Altar supplies Questions

[Morning]

We don't have a thread for such questions, so I thought I'd start one with my own question.
Post any questions (or answers) you have about anything altar related here.


My question: [Has been answered; leave your own questions]
What is the difference between ceramic and metal (cast iron, etc) cauldrons? Is more "effective" than the other?Are either of these hard to clean? Do you find one better for rituals more so than the other?

Any opinions are greatly appreciated and I hope this thread is useful for others.
^.^

[Charlie]

I'm not sure of the exact properties offhand of ceramic and cast iron, but I remember reading somewhere never to use metal cookware (and specifically iron) in magic and I thought, "What the fuck? I don't agree with that." Trust your spirit and your intuition when choosing what to work with. The same thing doesn't work with everyone. I'm personally called to use cast iron in my work. I have a mini cast iron cauldron that I use for burning incense on a charcoal block. I have a larger cauldron with the triple moon goddess on it that I wanted to use when boiling water. My mom got it for me and it was extremely expensive. When I used it on the stove, all this waxy crap started dripping from it and burning. So now I use it for other purposes. When I'm making something in water now, I use a cast iron dutch oven. Far more budget-friendly. I bought a decent-sized one with a wooden lid at World Market for $17USD.

Same thing goes with all the other fancy crap. If you think about what you use when you're in ritual normally, you can get more of a feel of what works for you. If you're called to use items that you use every day, it's because something about it calls to you and will work to you. If I hear a witch say, "Your wand has to be made of this wood and it has to be this long," or "You can never use items in magic that you'd use in your mundane life," I take it with a grain of salt. Because it is blatantly untrue for me in my practice, though it might be true for them in theirs.

[erriender]

On a practical note, cast iron is better for holding fire as it is more heat resistant. Ceramic can crack with constant swelling and shrinking from repeated heating. So I suggest iron if your cauldron is for burning things.
However if it is for cooking, the metal absorbs the herbs properties and leaks metal into whatever you're making and can reduse the taste and properties of what your working with. Stainless steel is better for cooking with if you want metal but ceramic is also good for that.

[glowingjade]

I prefer cast iron too... I just have a little mini cauldron but the fact that it is cast iron means it can handle the heat of a flame and has enough weight to it that i'm not going to knock it over. Another thing that I really like about my mini cauldron is that if for some reason I want to put out my fire I can just stick the lid on top and because of its heaviness it blocks out all the air and my fire dies down really fast

As for the whole cleaning thing... if you're going to use ANYTHING for food preparation keep it at that, you don't want to get burning dangerous herbs in it one day and making soup from it the next... even if it is ceramic or glass.. I dont know i'd just feel iffy about doing that and taking that risk.

If you are going to use a cauldron just for burning stuff and incense then wiping down the inside is really really easy

[formosa]

I have an old big ashtray for burning things in. Some sand on the bottom and it works perfectly. You can't make any big fire in it, but for incenses and small papers it is perfect for.

Kitchen cutlery and pots-pans-dishes - Unless I know it is poisonous or boiling things together creates poisonous compounds, I have no problem using them. It goes without saying that poisonous stuff is kept away of them. If possible, out of the house too.

[Morning]

Wow! Thanks for all the great responses! You all gave me the exact info I needed.
The decision was less of a spiritual thing and more of a "is this gunna explode/poison me" thing.
^.^

[formosa]

In ideal I think one should know about the plants before using them in their work - that's the minus side of learning from book and in fast pace. Here I'd preferre someone, who could tell me right away what one plant does or on what should we be causious.