I mean, this one was pretty much inevitable.

(For a useful companion guide, you may also want to read this bit about nutmeg.)

I was never much of a fan of pumpkins growing up, but my experience with them was also limited to cleaning handfuls of cold, stringy, slimy pumpkin guts out of jack-o-lanterns and eating pasty-textured pumpkin pie from the grocery store. This year was my first experience processing fresh pumpkins, and it’s changed my entire outlook.

For as much work as it is to halve them, remove the prickly stems, clean them out, roast them, and puree them, it’s very well worth it. The flavor of a freshly roasted pumpkin is sweet, almost buttery, and nothing like the canned pumpkin pie filling of my youth. (Which is, let’s be honest, mostly made of other types of squash anyhow.)

As I’ve been gradually processing more of my ludicrous pile of pumpkins, I figured it’d be a good time to write a bit about their magical uses and relevant folklore.

The Folklore and Magical Uses of Pumpkins

While pumpkins are the predominant produce for jack-o-lanterns in the US, it wasn’t always this way. The original jack-o-lanterns were carved from turnips, and absolutely terrifying. While they’re a lot smaller than your average carving pumpkin, you can fit a ton of unsettling details into a turnip.

Jack-o-lanterns were originally used to keep confused or malevolent spirits at bay during the autumn months. They’re also connected to the Irish tale of Stingy Jack, a drunkard who managed to get himself barred from entering Heaven or Hell, and was thus condemned to roam the Earth with a candle in a turnip to light his way.

While the origins of the poem “Peter, Peter, Pumpkin-Eater” are unclear, it may have some fairly dark origins. One source claims that “Had a wife, and couldn’t keep her” refers to his wife’s infidelity. Putting her “in a pumpkin shell” was a euphemism for using a chastity belt. Another source claims that putting her in a pumpkin shell was intended more literally — Peter murders his wife, and conceals her body in a large pumpkin. The structure and subject matter of the poem hints that it may have come from an older rhyme from Scotland. While this rhyme doesn’t mention pumpkins (since pumpkins are native to the Americas), it does mention a Peter and an unkeepable wife. However, rather than putting her in a pumpkin shell, he lets her be eaten by rodents:

Peter, my neeper

Had a wife

And he couldn’t keep her

He pats her I the way

And lat a’ the mice eat her.

What the fuck, Peter.

Seeds, in general, are considered useful for beginning or attracting new things. Pumpkin seeds, being large, are easy to mark. This means that pumpkin seeds can be ideal components for any spell that involves making positive changes in your life. (As long as those don’t involve banishing things. You’ll probably want to use cloves or garlic for that instead.)

In religions that sprang from the African diaspora, pumpkins are associated with several major deities, particularly Oshun and Shango. Oshun is a goddess of rivers, love, and fertility, which echoes the connections between pumpkins, the element of Water, and the concepts of fertility and abundance as seen in other cultures and traditions.

To some groups indigenous to Mexico, pumpkins were considered a strengthening, fortifying food that increased endurance and protected against cold.

According to a Huron creation story, pumpkins arose when a divine woman died in childbirth. All of the plants necessary for life sprang up from her body: Beans grew from her legs, corn sprang from her body, and pumpkin vines grew from her head.

Pumpkins are associated with the Moon and the element of Water. They’re generally considered symbols of prosperity, protection, and fertility.

Using Pumpkins

Like muscadines, these are one of the easiest magical ingredients to use. They’re edible, so prepare them with intention and the proper techniques, then eat them. Bingo, bango.

To use the seeds, clean them well and dry them thoroughly. Using a fine, non-toxic, felt-tipped pen, write your desires on a pumpkin seed. (You’ll probably only be able to fit a single word, or a symbol. That’s fine!) Seeds represent the power of infinite possibility. You can plant the seed so your luck grows as the pumpkin vine does, set it outside so your wishes may be carried to the divine by birds or squirrels, or cast it into a body of water.

Pumpkins are traditionally a good offering to water spirits. Depending on the spirit, however, cutting or cooking the pumpkin first may be taboo.

If you decide to carve a jack-o-lantern, empower it to protect your home from evil. Set one or two as guardians at all of the doors leading into your home.

While there’s a ton of pumpkin scented and flavored things around this time of year, most of them don’t actually contain pumpkin. They’re more likely to be a combination of fragrance oils or artificial flavors. Likewise, pumpkin spice doesn’t contain pumpkin — it’s a blend of spices used in pumpkin dishes, like pies and cakes. This spice blend can be used for its own magical purposes, but it isn’t really the same as actual pumpkin.

I’ve still got a lot of pumpkins to go through, but, according to my Handsome Assistant, I’ve also devised a pumpkin bread recipe that knocks it out of the park. (I’ll post it, it just needs a Mabon feast test drive first!) I’ve got a ton of potlucks with like-minded individuals to attend over the next few months, so I’ll be bringing plenty of prosperity and protection magic with me.