There’s an idea of offerings & What we must give to get
Often, when people begin in the world of evocations, invocations, and spirits, they wonder about what they should be “offering.” They might ask questions to others about what is “best” even — meaning all too frequently what will help them the most. After having been asked about offerings, and wondering many times about them myself, here are my thoughts on the topic.
In this world of spirits, people will sometimes fall under the impression that to get or to receive, we must first give something to a spirit. This idea, in and of itself, is something each of us should contemplate on our own; something we should all reach our own conclusions about, as this is an important deliberation for each of us and becomes fundamental to how we view spirit-human relationships.
What I will say is that fruits and wine and incense and whatever others statues and material offerings we find placed upon our altars, these are not the things which drive our relationships with them. It is instead entirely us, ourselves, who enhance or dull our relationships with them.
Even a spirit which might have a personal vendetta against someone, if we take an example, might find themselves more willing to offer help if that person becomes dedicated, to any varying extent of the word. The reason for this is not because that person lights a candle every fourth day, or because that person says something reverential about the spirit to others; the reason is far simpler and something that should be internalized instead of read and held as fact or the an opinion of another.
Offerings made
…should be offerings of yourself.
What this means is not that you need to dedicate a finger or a spleen to a spirit, and it’s not either than you need to fill a cauldron to the brim with blood to place on the altar. It’s much more simple. Offerings are always meant to be of yourself. They are an amalgamation of your time, thought, energy, interest, etc. Whether candy, poems, or (yes) blood, offerings are meant to be displays of your dedication to a spirit.
Not your interest in what they can provide for you — offerings are not materials levied in a deal or trade, they are given as tokens of respect and interest. Thus, when we give offerings we should strive to be giving an offering of ourselves, regardless of whether it’s coins in a dish, blood over a sigil, a fruit from the store, or simply our energy.
If we aren’t making offerings of ourselves, not necessarily laden with pain or suffering, but that come truly from us as opposed to being inane objects we’ve carelessly collected to leave as offerings, then truly what is the point? While pretty trinkets and expensive incenses can be nice on their own, is that the relationship you’re seeking to have with spirits? One where you go out and find or order nice things without thought? Or, are you more interested in cultivating something a bit deeper, something “meaningful” (by my understanding of the word, though yours may be different)?
Offerings are not just about what you dig out to put on the altar; they are about what you are willing to give (to do) and what of yourself becomes given in the process. It isn’t a question of intention, money spent, time expended, but rather of meaning.
Offerings & Worth
What an offering is worth is something that seems to matter to people newer to magic and/or evocations. It’s also something I find is a fun discussion to have with more experienced practitioners. The reason for these things, I think, is because there are many layers to offerings and they are something personal to each of us. From ancient to present times, people have made offerings to their gods (and others). And still, there is so much question about them. About what is “right” or “wrong,” what can be given or not, what an offering is worth…(and why).
There will be, of course, those who disagree with my view. However, I think it’s important to at least consider as many perspectives as we can with regard to these things and arrive, always, at our own conclusions. So, what is the worth of an offering?
The worth of an offering is not only decided by how valuable it is/would be to us, and not only decided by how valuable we believe it should be to a spirit. And it is not always determined in the same way either. While wine and blood may be the “best” offering in one situation, perhaps a meditation with a certain spirit in mind is the “best” offering in another instance. Whether we offer sweets, sex, or blood is also not always relevant to worth; and neither is a pound of flesh (metaphor) inherently more valuable than a single drop of blood.
But the truth is, in my view, that offerings are a lot more about our efforts than anything else. This isn’t constricted to any one way of putting effort into something. What they are worth though, that depends on your relationship with the spirit you’re making offerings to, what you’ve gone through to attain the offering, what it means to you, what you intend it to mean once offered, and more.
As an Exchange
Some people ask whether they can exchange, or trade, a stick of cinnamon and half a glass of alcohol for something like an obsession or a some obscene amount of money or some similar feat. Others wonder if lighting a candle for 6 days, burning it half an hour a night will be sufficient to bring them what they want. And still others wonder if, when working with spirits, offerings must be made at all. The truth to these queries is that offerings are something personal, something that can be as intimate or public as you would like, but they should always connect you to the spirit.
In terms of exchanges: It doesn’t matter whether you drag in moon water and toss several dozen kinds of herbs into it and then wash your altar with it before laying down a basket of fruits and desserts. It doesn’t matter if you dedicate half an hour before or after your ritual to reading pretty poems to a spirit. It doesn’t matter if you don’t offer anything substantial enough that you consider it an offering. While all of these might have a place in your practice–or none of them–what matters isn’t the thing itself, but rather what is held within it.
Offerings are as important as we make them. If we collect something to set aside as an offering because we know a certain spirit likes a certain type of offering, then we should make sure that it’s brought to the altar with that respect, not just because we read somewhere that Dantalion likes [almonds] and so “here they are.”
Offerings should be made from you
…to the spirit.
If the spirit wants something, you are incredibly unlikely to be the spirit’s only method of attaining it. Instead, it is that you are the one giving something, offering something that makes the impact. You are the variable here. Make that meaningful when you give offerings.
Do not treat them as an exchange. When a god, demon, angel, or other spirit wants to help you, a sliced fruit, a bowl of fancy chocolates, a burning stick of incense, a perfectly colored candle…none of these things alone are going to matter. Make offerings of yourself, of your heart so to speak simply because you want to. While they may show a spirit dedication, they are not a guarantee of anything; thus, do not treat them as if they ought to be.
The Weight of Equality
Let me ask you, does your plate of pennies and bowl of overripened apples have an equal worth to that raise you just asked for?
If you contemplated an answer to that question, you’re not understanding the point of this post, which is that offerings are not about deals and trades, they’re simply an offering we make, they are not meant to be lorded over spirits as “carrots” and not meant as negotiating tactics. Offerings often accompany ceremonies, routines, prayers, worship, remembrances, and many other “rituals.” They are not meant to put you on equal footing with a spirit, such a thing doesn’t come from pretty trinkets or wandering smoke.
There is a time and a place for careful negotiations to be made, but making offerings is simply a giving of yourself, in whatever form that takes to a spirit to whom you are respectful, grateful, or merely wish to include in your practice. I say offerings are of the self because we should not make them randomly and they are not made through other people; we are the medium through which they are given and in being this medium, we participate in the offering itself.
Make meaningful that you are the intermediary between offering and spirit. For this is all that matters.
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Wonderfully written.