My partner and I went to a wine tasting yesterday and it’s got me thinking about how alcohol fits into all the Coven principles.

From an herbal medicine perspective, it’s very utilitarian. Alcohol is simply an extraction solvent that works better or worse for particular plant materials or delivering particular botanicals to the body. In witchcraft, I’ve seen folks leave offerings of specific alcohols for specific deities, imbibing specific alcohol as part of ritual or communion with deities, and as part of Sabbat celebration.

As an industry as a whole, it’s actually pretty easy to engage with in a Zero Waste way. As a consumer, it’s fairly easy to purchase alcohol in glass or aluminum packaging, cardboard boxes, picking cork closed bottles, and it you’re out at a restaurant you just have to make sure you ask for no straw. It gets a little trickier when you start to think about production. The local vineyard we went to had 80 wines that they make on the property, but only a handful of those were made with grapes grown on the property. The rest were made with different kinds of grape juices that they source from all over the world, which turns a supposedly local purchase into a far shipped purchase. It’s the same for other kinds of alcohol too, where the consumer experience is fairly Zero Waste - like taking a growler of beer or cider or mead home from a local brewery…but then you have to think about where the ingredients for that brew were grown.

From a neurodivergence and mental health lens, alcohol becomes more gray magic. I’ve heard countless folks share that alcohol helps them mask in certain social situations, and can become a helpful to problematic coping tool. I can remember going to the restaurant I waitressed at in college, ordering a sangria, and finally being able to make headway on my capstone paper because I was just dampened enough to resist distractions. I’ve spent countless hours trying to sort through outside opinions, my own observations, and my own values to determine what engaging with alcohol looks like when it serves me. Truely makes my life better. I’m nowhere near done with my analysis but I’m trying to engage with no judgement and make objective observations.

Check out the Discord to share what your relationship with alcohol looks like!