Hello
It's sort of meaty.I dont know how meaty as I've not not used to meaty things.
So here goes What your thoughts on leaving offerings at sacred sites.
West Kennet Long Barrow is a bit of mess and when I went to Coldrum recently somebody had lefy plastic star in the chamber,i do understand there is someone who clears coldrum up.
I've sometimes left a few flowers at places.
I would add a bit more to this but i'm off out shortly.
But I will add more later on if you like.
I just thought I'd try and get the ball rolling if you see what I mean.

Must be off

Morrigan

Hi Morrigan, I wouldn't leave anything much, a sprinkling of oats and a bit of water makes a fair offering to fit all purposes to me.

There's a lot to be said for the adage 'Leave nothing but footprints, take nothing but memories/photographs'. I cannot express how cross it makes me when people leave burnt out candle stubs all over stone monuments, ends of incense sticks scattered around tree stumps or cave entrances, nylon ribbons tied around trees tight enough to prevent their circulation, crystals poked into holes in stones to 'heal' the site (meh? How bloody arrogant do you need to be to believe that you can heal Avebury with a bit of snow quartz??), tealight holders all over the place... Gnah. Leaving bits of wax all over rocks intereferes with the growth of lichens and mosses, some of which are ancient. Incense? Probably not too healthy for any animal who ingests it. Likewise bits of ribbon and string - they can play havoc with the intestines of and cause death to any animal who happens to eat them.

When you make an offering, it should be something with meaning and value to you and to who/what you are offering it to. It should also be something sympathetic to wherever you are leaving it. Water, milk, whisky, a little bread, salt or cake, fruit... All have value. In my opinion there is just no excuse for cluttering up beatiful natural or manmade sites with what is, essentially, rubbish. I have about as much time for these people as I do for fly tippers and needle-droppers.

In places lie that the only kind of offering I tend to make is a little blood - just a drop or 2 from a pin prick. I've no issues with bio-degradable offerings being made if there's a chance of any wildlife coming across it, but I've got to agree with Oxon about the remnants of rituals being left behind. That's not making an offering, that's just being too lazy to tidy up properly.

Yep, I'm with Oxon - a scattering of crumbs and a splash of water/wine is usually adequate. Anything else isn't making an offering, it's making a mess

I'm in total agreement with Oxon here. I would never leave anything that would alter the site in any way, we don't need to.

Hi Morrigan, I've spent hours and hours at Coldrum clearing away 'offerings' left on the trees - synthetic ribbons, string and wire tied on so tightly they start to cut through the brances, and all sorts of hanging decorations, metal and even plastic!

If people have to hang things from the trees I wish they could just use a bit of common sense and tie them on loosely.

I won't leave anything that won't degrade very quickly but all I usually leave is wild birdseed.

Some archaeologists once excavated one of my regular stone circles, and when they had finished they left the place a real mess - the stones of the rubble-bank were exposed along the trench- they never botherered relaying the turf - so we did! I confess I left a brand new penny (1p) under one piece of turf, cos I wasn't too enamoured of archaeologists at the time and wanted to screw-up the findings of the 2988 excavation - if they're still doing that sort of thing in another millennium.

In general I suppose a token, biodegradable offering is OK, but there is indeed a difference between an offering and a mess.

I agree with everyone else - I felt terribly sorry for that big old tree by West Kennet Long Barrow with all the bits tied on to it... I don't see why someone would want to do that to such a lovely old tree...

Mind you, there is a clootie well I used to get taken to up at my uncles when I was a kid and that was fantastic! the whole grove decorated with little bits of cotton of varing ages. Gods, I must see if it's still there one day...

I noticed that tree at West Kennet Barrow last time I was there and I hate to say it but the Barrow itself didn't smell too savoury.

Why are some people so out of tune with these places when they have obviously visited with the intention finding a little spirituality ?

I'm not sure that all of them do though. Its a fairly well known landmark and it wouldn't be the only one that gets traipsed all over by people who just wanted to say they'd been there. Apparently 90% of tourists when they go somewhere never go further than 10 feet from their car, so most people who go day tripping aren't exactly in it for enlightenment

Maybe those people would care to stay within ten feet of their car and not venture up the field to the barrow.

Well its a reasonable suggestion.

when visiting avebury i called in at west kennet, there were a number of peole scowling at me because i had the audacity to be there with archaeologists, but they were vbusy burning lots of candles and incense and too busy scowling at people to notice that the candles and incense were damaging the site with sooting up and leaving blooming wax and little tealight containers all over the place, some of the places i went which were well known did have a certain amount of rubbish around them, when visiting places i find a bit of whatever my lunch is usually a sandwhich and some of whatever is residing in my waterbottle at the time make a good offering although i do sometimes go overboard and leaves some apples around, it is more than mildly annoying to find plastics and waste left around, candles and incense damage sites, plastic bits and rubbish make it look very untidy, if someone does something somewhere they should take their rubbish with them, and that includes filter cigarette ends, so my view is that something left which is degradeable and natural is better, nothing too unusual in what i have said, just common sense and good practice.

i agree with the majority here, offerings that do sites more harm than good should not be lef at sacred sites.

when i visited west kennet i just sat for a while and felt the peace and quiet .. i think that was enough of an offering to make. (it was kinda quiet there that day )

In full agreement. To tie things on branches and leave candle wax etc is just irresponsible and certainly not the sort of offering I'd appreciate if I were the diety or whatever. Actually I think it'd piss me off no end!! Respect for nature and if you feel the need for more then appreciation grain, clean water or spiritual energy or all that's needed.
Bright blessings,
Hugs,
P.

