Last year I shared with you one of my favourite recipes for hot buttered rum and showed you how to turn it into an actual magickal drinkable potion.

So this year once it got cold outside, I started craving a delicious cup of hot buttered rum, or any of the variations I'm fond of (I like adding the batter to coffee or hot chocolate with just a little splash of rum, because a whole cup of hot buttered rum is often too strong for my tastes if I still have stuff to do when I prepare it and can't afford to get that relaxed and sleepy). 

The problem though is that this year I'm on keto, and sugar and keto don't mix at all.

So I came up with a keto-friendly version of hot buttered rum coffee (or chocolate).

And then it dawned on me that most people don't seem to realize that something as mundane as coffee is actually pretty magical and has a long history of being used in magic.

So I decided to talk about the magical history of coffee and 10 ways you can use it in magic.

And then at the end of the post I'll show you how to make a keto-friendly version of a hot buttered coffee drinkable potion (if you prefer the original potion recipe that has sugar in it, you can find here).

A SHORT MAGICAL HISTORY OF COFFEE

If you see coffee as a modern addiction that developed because people's lives got so busy and demanding, think again.

The history of coffee as a popular beverage actually has its very roots in magic and mysticism.

The first place historically where people started drinking coffee was Ethiopia (there is an Ethiopian coffee ritual practised up to this day).

In the 14th century, a Sufi sect (a sect of Islamic mysticists) brought coffee from Ethiopia to Yemen and began cultivating it.

The Sufis used coffee to stay awake during their late-night devotional practices.

In addition to that, they believed that coffee -when you infuse it with prayer and consumed with proper devotion- could lead to “qahwat al-Sufiyya,” a term broadly translated as “the enjoyment which the people of God feel in beholding the hidden mysteries and attaining the wonderful disclosures and the great revelations.”

From there, coffee spread to the rest of the Islamic world and even developed an angelic reputation: according to a legend, it was Archangel Gabriel himself who first served coffee to Muhammad.

When coffee was first introduced to Western Europe, it was met with suspicion and prejudice. We can't tell with certainty if it was because of the bitter taste, its connection with magic and mysticism, its aphrodisiac properties or the fact that it was so popular among Muslims, but catholics became very suspicious towards coffee, going so far as to term it "the bitter invention of Satan".

Pope Clement VIII, however, sampled coffee himself and instantly fell in love with it.

He declared that the drink of the devil was so delicious that instead of rejecting it, a baptism was in order so that they could cheat the devil and banish all the dark magic from coffee.

(So next time someone tells you that coffee is bad for you, you can tell them that it has been officially blessed by none other than the Pope himself :P )

THE MAGICAL USES OF COFFEE

1. Coffee has long been considered a drink that stimulates the mind and spirit, so you can use it in rituals meant to restore a person's energy.
   

2. In addition to that, you can use it in spells for creativity.
   

3. The smell of coffee has a reputation of acting as a mild antidepressant (a property it has in common with frankincense, which also has a long tradition of being used in ritual).
   

4. In terms of practical magic, coffee has the power to remove curses and nasty stuff from people (including nasty spirits), which is why you will find it in different uncrossing bath recipes.
   

5. Considering the stimulating powers of coffee and the kick a hot cup of coffee gives, it's no surprise that coffee is considered fiery and Martial in nature.
   

6. This means that you can use it (in ground form or as a hot beverage) to add a "kick" to your spells and rituals. It can be included in spells of a fiery nature or to speed things up. Similarly, you can give it as an offering to a spirit when you want something to happen fast or when you need to put a lot of power and energy behind something.
   

7. You can also use it for protection by sprinkling it around the perimeter of your house or anywhere else where you want to add protection.
   

8. It also has a reputation of being able to protect from and/or remove ghosts.
   

9. As an aphrodisiac, you can include it in lust spells or brew it into a drinkable potion and serve to your loved one to increase fun times ;)
   

10. Finally, coffee grounds are used for divination in much the same way tea leaves are (in fact I had never heard about reading tea leaves before until I saw it as a lesson in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban when I was 12, but I was very familiar with coffee divination because I knew of a lot of people in my neighbourhood who practised it when I was a child) .

HOT BUTTERED RUM COFFEE DRINKABLE POTION (KETO VERSION)

So now that we've talked about how magical coffee is, let's go ahead and make that delicious drinkable potion, shall we?

For one cup of hot buttered rum coffee you will need:

• One Tablespoon of butter (to smooth things, make things easier or make things go your way)

• Coffee grounds to make one cup of coffee

• Half a shot of rum (preferably dark rum)

• A pinch of cinnamon (good for lust, passion, good luck and heating things up)

• A pinch of ground cloves (for friendship and good luck)

• A pinch of nutmeg (for good luck in money matters and games of chance)
  

EXECUTION

1. Decide on what you want your hot buttered rum coffee potion to accomplish magically.
   

2. Take the coffee grounds, talk to them and ask the spirit of coffee to help you with what you desire (mention your specific desire).
   

3. Make a cup of coffee with the grounds.
   

4. Take the butter and speak to it, asking it for your specific desire.
   

5. Take each of the other ground spices and talk to them individually and ask them for what you desire before adding them to the butter.
   

6. Mix the spices with the butter well.
   

7. When the coffee is ready, add it and the butter mixture to a blender and mix them all together until you have a creamy cup of coffee. Alternatively, you can use a hand blender (in this case you may want to split the butter mixture and coffee in two first and beat them separately, unless you have a tall enough container, otherwise it will splash all over the place).
   

8. When your coffee is ready, take the rum and ask it to add a kick to your potion and increase its effectiveness and speed. Then add it to the coffee and stir well.
   

9. Optionally, you can sweaten with stevia or your favorite keto-friendly sweetener.
   

That's it! Your potion is ready to enjoy or serve to a loved one!

PIN IT!