Make Your Medicine

Winter is an important time during the Wheel of the Year for making medicines. Keeping one’s tincture and tonic stock flowing can easily segue from pastime to part-time occupation. When I’m making medicine, you can be certain I always add magick to the mix, as well.

A tonic as old as time, recipes like Fire Cider were passed freely down through the generations. It was first written down by Rosemary Gladstar in the 1970s and utilized by community herbalists for decades until Shire City Herbals trademarked it in 2015. In 2019 two brave herbalists fought a legal battle to have Fire Cider returned to a generic term. Fortunately, for community herbalists, and their customers, they prevailed.

At the beginning of the current pandemic, I made my first batch of fire cider and filmed the process. The recipe turned out most delicious! We have been slowly sipping away on this batch with ample amounts to share. It’s getting to be time that I prepare some more, so I thought this a good lesson in Kitchen Magick for all. I make no mention of the magickal properties of the ingredients in the video, but I invite you to consider that the medicinal and magickal attributes are nearly always the same. This potent and precious brew could also be used to ward and protect should you need to use it in such a way. Though, I think the act of ingesting it automatically does the same thing!

Let’s take a look at the magickal properties of Fire Cider ingredients according to Cunningham.

Ginger: Mars. Fire. Love, Success, Power.

Horseradish: Mars. Fire. Purification. Exorcism.

Onion: Mars. Fire. Protection. Exorcism. Healing.

Garlic: Mars. Fire. Protection. Healing. Exorcism.

Hot Peppers: Mars. Fire. Purification. Protection. Healing.

Rosemary: Sun. Fire. Protection. Purification. Healing.

Lemon: Moon. Water. Longevity. Purification.

Turmeric: (Cunningham names no planetary or elemental correlation). Purification

Pepper: Mars. Fire. Purification. Protection. Healing.

Cardamom: Venus. Water. Love.

Parsley: Mercury. Air. Protection. Purification.

Honey: Sacred to Venus. Healing.

Apple Cider Vinegar: Venus. Water. Love Healing. Purification.

Experiment with adding your own ‘special ingredients’ to a batch of Fire Cider. If you’d like to know more about the history of Fire Cider (and get Gladstars’s original recipe) click HERE.

One last idea for you: After I strained the finished oxymel, I used all of the solid ingredients for a marinade/dry rub. I packed everything into a Romertopf clay pot and let the melange do its thing for about 24 hours. Then I roasted the dish in the oven for the allotted time. It was sublime! Finally, all that remained was composted. In the end, I feel that I made FULL use of the medicinal ingredients!