Eostara - Spring

Eostara

The Wheel of the Year is turning again, with this turn comes the Vernal Equinox, Spring, or Eostara. At this time the hours of daylight and night are balanced. Equinox marks the time the sun passes over the celestial equator. After this time and until the Autumnal Equinox, daylight will increase.

At this point in the Wheel of the Year, the great Mother Goddess, who is remade virgin at the springing in Imbolc, now wears the aspect of the Spring Maiden. She meets the young God, the Youth of Spring, born into at Yule. Together, the joining of their youthful, vibrant feminine and masculine energies will gestate and plant the seeds of life and growth upon which the continued turning of the Wheel depends. When She welcomes the young Sun God unto her, a child is conceived of this divine union. The child is born nine months later, at Yule, Winter Solstice.

The Goddess´s orgasms blanket the Earth with fertility. She burgeons from Her slumber, as the God stretches and grows to maturity. She oversees the budding plants and burgeoning fertility of the Earth. He walks the greening fields and delights in the abundance of nature. The energies of Nature subtly shift from the sluggishness of Winter to the exuberant expansion of Spring.

The spring equinox in the Northern Hemisphere falls on Friday March 20 this year (2020), the earliest equinox for over 100 years.!

Eostre, the Saxon and Ostara, the German Goddess of fertility are invoked at this Sabbat. In Her Anglo-Saxon form She also represents the dawn.

Eostara proclaims the birth of Spring, the reawakening of life from the Earth, the renewal and rebirth of Nature herself. The season’s change from dark winter to brightening spring, is a time of fertility, for the sowing and emerging of seeds.

Praise the arrival of Spring and the coming lushness of Summer! Light and darkness are in balance, yet the light is growing stronger by the day. The forces of masculine and feminine energy, yin and yang, are in balance.

At this time we think of renewing ourselves. We renew our thoughts, our dreams, and our aspirations, our relationships. This is an excellent time of year to begin anything new or to completely revitalize something.

This sabbat of balance and beginnings is the traditional time to prepare for future planting. The time of tending to and blessing the seeds and future grains of our physical, spiritual, and ritual gardens.

Observe the meeting of the Sun Prince and the Young Maid. Honour all that is youthful, innocent and new. Bless the seeds of future. This is a time of new beginnings and of action.

The colours associated with Eostara are lemon yellow, pale green and pale pink. Other appropriate colours include grass green, all pastels, Robin's egg blue, violet and white

Personal altars should reflect the Spring sabbat. Decorate your altar in any of the above colours

As Ostara is a time of balance between light and dark. Symbols of polarity can be used. A god and goddess statue, a white candle a black one, a sun and moon, a yin/yang symbol.

Eostara is also a time of new growth and life; potted plants such as new crocuses, daffodils, lilies, and other magical spring flowers, a basket of eggs or figures of lambs, rabbits, calves, etc., a chalice of milk and/or honey. Milk represents new birth, honey is a symbol of abundance.

You could make incense to burn on your altar from a blend from any of the following scents or simply choose one... jasmine, frankincense, myrrh, dragon's blood, cinnamon, nutmeg, aloes wood, benzoin, musk, African violet, sage, strawberry, lotus, violet flowers, orange peel, or rose petals.

Suggestion: A pale green altar cloth with purple(s) and/or blue(s) draped across, add some yellow or pink (candles) to carry the colour up. 

Other Spring symbols

Seeds and bulbs

Caterpillars, ladybirds, bumblebees

Gemstones and crystals: aquamarine, rose quartz, and moonstone

Ritual fires in a cauldron or brazier

Invocation

The earth is cool and dark, and far below, new life begins.
May the soil be blessed with fertility and abundance,
with rains of life-giving water,
with the heat of the sun,
with the energy of the raw earth.
May the soil be blessed
as the womb of the land becomes full and fruitful
to bring forth the garden anew.

Deities for Eostara; all Youthful and Virile Gods and Goddesses, Fertility, Sun and Moon Deities. Mother Goddesses, Love Goddesses.

Aphrodite, Athena, Blodeuwedd, Cybele, Eostre, Flora, Gaia, Hera, Isis, Ishtar, Minerva, Persephone, Venus,

Herne, Robin of the Woods, the Green Man, Cernunnos, Lord of the Greenwood, The Dagda, Attis, The Great Horned God, Mithras, Odin, Thoth, Osiris, and Pan.

