Welcome To My Den

In years past, I posted a two-month series of recipes suitable for the autumn season, which everyone seemed to enjoy very much. I’ve been too busy this year to make up a new queue, so I thought I’d compile a big long list of links for anyone who’s looking for recipe ideas this fall.

Update: I’ve posted more recipes since the original roundup and I’ve added those additional links to the list below. I’ve also done my best to mark which ones are vegetarian (🌿) or could be easily altered to be so. (Some could also be altered for a vegan diet using egg, milk, or butter substitutes.) Recipes which may include alcohol as an ingredient are also marked (🍷).

Some are fall-themed, others are for more wintry occasions. But all are designed to make the most of the season and keep our hearts and bellies full as we face the coming cold. Enjoy!

Appetizers, Sides, & Snacks

A Pair of Stuffing Recipes 🌿

Asparagus Salad 🌿

Baked Apples 🌿

Beets with Cloves and Cinnamon 🌿

Bree’s Cheddar-Garlic Mashed Potatoes 🌿

Bree’s Homemade Colcannon 🌿

Carrot Fritters 🌿

Cheese & Bacon Pinwheels

Cheese Toasties 🌿

Cranberry-Orange Sauce 🌿

Fish Cakes

Irish Stout Apple Fritters 🌿🍷

Oatmeal & Potato Bread 🌿

Parsnip & Apples 🌿

Pumpkin Seeds 🌿

Sprouts au Gratin 🌿

Soups

Butternut Squash and Pear Pottage 🌿

Cheese Soup & Dumplings 🌿

Chestnut Soup 🌿

Garlic Soup 🌿

Gingered Pumpkin Soup with Molasses Cream 🌿

King’s Arms Tavern Cream of Peanut Soup 🌿

Mashed Potato Soup 🌿

Mushroom Soup 🌿

Entrees

Acorn Squash with Cinnamon and Honey 🌿

Bree’s Baked Ziti

Bree’s Cream-of-Mushroom Chicken with Rosemary

Bree’s Crockpot/One-pot Chili 🍷

Bree’s Fried Chicken Parmesan

Bree’s Honey Baked Salmon

Bree’s Lemon Chicken Lentil Stew  🍷 🌿

Bree’s Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole 🍷

Bree’s Roast Chicken with Apples and Potatoes 🍷

Bree’s Sesame Ginger Chicken

Bree’s Turkey Hash Casserole

Dill-Crusted Salmon

Farmer’s Breakfast and Farmer’s Casserole 🌿

Irish Stew 🍷

Meat Patties in Crust

Michaelmas Goose with Sage & Onion Stuffing 🍷

Pan Haggerty

Pumpkin Plenty 🌿

Roast Pork Tenderloin with Orange & Onion Sauce

Rosemary-Orange Beef

Savory Yuletide Pie 🌿

Spiced Pot Roast 🍷

Stuffed Acorn Squash 🌿

Stuffed Braised Beef

Surry Sausage, Squash, & Apple Bake with Savory Streusel Topping

Thieves’ Stew 🍷 🌿

Xanodrian Beef Stew 🍷

Welsh Potato Pie 🌿

Welsh Trout in Bacon

Baked Goods

Applesauce Buttermilk Biscuits 🌿

Barm Brack 🌿

Beer-Bacon-Onion Muffins 🍷

Caerphilly Scones 🌿

Christiana Campbell’s Tavern Sweet Potato Muffins 🌿

Drop Scones 🌿

Gingered Pumpkin Muffins 🌿

King’s Arms Tavern Apple Cheddar Muffins 🌿

Tea Table Goodies

Apple & Potato Cake 🌿

Apple Raisin Cider Teabread 🌿

Bree’s Cranberry Pumpkin Bread 🌿

Faerie Cakes 🌿

Irish Apple Cake 🌿

Irish Apple Teabread 🌿

Irish Whiskey Cake 🌿🍷

Isle of Wight Farmhouse Cake 

Marmalade Loaf 🌿

Porter Cake 🌿🍷

Seed Cake 🌿

Shortbread 🌿

Welsh Crumpets 🌿

Desserts

Apple Fritters 🌿

Baked Apples 🌿

Bramble Dessert 🌿

Bree’s Easy-Peasy Molten Chocolate Cake 🌿

Bree’s Semi-Sweet Chocolate Pumpkin Bundt Cake with Chocolate Liquer Glaze 🌿🍷

Chranachan 🌿

Christmas Plum Pudding 

Romanian Cheese Doughnuts (Papanasi)

