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genitalia, and served them during fertility festivals. 12 Selene was honored with crescent-shaped cakes; Hermes with those in the form of a herald’s rod. 93 Cakes marked with the images of the horns of the moon were offered to Astarte. 29 The Greek goddess Artemis was honored each month with round cakes, upon which burning candles were placed. 124
    In China, moon cakes are baked in honor of the autumn moon festival. A small table is placed on a patio and piled with the round cakes and fruit. Family and relatives eat them in sight of the lunar orb. 3
    In Teutonic Europe, sweetened breads were formed into the images of humans and animals and were offered in place of living sacrificial victims. The twisted breads now made in Germany have a religious and magical origin. They were made and given to the goddess Holle by her worshippers to avoid her punishment: rumpling of the hair. 93
    Serbian Gypsies transferred the power of edible cakes to their symbolic form. To cure headaches cakes, roosters, suns, knives, snakes, and acorns were embroidered upon the affected person’s clothing. These symbols dispelled the evil eye, once believed to be the true cause of headaches. 14
    All cakes and sweetened breads are ruled by the planet Venus and the element of water, and so are imbued with loving energies. Today, cakes and sweetened breads are still important symbolic foods at birthdays, weddings, and religious festivals throughout the world. Here is some of this magic.
    Birthday Cakes
    Offering a special cake to a person enjoying a birthday is a custom of obscure origin, but almost certainly is meant to magically ensure that the recipient won’t suffer poverty or hunger during the coming year. Birthday cakes may also be related, in some way, to astrology, for the sun is (obviously) in the same position in the zodiac on the day of birth every year. Small candles might have originally been placed upon the cake in the shape of the person’s zodiac sign. Created from sacred foods (grain, butter, sugar, and eggs), cakes are uniquely linked with the divine and are perfect gifts on birthdays.
    Why do we write on special-occasion foods, such as birthday cakes? This involves the idea that the act of eating words (even those created out of icing) magically transfers the energies represented by those words to their eaters. “Happy Birthday” and “Good Luck” carefully written on cakes were originally more than kind gestures—they were ritual assurances of just these things.
    Some scholars claim that our modern birthday cakes, topped with candles, are related to those once created for Artemis. 124 The lit candles are reminders of the sacred fires of this goddess. Additionally, when a child woke on its birthday, German peasants lit cake-borne candles.
    Blowing out the candles and “making a wish” are obviously remnants of forgotten magical rituals—perhaps those performed to gain the favor of Artemis. The next time you’re presented with a candlelit cake, visualize your wish as you blow.
    The color of the candles is important. Use white candles for protection and purification; pink for spiritual love; red for sexuality; blue for peace and healing; purple for healing and spirituality; green for growth, abundance, and money; yellow for clear thinking, and orange for energy.
    Round cakes represent spirituality, while square and rectangular cakes symbolize prosperity. If you make a cake for a friend’s birthday, put much love and positive energy into it. Ice it with appropriate symbols, and words, visualizing all the time. If you wish, place the candles on the table around the table, instead of on top of the cake.
    All-natural cakes, sweetened with honey, frosted with honey icing, and containing whole grains, can be served to those who forgo conventional “junk foods.” Fresh, chopped fruits can also be added while keeping their magical energies in mind (see chapter 11 ).
    Wedding Cakes
    The