Many customs, ringing bells, lighting new fires at dawn to heal, renew life and protect the crops still survive in the Southern Americas and Europe and other continents.

Decorating hard-boiled eggs or blown eggshells is an ancient custom. The golden orb of yolk represents the Sun God, the shell the White or Brown Goddess, the whole is a symbol of rebirth.

Eggs were gathered and used to make talismans and/or ritually eaten. The gathering of different coloured eggs from the nests of a variety of birds has gave rise to the Easter egg hunt, and colouring eggs in imitation of the various pastel colours of wild birds. It is believed that humankind learnt weaving from watching birds make nests. Also perhaps the origin of Easter baskets.

As Spring is the season of new life and nature's fertility goes a little crazy. We can channel this frantic, fertile energy into magical workings. Key actions to keep in mind during this time include openings and new beginnings. 

 

Eostara is the best time to start putting those plans and preparations you made at Imbolc into action. Start working towards physically manifesting your plans now. Spell work for fertility and abundance, improving communication and group interaction are recommended. This is also an excellent month for prosperity rituals or any rituals to do with growth.

"Spring cleaning" is much more than simple physical work. It can be seen as the concentrated efforts to rid your home of problems and negativity especially those of the past Winter months, an way to prepare for the coming spring and summer. Approach the task of cleaning with positive thoughts. This frees the home of all negative feelings brought about in winter.

A common rule of thumb for Spring cleaning is; all motions involving scrubbing (stains) or mopping the floors should be done "clockwise". Pagans believe this custom aids in filling the home with good energy for growth

Fertility rituals:

• place a rabbit skin under your bed to bring fertility and abundance to your sexual activities. If you're opposed to the use of real fur, use some other symbol of the rabbit that you're more comfortable with.
• A rabbit's foot is said to bring good luck to those who carry it.
• For boundless energy, carry a talisman engraved or painted with a rabbit's image.
• In some magical traditions, the wild rabbit is associated with the deities of spring, make a wish and leave them an offering of lettuce, shredded carrots, cabbage, or other fresh greens.
• Rabbits and hares go to ground very quickly if they sense danger. Add a few rabbit hairs to a witch bottle for protection magic.
• In some legends, rabbits and hares are the messengers of the underworld coming and going into and out of the earth as they please. Do a meditation that involves an underworld journey, calling upon rabbit or hare to be your guide.

Animals associated with this time include the mythical specifically unicorns, merpeople and Pegasus. Worms, are also celebrated now they one of the first denizens of the animal kingdom, as they emerge, symbolizing the serpent and all it’s lore¹.

Rabbits and Hares have been long associated with Spring, fertility magic and sexual energy. Eostre's patron animal is the hare.

The "Easter bunny" first appeared in 16th-century German writings, which said that well-behaved children, would be rewarded with coloured eggs if they built a nest with their caps or bonnets.

Hares are nocturnal most of the year, but in March when mating season begins, they are everywhere all day long. The female is super fecund and can conceive a second litter while still pregnant with the first. The males become frustrated when rebuffed by their mates and bounce around erratically when discouraged, especially at this time of year when go a bit bonkers.

The term "mad as a March hare" is found in it’s earliest form in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, in the Friar's Tale: For though this man were wild as is a hare, to tell his evil deeds I will not spare.

In 1500, in the poem ‘Blowbol's Test’ the original (unknown) poet said:

Thanne þey begyn to swere and to stare, And be as braynles as a Marshe hare

(Then they begin to swerve and to stare, And be as brainless as a March hare)

In the 28 October 1908 publication of the British Daily Telegraph, German Kaiser Wilhelm II was quoted as saying: “You English are mad, mad, mad as March hares.” The remark intended to improve German–British relations was a major diplomatic blunder!

Link appropriate food to ritual (hard-boiled) eggs, egg salad, (honey) cakes, first fruits of the season, fish, biscuits, cheeses, honey, ham. leafy, green vegetables, sunflower, pumpkin and sesame seeds, pine nuts, sprouts

Try making flower dishes like stuffed nasturtiums or carnation cupcakes (recipe suggestion below) Eostara meat dishes should contain fish or ham

For hundreds of years, plants that we grow have been used in magic. Flowers magical applications.

