i was walking past a chinese nail bar the other day and i noticed through the window that thy had a shrine to a god, it was only a small modest onewith a single deity on it some incents and a large bowl of fruit as an offering to their god.

it got me thinking how do offerings work? how long do they stay on the sacred space for? and what do you do with food offorings when they eventualy rot? what bout money offerings placed on a sacred space what happens to those?


just pondering if any one places offerings and how do they go about it? why do they do it ? and what do they do ?

If I make an offering to the earth, I bury it. If I make an offering to tree spirits, I leave it at the base of the tree, or bury it somehwre near the roots. If I make offerings to animal spirits, I leave food outside somehwere. If I make offerings to water spirits, I throw it in a river or a lake.

Sometimes I'll burn offerngs too (such as poems I've written or something).

I don't really use an altar or anything like that, so I don't place offerings there.

I've just started to explore this side of things quite recently. I used to keep a kind of altar with 4 natural objects to represent the elements really early on. When I did more research into the Norse path and Heathenry this didn't seem so appropriate any more so when we moved I kind of abandoned it. When we moved back to England I found this site:

Viking Trader

which sold figures of Thor, Odin and Freyr I really liked. I bought them and set up an altar. Later on my friend Herne made me a lovely altar plate:


His website is here:
Herne's Crafts

So now I have a small altar on which I put flowers and greenery for the festivals along with corresponding crystals and Runes. I've recently been looking into making offerings of food and drink etc but it doesn't sit well with me. It feels vaguely ridiculous like leaving mince pies out for Santa. I'm not sure if this is just some self consciousness to be got over or if it's something that will never be part of my path. I feel no compunction about making a libation to the wood wights if we're out for a picnic, or leaving part of our meal on a stone or tree stump to honour the earth spirits. Sometimes I make an offering of music. I think it's how long to leave it for and what to do with it afterwards that bothers me; we live in a 1st floor flat with no garden. I'm also thinking of setting up a small household altar for the whole family where we can put photos of our dead and honour our household spirits. I'd like a nice Goddess figure for this but haven't seen one I like.

well....my offerings tend to be a bit sort of haphazard....um, here's what happens...

when I am in my garden (for example) I kind of get urges (specific things like putting down some wood chip or feeding the soil and so on) so I follow that impulse. its all very intuitive and practical really.

I am not terribly sure that this actually an offering but well 'see a need fill a need'. and well, all is happy and well so i guess it works.

I am finding these impulses are occurring a little more often too. It feels very much like 'offering' but not in the typical sense.

Guess that raises the question - What exactly is an offering?

fizz

Our offerings are also a bit ad hoc! Food offerings to the gods and housewights get taken into the garden the next morning and offered to the landwights. As does alcohol offerings.

What is an offering? I suppose for me it is a case of "you scratch my back I'll scratch yours" - a form of payment for services rendered.

For me, it's integral. A libation to the earth/water, and a food offering which the animals and insects will use. Always.
Sometimes tobacco. Other times, words. Memories. A touch. A kiss.
Depends on many things I suppose.

A gift for a gift

Totally, fair trade is no robbery, and lets face it, everyone likes a good customer!

For me there are always flowers or something nice and seasonal on the altars.

Libations go under my pear tree in the back garden, though if a ritual isn't held at my place the gulls tend to give me 'evvvilllls' on a Wednesday morning, that suggest 'yeah ok the seeds are fine, but where the fricken honey cake'.

Or sometimes I go to the beach and throw flowers, I like watching the tide take them out Usually I'm rewarded by a tidal wave of epic proportions, I like to think it's the PTB's way of acknowledging my offering, sometimes I just wish they could a little less enthusiastic.

Q

I remove offerings before they rot or when they start to look a bit 'off'. I try to put the best of things when I can and then I leave the offering in the garden for the wildlife to eat. And sometimes the offering goes directly into the garden.

I don't know about money offerings, but we have a Black Madonna here that the tourists pin money (banknotes) on and sometimes, even little messages or prayers. They obviously get removed by the church and the money is supposed to be used for the upkeap of the church or given to charity. You could try putting the money that you have offrered to good use

We usually offer what's needed at the time. I smudge each day and prey with sweet grass, white sage or tabaco, sometime pine needles or ceder bark.

If I work with anything I give the traditional gift of tabaco or sweet grass depending on who I'm working with. They have there preferances.

There is always food left out for the house spirits with each meal, this is cleared away before the next one.

If I work with Animal or nature spirits I ask them to show me what they want or need most as an exchange. Yesterday it was to help out a toad who was stuck somewhere.

Whate ever I do though I always respect and thank those who have helped me regardless of if they want any exchange or not.

