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Cocktails with good intentions for the season
Lizzie Arden is the co-owner of The Glass Wheel by day, bartender by night and a cunning folk, or witch, through it all.
For your Halloween party, or Samhain for the cunning folk, Arden has two cocktail recipes for the apple and pumpkin lovers.
Hot mulled cider
“This is a hot mulled cider, kind of a witch’s brew, if you will,” Arden said. “I made this with the intention of prosperity and convention to enhance and remind ourselves that we do better together. So the ingredients I picked are there to reflect that.”
Arden’s recipe calls for half a gallon of apple cider, three cinnamon sticks, seven cloves, one star anise, one sliced orange and rum.
Arden mixes all but the rum in a crockpot to warm it up and then adds the rum to individual drinks when serving it. This is so kids, teenagers and those who don’t consume alcohol can still have a drink of the warm cider.
While the ingredients just sound good, they also have meaning.
“Apples are definitely luck and abundance, especially this time of year at the harvest. Cinnamon is really good for drawing in abundance. Cloves are good for that too,” Arden said. “Oranges are also prosperity and friendship. Star anise, which is really good for waking up a little bit of your psychic awareness.”
When it comes to which rum to use, Arden recommends an aged rum, which “is all about communication and connection and prosperity.”
“The Planteray Five Years are a really good option. Valour or Bumbu are all [good options],” Arden said. “I should actually shout out Toledo Spirits. Their King and Dane rum would be a really good one in this. Their Orange Tiger, which is not a rum but it’s their orange liqueur, especially if people don’t want it to be too strong.”
Pumpkin spice painkiller
If you’re more of a pumpkin lover during this time of year, Arden has another cocktail curated towards you.
“That one’s definitely for some psychic awareness, like you really want to feel your ancestors. Coconut is really nice for psychic enhancement; pumpkins, for sure,” Arden said.
The recipe calls for cream of coconut syrup, which Arden recommends making yourself, pineapple juice and rum.
“You have to make your own cream of coconut syrup. It’s coconut milk, sugar, pumpkin puree and pumpkin spices. Just simmer it down until it reduces by half,” Arden said.
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Once the cream is made, you combine it with the pineapple juice and rum.
“[In a cocktail shaker, add the cream,] pineapple juice and rum. Shake it really intensely; just open for it. I don’t even strain it over fresh ice; just open for it. You get more of the froth that way. Top it with a little pumpkin spice,” Arden said.
Once again, if this is being made for people who don’t drink alcohol, you can just make it without the rum.
“They make really good cocktails and mocktails,” Arden said.
When making both cocktails, Arden recommends crafting them with a sense of intention.
“There is this sense of always keeping the intention of what you’re making in mind. Visualizing it really helps if you visualize, like, ‘as I sip this and share this, there’s going to be prosperity and community and togetherness,’” Arden said. “You don’t have to say it out loud; you can, whatever resonates with someone. Especially with this time of year, there’s definitely a lot of thought about our ancestors that aren’t here anymore. It’s always a little, ‘thanks, Nana.’”
Samhain
Arden, who has always felt drawn to witchcraft and started really studying it when she was 19, celebrates Samhain on Oct. 31 every year.
“This time of year, it’s said with Samhain and Halloween right around the corner, the veil between us and those who are no longer alive is the thinnest. I think it’s nice to invite them to the party,” Arden said.
At Samhain, Arden recommends lighting a candle and leaving a plate of food near an open chair for your deceased loved ones to enjoy a meal with you.
“This is traditionally known as the Dumb Supper, dumb as in silent. Usually people would eat in silence, and it’s a way to invite your deceased loved ones to join you for a meal. I don’t observe the silence; I’m more of a, ‘let’s talk about them,” Arden said. “One year I did it as brunch and set out a photo of Nana and I brought out my dog’s ashes. It was like Nana and Claude were there. We talked about them, and whether our loved ones exist beyond the veil or not, our memories do keep them alive.”
Outside of Samhain, Arden just recommends going outside to experience the change of the seasons.
“Eat as many pumpkins, squash, apples and pears. Make apple butter, if you have a crock pot, it’s so easy. Take a walk through a cemetery and look at the fall leaves changing, Arden said. “Even though we understand how the seasons exist and change, it’s still magic.”
Arden posts modern witch content on Instagram; her account can be found at lizzieandthebatz.