• Crocus: One of the first to see in the spring, often associated with newly blooming love. The crocus is also known to enhance visions and bring about intuitive dreams.
• Daffodil: It’s bright petals are typically shades of white, yellow or even pale orange. This flower is associated with love and fertility -- place fresh ones in your home to bring about abundance. Wear this flower close to your heart to draw love and luck.
• Dandelion: The leaf of the dandelion is used for healing, purification, and ritual cleansing. To bring positive change about, plant dandelions in the north west corner of your property. The bright yellow flowers can be used in divination, or placed in a sachet to draw good energy your way.
• Echinacea: Also called purple cornflower, this garden mainstay adds a little bit of magical "oomph" to charms and sachets. Use for prosperity related workings. Burn the dried flowers in incense, use on your altar or during ritual as an offering to deities.
• Goldenseal: The sunny yellow flower often found in the wild, along roadsides and in fields. Use it in money spells, or for business dealings. Work it into charms connected to matters of financial gain or legal issues.
• Hibiscus: This lusty flower incites passion. Use it to attract love or lust, or for prophetic dreams about your lover. Burn in incense, or carry in a sachet to bring love your way.
• Hyacinth: Named for Hyakinthos, a Greek hero beloved by Apollo, is considered the patron herb of gay men. Hyacinth is known to promote peaceful sleep, it guards against nightmares. Carry in an amulet to help heal a broken heart or to ease grief when a loved one dies.
• Irish Moss: Carrageen) is not a true moss, but dried seaweed, chondrus crispus. Widely believed to bring about good fortune in money matters, through business success and good luck in gambling. Carry some in a green flannel bag or in a pocket when placing a bet or buy a lottery ticket it is said to ‘bring in the winnings’. Or sprinkle it under the carpets at a place of business to attract and hold a stream of Steady Paying Customers.
• Jasmine: considered one of the most powerful flowers used in spell work and magic. It evokes sensuality passion, clarity and calm. Use in rituals for love, prophecy and predictions
• Lily: The Easter lily or Tiger lily is associated with all kinds of Spring connections -- fertility, rebirth, renewal and abundance.
• Narcissus: Named for another Greek figure, the Narcissus helps promote polarity and harmony. Its calming vibrations bring about tranquility and inner peace.
• Tulip: has many different colours and varieties, it is connected to prosperity. Combine with colour magic for (full) moon rituals, prosperity or love magic.
• Violet: In Roman myth, the first violet sprung from the spilled blood of Attis, who killed himself for Cybele, the mother goddess. Today the violet is associated with tranquillity and peace. The leaf offers protection from evil, sew some into a pillow or sachet for a new baby. Carry the petals to bring luck and enhance night time magic. 
  
  
  

Some suggested flowers for flower cuisine and magic:

1. Allium: Blossoms from the allium family are edible. Flavours go from soft to sharp garlic taste. Tou can consume it all of of this amazing plant.
2. Anise Hyssop: Flowers and leaves from the anise hyssop are perfect for giving that flavour.
3. Carnations: the petals of this beautiful flowers taste sweet and give a perfumed aroma.
4. Bachelor Button: The calyx is bitter so only eat the grassy flavoured petals.
5. Bee Balm: If you like minty flavour but want a change, try with bee balm. The red flowers are minty and will give a fabulous look to your food.
6. Sunflowers: The petals are edible too! The flavour is like artichoke
7. Dandelion: has been eaten for centuries, for food but also as a medicine. Young dandelions greens are delicious and tender. Serve it in salads or sandwiches.
8. Calendula: are a little bit peppery, tangy and spicy. Their bright colour will get all the attention.
9. Roses: The flavor can be incredible. The strong perfumed flavour is perfect for drinks and desserts. All roses are edible but the darker the petal, the better flavour.

For Eostara make spice cupcakes, and place a fresh (carnation) petal on each cupcake.

Stuff (nasturtium, courgette) blossoms with cream cheese, chopped nuts, chives and watercress (or other items from the food list)

1My next article is about ‘Serpent Lore’

Erika Tangari’s SOL (Secret of Life) – Food Activation

Food Activation – Erika Tangari’s SOL (Secret of Life)

What is food activation? What does it mean?

You could also term it eating ‘live’ food or food which is alive. That is a concept which, when eating animals is one long known in many cultures but considered abhorrent in Western societies.

Food activation is moving the things you eat from a dormant state to one in which they are prepared or preparing to move into the next phase of their life cycle.

Meat is dead, there’s no two ways about it.