Oh dear, a pet subject. I know there is a wide variation between pagans and other pagans, and between pagans and folk who like to wear paganism as a fashion accessory. BUt when I have to brush off a soot pentagram from the roof of a burial mound, and take away the candle stubs and dead flowers from a sacred site I do get somewhat tetchy. :|

why do you feel you have to leave offerings, surely just being there and thinking comforting thoughts is enough.

Depends on the site.

I dont see anything wrong with tying a little something to the tree at the Chalice
Well at Glastonbury as it is tended regularly and seems to add to the site somehow. As for monuments, well I'm with Fuzi here. Dont leave blood, but have left offerings of hair on occasions. In fact I got into trouble with the missus once for getting a bit carried away with this!

I hate seeing wax stuck to stones, or stones daubed with signs. Its not necessary and is carried out by those who need to be seen to venerate rather than be content just to venerate.....if you know what I mean.

mike

Personally, I would only leave something natural as an offering, something that will not pollute, like nuts, oats and water as an offering. Something that will not be noticeable as an offering unless you knew what you were looking for.

It annoys me when people leave cartons and bottles after an offering or celebrations it is defacing what we are supposed to be honouring.

I'd try to leave the site as I'd like to find it, and that includes clearing away candle holders etc. Where cloth or thread is tied around, I thought the wish only activates when the cloth either rots or loosens and gets blown off. So tying synthetic ribbons tightly is IMHO self-defeating.

If it's not inside a barrow, or somewhere else in heavy use, I'd usually leave a crumb (and I do mean one crumb, not half the cake) and a splash. Otherwise, IMHO there are offerings of thought, effort or breath, which are equally valid. Or even paying towards the costs of an organisation which looks after some of the sites.

ooh bits of plastic and nylon tied to trees...drives me NUTS. Theres a stone near me up in the forest that was excavated a few years ago, and every time i go up there there's rubbish hanging in the branches and crystals stuck in holes and bits of broken off rock piled up. grr.
I think an offering is sometimes appropriate, but not when it becomes litter, or hazardous/detrimental to the area.

I feel that to receive you must first give... it's the way it works for me. I give a few drops of blood as it is the most precious thing to me and something which takes a certain level of conscious thought to do.

I tend to feel that this is the best approach to take: ASLAN Charter

BB

Mike

Personally I carry a little bag with dried herbs from my garden and just scatter a few of those to the winds as an offering.

Cloutie trees by wells should be festooned with rags though, lightly tied and of course natural fabric torn from something worn if healing is to take place.

St. Nectan's Kieve near Boscastle is one famous sight that is full of pagan symbols carved into the rock and offerings left everywhere, some in very innaccessible, even dangerous places to get to. Although at one level I am unhappy about this at another it really does seem to fulfil some deep human need - maybe to say "I know I am mortal but I have been here". I have just returned from Galloway and visited St. Ninian's Cave. This cave is a 2Km walk from the nearest road down a wooded glade and along a pebble beech. It is clearly still a very active place of Christian pilgrimage and just like St. Nectan's Kieve there were carving and offering everywhere. Not pentagrams but crosses carved into the rock and left on every niche and rock shelf. Even graffiti like, "Jesus is still King". The symbols are different but the instinct is the same. And as for the offerings or crosses in those innaccessible dangerous spots - do people leave them there so they will not be disturbed or to impress their girlfriends with their athleticism and bravery ?

Having cleared up some of the junk left at circles here in the Peak district I can't say I'm a fan of offerings left at ancient sites. One question that struck me a couple of years ago was - why do we venerate the sacred sites of people we have little connection with, people who themselves abandoned sites with a fair amount of regularity. Surely we should be building/finding/planting new sites where a moderate amount of rubbish wouldn't cause too much upset from non-pagans.

I usually leave an offering of whisky, it pains me so much to see the stuff poured on the ground so it must be a really worthwhile offering .

Defacing of monuments/significant sites -

This is a pet hate of mine and I can't remember if I've already posted on this topic on this site; I know I did on the old UKP.

In New Orleans, the tomb of priestess Marie Laveau has drawn large numbers of both serious vodou practitioners and tourists. Some muppet came up with the idea a few decades ago that if you scratch three crosses - XXX - onto the tomb Marie will "grant your wish." Erm... no.

So the tomb is now covered in these X symbols - as are several nearby tombs - and what's even worse, people break off bits of brick and stone from other graves to use as a writing implement. New Orleans' cemeteries are already in a state of decay and disrepair, and this practice is only accelerating the process. It makes me VERY angry.

It used to be that people would leave coins, flowers, bottles of rum and other offerings for Marie but the site is now such a popular attraction that the city authorities are forced to keep it largely empty; when I was there there were a few coins ans sweets, and a vase of fresh flowers.

So basically, if anyone is on holiday in New Orleans and any tour guide tells you this story, please ignore them :-) I'm sure Marie herself would thank you for it.