Beyond the Cauldron - Trish Telesco (Kitchen Witch)

Step into the hearth of magic as kitchen witch Trish Telesco reveals how to transform your cooking from mundane to mystical. With over 40 years of magical practice and more than 50 published books, Telesco brings authentic wisdom to the sacred art of kitchen witchery.

The magic begins at the threshold—wiping your feet before entering the kitchen isn't just about cleanliness but about leaving negativity at the door. Your kitchen becomes a temple where wooden spoons become wands and soup pots transform into cauldrons. No need for elaborate tools or precise measurements; kitchen witchery thrives on intuition, authenticity, and mindful presence.

Discover the layers of magic in Telesco's famous Five Onion Soup, where five different onions prepared five different ways create a symphony of texture, flavor, and intention. Learn how to cook with edible flowers, arrange food according to elemental correspondences, and align your meals with astrological energies. These practices engage all five senses, creating what Telesco describes as a "moving meditation" that deepens the magical potency of your food.

Kitchen witchery offers profound healing possibilities, too. For those navigating depression, chronic pain, or life transitions, mindful cooking provides therapeutic benefits that nourish both body and spirit. As Telesco shares from her own journey through health challenges, cooking becomes a way to process emotion and find joy in simple creation.

The most powerful insight? Stop doing magic and start being magic. By bringing your authentic self into everyday cooking practices, you embody magical consciousness rather than merely performing rituals. This accessible approach makes kitchen witchery available to everyone, regardless of experience or resources. All you need is intention, curiosity, and a playful spirit to transform your kitchen into a place where delicious magic happens every day.

Trish Telesco has been a practicing Kitchen Witch for 40 years, and written numerous books on related subjects. Her most recent book is Cooking with the Kitchen Witch, a celebration of the first magical cookbook ever, Kitchen Witch's Cookbook. She lives in WNY with her cats, who run the house, and dogs who don't know it.

 FaceBook: @trish.telesco

https://kitchenwitchwisdom.substack.com

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Kitchen Witchery
• 9:08 The Philosophy of Magical Cooking
• 17:18 Five Onion Soup: Layers of Magic
• 27:44 Authentic Magic in a Digital Age
• 37:01 Cooking as Emotional Therapy
• 44:01 Magical Plating and Kitchen Rituals
• 51:29 Embodying Magic and Final Thoughts

Transcript

Granddaughter Crow : 0:01

Welcome to Belief, being and Beyond with your host, granddaughter Crow. Hi everybody, granddaughter Crow here for yet another episode of Belief, being and Beyond, and this time we are going to not go beyond as much as we're going to come home into the kitchen, into the hearth of the home. Kitchen Witches Cookbook, which I'll go ahead and say was written in the 1900s just because that sounds like so much fun actually around 30 years ago and it was the first ever Kitchen Witch Cookbook and I know that this book actually probably predates some of my listeners, so you guys have to go out and get that one. And then we also just released or last year, in 2024, she just released with Llewellyn, cooking with the Kitchen Witch. I'm so excited, kitchen witch, I'm so excited.

Granddaughter Crow : 1:09

You know, I I know of lots of kitchen witches and I know that there's a lot of kitchen witches that watch the show. And I love your approach to kitchen witch magic because you're not the type of person just from what I've heard, you're not the type of person that says you must use this much salt and this much, but you actually like it's a philosophy. Kitchen witchery is a philosophy, it is a magical practice and you are doing ritual in your kitchen and you are doing magic in your kitchen and the more sacred you make those basic acts, because what we eat at least three times a day, most of us, and then snacks in between or whatever, so how much time are we working in the kitchen and we can actually make that a ritual space? So, basically, what is your philosophy around kitchen witchery and kitchen cookbooks?

Trish Telesco: 2:10

We have to go back a little bit. When I first met my husband 40 years ago, I did not know how to cook and you might laugh by reading my books, but I did not and I spent a whole year cooking a different recipe every day, nothing repeated. And by the end of that year I had totally fallen in love with cooking. And I'd also discovered my inner kitchen, which, because my family hates the fact that I don't measure anything. But I take the same approach to magic. If I'm not measuring everything in the kitchen, I can't tell everybody to go measure exactly.

Trish Telesco: 2:42

Same way with spells and rituals, rituals, I kind of fly by the seat of my pants a lot of times and I can't say you know, stand on one foot, rub your belly, pat your head, you know, head north, whatever. Because that's not me, you know, I'm very spur of the moment and I respond to what's right in front of me at that time. If something inspires me, I go for it and I think that if you are open to the energy of the universe, you'll feel those little nudges like, ooh, I could do this, that'd be fun. I really think magic should be fun. I mean, I know there are serious times and you have to have that serious moment, but ultimately, the more fun it is, the better energy you get out of it, I think.

Granddaughter Crow : 3:31

I 100% agree, and it also is like if you're having fun cooking, your food tastes better. You know, if you're not having fun cooking, we might need to add a little bit more salt. At least that's the way it is with me.