Most start with a plant based diet, but in actual fact live food used to and can/could still include milk, cheese, eggs, yoghurt as well as more modern day familiar live foods like kombucha and kefir. Bear in mind that if you buy either of these in the supermarket – including the health food shop – they are no longer alive because they have been pasteurised, same for cheese, milk and most yoghurt is no longer live. It is easy to see in kombucha. If a kombucha drink is live after about four days a ‘mother’ will start to form on the surface. (There are never any mothers in supermarket kombucha...)

The less you cook your food the better. So eating food that is alive has gotta be the best. Certainly this is argued by proponents of more than once section and version of healthy eating.

So basically activating your food is eating food that is as alive as possible.

There are many arguments as to why this is the best thing to do.

Lots of people will tell you that legumes and beans are bad for you because they ferment in your insides and give you gas. I can' t think of anyone anywhere who will tell you that eating sprouted beans is in any way bad for your digestion unless you have one of a number of conditions which make the digestion of fibre an issue.

Activating your food is setting the little energy spark that turns a bean into a sprout or a seed into a plant and either suspending the process just after the spark or eating the spark of energy and taking that 'life' within.

It's not a difficult process at all. It consists of soaking seed, grain, bean or legume in water for an appropriate amount of time. You can also try aiming to eat unpasteurised foods whenever you can find them.

Those of us lucky enough to live in a city, country or area where the water is absent of chlorine, fluoride and other chemicals can feel perfectly happy just using tap water, some people in areas like London or in places where the water is heavily fluoridated or chlorinated will want to use some kind of a filter for the water that they activate with.

Various, mainly non scientific, studies show living foods have healing powers that may, and many claim have and do alleviate conditions such as low energy, allergies, digestive disorders, weak immune system, damaged intestinal system, high cholesterol, candida, obesity, etc. Live food and a raw food diet is said prevent the body's healthy cells from turning into malignant cancerous cells.

Raw foods are supposedly easy (or easier) to digest and when you do so they are said to provide the maximum amount of energy with minimum bodily effort.

The sprouting process brings out live enzymes and other nutrients in germinated seeds, legumes, and grains which in turn makes them easy to digest.

Enzymes are complex organic substances that originate from living cells. They initiate chemical changes in surrounding organic substances and so help to transform and digest them. Unfortunately, virtually none of these delicate entities can survive temperatures greater than 46° C , most enzymes start to degrade at about 40°, so they are destroyed by the heat of cooking, pasteurisation and any commercial processing.

The enzymes in live foods act like catalytic converters for general digestion, they aid the body in properly absorbing nutrients but also in eliminating non-live foods we consume. Most live foods are also high in fibre. So eating live foods is said to help your system make better use of virtually every healthy thing you eat

Sprouts (as in sprouted seeds, beans and nuts) are living foods full of pure vitamins and minerals, rich in chlorophyll and a great source of plant protein. Vitamins and minerals need enzymes, to accomplish their nutritive missions.

Enzymes are living biochemical factors that activate and carry out all the biological processes in the body such as digestion, nerve impulses, detoxification processes, functioning of RNA/DNA, repair and healing of the body, and the functioning of the mind. There are natural enzymes in raw food, these minimize the use of enzymes created and secreted by the body for digestion. The body’s enzymes can then be converted and used for the process of detoxification, repair, and overall healing. The preservation of our enzymes by eating live foods seems to play an important role in slowing the aging process. Enzyme reserve seems to be connected to life force, health, and longevity. As we age there seems to be a significant drop in enzyme reserve.

Researchers found that Inuit peoples eating (their natural diet of) about two pounds of raw blubber a day had no heart disease or atherosclerosis. When the same community (under pressure from Western influences) began eating the same amount of blubber cooked , they developed high rates of both of these Western killers.

Live foods have the highest amount of bioactive food nutrients, phytonutrients, bioelectrical energy, biologically active water, electrons, and most energized and organized SOEF’s (subtle organizing energy fields).

Dr. Bircher-Brenner started the first modern live food clinic in 1897. He felt that eating raw foods was a way of restoring the diseased body and the mind’s ability to heal itself. Other healers have used living foods with their clients. Dr. Max Gerson claimed to have cured cancer cases in Mexico, including having healed Dr. Albert Schweitzer of diabetes and his wife of TB. This is unproven but his raw diet has definitely adversely affected some people. He claimed with the use of live foods a 90% cure rate, 17% of which had been considered incurable.

Personally I do not think a raw food diet is a healthy option for anyone living in a damp, northern, four season climate. I do believe it is important to eat an amount of raw food every day (if possible) and that the body works best with as wide a mixture as possible with an emphasis on local, seasonal, less dense, lighter and plant based foods. Which isn't to say that that is how I eat most of the time!