Beverages, Jams, and Sauces

Eggnog 🍷

Hot Buttered Rum 🌿🍷

Mulled Cider 🌿🍷

Samhain Wine Cup 🌿🍷

Wassail 🌿🍷

Blackberry & Apple Jam 🌿

Irish Whiskey Marmalade 🌿🍷

Bree’s Dad’s Sauce Recipes 🍷

Delectable Dressings 🌿

Sources

Celtic Folklore Cooking (Asala)

A Kitchen Witch’s Cookbook (Telesco)

A Witch’s Brew (Telesco)

Kitchen WItch’s Guide to Brews and Potions (Telesco)

The Kitchen Witch (Soraya)

Witch in the Kitchen (Johnson)

The Colonial Williamsburg Tavern Cookbook (Gonzalez)

Favorite Meals from Williamsburg (Turgeon)

Holiday Fare: Favorite Williamsburg Meals (Gonzalez)

The Very Best of Irish Traditional Cooking (Lennon and Campbell)

An Irish Country Cookbook (Taylor)

And of course, a selection of family recipes, shared with all of you for the joy of the season.

Happy Cooking!

All of these designs and more are now available in the Hex Positive redbubble store. New designs will be added periodically and orders ship worldwide. So if you've been yearning for a graphic tee or spiral notebook or vinyl sticker, make sure you check it out!

NEW MERCH ALERT!

All of these designs and more are now available in the Hex Positive redbubble store. New designs will be added periodically and orders ship worldwide. So if you've been yearning for a graphic tee or spiral notebook or vinyl sticker, make sure you check it out!

NEW MERCH ALERT!

For all my witches out there, here’s a handy list of the 2025 dates for the solstices, some commonly-referenced holidays, full and new moons, and special astronomical events. I’ve listed my sources at the bottom.

Dates and times for all events are calculated for Eastern Standard Time, USA, Northern Hemisphere. Adjust for your location as needed and check the DarkSky Placefinder to see what special events will be visible in your area.

On a related note, readers are encouraged to create their own seasonal calendars, holidays, and observances based on your local biome and personal preferences. Enjoy!

Solstices, Harvests, Quarter Days, Some Common Dates

February 1-2 - Imbolc / Candlemas / High Winter

March 20 - Spring Equinox / Ostara

April 30-May 1 - Beltane / May Day / Walpurgisnacht

June 20 - Summer Solstice / Midsummer / Litha

August 1 - Lughnasadh / Lammas / Summer Harvest

September 22 - Autumn Equinox / Mabon / Fall Harvest

October 31 - Samhain / Halloween / Final Harvest

December 21 - Winter Solstice / Yule

Full Moons

January 13 - Wolf Moon ♋

February 12 - Snow Moon ♌

March 14 - Worm Moon ♍ (Lunar Eclipse)

April 12 - Pink Moon ♎

May 12 - Flower Moon ♏

June 11 - Strawberry Moon ♐

July 10 - Thunder Moon (aka Buck Moon) ♑

August 9 - Sturgeon Moon (aka Corn Moon) ♒

September 7 - Harvest Moon ♓ (Lunar Eclipse)

October 6 - Hunter's Moon (aka Blood Moon) ♈

November 5 - Frost Moon (aka Beaver Moon) ♉ (Supermoon)

December 4 - Cold Moon ♊ (Supermoon)

* The full moons in September and October are almost EXACTLY equidistant from the Autumn Equinox this year, so whether you'll have a Harvest Moon in September or October depends on where you live!