Siksika

In my local take-away I noticed under the counter they have a small shrine too their gods. I asked about it and was told that the first meal cooked every day is given to the gods....as a mark of prosperity and to encourage good business. If they are happy then the custom will boom!

I think this might be off topic but wanted to share!

While I'm totally with everyone so far - in terms of food, flowers, drink, poetry etc. I think that there is one aspect of offering that has not been discussed; time and effort.
I'm inspired by the idea that Krishna puts forward in the Bhagavad Gita - "Offer in thy heart all thy works to me, and see me as the End of thy love, take refuge in the Yoga of reason, and ever rest thy soul in me". (18:56) While I am aware that this refers in this context to a particular bhakti tradition, i find it enormously influential. Particularly on those tiring days at the end of a school year, when I'm reduced to just working and sleeping, the idea that I can dedicate the things that I am doing to the divine is very affirming - and helps me stay focussed on getting the job done.
There are other things too - if one visits a sacred site and just picks up litter, or is composting in the garden, cooking a meal, or anything really, it is that inner intention that is the key difference, and which can transform the experience into offering.
One even finds this idea in Christianity - "who sweeps a room as by thy laws makes that and the action fine".
Intention is the key to offering, and intentional action in this way can be very beneficial.

Much as has been said already - wine/whisky, food/fruit, tobacco.
I try to give things that mean sacrifice to me - so no ordinary cake/bread. Instead I offer gluten free that I can eat and that cost more.

When I leave a chicken carcass for the foxes, that too is an offering IMO.
As are any acts of charity, be they giving extra time to pupils/work, helping others, or donations of cash.

As Paracelsus notes, time itself is a precious gift, and re the Christian take on this (making an effort/showing willing) on the Western Isles in Scotland it was common practice until the the early 20th C. to lay an extra place at the table. This was "for the Stranger" as they believed the Lord came in many guises, and would have been affronted had He visited their home and found the hospitality wanting.

This notion of offering one's food and shelter is also an intrinsic part of Islam, Sikhism, and Hinduism. Probably other faiths too.

Also, I was told by an Islamic colleague that to give a smile was a charity and pleased Allah. Shame a lot of Muslims around the world don't have so much to smile about in these troubled times.

So I'd add smiling and trying to be a generally pleasant person to the list of ways to please. I am sure we weren't put on this earth to spread gloom, doom, and despondency! IMO there are plenty folk already who waste the gift of life scheming and plotting, and generally being unpleasant!

I usually make my offerings outside so I tend to make ones that are appropriate for the birds to eat, as well as the dog in case he happens across it and scarfs it up - so in spite of my love of chocolate cake, which would make a good sacrifice, I don't do it because it makes the dog have fits.

I reguarly leave the fat from the George Foreman grill out for the birds, any left overs and occasionally any eggs that are a little past their best (but not rotten, obviously). Leaving the fat out is a big thing for my husband because his gran did it, so I see it as a way of honouring the ancestors and hope our kids will pick up on it.

I try to tend my garden to make it inviting and plant things that will encourage wildlife - flowers for bees, plants for butterflies, and a rowan for the berries (and protection...). My gardening efforts have to be fitted in around my two very young children, so occasionally things get a bit neglected, but at least this means the dandelions prosper too, and these are traditionally considered to be particularly liked by Brigid, so they're an offering to her. Unlike my neighbour, I don't engage in a crusade against Teh Evil Lawn Weeds, I think they make the place look inviting and the bees like the clover.

My son started building little cairns when we go to the beach, so we build them reguarly now as an offering to the spirits. I usually leave some cheese and milk as well, or anything else I have to hand (rice cakes, cereal bars...I tend to have a lot of snacks for the hungry monsters). When I'm at the beach I don't leave alcoholic libations because it's bad for the fishes and I don't think that would be appreciated, but at home I'll leave whisky, mead, wine or whatever outside, poured straight onto the ground.

At festivals I make bannocks, ritually, one for each person of the household with blessings as I make them, and some extra to leave out for the spirits of the place and the gods. Those I make as offerings are put outside with a bit of cheese (usually sheep's cheese if I can get it), and whatever I'm drinking, or milk.

I leave pennies at wishing wells, ponds or fountains - ones you're supposed to throw money into for charity, not just random wells or ponds I happen to find, though these days my son insists on doing it because he likes the splashing.

And in terms of giving time, I often go out of my way to talk to people on the bus, if they want to talk. I see a lot of lonely people as the kids and I go out and about during the day and some people appreciate having a chat with strangers because it's the only people they'll talk to most days. It's a small thing, but I think it's good to give something to the community as well as the gods and spirits. A lot of elderly people tend to give the kids a few pennies as pocket money when we're on the bus - pennies they probably can't afford, really - so it's important to give something back.