I asked Erika (Tangari) where the name Sol (Secret of Life) came from? 

 

In another article I wrote about my almost mystical experience eating plant based food that she had prepared. This reaction is fairly common

“People ask me constantly; ‘What are your techniques, (how) can I also make food that makes one feel alive and so present? 

 

The method is born from a mixture of a scientific approach to food (literally in terms of nutrition), from our feelings, our emotional and spiritual connections to what we eat and of course the stories that our grandmothers told us (as they coaxed us to eat the food we refused from our mothers). The stories, the history, the journeys, the tastes and how they change, the emotions and experiences of food are the secret of life.

My grandmother for example taught me to activate brown beans before eating them, so that they are their most nutritious, the best way to absorb protein in your diet and the least aggravating for your body. This is information, passed through the oral traditions that we are so often told exist no more. These traditions, these are the ones that we absorb through most usually, our grandmothers (cooking) are the secret of life. 

 

A human being has many levels/layers, the brain/mind, the heart, the physical body, the emotions and the spirit. The Secret Of Life is the space in which they all exist, balancing themselves with each other. 

 

There are moments when I am teaching that the Secret of Life is physical, purely chemical, nutritional science, at other moments it’s more subtle and we are exchanging nebulous ideas concepts and information: food memory and or soul memory or the teaching can be practical. As in where the food comes from, how it is grown and transported. 

 

Sol has a multi layered meaning. Secret of Life yes, but also the name of the sun, central life giver of our SOLar system. It also the 5^th or dominant note of the Western (often with different spelling) doh-ray–me–far–sol musical scale. That 5^th note is a natural human toning, occurring all over the world naturally and spontaneously from childhood. The name of that note is used in the name of teaching musical theory – SOLfege. This is deliberate.

In the same way that music is integral to humanity and has many layers and functions so is it also with the philosophy, preparation, teaching and enjoyment of preparing and eating (Secret of Life) activated food

In my recipes section I have a food activated gomasio recipe

This information in this article is not intended to replace the diagnosis, treatment and services of a physician. Any recommendations and indications are at the reader's discretion. For severe or life-threatening conditions, always seek immediate medical attention.

Changing the View and Perception of Food

A (New/Different/) Better Way Of Eating

I am interviewing, reviewing or writing about predominantly women (and possibly some men) who I find, inspiring, interesting or think need a spotlight for what they do, how or why they do it, the way they think or just because I like or love them.

What better way to start than with an interview with someone about food.

I am very interested in any reader responses to the articles or the people featured in them.

My article/review of the one day Soul Song Retreat in Amsterdam was a start on the project. The day was done in part by Lex Empress. The afternoon was called Food Activation and done with Erica Tangari. Her concept of activating food is the core of a completely different way of engaging with our food. Taking the food from a dormant state to a live and activated state (and then suspending it in that state to eat it). 

 

There is so much hype around vegan food. The amount of tasteless, overproduced, ethically immoral, animal/human exploitative but plant based food available is for me ultimately depressing and a clear sign of most of the things that are wrong in our society. i.e. you take a concept that is aimed at creating a fairer world for animals and people and that sustains rather than exploits the planet. Within three years this concept has been hyped to the point where apart from giving a lot of over privileged people the chance to crow and feel good about themselves it actually in many cases ends up doing the exact opposite of its aims.

Eating activated food, learning how to activate your food is so much more meaningful in terms of cruelty free eating than veganism as it is now presented. Unsurprisingly Erika is far from a fan of the term – vegan(ism).

Changing The View And Perception Of Food

Erika Tangari was born and raised in Milano Italy, her family roots are from the South of the country. Her parents were 'the best parents you could imagine'. Her father a bank worker, her mother a teacher. From the age of six every holiday was spent travelling in a caravan. Erika credits these journeys as one of the foundations of her connection to food;

Erika's plant based foods have the feeling and passion of Italian cuisine, the medicinal context of Indian cooking, combined with the aesthetic sense of the Japanese kitchen. When I ate her food it allowed me to come back into myself and be in me. It was a scary experience. I understood that if I only ate her food I would lose my fat (my protection). Her food fills you on so many levels but leaves the space you need to absorb what is happening to you when you eat the food. It is impossible to overeat. Her food in your body is an physical experience of unconditional love.

