Offerings to the gods / goddess.....

[MonSno_LeeDra]

One frequent question I see is what is a proper offering to ___________?

Now on the surface I think it is a fair question. Every person , whether they be new or ancient, wants to honor thier respective god / goddess. They collectively want to make the offerings that their religious beliefs and dogma stated should be made.

But is it actually that simple of a question to answer? We frequently see or hear recomendations of tabacco, wine, erbs or other such things. Some more practical with items of food or some thing made or created as an offering.

Yet here is the delima as I see it, if you are not a Recon then what is an appropriate offering. If I follow a Recon path and try to make everything as historicaly correct as possible then many of those things are mentioned in ancient texts and such. Many tales and legends speak of what was offered as an offering at holy times, and certain temples and such. Litteraly, a whole library of idea's to draw upon.

Even historical evidence is coming forth of what type things where made in offering to the gods / goddess. Weapons and bejeweled items pulled from marshes in the British Isles that where sacrificed to the gods / goddess. Analysis of holy sites in Greece now revealing what was burnt or left as offerings.

If I am not a Recon but try to follow an established cultural set, then the same tales and such still apply. I follow that religious frame work so my offerings and such should be aligned to that system I would think.

Yet if I selectively pick a god / goddess but don't follow the frame work of thier religious order then what is an appropriate offering?

Think about it. If I offer tabacco to Artemis or Bast is that appropriate? Historically I would not think so for it is an item from the America's and those goddess would not even know what it is, that being based upon their cultural development, Yes, appropriate if I offer it to Coyote or White Buffalo Calf Woman Comes Dancing or any other figure of that cultural origin.

I might leave Olives or Dates for Artemis or Bast but never for Lady Sif. If Neptune or Posiedon is my god why would I leave something of the land for them?

Yet does it not then become more of what I as an individual think is appropriate as an offering to my god / goddess? If they are my god / goddess then why would I not follow my heart and make an offering vice asking what another thinks is a valid offering?

It seems to me to be playing if I try to give in offering what the cultural norm was but then omit or avoid what the cultural belief actually ment for that god / goddess. I think if you are going to take them out of their cultural position then why would you not follow your heart and what it means to you vice asking what did they do for them even though I don't follow it that way.

If they are your god / goddess and your own heart doesn't tell you what an appropriate offering is then are they really your god / goddess? Do you really know your god / goddess!

Other's may not sacrifice a bunch of sapling trunks for arrows or bow to Artemis but to me that is her desire. I may sacrifice water and milk to Bast for both are precious and substainers of life in the desert yet that is again my feeling of what she desires.

Yet I have to ask myself what do you (collectively) really know about your god / goddess if you have to ask what is appropriate. I personaly would think if you can't answer what they desire from you or you can't answer what is the most special thing YOU can offer then something is wrong.

Just my opinion.

[Fiamma]

Good post...I'm going to put in a request that it be ported on over to the gods & goddesses forum though, since it deals directly with deities.

[MonSno_LeeDra]

That's fine.

I started to put it thier then wondered if it was the correct place as it seemed to be more aligned to how we make and select offerings vice the actual god / goddess themselves.

Sometimes it's just so hard to narrow down just where it should go. he he he

[Fiamma]

That's fine.

I started to put it thier then wondered if it was the correct place as it seemed to be more aligned to how we make and select offerings vice the actual god / goddess themselves.

Sometimes it's just so hard to narrow down just where it should go. he he he

No worries. I think it's so easy sometimes for topics to get lost in the general pagan forum like this one seems to have already.

I do plan to read over it more carefully and make some comments, probably later today, hopefully more people will see it too.

[Zephyrstorm]

The way that I percieve these questions is less of a "what is historically accurate" and more of a "what have you given him/her that they've enjoyed?"

Its a means of also finding out if we're just fooling ourselves. If four pagans serving the same deity, come to the same conclusion about an offering that is wholly modern, then it seems more likely that they aren't completely bonkers.

Sure, you can stick with purely traditional offerings, but there are some deities who's traditional offerings aren't practical for one reason or another. We can't expect a guy with the patron Cybele to become a Galli in truth; which would require a ritualized castration.

Do some folks just pull their ideas for offering out of thin air? sure, and if they're developing a healthy relationship with their deities, I'm sure the gods have ways of telling them whether the offering works.

;) Great subject. I'm looking forward to reading what others think.

[patch]

I agree with the above.

I do tend to go with what is historially accurate, but somethimes I like to just try something new. If I get a positive response, I'll look for evidence to back it up. Perhaps a similar kind of offering from the culture? Or I'll check with others to see if they have similar UPG.

[MonSno_LeeDra]

Zephyrstorm wrote:


The way that I percieve these questions is less of a "what is historically accurate" and more of a "what have you given him/her that they've enjoyed?"

If that was the slant of the question then I would agree. However I do think that one would word thier question a bit different. If it came from a Recon, I would think it would be more along the lines of a " I have made offerings of ______ to god / goddess and received ______ from them. If working from a UPG then I would ask for confriming information to see if I was alone in my UPG or if others had reached the same conclusions.

The above may hold true if the person followed a cultural observation of the god / goddess in question. Not as strick as the Recon but I believe it would be asking for confirmaiton of like results from others.

I would think the results would be invalid if I worshipped them outside their norm. It seeem's sort of ludacriss to me to think that the results I get from them for how I preceive them would be the same for anyone else that holds them in a different association. Likewise I think it invalid to think that the way person A worships and acknowledges their god / goddess would work for another who see's them in a different venue.

Sort of if I call upon Artemis as the protector of women in that capacity and another calls upon her in the hunter capacity the offerings being made would differ and so too would the returns if any. Yet to ask blindy seems to me that the person doesn't know the various facets the god / goddess may take or be honored in.


If four pagans serving the same deity, come to the same conclusion about an offering that is wholly modern, then it seems more likely that they aren't completely bonkers.


I couldn't agree more if the four held the god / goddess in the same orientation and worship the same characteristics. In that light I believe they could find a uniformity of results.

Yet if like I stated above, I worship Artemis in her capacity as hunter, another worshipers her in her capacity as protector of girls while another worshipers her as one who brings justice and vengence for slights then I would think three different sacrifices would be in order as we call upon three differernt facets of the goddess.


Sure, you can stick with purely traditional offerings, but there are some deities who's traditional offerings aren't practical for one reason or another


I agree but I think in that instance the god / goddess in question would reveal to the practioner whether it is an acceptable sacrifice for them.


Patch wrote:


I do tend to go with what is historially accurate, but somethimes I like to just try something new


I think many of us have. It's sort of a way to bring our god / goddess into the realility of our current world. I believe it's also a way for us to sacrifice things that we hold in high esteem as a greater sacrifice to our god/goddess.

I think it's also a way to discover if we understand some facet of the god/goddess differrently or closer than we may have originaly thought. Some times a sacrifice can be totaly wrong and we are made aware of that for it was done in our best intent while other times our butts can be handed to us for we tried even though things indicated that it was wrong or not the way for me to individualy sacrifice to Artemis.

[Mesektet]

I find myself having the same conundrum, a proper offering?

All I have found to suffice, outside of the occasional work or acheivement, is the fact that since the divine aspects of reality came to touch me and freed my eyes of their bondage that living my life, the best I can, the way I can, is the best offering that I have to give.