The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum

Hi all, I hope you're having a good day?

So this is something that has been on my mind a lot recently. Although I have a good idea why one might make offerings, I've been finding lately that doing regular formal(ish) offerings has been making what should be a sacred act feel like a chore. I try to make an offering to the God and the Goddess every week, and an offering to the spirits at the change of the month, but I feel as if this has become something empty of meaning because I've made it something I have to do, not something i genuinely want to. That's not to say I'm not grateful to my gods, or want to show my gratitude, but this way of going about it seems to have removed something sacred since it requires preparation and seems to create tension for me. At the same time, I don't want to seem disrespectful by just dropping an offering off in the woods without ritual, because I'm really unsure about what is and isn't respectful (I use this word lightly, though, because I know how vague it is and how what is good for one being may not be for another).

With this is mind, I have begun to wonder why we even make offerings in the first place, and from a pantheistic perspective, why everything that is selfless and good that we do in the world cannot be considered an offering to the One divine?

I hope to cause no offence, and ask these questions in honesty and earnest, so I hope I don't come across as rude or disrespectful. Any and all replies will be greatly appreciated!

Blessed Be

Additional Info: It should be noted that by "dropping an offering off in the woods" I mean making an more informal offering in a public area - as tourists and even locals sometimes come to visit the nearby woodlands, I would be unable to stop for long or make larger offerings unless I found a secluded or quieter area to do so. While not much would change, in theory, there would be the need to consider other people using the area. Additionally, although I have a more informal relationship with deity (or have been encourage to, according to perceived messages through self-performed tarot readings) I'm unsure about informal worship and offerings as I am fairly new to my path.

With this is mind, I have begun to wonder why we even make offerings in the first place, and from a pantheistic perspective, why everything that is selfless and good that we do in the world cannot be considered an offering to the One divine?

Different religions and different cultures have different answers to this one. So do different people within a given group.

Personally, I don't generally do offerings outside of those connected with ritual, and in my tradition, the direct food offerings are token amount (a pinch of bread and a little libation of wine, from the same cup and loaf that was shared by the human beings in ritual.)

In that case, the offering is meant to include the deities we invited in the ritual meal the same way we include people who are there. No ritual meal, no need for an offering. (So, smaller stuff I do that doesn't involve a full cast circle and a Great Rite, no offering of food and drink.)

With the deities I honour personally, my main offering is not something where food or drink or incense is a particularly meaningful offering most of the time: my best offering is my time and energy on things that M'Lady values. So I do that, and I think of her, and that works fine for that specific relationship.

I also don't own where I live (I rent, and in a mid-sized building and there's very limited outside access that is not very public), or I might consider a ritual for land spirits, but it's just not ... quite applicable right now.

There are situations in which I'd do a more elaborate food and drink offering, but they are mostly rituals for specific reasons. (Samhain, when we do favourite foods of loved ones who have died.)

Or if I am asking a favour of a deity I don't normally have an ongoing relationship with, I will start with offerings, but that might be food or it might be poetry or music or incense - depends on the deity, depends on what the practical options are for me right then, depends on what my goals are.)

One other possible option for many deities is doing something regular for a cause that they would be aligned with - some people I know donate to or volunteer for pet shelters, for example, for deities associated with particular animals. I know some people who would make a regular food shelf donation for Hecate, on the day of the month when it was traditional to leave offerings of food at crossroads for people who need it. For some deities, a donation of time or money to a particular political campaign or cause might be appropriate.

As to why deities might *like* offerings of physical things, some practices suggest that deities can enjoy physical things in certain circumstances (like if they're ritually offered), and deities like interesting things to taste or smell just as much as we do. It's not necessarily a necessity for them, but it is a way to show hospitality and generousity, which are things that deities may also like and approve of.

I have begun to wonder why we even make offerings in the first place, and from a pantheistic perspective, why everything that is selfless and good that we do in the world cannot be considered an offering to the One divine?

This is why I loathe divine mystery a lot of the time. If we can't know how it works, how are we supposed to know what to do? If I get unstuck on macro-corporeal logic, though, I can trust (or at least respect) a variety of intuitions. There's a saying not to treat gods like vending machines, but if duty/recompense is someone else's understanding of the relationship then I'm not even going to warn them about the time I blah which I took to mean blah blah besides the text of so-and-so suggests stuff thing. Or if someone else makes offerings to the gods in the same way they bring hobby-baked goods to their friends, because they like to bake so much that they do it on the regular and stuff-giving is just how they treat their friends, no recompense required. Or making offerings with the same attitude of saying hello, would you please, thank you, small favors to neighbors. (Applicability depends on the neighborhood, of course.) And sometimes favors do become a chore, but for as many reasons as there are people who do it anyway...people do it anyway. I can respect the value of that, too, besides it gives me a headache to try to calculate that value as compared to anybody else's personal practice.

I guess it's really all good as long as there's room for all of the aforementioned, plus pantheists, plus "quit wondering how/why and just do it anyway, that's what religious faith is", plus people who wonder if on the Other other side of the altar is a god going, "That's sweet, kid. (What am I supposed to do with a feather you found on the sidewalk?)"