Trish Telesco: 3:52

You know, my mom was not a kitchen witch, but she taught me never to go into the kitchen angry. And I wholly agree, because when you do and I've done it a couple times and regretted it everyone afterwards starts getting snitty. That energy just spreads across the table and then you have to fix it.

Granddaughter Crow : 4:11

Yeah, and so when you know, different people practice different magic, and what I really enjoy about yours is that it is practical, it is functional, yet it holds Like I've heard about your wonderful five onion soup on your. I've heard you you make it fun. I've made it one of my favorite recipes. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

Trish Telesco: 4:38

All right, I have been experimenting with onion soup for as long as I've been cooking. Every restaurant I go to. I have to taste it and say, oh yes, oh no. And so I finally sat down and started making my own. Of course, initially I did it the traditional way, but then I kept just thinking how can I magic it up? So I used five different onions, four earth, air, fire, air, the spirit, all that stuff. So you've got five things like the pentagram. They're chopped, they're minced, they're squished, they're sliced, they're diced. Another five different ways, five different layers of texture. And then you know, most of the flavoring is pretty simple. But the idea is you not only get layers of flavor, get layers of texture and layers of energy.

Granddaughter Crow : 5:32

Cool, it's mindful, it's playful, it's creative and it is super magic to not only have something that you are preparing, but to have those textures. You can taste the magic in those textures and it gives this beauty, and then you embody the magic. Can you talk to us a little bit about that?

Trish Telesco: 5:59

Well, you know, when you eat, you internalize. Our body takes in all the vitamins we need and so on and so forth from our food. So why not internalize the energy of the food, every single thing? I don't think you'll see it on this planet that hasn't been somehow categorized for its spiritual, symbolic meaning in some way, shape or form and there are several of them. You know from one culture. Them you know from one culture. You get this from one culture. You get that.

Trish Telesco: 6:28

You can choose how you interpret your food. It doesn't have to be meat means this. It can mean something else to you. A good example I give people is a silly one, but you know, we always say apples are for health. Right, but what if somebody was standing under an apple tree and got hit on the noggin with one? Would they associate it with health Headaches? I know it's a silly example, but it really kind of brings it home. If you have a different experience with that food, you need to follow that experience and that energy and not what somebody else is telling you to do.

Granddaughter Crow : 7:02

I absolutely love it because, for me, I love inspiring authenticity. I think that true magic comes through authentic expression, and what I like to say is that the creator, whatever that be, however it reveals itself to you, created each of us individually with an authentic expression, creativity and curiosity, and if you can take those things into any of your practices, including the kitchen, that you become a little bit more of who you were meant to be, what you were created to be, whatever that is, what do you think about that?

Trish Telesco: 7:48

I think that it's a growth-related process. You know, peanut butter and jelly can be special if you want it. To be Matter of fact, I had one the other day and it tasted great. I'd forgotten how good it was. I think that you don't have to make it into a big spectacle. You know, my kitchen's my sacred space, you know, and I have little things around that make me happy to look at. Are they necessarily magically oriented? No, they're pretty and I like them, and that's important too. I just I want people to remember that Just because you're a kitchen witch doesn't mean your magic's limited to your kitchen.

Granddaughter Crow : 8:29

I love it it takes a philosophy.

Trish Telesco: 8:30

Wherever you go, you know the way you treat people. Hospitality, kindness, smile, a compliment here and there All of those things tie into the very simplistic outlook. It doesn't have to be big, it just has to be meaningful, and that's pretty much my mantra.

Granddaughter Crow : 8:52

Absolutely love that because it's like practicing your magic in the kitchen and I will get into some of the recipes and things like that just a little bit because it's so phenomenal. But practicing the mindfulness, the texture, the five elements earth, air, fire, water and spirit all of that, cooking it, and sometimes you go out into the world, whatever you do, and that's brilliant. That's brilliant.

Trish Telesco: 9:34

I have a lot of things that I put on the back burner, including books. I get ideas but they're not ready to hatch yet, so they're in there simmering it, just kind of like my soups and my stews. I'm a real advocate of anything like chili or soup or stew, letting it sit for one day. That one day makes a flavor difference. It just boosts it and kind of bursts over the top compared to what it was the day before. And in the meanwhile you're also letting those energies mix and mingle and, you know, play with each other and come into harmony. So it's a win-win.

Granddaughter Crow : 10:11

I absolutely love that, and then even just the metaphors around. I'm cooking up something special, or how we use those, those little words and terms, those kitchen terms in our life, like oh well, let me let that simmer for a minute. Oh, he's boiling over all of these types of things and actually, yeah, and bringing that magic into the world. I also like what you say about wiping your feet before you come into the house. Could you enlighten us with that basic act of wiping your feet before you enter a home?

Trish Telesco: 10:52

At first, when my mom used to tell people that I'm like oh God, mom, really You've got to broom, you've got to vacuum cleaner it'll go away.