 

The revolutionary journey from my grandmother's food to mine is that I feed people for humanity. Food from our mothers and grandmother's doesn't leave the space my food does. Their food was and is designed to fill the child. I call the space that I place into my food the Lazarus space. The space between the words that call to life and the decision to (re)inhabit and come back to life. The old style food is almost an overdose of love. It leaves no space. My food brings a memory and love of the past. It brings the love of Mothers and grandmothers without filling the whole space. It fills the spaces that need to be filled and allow the rest of the body to reactivate and regenerate. To self heal.

The food of our (enslaved) ancestors was designed to allow us to survive the outside world, it's difficulties, struggles and hatred by placing within the food, and so within the body the knowledge of the love that could not been allowed to show.

Tell me how you came to this point? Your journey to this space with teaching and sharing your/this understanding of the power of food and eating.

Food for me has always been the way to meet The Other.

My earliest memories around food are; myself as a child, as children are; with full potential and infinite possibilities. I think I was five when I first had that sense of why I had come here, that I had reincarnated, it happened with the memory in the food. The memory, taste, sensation; being fully present in the moment of tasting. That ability to be fully present when tasting, when eating brings you into the presence of your being and not being.

I remember that on Sundays I would be waiting for the opportunity to cook with my mother and or grandmother. In those moments I didn't feel alone, I was happy and in my place. From the age of about 11/12 I started to cook alone. Cooking for and eating with my family; my grandmother, father, brother, and mother. They would look at me; 'This is different, delicious, good' in those moments I began to develop the magic touch with food. I knew I was doing what I was supposed to do. In those moments with the whole family present in body and spirit. There to enjoy the experience of my food, celebrating life and the taste of the present moment

The issues and problems with my father's job, the stress engendered by the school where my mother worked they all disappeared in those living moments of the shared meal.

When we sat at the table we were completely present, undistracted. We didn't sit eating, thinking and speaking of other things; what needed to be done the next day. My family didn't sit to eat and do other things. Which is something that happens often. We would sit and really be there, eating and feeling the work the food was doing. For me those Sunday meals were a celebration of the present moment and also a celebration of me as a child. 

It is through her sense of smell and her engagement with food that Erika first connected with her deep knowledge of past lives and the existence of re incarnation.

We know that children are connected to the true present, they live in the present. Those meals for me were the celebration of truth. I would sit with the five loves that is my family, all present, all there to celebrate the love of life, in food. It was not every Sunday but often. Everyone was home. It was a day of celebration.

I remember we sat down at the table to eat, the first argument would be what we were going to eat next. Literally sitting down to lunch, my grandmother would ask 'What would you like for dinner?' 'Nonna, I haven't even tasted lunch yet I can't think about dinner'. The next conversation was about what we were eating; it's good, it's tasty. In Italy you eat also for pleasure not just because you have to eat. Food takes, brings and holds our attention. It is an illusion of presence.

One of my mantra's is that we eat at least 3x a day our whole life. If we make eating an exercise of being present. Then we will be present at least in those 3x a day for the rest of our life.

We met at your Soul Song and Food Activation One day retreat in Amsterdam. It was amazing. Will you be doing more of them?

We will be repeating the one day retreats, but not this time.

This visit we are working on setting up an innovative kitchen concept in two restaurants.

We want to evolve a kitchen that is different from what you expect or generally get. A place where you create medicine. I am not speaking about a focus on healing a specific medical condition, the basic concept of the cuisine is reconnection. This reconnection is actually more a recognition of the truth. I am working to create a sustainable kitchen in a city. A place where people come to eat and through/with the food remember the knowledge, reasons and purpose of their re incarnation. The WHY they are in this life.

For me the analogy is 'it's like eating food made for you by your grandmother.' But upscaled. It is very clear to me at the moment as I have just come from visiting my home and family and once again eating my grandmother's food.

There is a sense of the present that you can feel, taste, experience when eating activated food. It is a meditation, this exercise, this experience is what I want to bring to the city.

The second restaurant, the same collaboration, bringing the same concept is an opening with a friend of their restaurant in London.

I asked Erika why she is working in Amsterdam in a nation of 'fuel'ies, people who eat food only because and as fuel rather than 'foodies' who enjoy the sensual pleasures of eating.

This is the place where change around food needs to occur. Aside from the personal reasons, (Lex her partner is Dutch). I came to Amsterdam for the first time a year ago but for the last five years I have been telling people 'There is something for me in NL' They made jokes like 'Yes you're going to learn to cook with tulips'!

