Tarot & Food: Two of Swords Creole Chicken

This is a super simple dish. I had no CLUE what I was doing when I first made it and it turned out really tasty. I did learn a trick or two that I will share with you.

I am giving this one to the Two of Swords because of the Judgment of Solomon as well as the concept of Yin and Yang. On the surface Yin and yang comprise the concept of Male and Female but there is so much more than that. If you examine just a small portion of Taoism, you will find the concept that yin and yang are complementary opposites within a greater whole. Each exists in some small way within the other.

But what about King Solomon, Arwen? 

This will make sense later, I promise. First, a bit of Arwen angst. Aren’t you lucky! 

I’ve been doing some incredibly hard personal work with a therapist about my own opposite selves (and they are myriad!) The work revolves around the idea that I’ve had these traumatic events (and who hasn’t really?) in my life. By dealing with each one using a distinctive type of therapy called ERMD, I have been able to start piecing myself back together. If you are familiar with the term “soul retrieval”, I am finding this therapy to be very very very similar to that concept. Only I am doing my own retrieval.

It’s been very intense at times to see snapshots of myself from some of my own personal history. Kind of mix between a haunted house and a fun house (with all those warped mirrors) where I am different but the same. The energy in those moments is what I’ve been dealing with. And pulling myself back together–figuratively and literally. I’ve had visuals during this work of taking my self by the hand to bring me back into the many petaled lotus that is my concept of me.

Kind of difficult to write about and a bit heavy for a recipe post, but I can only write what comes to me for this. So I will ask that you bear with me through this.

So the Two of Swords to me can be about a mental battle or struggle. It can also be about the two sides of the brain–left and right–coming together as a whole. In this dish, the main flavors are sweet and hot. You can not have one without the other. In a similar way, you can not have yin without yang or vice versa. When the Two of Swords shows up in a reading, I tell my client that they need to pay attention to their internal mental battles. What two sides of themselves are not in harmony? Twos are often about balance. This particular two is in the suit of Air which is about mental capability (for me…some decks put Swords in fire.) So what do you need to do to balance yourself mentally? Sometimes you have to make a swift decision to end the struggle.

One great example of this Two of Swords thinking in action is in the Bible. Yes, I’ve read the Bible!  Look out! King Solomon ahead!

King Solomon is approached by two women who bring with them one dead baby boy. Each one tells the same story leveling the same accusation. It is her child. The story they tell is that they both gave birth near the same time. One woman smothered her child accidentally while sleeping. Distraught, she switched the dead child with the live child in secrecy. The mother of the stolen child realizes it is not her son. The two women argue and bring it to Solomon. (And they say television today has twisted plots! OY!) So anyway, to cut a long story short (hee), Solomon calls for a sword. He tells the women he will cut the living child in half. The one who tells him not to do it is deemed the true mother for only a true mother would sacrifice her own happiness for her child’s life.

That is a classic Two of Swords moment even though only one sword is used. So remember the judgment of Solomon when you are in your own Two of Swords struggle. Choose wisely so you do not destroy something or someone’s happiness–including your own!

Now here is my recipe at last. I am from Louisiana and one of the flavors of my home state is Creole–not to be confused with Cajun which is distinctly different from Creole in some pretty significant ways.

Creole has a Spanish influence among others. This dish combines rice and chicken with sweet honey and spicy tomatoes (there’s that yin/yang reference). It is a one-pot meal which are some of my personal favorites. This can be a real mess to clean up after so make sure you spray your pan with Pam!

Arwen’s Creole Chicken
• 2 LG chicken breasts; (I prefer with the bone)
• 1 cn Ro-tel Tomatoes, original recipe; (best brand I know of)
• 1 C rice, long grain white (if you use brown, increase water by half and cooking time by 15 minutes)
• 1 cn water (use the Ro-tel can so you can get the rest of the flavor!)
• 1/2 C honey
• 1-3 TBS Tony Cachere’s Cajun Seasoning (Don’t overdo. You can add more after cooking!)

Preheat the oven to 350.

Spray the bottom of a cast iron dutch oven with a cooking spray such as Pam.

Put the rice in and dump the Rotel on top. Fill the can with water and put that over the rice and Rotel. (Note, the water should stand approximately one knuckle above the rice so you may need to add water.) Season with Tony’s.

Put the chicken on top and liberally douse with honey (I use at least 1/2 a cup if not more.) Season with Tony’s again. Put the lid on and place in the oven at 350 degrees for at least an hour.

I like to serve this with a green salad and French bread. If you don’t use the cooking spray, clean up is a chore!