Trish Telesco: 11:01

But as I became more aware of magic, I got thinking about it. And let's say, you're coming home from work and you've had a really crappy day. Do you really want to take that energy into the house with you? No, so the act of wiping your feet is a purposeful, mindful act of wiping that out and leaving it outside so it doesn't follow you into the home. And I've got a really good story that illustrates why I do that.

Trish Telesco: 11:30

I had a dear friend, love her to death and she was having just a week beyond weeks and wanted to come over and vent. And this was before I did the whole wipe your feet thing and she talked and talked and talked and talked Fine, we got you know. She felt better after she left, but then about an hour later I started feeling cranky and angry and like kind of blue and like what. I was fine before and then realized that she basically dumped all of her psychic shit on my floor and I had to clean it up. Now, not her fault, a lot of people aren't aware of that. I wasn't clean it up Now, not her fault, a lot of people aren't aware of that. I wasn't mad about that. But the wipe your feet thing came in because of that to try and help alleviate that situation.

Granddaughter Crow : 12:13

I love it. I absolutely love it because you know that's another wonderful thing that I enjoy about what you do and how you, what you bring into the world, because what you've got over 50 books, you know, I mean, you are just horrific when it comes to writing, but you always tend to kind of make it tangible, graspable, like you could actually start today in your kitchen, you know, actually start today in your kitchen, you know, wipe your feet's something, this esoteric wisdom that is intangible, that we can only access when the moon is right or when the alignment is this or when that. And I love that kind of magic, I absolutely do. But when you can't do that because I mean, we're here in the USA in 2025 and things are changing and they're moving, so what are you to do? But to actually make magic practical in the kitchen, outside of the kitchen, I just love the practicality is what I'm saying, because I think that's really what we need to hear right now.

Trish Telesco: 13:42

It's really fun to just walk into your kitchen and look at the things that are special to you. I have a wooden spoon from Greece. That's my wand, you know. I love it. I use it all the time, but I use it especially when I'm doing cooking that has a purpose. I have a soup pot that I adore. Well, that's my cauldron, you know, and I pull it out when I need that type of thing. So there's stuff all around your kitchen, probably all around your house, that can have a purpose or repurpose it without having to do anything other than be mindful of why you're using it and how you're using it. I tell people just walk through your house and make a list and go, oh, I could do that, oh, I could do that. I have bookends, pretty blue bookends that are stone, and so if I want to hold something together, I can put the bookends in between a symbolic object to hold it together.

Granddaughter Crow : 14:47

Practical, ingenious, simple and fun.

Trish Telesco: 14:51

You just have to be a little creative and nothing is silly and nothing's crazy if it works for you. I love that People are like, well, let's move this a little out there. I'm like is it working? Yeah, well fine.

Granddaughter Crow : 15:05

I absolutely love that you also introduce some items in. You know, because in in your cookbook around um like flowers and you know lavender and I'm like whoa, this is next level culinary witchcraft. This is amazing. How did you come to add in those like roses?

Trish Telesco: 15:29

and lavender. When I was still able to garden, I did a lot of. I liked lavender. I loved the smell of lavender, like when you walk by it and you feel better. Roses I had this one little rose plant that I planted when we moved here and is now eight feet by eight feet. It's just so I'm. You know. I started looking into. I learned how to make rose jelly, for example. I learned how to make rose wine that I let age a year a day for friends who are getting engaged or married.

Trish Telesco: 16:00

Um, so I, the victorian era, was the cooking with flowers. Heyday, there's whole books that have all the edible plants and how you can cook with them, squash flowers, you know, you can stuff them, type of thing. So I started playing with the idea of using it in other things and I made lavender orange chicken for my family, or lavender rose orange chicken. It was delicious and now my kids ask for it when they come. My one child lives in Rochester. When she comes home it's like Mom, can I eat, could you make that for me? It's delicious. You wouldn't think that flowers taste good, but roses are actually very citrusy, please. Yeah, you just have to be careful. You know you have to be careful with the amounts. You don't want to eat perfume, um. But if you monitor your amounts you can come up with not just wonderful flavors but aromatherapy next level.

Granddaughter Crow : 17:04

This is next level. And also I saw that you did some sort of um like chakra, pinwheels or something I mean just creative beyond I. How did you come? I mean, how are you? You're just playing, or what? How are you this?

Trish Telesco: 17:21

is amazing. I don't know. I mean, right now I'm I've got good news I am writing another book, so I'm very happy about that. Um, you know, it probably won't be out until the end of next year or beyond, but I'm so happy to be writing again. When I finally got Llewellyn to say yes to the new cookbook, I cried because it had been so long since I'd actually written a book and I had all of this in my heart and head and just wanted to get it on paper. And so I don't. I can't always explain the process to you. I will sit here and argue with myself over one word or phrase for an hour until I get it right, and then other days I just write and I'll go back and go wow, that was really good.

Granddaughter Crow : 18:08

Where'd that come from? You know I.

