Maggie’s Kitchen
Imagine this: A little cottage on a grassy hillside covered in green. Classic "magical fae cottage" with jasmine all over the place, vines covering the front windows, moss on the roof and there's a perfect little breakfast table off the kitchen.
This was the scene that set the mood for a surprising introduction while I was meditating the other night… I sat there at the little kitchen table: me the guest, and her, the cottage dweller.
We talked of spiritual things, of practical things and of time honored things. We talked of tradition and wellbeing.
We talked of ingredients.
I was eager to learn everything there is to learn about the craft. The cottage dweller was “self taught” from a lifetime of experience and a rather optimistic view on "trial and error".
I say "it's so nice to meet you and thank you for inviting me over for a chat"
"Oh, dearie, don't fret. We're informal 'round here. Just tell me what you want to know and I'll help if I can," she says.
She just poured a floral smelling cup of steaming tea from terracotta teapot and slid it across the table to me. I thanked her and inhaled the smell of jasmine deeply before testing the temperature with a small sip.
"I'm compiling a library of symbols and effigies for the modern world to use in their spiritual practices. I was hoping you'd speak to me about your personal experience as an Appalachian witch. Your personal experience as well as the history of your culture is a melting pot of fae and Celtic folklore mixed with early American protestant and let's not forget the rich history of the native Americans that once occupied these mountains and valleys. Pair all of that with the knowledge that the Appalachian mountains are among the oldest geological sites on earth; that's still above water and easy for us to study, at least. I would love for you to teach me about your herbs and share your guidance so that I might add it to my growing library of esoteric symbolism and associations."
She was nodding, smiling and sipping her tea. I'm not sure what she'll share, if anything. She's not in any way obligated or obliged to share with me and the only way I can help pursusde her to share is to simply tell the truth of my mission and hope that she's also a lover of knowledge passed down from generation to generation and from era to era, and thus might want to share for the simple enjoyment of sharing.
Finally, she leans forward and smiles. "You, derie, are in the right spot."
She stands up, looking excited and sauntered around the kitchen island, shoes tapping on the tile floor. She swings opened a pair of frosted glass fronted cabinet doors to chaos. It was an absolutely impossible-to-decipher system of organization that seems to work just perfectly for you, but to me it looks like it was being held together by string and gum.
She reaches up and nips a small bag off of a shelf. She started to walk back to the table but seemed to think better of it, doubling back to the cabinet. She holds her apron out on the countertop and started piling various containers, small bags, boxes and small bunches of herbs tied together with string.
"I knew you'd be coming soon. I just knew it." She says with a huge smile on her face. She gathers up the corners of her apron and allows all of the ingredients to fall into the bag she'd worked up and started walking my way.
I've been watching the scene unfold before me with utter delight and I feel like I've stepped into a daydream. "You knew? What do you mean." I ask, smiling.
"My mama told me about you when I was a little one. She said the blonde artist would come ask for help one day, and that I should give her a chance."
She smiles again and says "I just gave you your chance and I like the way you asked."
A smile blooms across my face as I light up, beaming while she starts organizing the small collection of items she brought to the table. She's setting each one up in some kind of clearly deliberate order but I can't tell what kind. "Settle in, dearie, this is gonna take a while."
"Thank you, Maggie." I said. I exhaled deeply with a sigh of relief.
🫖 Welcome to Maggie’s Table
A Kitchen of Stories, Spells, and Simmering Things
It started with a cup of jasmine tea and a feeling I couldn’t quite explain — the sense that I was being expected.
There’s a little cottage where the vines climb like they’ve been invited and the windows glow even when the lamps are out. I was the guest that day, stepping over the threshold like I’d been there before, even if I couldn’t remember how. The woman inside had warm eyes and a kettle already whistling.
“Don’t worry about knocking,” she called. “We’re informal ‘round here.”
I sat at her table, heart thudding like I was meeting someone important. She poured the tea without asking how I took it, and it was perfect anyway.
I called herself Maggie.
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🪞 A Mirror in an Apron
Maggie is hard to define. Part spirit, part guide, part memory passed down in the bones of people who stir pots and whisper to jars. She feels older than the hills and familiar as a favorite recipe. I can’t tell you if she’s real in the flesh-and-blood way — but she’s true.
And in the world of A’Mused, that’s what matters most.
She’s the reason this part of the business exists — the part I call The A’Mused Apothecary. Every charm set, every simmer pot, every spell-soaked ingredient starts at her kitchen table, usually with her saying something like:
“Well now, I’ve just the thing…”
I never know what she’ll pull from those frosted-glass cabinets or what lesson she’s about to sneak into a teacup. But every time, it’s exactly what I didn’t know I needed.
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🌿 Why Maggie Matters
Maggie is more than a character — she’s a conversation.
She represents the patchworked roots of modern folk magic: Appalachian wisdom, Celtic memory, Indigenous echoes, and modern intuition stitched together into something personal, present, and potent. She honors the past without romanticizing it. She believes in using what you have, trusting what you feel, and always labeling your jars.
Most importantly, Maggie knows that the everyday is already sacred — it just needs to be seen that way.
And now, you’re invited to her table too.
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🔮 What You’ll Find Here
This blog (and the Apothecary it’s part of) is my way of sharing what I’m learning from Maggie — and from my own research, trial-and-error, and late-night spirit conversations.
Expect:
Charm sets made with intention, symbolism, and a dash of storytelling
Simmer pot recipes with both magical and emotional resonance
Ingredient lore that blends verifiable uses with intuitive associations
Occasional tea, tangents, and unexpected wisdom in apron pockets
You don’t need to call yourself a witch to be here. You just need a heart open to wonder and a willingness to see magic in the mundane.
