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Author Topic: Food: Food & Drinks for the Deities, Spirits, and Such  (Read 20580 times)

TheGreenWizard

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Food & Drinks for the Deities, Spirits, and Such
« on: August 22, 2019, 01:17:02 pm »
As of late, I've been trying to think what to offer to my deities - Dionysos, Persephone - as well as my ancestors, and the local land spirits. This thought process comes after doing a recent offering and getting the feeling that it was meh - as Eastling put it (after doing a Tarot reading), "The offerings were what they [The Gods and Spirits] expected at this time, but you will get better at doing them."

So I'm wondering, what do you offer in terms of food and drink to the Gods, Ancestors, and Spirits?

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go...”
― Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You'll Go

Ashmire

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Re: Food & Drinks for the Deities, Spirits, and Such
« Reply #1 on: August 22, 2019, 01:51:36 pm »
As of late, I've been trying to think what to offer to my deities - Dionysos, Persephone - as well as my ancestors, and the local land spirits. This thought process comes after doing a recent offering and getting the feeling that it was meh - as Eastling put it (after doing a Tarot reading), "The offerings were what they [The Gods and Spirits] expected at this time, but you will get better at doing them."

So I'm wondering, what do you offer in terms of food and drink to the Gods, Ancestors, and Spirits?

I keep water offerings regularly refreshed and refilled on the altar at all times.  Since the bulk of my offerings are for Bruce Lee (and sometimes his Teacher Ip Man), I tend to often use traditional Chinese things such as Oolong tea and citrus fruit, which seems well received.  Sometimes I will get an intuitive nudge to leave something different, and I usually go with whatever is requested in that way. Never had a problem doing so.

Another point to consider is what you are serving offerings *on*.  At first I used more decorative fancy china, and kept getting a sense of awkwardness, like someone trying to be a polite about an unwanted gift.  So, I got myself into a good meditative state and asked what I needed to do differently, and got a strong sense of wistfulness directed to my vintage Corning/Pyrex collection, and since switching to that everything feels better received.  Apparently, my patron prefers sensible, durable dishes with human-sized proportions.   I'm sure there are others out there who actually want the "good dishes" or something specially made just for them, too.

The majority of my blood ancestors are...rather not people I want to work with and in spite of a lot of people who make it feel like it's necessary to forgive and welcome them, I've had plenty of divinitory confirmation and just plain gut feelings that they're too troubled and troublesome a bunch to approach safely for the most part.   That said, my mother, though much bowed under the baggage of generational trauma, did try hard and got at least as much right as wrong.  She asked for Coca-Cola on her deathbed, and that plus Greek fast-food ( somewhat of a significant niche market locally) are things I associate with her and sometimes make a point to have some on a significant date in her memory.



Dynes Hysbys

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Re: Food & Drinks for the Deities, Spirits, and Such
« Reply #2 on: August 22, 2019, 02:46:55 pm »


So I'm wondering, what do you offer in terms of food and drink to the Gods, Ancestors, and Spirits?

Water is the default. We are all so used to it coming out of the tap, clean and pure that it's easy to overlook what a precious liquid it really is.

Otherwise it depends. My beloved dead get their favourite tipple whilst they were alive, the rest get single malt whisky or an excellent cognac. One likes Guinness. I also give cider as I live in an area where cider is a traditionala drink. Food is always home made bread or cake.

Donal2018

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Re: Food & Drinks for the Deities, Spirits, and Such
« Reply #3 on: August 22, 2019, 03:10:27 pm »
As of late, I've been trying to think what to offer to my deities - Dionysos, Persephone - as well as my ancestors, and the local land spirits. This thought process comes after doing a recent offering and getting the feeling that it was meh - as Eastling put it (after doing a Tarot reading), "The offerings were what they [The Gods and Spirits] expected at this time, but you will get better at doing them."

So I'm wondering, what do you offer in terms of food and drink to the Gods, Ancestors, and Spirits?

When I was in High School I was a bit of a Juvenile Delinquint and would often drink beer in a park with my friends. We would regularly pour beer on the ground and say "To the gods!" I don't know who started the practice, but you could tell there was a lot of power involved and a lot of adolescent lifeforce.

My personal practice is simple in some ways and I often just offer clean pure water, which others have mentioned. I also use beer for my ancestors and family that have passed.

One memorable time was when I was in New York City. I had to go to the Metropolitan Museum for an Art History course. I went to the Mastaba of Pernebi (not sure of the spelling) in the Egyptian section.

I was there for a long time drawing the interior. In my studies I had read that it was traditIonal to leave food and drink, which I did, I think a sandwich and a soda. I got a very strong feeling of gratitude, that the spirit there had been neglected, treated as a tourist site and not respected.

Anyway, I also had an encounter there with Sekhmet, and that was very powerful. I would recommend to anyone to go to that museum.

Jenett

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Re: Food & Drinks for the Deities, Spirits, and Such
« Reply #4 on: August 22, 2019, 03:48:12 pm »
So I'm wondering, what do you offer in terms of food and drink to the Gods, Ancestors, and Spirits?

Depends.

Daily offering is energy, because I do it before work, the health stuff means mornings are a) not great, and b) there's some stuff I have to do before work, and I leave for work at 7am, so there is not a lot of morning before that.

Once a week I do a more substantial offering of water (or sometimes cream and/or honey), a candle, and incense. I have a small specific offering I do at the same time where I have been defaulting to gin (of the available options, closest to the alcohol of my people, barring wine, which I also do sometimes but which goes bad more easily.)

For esbats and sabbats, my preference for the Great Rite food is stuff transformed by other things, so alcohol has been my default (wine or mead), or I've toyed with things like yogurt-based drinks or kombucha, etc. (The one I need to play with more is shrubs, which are vinegar-based.) For the food, I prefer yeast-based breads, but I've occasionally done other things, depends what I'm up for cooking.
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