Trish Telesco: 18:11

I'll be honest, up until the last few years I really didn't think that my writing was anything special. You know, I was just being me on paper. But I do realize now that I've got to kind of give myself a little credit for being a good writer. You know, it's not simply what I do, it's what I am, and I think that's good for everybody. You know, find what you are and then live it, and thankfully people are letting me do that.

Granddaughter Crow : 18:40

Absolutely, and I think that is a challenge to. I mean, here we have this author who has been practicing witch for 40 years. Author who has been a practicing witch for 40 years. An author for what? Over 30 years? You know you're the first to come out with a witch cookbook, from cover to cover, all of that, and yet you still say I think I'm an author.

Trish Telesco: 19:05

you know it's it really is true and it you know, everybody has those sorts of things. They might be a glorious painter and still go. I don't like that stroke, yeah.

Granddaughter Crow : 19:17

I don't like that color, yeah yeah, but keep going, you know, keep going anyway. Give yourself that grace, give yourself that, that patience. Um, absolutely, absolutely, and I think that it's really good. You know, I'll kind of go to another topic really quick. With a lot of things coming out, with a lot of propaganda in the news, with a lot of AI technology, with all of this stuff, I really find that more and more people who are consuming social media and things like that are getting kind of like but is that real? But is that person being authentic? Is that person? So I think that this test for being authentic, you know, is really really coming right up to the top with people. Be authentic, find, find your voice, find what you do and even if you are an author of you know, a bunch of books and everything, know that and be that authenticity. And you started doing the authenticity straight out of the gate, which I applaud you for, because that's not easy.

Trish Telesco: 20:30

I got started it. I got started. It's pretty funny. I didn't intend to write a book yeah, tell us, I had gotten chickenpox as an adult and so I was stuck at home for a week. Now, type A personality Don't leave me in the house with nothing to do. So I went through some notes that I'd been doing over the years about, you know, witchcraft and stuff, and I cobbled them together into this little tiny manuscript. I sent it over to well, I'm thinking nothing of it. And I came back and said, well, we'd like this, but would you mind doing it this way? And next thing I knew I had a contract. I was like I was shocked. And then I went to see them and they signed me up for six more books. And I was shocked again. I'm like, okay. So it just kind of kept rolling from there.

Trish Telesco: 21:19

My only problem is sometimes I have too many ideas for my own good. You know, I need to pull back and really focus on that one thing that's right in front of me and not go off into 10 different directions, and that's what these books actually help me to do. I will write from page one to page 300. There's no bouncing back and forth, and every time I start a new chapter I read from chapter one and then start writing chapter two, then read one, two and then start writing chapter two, then read one, two and then start chapter three. And it's a progress, because that way you can make sure that there's a continuity of voice and delivery and that you're not repeating yourself and things like that. It just it makes to me it makes a better book. But I can't do chapter one and then chapter 30. I can't.

Granddaughter Crow : 22:10

I'm very linear. I think that that's a really good practice in you know, like you said, it's a discipline, it's a discipline and that discipline shows through in your work and it probably shows through in your onion soup.

Trish Telesco: 22:29

Well, you know it's really neat what you said about AI. First off, I never use AI. I'm against it. I won't. People can laugh at me, but by God I want the human touch and I think other people do too. I can tell when something's written in AI. It just like stands out.

Trish Telesco: 22:48

The good news is that I am seeing more employers say we don't want AI. If we catch you writing AI, we will fire you, because I actually have a mundane end of my work where I write for websites. It helps keep food on the table, and all of my clients are like no AI know. If you make a mistake, you make a mistake, but we'd rather you make a mistake than have this mechanical thing. And what they're finding is that google's starting to penalize companies that use ai. If they catch it being ai, they don't get the ratings that they should. So it's just an interesting piece of the puzzle that I'm happy to see happening. Yeah, for a while there. It's like if you don't have AI, you'll never be able to be a writer, and I'm like. I've been a writer without it for years. I think I can survive.

Granddaughter Crow : 23:41

That's exactly right. In fact, I know, even you know, shout out to Lou Allen, the one that publishes all of these wonderful books and everything they do. Have a very strong stance with their authors no AI period, do not write with AI period. And I absolutely love that because it protects the creator, it protects the author, protects the creator, it protects the author and it protects the work and the reader knows that it's authentic. And, like you said, sometimes even just having a little mistake in there is at this point it's kind of like oh okay, it's real, this person's real.

Trish Telesco: 24:27

Exactly.

Granddaughter Crow : 24:29

I love that, I absolutely love that. So you know, it's interesting too, because I have an oddball question for you. Sure, I'm an oddball, I can handle it. Can one cook their way out of depression, anxiety, negative thoughts, and if so, how?

Trish Telesco: 24:53

Well, I always tell people that cooking is my therapy If I can't like. In November until probably February, I couldn't stand long enough to cook, you know, I couldn't work in my kitchen and I was sick and I it just made matters worse because I wanted to get into that place and play with my food. When I finally could, oh my god, I felt like a hundred times better. So for me, the answer is yes, I can go into my kitchen and, you know, try to let those things down and say, okay, what would be fun to do right now? What do I need right now? You know what? What should I be working on that will help this whole process? One of my favorite things to do you're going to laugh. I like fruit smoothies, but I add sparkling water to them, because I think bubbles have this neat magical thing about them, about lifting spirits and lifting energy, and it's good to say so. You know, on mornings, when I'm feeling particularly meh, it's a good way to start the morning, because I'm not a coffee girl.

