Do You Have a Cauldron?

 Dear Reader,

Perhaps the most iconic symbol of witchcraft is the cauldron. In them (if the entertainment industry is to be believed), nefarious potions, brews, and curses are created. (Thanks, Shakespeare.) In truth, the cauldron is the big cooking pot of the era that the Burning Times was going on. If you have a big pot you use to make pasta once a week and your family and friends' moods are improved, congratulations you have a cauldron and done a wee bit of food magic to help ease everybody's stress.

There was this big push in the 1990s that to be a witch you needed to have a cast iron cauldron. With no education on how to season cast iron or care for it. This coupled with the cauldron was big enough to hold a mere 1 cup of water really made it an ineffective tool. I own a couple of these vintage cauldrons. They've been used to hold incense as it burns on a bed of sand. They're not large enough to hang over a tea light, let alone a fire. These miniature cauldrons really should be considered decorations.

My real cauldron is my soup pot. It is one I picked up at a camping supply store down at the southern end of the state while I was living there. Every meal I made in it, there was magical intent going into the recipe and the choice of ingredients. It isn't the traditional cast iron but with my bad back, picking up a cast iron soup pot or dutch oven can be a challenge on bad days. It's made from steel and has a blue and white speckled pattern over it. I find it charming and it makes me smile when I bust it out for use.