Rue's Kitchen
Welcome to Rue's Kitchen
For those of you visiting for the first time, Please read the following very carefully:
Rue's Kitchen's primary mission is in the preservation of customs and practices of my family and antenati. Herein you will find traditional Italian witchcraft, stregoneria italiana, magia operativa, folk medicine, medicina popolare tradizionale, and old-fashioned Roman Catholic folk religion, esorcismi, preghiere ed incantesimi, practiced, by Italians all over the world. You will also find information on customs, traditions, and recipes.
Amongst people of Italian descent scattered all over the world, probably even moreso than native Italians of today, there is a tradition which is passed on from mother to daughter, mother to son, (sometimes father to son), aunt to niece, Godmother to Goddaughter, etc. This tradition is very rich, and in it will be found the magical and religious rituals and prayers for the outward expression of one's inner spirituality for every phase and condition of one's life. So often are the practices of witchcraft, folk medicine, and blessing rituals combined, that they have become greater than the sum of their parts thus, from both the practical and cultural point of view, any effort to divorce one from the other, weakens them all.
Why did I name my site "Rue's Kitchen"? I was raised by my Zia's (buon'anima) heart and hearth, and it is to her that this website is dedicated. How lucky I was to grow up in a house with a real hearth that burned real wood all the time! That's where daily life occurred, and through the ages the kitchen (hearth) has always been the hub of many charms, rituals, healings, and celebrations. Many of you will agree that "Mamma's" kitchen has always produced magical memories for humanity; memories of her cooking something special to eat to comfort a broken heart or, a remedy to make a sick child feel better, still holds true today for many of us.
It is with great warmth and affection that I welcome you into my Kitchen.
-- Rue Roselli,
August 2008