Granddaughter Crow : 26:08

I absolutely love that. So it's basically also being mindful in the kitchen, not just with what you're doing, but with the recipes that you want to playfully make, and I understand that you also have like cooking for an astrological sign. Can you talk a little bit about how you correlate that and how much fun is that?

Trish Telesco: 26:31

about how you correlate that and how much fun is that. Each sign kind of has specific characteristics that are very consistent, you know, no matter what else is going on. This is obviously a generality. But you know Leo's like beauty they're big, they're bold, you know. So their food has got to be beautiful, big and bold and that's how you start the correlation. You know the same thing with Pisces. They tend to be softer, more dreamy, they kind of like that whole inventive thing. So invite them into your kitchen and let them work with you to make them really happy. So you know that sort of thing. You know some signs aren't necessarily great at cooking. I generally found that scorpions are not that much, or at least the ones I've met. You know theirs is to eat and to critique.

Granddaughter Crow : 27:24

Oh, interesting, interesting. So I'm, I'm a cancer son, my son is in cancer.

Trish Telesco: 27:37

What would you subscribe for me, like if you were going to cook me a meal or suggest either out of its shell or in its shell, and so you have to think about which phase your son is in. Is he being like this and needs to be brought out? Then you have to work on finding, you know, food that will do that for him. If he's out and needs to come back in same thing, you know, so just start there.

Granddaughter Crow : 28:11

You nailed it, you nailed there. You nailed it, you nailed it, you nailed it. Oh, my God, I'm crying. That made me laugh so hard. Because you're absolutely right, because, as you know, cancer I was, I'm like, well, I don't even really know what I like. You know, it depends on my mood. Sometimes it's soup and sometimes I want something really hearty, and sometimes just give me a salad and I never thought of applying my astrological sign to what that might mean for my mood and God help you if you're cooking for a Gemini Sweet and sour.

Trish Telesco: 28:47

You got to do extremes.

Granddaughter Crow : 28:49

I suppose it you got to do extremes. I suppose it's got to be entertaining and thought-provoking, I suppose if there's a joke involved, it's even better.

Trish Telesco: 29:01

You know there's a pun, but yeah, they're, they're interesting I love that.

Granddaughter Crow : 29:09

Okay, so there is also another aspect that I would love for you to share with the listeners. You have this aspect of kind of like a clock on your plate to symbolize how you plate your food. I don't know if I'm explaining that correctly. Could you tell us a little bit more about this kind of witchery magic that you're doing with your plating?

Trish Telesco: 29:30

If you go through all, the fuss of making a several-part meal. That's all magical. You can actually lay it out on the plate so that the energy progresses. So if you're starting at the 1 o'clock point, that is the foundation of your energy, that's where you want people to get grounded and centered in. And then as you go around the plate, the energy increases until you get to the noon spot where it all comes together and you know, does it sing? So you're just using that space. The other alternative is to look at the plate like the four corners of creation. You know the four element whatever and you can place your food according to your element whatever. To again, you're supporting the magic in a symbolic way. People won't know this, but you will.

Trish Telesco: 30:22

And again, it's a mindful act.

Granddaughter Crow : 30:25

Well, because I am all about medicine, wheels and the four quarters and you know the, you know east and the south and the west and the north. If you were to plate your food like that, what would be the top quarter? Would you start with north, or would you just align it with where the person is sitting? And what if they move?

Trish Telesco: 30:47

like, give us a little the person is, it doesn matter. You're going to want the place to be the same all the way around. Okay, I don't like make people sit in specific places. That's usually not a good way to start the evening. You just, I would say the northern corner is the quieter aspect. It's introspective. Quieter aspect, it's introspective. So anything that you make that is meant to help people internalize and see the energy and how to apply it might be best in the north, where active energy is in the south I love this.

Granddaughter Crow : 31:27

I'm I'm gonna just start doing that because it just sounds like fun. Plus, you remember how you know. When we were growing up, they told us all about the food pyramid. This is the witch's Go ahead.

Trish Telesco: 31:45

That's really good.

Granddaughter Crow : 31:47

Yeah, and you get to. Maybe it's kind of like you know, you see, salad it grows in the summer so we'll put it in the south side and all of that. You actually can get that or create. I just love it because you're like. You open up the inner playful child within me and I never really I don't consider myself a cook, I don't consider myself anything bad. I just when I cook it turns out good and if it doesn't, I learn. You know, it's just like I'm not really persnickety about it, but when I started looking at at the different recipes that you have, I'm like, oh no, this is another level where this would be fun to eat for Samhain. This would be fun to eat on a special occasion. This would be fun when my chakra system is off. It's just magic and you can have.