There is a pragmatism here. In Italy we can have a thousand ideas and then we speak and chat and discuss these ideas over cappuccino, meals, wherever and whenever. In NL they have one idea and they bring it to fruition. The history of this country is that they are responsible for bringing spice all around the world. They made food a commodity. Food is full of stories, the Dutch ignore that. In France and in Italy food is a knowledge, your history passed with passion down a family line.

The art of food is also the (dark) story of humanity and it is the story of science. Food allows you to connect to a person's soul.

When I fed Dutch people on the retreat, their eyes popped open with shock, they became immediately present. They looked at me and said 'This has never happened to me before.'

So there are people who came to the Retreat a year ago, they have formed a small community of individuals who are still activating their food. They have completely changed the way they eat and are encouraging others to do the same.

This country has everything, it is so consumerist, it imports and exports. Food is still tied into oppression. Here you can buy anything, everything. This is the place you need to start or to set the change. We need to change lifestyles, we need them and eating to become sustainable. It is possible if people can change their focus, aim to eat in the most simple, healthful way.

If we can change the way we eat as a species, if we can steer that in the direction that I am sharing, we have a big chance of creating a better world. The NL is the best place to begin to make this change (and of course we are also going to London next).

It is important to understand this way of cooking, this way of looking at and understanding food. That is why I want to do it here.

The space that Erika's food leaves and creates is a call to bring those dead, unloved spaces and places within us back to life. The Lazarus space (as she calls it) is the place where only the individual can make the choice to step once more into life. Erika's food allows you to recognise all the parts and spaces within that have died in this struggle to BE and it creates the possibility to step back into life. Personally I found that call challenging, unspoken, but felt clearly in the food, a call to embrace and step (back) into life

“What I do is bring this memory of the hurt and pain in the body, through all time and space.”

The body is the both the concrete and the subtle connection to the work that Lex does when she sings in the energies of the galaxy. Lex places those energies into the space that I create with the food. Lex enters and revitalises, allowing the possibility to be in the present and jump into the future. I make the space with the food. The combination of what we do is so beautiful to watch; to see and experience what materialises in front of me. In my case it was also beautiful to feel the changes materialising within!

The day retreat was like walking into a clogged room in the morning, the soul song exercises clear out all the junk. Erika's food (2 meals) clean, disinfect and open the space, then in the evening Lex's personalised soul songs give ideas and blueprints on how to further inhabit, decorate or design that newly created space.

Erika and Lex have been working together for just over a year. They first met three years ago in the restaurant where Erika worked on Ibiza. Where were you working?

It is a magical, ancient, finca that was one of the first restaurants on the Island. It has deep energy and a history of creating foods of love. When I worked there the owner would ask people how they were feeling. There was a daily menu but I watched and connected with the people when they came in and fed them from my intuition.

Lex ate and said 'Who made this food. Is she gay? Is she single? I want to marry her!'

She then did a month group cooking course with me. And she showed me that what she does with her voice work is the same as my work. She asked if we could collaborate at that time but it took me a while. I was running around, doing lots of other jobs, still trying a little to escape, not living my full potential, not really trusting my path.

When I finally came back to the Island after Xmas holiday, I met her at one of the plant based restaurants and she asked (again) if I would work with her on the Retreat. That is when we began the journey, we have been together ever since.

I actually began the interview with a check in on how she's doing?

I have just come back to Amsterdam, I was in Italy and Spain. I'll be here for 2/3 days and then I am not sure. The next retreat is in October. I am open to other things at the moment.

In the summer the energy in Ibiza is a little unstable and it's best not to push. To try to do the work there in summer energy is too much. The function of The Work is to go inside, to go deep within the self. In the summer everything is outside. The spirit is far from the body. Energetic work needs to be compatible with the seasons to aid the work.

On her past and how she literally came to this moment

I studied architecture and interior design. I grew up in the illusion. Society doesn't allow us, at the moment, obviously we are trying to change this but it doesn't allow or give us the room to grow into our full potential. We are unable to do easily what we are supposed to do.

Doing what you love and working were in my brain incompatible. So I studied architecture which is also on of my passions but it is not my way to completely express what I am feeling inside. It is a beautiful form in which to express but I have always been so attracted to sustainability and when I was studying, sustainability was not on the university's agenda. So the use of certain materials for me was just crazy.