New Moons

January 29 ♒

February 27 ♓

March 29 ♈

April 27 ♉

May 26 ♊

June 25 ♋

July 24 ♌

August 23 ♍

September 21 ♍ (Seasonal black moon, second new moon in Virgo)

October 21 ♎

November 20 ♏

December 19 ♐

Special Celestial Events

March 14 - Worm Moon Total Lunar Eclipse

March 29 - Solar Eclipse

September 7 - Harvest Moon Total Lunar Eclipse

September 21 - Seasonal Black Moon / Solar Eclipse

November 5 - Frost Moon Supermoon

December 4 - Cold Moon Supermoon

(Check the DarkSky Placefinder to see what will be visible in your area!)

Mercury Retrogrades (in case you need them)

March 14 to April 6

July 17 to August 10

November 9 to November 29

Happy Witching!

SOURCES & FURTHER READING:

Bree’s Lunar Calendar Series

Bree’s Secular Celebrations Series

Moon Info - Full Moon Dates for 2025

Calendar-12 - 2025 Moon Phases

Full Moonology - 2025 Full Moon Calendar

AstroStyle - All the 2025 Full Moons

Your Zodiac Sign - Astrology Calendar 2025

Old Farmer’s Almanac - Mercury Retrograde Dates 2024-2025

Sea and Sky - Astronomy Calendar of Celestial Events 2025

DarkSky International - Dark Sky Placefinder for Stargazing

Patheos - 2025 Wheel of the Year Astrological Calendar

Image Source - How Stuff Works

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Hades 2 players will be familiar with the incantation "Askion kataski!", which Melinoë uses when casting spells at her cauldron.

Hades is relatively good about including references to obscure source material, so I figured that this was probably a real incantation. But I didn't recognize it, and I couldn't find anything on it until recently.

I've been going through The Hekataeon, which, if you don't know, is the best modern grimoire of Hekate magic. It incorporates a lot of historical material, including PGM incantations and traditional folk techniques. Guess what I found:

There it is! As soon as I found this incantation in The Hekataeon, I knew it had to be legit.

It's called the Ephesia Grammata, the Ephesian Letters. It's an example of voces magicae, nonsense or pseudo-Greek words that make up incantations in Greco-Egyptian magic. They're supposed to represent the secret tongue or names of the gods, which enable the magician to call and compel divine forces. The Wikipedia article on the Ephesia Grammata is pretty sparse, but I was able to find some more information on them in my books:

With few exceptions, "mystical" words or formulas do not appear in Greek tablets of the classical and Hellenistic periods, in contrast to the richly variegated language of tablets in the Roman period (first century CE onward). But these exceptions are interesting and important. The first involves a set of six terms, called ephesia grammata, first attested in a fragment of Anaxilas, a comic poet of the fourth century BCE: "(an unnamed person)... carries around marvelous Ephesian letters in sewn pouches. These terms (askion, kataskion, lix, tetrax, damnameneus, and aison/aisia) were believed to possess the ability to endow those who wore them (especially boxers, so it seems) with great power, both defensive and aggressive. They remained well known for centuries, appearing in several later spells and charms. The Christian writer, Clement of Alexandria (ca. 200 CE) not only lists the terms but calls them "famous among many people." More significantly, they appear in at least one lead amulet from the Hellenistic period and thus clearly establish the use of "mystical" terms (voces mysticae) long before their widespread circulation from the first century CE onward. This folded tablet from Crete, dating to the fourth century BCE, must have been carried as a protective amulet (line 20 speaks of protecting the wearer from hostile spells); it contains several of the ephesia grammata: aski and kataski (lines 9-10), lix (lines 5 and 10), forms of tetrax (lines 5, 11-12), and damnameneus (line 16). A second exception is a curious stone monument from Greece, dating to the late fifth century BCE, which Jeffery takes to be a thank offering by an unnamed person for the successful punishment of a personal enemy. She offers the following tentative reconstruction of the text: "The Ephesian vengeance was sent down (?); first Hecate injures (??) the possessions (??) of Megara in all things; then Persephone already is reporting all the (prayers?) to the gods."