Trish Telesco: 32:44

you know, if you've got a few people that like to cook and you can do things like here we'll get a big wrap of ribs and I'll take one half and my son takes one half, and we each treat it our own way, and then people can taste it and see what they like, and so on and so forth. You can do that magically where you have each person choose an intent of what they're making in the same food group that you're going to share. So you take, you know, chicken, chicken, chicken, and this person says, ok, this chicken's for health, this chicken for that. And then you put it all on a plate and taste the difference, because each person makes it their own way. Do you know what I'm saying? Absolutely.

Granddaughter Crow : 33:29

And I absolutely love that. And you also mentioned it's good to put a little ingredient card next to the dish that you've created, just to be conscientious of people's allergies and stuff, which is just another witchy thing. Beautiful, thoughtful, mindful thing to do.

Trish Telesco: 33:45

I mean, if you tell people in advance, you know if you've got a couple people, just two or three people coming. But I like on buffets and potlucks, absolutely, it's just there's too many chances of somebody having an allergic reaction to something without you even, you know, trying to do anything. You don't know what people are allergic to. Sometimes people don't know what they're allergic to, right? So it's just a nice way to say you know I'm being thoughtful, here's the ingredients. And of course, at that point they're like, okay, I'm going to make this.

Granddaughter Crow : 34:22

I absolutely love it. Then they steal your recipe off of your ingredient card and try to go make it themselves and you're just like just buy the book. People Just buy the book. All of my stuff is out there. I love it. Yeah, it's really amazing and I think that you know being mindful and holding it as a philosophy that you implement into your cooking. Like I said, you know, we all find ourselves in the kitchen. If people were to, before you cross the threshold of your kitchen, relax, take a deep breath and realize that that's your laboratory and you are an alchemist, and you are an alchemist or you are a kid, or this is your playground, and then go in there and you're not spending any more time. You're just being mindful and you can increase your magical practice. What?

Trish Telesco: 35:23

do you have to say about that? I am such a hippie. If I could, I would put up beaded entryways to the kitchen. Yes, because as you walk through them it kind of acts the same way as the door as you walk through them, they go backwards, they'll just swipe over you. So if you had white ones with purple ones who are higher self or whatever, I would love to do that. My family would kill me, but I would love to do that.

Granddaughter Crow : 35:50

I think you should. I just think that you should just do that. You could get bamboo ones. Those would be really cool too. Okay Idea.

Trish Telesco: 35:59

Go shopping.

Granddaughter Crow : 36:01

Idea Go shopping. Well, you know, I just am really grateful that you know, so I'm really grateful that you're bringing again, once again, this information back to us, because we, no matter where you are at in your life, in your practice listeners, we all eat food, and being mindful is really good. And then, finally, it's like never ending, because you can start with a can of, you know, like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and then you can move into even more mindfulness, and so then here's another.

Granddaughter Crow : 36:43

You can draw runes in your peanut butter. Draw runes in your peanut butter. You know what I like to do, trish, in your peanut butter. You know what I like to do, trish? I like to way back in the day I used to eat boiled eggs every once in a while Just get a carton of eggs, boil them up, put them back and put them in the fridge, and I could grab one for breakfast or whatever and I would put like little peace, love, joy on them and then let those sit for 24 hours, like like trish says, let it sit in your fridge and and then you embody that and I and I love working with runes as well you could put like a suilo sunshiny day and all of that kind of you can kind of draw from whatever other magical practices, whether it's runes or whether it's just positive words and affirmations or whatever. So I guess you're saying it's okay to play with our food.

Trish Telesco: 37:41

In fact, I am absolutely for it. Play with your food. If anybody laughs tough, it's your kitchen. I love that.

Granddaughter Crow : 37:49

I love that. And so talk to us just a little bit about prep and cleanup. Like, do you set sacred space? Do you purify? Like, how do you get into the space when you're cooking to signal I am doing this ritual magic spell, or does it just come organically? Tell us a little bit about what that looks like in action.

Trish Telesco: 38:11

My stove has to be spotless. I'm just, I'm like crazy. I have a stove that I have. Well, it's a replacement of the one I've loved for 10 years.

Trish Telesco: 38:21

It's a big ass you know thing and I have to clean it before I do anything like that, because to me the oil and so on and so forth, it doesn't. It doesn't represent the right kind of energy. You know it's old, it's nasty, you know things like that. So that's step one. I also make sure that the area that I'm putting out all my ingredients on has been cleaned down. If I'm feeling really fancy, I'll grab something like rose water or orange water and make signs and images on the countertop and let it dry, because nobody can see it, it smells great and it serves a purpose. Those are the types of things. Again, I keep them easy because everybody's got very little time. You don't have time to be doing a lot of rigmarole when you're also trying to get dinner on the table. So you know my stove needs to be clean, that's practical. You know countertop needs to be cleaned and organized that's practical. But it can serve dual purpose.