Like eating oysters in Ibiza or salmon in the centre of Milano. Food that doesn't connect with the land, the space is not appropriate to eat in that land or space and I felt the same with construction.

After the architecture I did a masters in yacht (interior) design. I went and worked in the Lake Como area, while I was there I was invited to come and work in Dubai. It was in Dubai that I realised my/the calling of my path.

I would gather to eat with the Italian ex-pats. It became almost a ritual. At these gatherings, I would cook. People kept asking me “Why isn't this your job?”

I was the youngest Italian ex pat. But I wanted, maybe needed to create the kind of Sunday dinners I remembered with my family, so I started to do them there. People really enjoyed it, they kept telling me I had a talent and that this was really special. The repetition of this idea, gave me the strength, it finally convinced me to go back to Italy.

Nothing in Dubai is sustainable. There are retinues of slaves maintaining illusions. There was a moment at a party when I was so disappointed with a cake. They called it an Italian cake, claimed it was a typical kind of cake made in the area that my family come from but actually it lacked everything necessary to make it authentic. Moreover it was a type of cake that requires a lot of time and attention. I had been taught to make that kind cake from a very young age I was almost devastated by what was being passed off as this Sicilian delicacy. Talking to the chef about my reaction, being able to list everything that was wrong with it. A lightbulb moment.

It was a big deal to go home and say to everybody, especially my family. 'Thank you all so much, thank you for having been able to study but, I really feel that food is my journey. I was 24.

Food is what makes me feel happy and enables me to make the people around me very happy. I believe this is my mission.

I began to work anywhere and everywhere it was possible to learn something, anything about food. I consciously chose to go back to Italy because somehow there, everything come back to or down to food. You go into a cheese shop it's a cheese immersion course from everything the shop worker knows to the way they cut the cheese. Italians are made of food!

When I had been in Milan for five months a big adventure started. Santeria was a poly functional space, with a performance area, and a small shop, kind of Berlin style. A group of fifteen people from music, graphic and artistic worlds created this mixed platform. 

I was the chef of what was initially going to be a little bistro serving maybe 25 plates. After 6 months we had 150-160 people for Sunday brunch. After a year it was one of the most popular places in Milan and the kitchen was non stop. We served up to and over 200 plates a day from a 15 metre square kitchen!

I worked there for four years, doing chef school in the evenings for six months. I did the study because although I was head chef I had no training. The staff working for me were all trained and in the beginning they would ask for or about things and I had no idea what they were talking about or asking for. So in addition to the 80 hours I was working in the kitchen I did another 20 in the evening to gain my certification for the job I was doing!

I really honed my skills and learnt my trade in Santeria. In the beginning there were three of us two chefs and the dishwasher, when I left there were seven chefs alone! It was an amazing experience but after four years I felt a calling to learn and explore other cuisines. I travelled for a year going to India, Thailand, Indonesia, Nepal. Then I went back to Italy and after I had spent two weeks in Milan a friend called me to say she was going to open a finca in Ibiza. I went to help her for two weeks but I have now been there for four years.

The purity and the quality of what we do is unique, beautiful, powerful. It is so far beyond the mundane, our personalities, our decisions, it is a constant yes to What Is. The work makes us truly greater than the sum of our parts. We amplify but bigger, each other but more importantly the work. I see us as the moment when the finger of God and the finger of Adam meet in the Michael Angelo painting. I am working from the gifts of mother Earth and Lex is bringing in gifts from the centre of the galaxy the person in the middle receives both.

I have always had a really clear, strong gut feeling. I trust it. Anything that is not right or just, I feel. I have to follow that feeling. There is no possibility for 99 or 98% truth it is or it isn't. Everything that nature creates is sustainable and there is no reason for us not to operate from that same place.

My mother always taught me that whatever you take or use or put back, the space that you took it from and that item has to be left or returned better and or cleaner and or more beautiful after our use.

Currently there are a lot of things in the pipe line and Erika promises that she will have a whole new load of adventures to share very soon if our readers are interested…

What I loved most about meeting Erika at the day retreat and also in the conversation is her focus and determination to change the world.

“The most important thing is to try; the purpose of our lives is to try. We know the planet will be fine, the issue is will humanity survive?

There are things that need to happen, we need to mitigate the impact that humanity has on the planet. We could do it, we could get it done.

Whether humanity is really worth saving we won't go into because the most important thing is to find and follow our true mission and strive to protect the Earth. It's about what we do and that we keep trying to the best of our ability to the very end.”