— John G. Gager, Curse Tablets and Binding Spells from the Ancient World

TL;DR, the Ephesia Grammata are one of the oldest examples of voces magicae!

Regarding what the words mean, and where they came from:

The most spectacular transformation uncovered by scholars is a set of hocus-pocus words known as the ephesia grammata, which turn out to derive from early hexametrical verses in which the god Paian (Apollo) promises protection from dangers on earth or sea or sky. "Paieon, for in every direction you send averting charms, | and you spoke these immortal verses to mortal men: | "As down the shady mountains in a dark-and-glittering land| a child leads out of Persephone's garden by necessity for milking| that four-footed holy attendant of Demeter,| a she-goat with an untiring stream of rich milk." The first few words of Paian's averting charm, "As down the shadowy mountain" (hossa kata skiarōn oreōn) become aski kataski, while the "goat" (aix) and "four-footed one"  (tetrabēmona) become lix and tetrax. These meaningless words, collected together as aski, kataski, lix, tetrax, aision, and damnameneus, are known as the ephesia grammata, probably originally meaning "averting words" (taking ephesia from ephiemi, to avert), but later understood to mean "words from Ephesus." The late lexicon of Photius describes them as incomprensible charms that brought invincibility to an Ephesian wrestler, but also as warding magics (alexipharmaka).

— Radcliffe G. Edmonds III, Drawing Down the Moon: Magic in the Ancient Greco-Roman World.

AFAIK "askios" (ἄσκῐος) also means "shadowless."

The ASKION KATASKION portion only appears once in the Greek Magical Papyri (PGM) a set of Greco-Egyptian magical texts. They appear in PGM LXX 4-25, "Charm of Hekate Ereschigal [sic] against fear of punishment." In this spell, they appear as "ASKEI KATASKEI." The spell instructs the magician to recite the incantation at a crossroads and then flee, "because it is at those places that she [Hekate] appears." So these words are even associated with Hekate specifically!

I didn't personally find any examples of Melinoë's "Kataskion aski!" reversal, but even that reads as authentic, since a lot of voces magicae are palindromic or other variations on a theme.

Basil:  money, luck, prosperity, happiness

Bay Leaf: energy, cleansing, can be charged with almost any intention

Camomile: Caring, kindness, luck, growth, self-love growth, confidence, avoiding negativity, happiness

Cinnamon: passion, quick success, fire magick

Chia seeds: Growth, health, kindness, Property

Chilli flakes:  Pride, confidence, power, strength, Passion

Cumin: Courage, bravery, protection, loyalty

Dandelion: wishes, charisma, success, good luck

Dill: sexual love, luck, protection

Eucalyptus: cleansing, healing, purifying, relaxing, comfort

Fennel:  hate, anger

Flax seeds: Prosperity, growth, new beginnings

Ginger: fiery passion, success, and personal power

Jasmine: love, dreams, sensuality, luxury and kindness

Lavender: love and attraction, purification, relaxation, restful sleep

Nutmeg: luck, Health, Fidelity, Love, Prosperity, comfort, loyalty

Oregano:  comfort, love, warmth

Paprika:  Pride, confidence, power, strength

Parsley: Cleansing. purification

Peppermint: healing, purification, love and energy, cleansing, prosperity

Poppy seeds: protection, intuition, self-assurance, hexing and cursing

Rose: love, beauty, harmony, romance, attraction

Rosemary: cleansing, purification, wisdom, protection

Sesame seeds: Prosperity, growth, health, nurturing

Spearmint: love, cleansing, renewal, blessing

Sunflower seeds: happiness, growth, joy

Thyme: beauty, strength, courage

Turmeric: confidence, creativity, energy

Vanilla: love and sexuality

-there is no shame in being introduced to mytholgy from something like percy jackson, epic the musical or anything like that, but keep in mind that actual myths are going to be VERY different from modern retellings

