is now dry, so that’s an extra couple of hours a day I have to fill with other things. It is BUSY!
I don’t use salt and pepper shakes anymore for actual salt and pepper. Closest thing would be we do have a shaker filled with crushed homegrown hot pepper mix…. BUT, I do use salt and pepper! I grind both, fresh, and put in a ‘cellar’ so I can reach in an pinch to spread around. By using a coarser grind than what would work in conventional salt/pepper shakers we use less and have more flavor since it’s fresh ground. As other’s have said, it would be a representation of the true savor of life! Literally you can’t live without salt. And, whatever ’spice’ you choose to put in the pepper shaker? Yep, life has it’s spicey moments, too. LOL Thank you so much for this discussion of ‘ordinary’ objects in a magical vein. It really rolls right down my alley as a Celtic farmstead kitchen witch- EVERY THING IS MAGICAL
Blessings upon all! May you be able to se HER in all things!
Donna
Thank you so much for “Magical Mondays”. I get some good ideas from all the posters. I am relativly new to all this and I am still learning things.
I do have a suggestion for “What would you do with…?” It is a meat baster. I found one and I had the idea that I can use it magically. But I don’t have a clue yet as to how.
Just a suggestion. Thanks again.
I like that one — I’ve already got this week’s Magical Monday’s item ready to go, but I’ll add the baster in at some point in the next few weeks. If anyone has any ideas for what to do with one, just hold on until it appears!
patti
Thanks Patti. I’m looking forward to all the ideas and the other items for magickal Mondays as well.
Well, this is Wed. I can’t find “Monday” for Aug. 11. Did something happen?
Nope, it’s there: http://paganwiccan.about.com/b/2008/08/11/magical-mondays-rain-boots.htm
Have fun with it!
patti
I tried Melanie’s suggestion, and i’m amazed by how well it worked, Thanks Melanie.
Ryan
My friends are getting marry and one is black and other white and I was working on a poem and a line of two to express this union, and though of the salt and pepper, and the intro was something like this, have you ever seen a pepper shaker with out the salt been near by…they are inseparable although very different substance when together they bring the spice to life…spiritual remarks of salt that is to preserve…remarks everytime you see the salt and pepper shaker remember this couple in your prayer as they learn their potential God has for them and to fulfill their desteny as couple and as individuals..what you guys think!!!!!