Granddaughter Crow : 39:30

Yeah, I absolutely love that and I also just a side note I do. You know I'm a medicine person, so I work a lot in with the natural world and I heard you speak a little bit about the beauty of a tree and that when you are outside let's just take the kitchen outside and call it a picnic. People come over, you can stand by a tree and soak in that information and that strength and that it brings you new ideas. Talk to us a little bit about that.

Trish Telesco: 40:11

Well, I figured out that I've been a pig in my whole life. I just didn't know it when I was a child. I was not a happy child. My happy space was the woods, and I would go out there and I would catch guppies and walk by the water and sing to the trees, because the trees didn't mind if I was off too. And that's where my relationship with trees started. Every tree has its own kind of being. Yes, so right now I'm growing fruit trees because I'm trying to put things in my yard that are edible. The more things I could put in my yard that are edible, the better, in my opinion, and so the fruit tree is going to have a different kind of vibe. I'm probably more playful and then say an oak, which is more grounding and solid and, you know, enduring. But it's there. And the neat part is you research trees and forests. They actually communicate to one another through their roots. What a beautiful networking concept.

Granddaughter Crow : 41:12

Yes, absolutely. You know. What's really interesting to me is that I don't know how to articulate it any better than I am, and hopefully I'll figure out a better way to say this but magic can be embodied, and until it's embodied you don't get the full expression of the magic. And so, with cooking, walking, singing in the woods, to me that sounds like embodiment of magic versus a conceptual idea. So what do you think about embodiment? And, mind you, I'm still struggling with how to articulate this concept. So, as an author, what am I trying to say?

Trish Telesco: 42:05

I would say I'm probably not going to say this well either. There's such a thing as moving meditations in the Far East. You can walk, you can dance, you can sing, you can paint, but it can become a meditative practice and what that does is it engages more than one sense. The more senses you engage, the better quality of integration you get in terms of energy, because we're very sensual people. So, you know, add that touch, add that smell, listen to music, whatever you can do to make it all into one harmonious whole. It's kind of like a cocoon around you and it can seep into your aura.

Trish Telesco: 42:50

I like the visualization of my aura becoming sparkly and glittery. I love glitter, by the way, sparkly and glittery, a little glitter, by the way. You know those types of visualizations we get. You know, obviously the glitter and white is more for cleansing, but you can also alter the colors depending on what type of energy you want to absorb. I mean, throughout the day there's all sorts of crap that gets thrown at you. So when you get home, take a minute to find another color and go with it.

Granddaughter Crow : 43:21

Yes, I love that. I I you know what I think that that's a really good way to articulate it is that walking, moving through life or cooking as a, as a walking meditation that inspires and brings inspiration to all of your five senses as much as possible, causes just really kind of an ascension For me. I'm just like whoa, I feel more peace, I feel settled, I feel energized or whatever it is that I'm going for, but I like that five senses thing.

Trish Telesco: 44:00

Well, just, I mean think about it. Don't certain smells evoke memories, or certain touches and textures, or something that you hear on the radio? All of that is still in us. So knowing that means we've got a lot of ability to build those memories for ourselves, those memories that we can call on and use. So that's kind of what I'm talking about. It's a process. It doesn't happen overnight. Well, it may not happen in a lifetime, but we get there.

Granddaughter Crow : 44:33

We get there. We get there, trish. Thank you so much. How can people find you? I know that all of her books just look her up. All of her books are everywhere. You can find them on Amazon, llewellyn, you know. Go to Llewellyn, worldwide, all of that Probably. Just go down to your local metaphysical bookshop, ask them to order it in if they don't already have it on their shelf. Order it in if they don't already have it on their shelf, and be able to engage with this cooking stuff, especially because we're starting to head towards more of a indoor. You know fall and autumn and snow and it's a really good time to play in the kitchen. But where can people find you?

Trish Telesco: 45:18

Well, if you just look me up on Facebook that's the easiest place to find me and on my post you will find a link to my subtext blogs, which are brand new and just starting to grow. But I'm trying to reach out that way too. As time allows, I'm juggling the new book which, by the way, will be put out by White, by Red Beetle Weiser Congratulations. So this is going to be so cool. You guys are going to love it, but I don't want to let too much out of the bag too soon. You know right, it's hard. It's like sitting on a present for somebody that you know they're going to love and you want to give it to them right now, even though their birthday is two months away.

Trish Telesco: 45:58

Yeah, yeah, I'll even know their birthday, yeah, but I, I, I want to. I want to keep that silent energy to help build what's cooking inside of me. But yeah, the process is crazy. I'm having to relearn a lot of things in my life because I no longer have a gallbladder and I no longer have a coin, so my entire way of living has had to change, and so my spirituality is going through big time alterations, and some of that has to do with my cooking and what I can actually eat and things like that. I'm trying to, I'm still trying to figure it out. I got to tell you it's been almost a year and I'm still kind of going what happened. But you can look at your life and anything that comes into it and say, okay, how does this affect my spirit? What do I want to take out of this experience? You know, am I learning strength? Am I learning confidence? Am I learning to say I need help? That one's hard for me and all those things are all about more than just catching magic. It's about who you are, down to your toes.