-the myth of medusa you probably know (her being a victim of poseidon and being cursed by athena) isn't 100% accurate to GREEK mythology (look up ovid)

-there is no version of persephone's abduction in which persephone willingly stays with hades, that's a tumblr invention (look up homeric hymn to demeter)

-as much as i would like it, no, cerberus' name does not mean "spot" (probably a misunderstanding from this wikipedia article)

-zeus isn't the only god who does terrible things to women, your fav male god probably has done the same

-on that note, your fav greek hero has probably done some heinous shit as well

-gods are more complicated than simply being "god of [insert thing]", many titles overlap between gods and some may even change depending on where they were worshipped

-also, apollo and artemis being the gods of the sun and the moon isn't 100% accurate, their main aspects as deities originally were music and the hunt

-titans and gods aren't two wholly different concepts, titan is just the word used to decribe the generation of gods before the olympians

-hector isn't the villain some people make him out to be

-hephaestus WAS married to aphrodite. they divorced. yes, divorce was a thing in ancient greece. hephaestus' wife is aglaia

-ancient greek society didn't have the same concepts of sexuality that we have now, it's incorrect to describe virgin goddesses like artemis and athena as lesbians, BUT it's also not wholly accurate to describe them as aromantic/asexual, it's more complex than that

-you can never fully understand certain myths if you don't understand the societal context in which they were told

-myths have lots and lots of retellings, there isn't one singular "canon", but we can try to distinguish between older and newer versions and bewteen greek and roman versions

-most of what you know about sparta is probably incorrect

-reading/waching retellings is not a substitute to reading the original myths, read the iliad! read the odyssey! i know they may seem intimidating, but they're much more entertaining than you may think

I’ve been wanting to make something like this for a long while, and talking to my friend @olympianbutch today gave me the push I needed to do so. When I was starting out as a Hellenic Polytheist years ago, this is the kind of resource I needed. So I hope you all enjoy and find this helpful!

Introductory Reading:

Ancient Greek Religion by Jon D. Mikalson

Athenian Popular Religion by Jon D. Mikalson

Greek Religion by Jan N. Bremmer

On Greek Religion by Robert Parker

Hellenic Polytheism: Household Worship by LABRYS

Comprehensive Guides:

Greek Religion by Walter Burkert

Companion to Greek Religion edited by Daniel Ogden

Understanding Greek Religion by Jennifer Larson

Rethinking Greek Religion by Julia Klindt

The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion edited by Esther Eidinow and Julia Klindt

Polytheism and Society by Robert Parker

The Gods and Theology:

Ancient Greek Cults by Jennifer Larson

Theologies of Ancient Greek Religion edited by Esther Eidinow, Julia Klindt, and Robin Osborne

Underworld Gods in Ancient Greek Religion by Ellie Mackin Roberts

Gods and Heroes of the Ancient World (Routledge Series)

Offerings and Sacrifice:

Personal Experience and Materiality in Greek Religion by K.A. Rask

Singing for the Gods by Barbara Kowalzig

Smoke Signals for the Gods by F.S. Maiden

Sharing with the Gods by Theodora Suk Fong Jim

Primary Sources:

Theogony & Works and Days by Hesiod

The Homeric Hymns

The Orphic Hymns

Sources for the Study of Greek Religion by David Rice and John Stambaugh

Greek Religion: A Sourcebook by Valerie M. Warrior

Continue writing about them, please keep saying their names. Please keep worshiping them. If you can’t find the strength within yourself to live for yourself, please try to live for them.

I know it’s getting scary. I think it’s going to get scarier. But please, if nothing else. Live.

Thousands of years, hundreds of genocides and crusades and decimation of culture, and yet somehow my Lords still have followers. Somehow I’ve found them. Somehow these names still have meaning. Through all of us they still remain.

Despite the efforts of centuries of suppression and control, My Lord is still alive, because I am alive.

In our fringe little cults, even when we must whisper because we cannot scream.

and maybe one day we’ll be free to frolic in fields or dance in forests while we chant without fear.