I hear Marcel Mauss' wrote some interesting stuff about the concept of a "gift" in society that's different from a sacrificial offering, and I suspect that could be potentially (personally) applicable to less corporeal relations as well. As above posters mentioned, though, it also depends on the theology/cosmology of the traditions that have this practice?

Next point: in a tradition that practices reversion of offerings, the act of food offering is basically a replication of the concept of Holy Communion. The food offering which has been given to the god has been subsumed into the divine presence, and partaking of it afterwards is an act of intimacy and honour.  One is becoming one substance with the divine presence in the offering.

 
I have, until now, done a similar thing. A question, though - do you eat all of the offering, or just half?

Thanks to everyone for your contributions, you've all been a real help

With this is mind, I have begun to wonder why we even make offerings in the first place, and from a pantheistic perspective

 

• To invite a dear friend, family member, honored guest into our homes and lives and offer them refreshments.
• To share what we have been given. A guest brings a bottle of wine or a cake, we share it.
• To give reverence with things what mean something to us or we enjoy, i.e. food, drink, flowers, aroma (incense), light (candles, oil lamp). Though the gods need none of this.
• An offering could be a meditative quiet time when you reaffirm and offer your devotion to a particular deity.

I don't do the typical home puja as often as many Hindus do, or as often as I'd like to. But in the tradition I follow, it's actually enough to offer my love, devotion and thoughts of the gods, and even to mentally offer something. I can look at a flower and imagine offering it to Krishna, or Shiva, or another deity, and it's immediately offered and accepted.

why everything that is selfless and good that we do in the world cannot be considered an offering to the One divine?

It can be. There's a saying "nara seva narayana seva", service to man [is] service to God. There are many ways and reasons to make offerings or even not make them.

In the living tradition I'm familiar with (Hindu), it's, if I remember right, an active offense to the god in question to leave a portion of their blessing behind.

In the reversion religion I actually practice (Kemetic), the whole consumable offering is eaten.  I don't know whether or not the ancient Egyptians believed leaving it behind was an insult to the gods, but it was certainly wasteful.

 
This is where I often jump in and point out that there are other Pagan/polytheistic traditions where eating offerings is taboo. Most Gaelic polytheists don't eat offerings, based on the Irish idea that food left for spirits has had the essence taken out by the deity or spirit in question, and is no longer good/safe to eat. It's based mostly on a superstition around the Good Folk (faeries), as far as I can tell, but it's become custom in our community.

Which brings us back to the theology/philosophy of why we make offerings and what happens to them, which I personally find central to the whole thing. The concept of 'do ut des', that Kiya mentioned, is the *why* of offerings for me (or at least, one of the primary reasons). ADF (druid order) calls this 'ghosti' - a reconstructed word that means 'mutual hospitality'. Gaelic polytheism has hospitality as a central, sacred virtue, and it's what I aim to base my practice around, beginning with hospitality to the gods and bringing that into an attitude/practice of hospitality towards all life. (I am terrible at it and have a lot of work to do there, but it's my starting point.) The *how* and *what* of the offering then depends on a number of things, including what I believe the spirit in question would like, and practices like burying the offering after giving it to the spirit.

Nymree, what is the reason why you give offerings? If you start with the why, you may find you get to the how and what more easily.

Hi all, I hope you're having a good day?

So this is something that has been on my mind a lot recently. Although I have a good idea why one might make offerings, I've been finding lately that doing regular formal(ish) offerings has been making what should be a sacred act feel like a chore. I try to make an offering to the God and the Goddess every week, and an offering to the spirits at the change of the month, but I feel as if this has become something empty of meaning because I've made it something I have to do, not something i genuinely want to. That's not to say I'm not grateful to my gods, or want to show my gratitude, but this way of going about it seems to have removed something sacred since it requires preparation and seems to create tension for me. At the same time, I don't want to seem disrespectful by just dropping an offering off in the woods without ritual, because I'm really unsure about what is and isn't respectful (I use this word lightly, though, because I know how vague it is and how what is good for one being may not be for another).

With this is mind, I have begun to wonder why we even make offerings in the first place, and from a pantheistic perspective, why everything that is selfless and good that we do in the world cannot be considered an offering to the One divine?

I hope to cause no offence, and ask these questions in honesty and earnest, so I hope I don't come across as rude or disrespectful. Any and all replies will be greatly appreciated!

Blessed Be

Additional Info: It should be noted that by "dropping an offering off in the woods" I mean making an more informal offering in a public area - as tourists and even locals sometimes come to visit the nearby woodlands, I would be unable to stop for long or make larger offerings unless I found a secluded or quieter area to do so. While not much would change, in theory, there would be the need to consider other people using the area. Additionally, although I have a more informal relationship with deity (or have been encourage to, according to perceived messages through self-performed tarot readings) I'm unsure about informal worship and offerings as I am fairly new to my path.

 
Have you considered having a different way of offering? I've done the offerings at the shrine/altar for awhile til I was asked to save any of my Canadian quarters with poppies on that come my way. Once there's a sizeable amount, I'd be rolling them up and donating it to a charity that would be honouring Morrigan. Poppies have a special meaning for me and this is a way that still honours Her. It's the time and money to help others that matters in my case...