SALT

Salt

Have you ever really thought about salt?  Good old sodium chloride, it sits on almost every dinner table, in every kitchen cabinet. But do you ever really think about it? It is so much a part of our everyday lives and it such an inexpensive commodity that many of us probably do not think that much about it. Interestingly enough, I do think about it from time to time. I sometimes ponder the many types of salt that are now available. I wonder if I should branch out and use some of the more exotic varieties in my bath salts. I like to cook so I have considered trying some of the gourmet salts that seem to be all the rage with the “foodies”. I also occasionally consider if all salt is technically sea salt; a theory put forth by a participant in one of my classes.

It is a necessary element for humans and animals alike. People who raise livestock have to provide them with salt licks and animals in the wild will seek it out from more natural sources. Just down the road from here is a place called Deer Lick; that quaint and somewhat funny name comes from the fact that the creek beds in this particular area were frequented in years past by the wild population of deer. The deer would congregate there and lick the rocks and stones to get the natural salt and other minerals that wash down from the higher elevations.

Mankind has a long history with salt; the truth is salt has played an incredibly important role in the history of humanity. We have mined, extracted, harvested, traded, savored and valued it through out our time on this planet. The oldest known salt works are some 5,000 years old in China and those of us who are Celtophiles undoubtedly know of the Hallstatt salt mines in what it is now Austria; these are but a mere 2,500 years old, give or take. Let us not forget the brilliant and brave Salt March of 1930 by Ghandi and his followers to protest the British Salt Tax. In some ways it could be said that salt has played and important part in shaping the history of human beings.

Historically we have used salt to flavor and preserve our food, to make soap, to dye cloth and to soothe and heal. Today we also use it to make glycerin, soften hard water, produce chlorine, melt ice and snow and the list goes on and on.

As witches, ceremonialists, magickal and spiritual practioners we use salt for our specific practices. Spiritually and magickally we use it to cleanse, to purify, to heal, soothe and to protect. Lots of authors and teachers are specific that we should use sea salt for our workings but there are those who claim that table salt is just as good or in truth no different. Chemically speaking salt is basically sodium chloride and depending on where the salt comes from it will also contain various other minerals or other organic constituents. Table salt is highly processed with all of the “impurities” removed and sometimes it is “iodized” to correct a deficiency on some diets. Many practitioners believe that these processes render the salt less than ideal for magickal and/or spiritual work.

Salt is very plentiful in some locales which is a good thing because as man has evolved we have found more and more uses for this abundant mineral. Interestingly enough although the acquisition of salt has definitely grown in scope the basic processes to harvest it has remained relatively unchanged. The deposits are either mined or it is harvested by flushing salt beds with water, transferring the water and dissolved salt to “beds” and then evaporating the water so as to harvest the mineral. Salt is also obtained from sea water by an evaporation process; this type is commonly referred to as Bay Salt, Sea Salt and sometimes solar salt.

Probably at no time in our history have we had so many choices when it comes to salt. Salt has been a rather precious commodity through out most if not all of human history but I dare say that never before have there been so many variations so widely available. Gone are the days when Dead Sea Salt was our most exotic choice. Today we can purchase Hawaiian Red Sea, Himalayan Pink, Dendritic, Premium Pacific Sea Salt, Celtic Grey Sea Salt, Smoked Salt, Indian Black Salt, Italian Sea Salt and the list goes on. The old standbys are naturally still available; kosher salt, table salt and of course Dead Sea salt.

Recently through an interesting series of events I acquired a large quantity of pure salt harvested from great ancient salt lakes long dried up, right here in the Southern California desert. This salt is pure, no additives, no anti-caking agents. Besides sodium chloride it contains trace amounts of other natural minerals such as calcium, magnesium and potassium (just like sea salt). This is a rock salt, slightly smaller than pea sized and it is mostly white with an occasional grayish-yellow cast. This is salt from the land we live on and while using salt from far flung lands does have a certain appeal there is something equally awesome about using local salt for some or all of our magickal work. It is inexpensive and perfect for all sorts of spiritual and magickal workings.

So, if you do find yourself thinking about salt; if you are discerning about the type of salt you use for your work I hope you try our Natural California Salt. It is inexpensive, natural and perfect for many types of magickal and spiritual work.

Salty Blessings

Raven

Raven's Flight

www.ravensflight.net