Trish Telesco: 47:17

As you said, be authentic. You know, I had to tell people. I said, look, I'm gonna have really crappy days. I won't, I'll tell you ahead of time, but I feel them, I know when they're coming because I'm still blue and like I think my body actually went through mourning, for I know it's a weird theory, but it's there. There, I agree, and I'm still kind of dealing with that. So I would rather tell people, hey, look, I'm having a crappy day, it's not you, than have them wonder what the heck is going on. Yeah, and that too is part of magic and spirituality. Because you're being culpable, say, look, it's not you, it's me, just so you know Everything will be fine. Say, look, it's not you with me, just so you know everything will be fine. I don't know how to express how many different levels of things that it touches in your life when you really start just being the magic instead of doing the magic.

Granddaughter Crow : 48:15

Drop right there. Be the magic. Stop doing the magic, Be the magic. How I like to say that Trish is I don't practice magic. I throw that shit down, Period.

Trish Telesco: 48:27

I love it. That's beautiful. I love that.

Granddaughter Crow : 48:31

I ain't practicing people. I love it, but I love it. Be the magic. Be the magic, and you know you also speak just now. I really want to honor that about the resilience of your philosophy, paganism, your belief system and your openness to spirit to change when your body changes, to embrace that, because so many people have to adapt to different things throughout their life.

Trish Telesco: 49:10

You know, as an example, people with chronic pain. How do they, how do they move through that spiritually? You know what. What can they do for themselves at least to keep their mood up? And pain may not go away. But how you deal with it can change, you know, you can either sit and go oh, woe is me, I was having that day two days ago. Or you can say all right, I'm in pain, but how can I move through this and do something to at least make me feel better emotionally?

Granddaughter Crow : 49:43

Yeah, yeah. And sometimes it's the simplest thing, like preparing onion soup.

Trish Telesco: 49:54

You're telling me I need to come visit you and make onion soup.

Granddaughter Crow : 49:57

Absolutely. I'm hungry. I love it. It has been an absolute, true honor. Listeners, I am going to put her Facebook page as well as her sub stack down below, so please check that out. You can always support authors through giving them a good review. Wherever you review books on Goodreads and I found this when I review something a book on Goodreads sometimes it translates and it goes to other places Like it'll end out on people's pages and things like that. So Goodreads is a good place to do, you know, just review the book, share the book and have fun with the book. Is there any last things that you want to tell the listeners about anything?

Trish Telesco: 50:57

Oh, first I'd like to thank them. You know they've given me years of joy that I wouldn't have had if I wasn't writing. Also, remember that while it might be great to get accolades, and that from 110 people, it's the one person that really needed your help and support and your words. That matters most. That's where you learn quality versus quantity, and that goes for writing too.

Trish Telesco: 51:28

You know, when I had my first, my very first book signing, nobody came. I was devastated. I had my pretty table and Victorian grimoire all set up and I was dressed in Victorian clothes and I just I started packing up, crying. All of a sudden I saw one woman coming through the store holding a copy of Victorian grimoire, like it was her life With dog you know all the beard, yeah. And she said I'm so glad I didn't miss you. Your book has been my best friend for the last year. That's what it is. I cried, she cried, and then we sat and talked and she had a really rough year divorce and other things and for whatever reason, the material in that book, the practices in that book, helped her get through. And that day I learned Victory Ranked Remarks have never sold another copy. It had done its work.

Granddaughter Crow : 52:29

I love that. That's beautiful that one person to strengthen them, encourage them, maybe explain things to them that will help them explain themselves to themselves, or all of that. You're just a jewel. I am just like, I'm just adoring you. I really appreciate you and I really thank you for taking time, because I know that you've had a really difficult year and I'm really excited that you're getting back into writing.

Trish Telesco: 53:07

This will be good for us, I hope we can keep the train going, but I'm trying to spread it out and just do what really seems timely. I'm hoping next year to do something on from garden to table so you can start growing your plants magically, harvesting them magically, preparing them magically. It's just. It'd be so much fun to do, absolutely In the future In the future.

Granddaughter Crow : 53:37

That's one of those things that are on the metaphoric back burner, exactly so. You guys, thank you so much for listening into yet another episode of Belief being Beyond. I've just had the best time here. If you guys want to connect with the show, have a comment. I can always get them over to Trish so you can text the show. You can like, subscribe, comment whatever, notification bell, whatever I really only like. Like I just learned from Trish, I only want those listeners who actually are getting something out of this. The numbers don't really matter, you know, but I really appreciate all of you who have tuned in. And you know, just remember, the next time you step into the kitchen, take a moment, wash your hands, wipe your feet at the door before you go in, take a moment, wash your hands and be mindful that you are about ready to be a kitchen witch, if you choose to, even with peanut butter and jelly. So anyway, you guys, thank you so much. I love you and we will see you on the flippity flip.