Honour your deities that is?

Is your offering to them in the form of lighting a candle? Offering wine? Or is it a poem you write or a painting you offer? Or are your every-day actions a form of thanks or propitiation?

Depending on which deity I'm making the offering to, it varies - cider for Pomona, light a candle and bread for Vesta, put some money in the charity tin for Fortuna, that kind of thing. Or if I'm out on a walk and asking for help, I'll take along an empty carrier bag to pick up some litter and scatter bird-seed. I

I just would be interested to know what your own offerings (if you made any that is) consisted of. Is what you offer the result of "this has worked before" or your understanding of what is required at a particular time for a particular result? Do you even see a need to do anything like that?

For me I don't worship any deities as such but do ask for their help from time to time. I generally use different incence to set the mood for the ritual and also an offering.

I have used a can of Carling before know to call a deity. Also throwing some money on the floor and walking away. (it is intended for who ever finds it.)

I guess it could be any thing really that you think has a significance to the deity, but i believe that the intent is more inportant. the deities know our purpose and our mind, so are happy to take what we can offer as long as it is given with good intent. You sacrifice what you can afford, not bankrupt yourself.

In Vodou specific food and drink offerings are made to each loa, along with candles in the ceremonial colours of that spirit.

For Legba, I burn red and white candles and give him rum, sweets, tobacco and fresh fruit.

Erzulie Freda loves all sweet and delicate foods; I make her a chicken dish with lots of extra virgin olive oil and herbs. I also give her white wine, cakes made with rose syrup, other desserts and a cocktail I invented using orange juice, white rum and the same rose syrup... it's a bit like a Tequila Sunrise. She has pink and white candles on her altar.

Agwe, the sea loa, gets white wine, absinthe, chicken and cornmeal porridge, and candles in blue, blue-green and white.

Baron, Brigitte and the other ancestral/cemetery loas enjoy rum, strong black coffee, salted or smoked fish such as mackeral, homemade bread or cornbread, tobacco and very hot spicy foods; I make them Creole gumbo or jambalaya. Their candles are black, white and purple.

Ogoun Feray, spirit of iron, likes red meat; I give him chilli, and red fruits and vegetables such as tomatoes or strawberries, along with more good quality dark rum. His candles are also red, though I also have one in royal blue.

There are many many more loa, all with their own preferences for offerings, but these are the ones I serve most often.

At the moment, I'm lying low in terms of honoring Hecate. Mostly I speak to the birds in the morning and greet the crows while walking to work.

That's just for now, though, and I know this will change as the year goes on.

Dryad

Great topic!
I lit some candles for Brigid last night, that seems to be the accepted wisdom.
But I think you're right, it depends on where you are, which deity and your own state of mind. I like to honour the fire festivals with a pilgrimage, last Yule for example, I saw the sun set at Arbor Low. And I poured a little whisky into the ground, and spread some biscuits for the birds. I dunno, does that sound daft?
Picking up litter seems at least as good.
Whether anythings "worked before", I dunno, I'm not asking for anything, I'm just doing what I think is right.
There is a school of thought that says the Gods will do what they want anyway.....

yeh , agree with the gods doing what they want, some times i take a minute to think and ponder and sometimes i do nothing because i feel that i dont want to bother them, i just feel that i am small and insignificant and they have a job to do .....or is this a part of me still having xtian ideas??????

dunno i flit from one to another!!!!! ( *edited to say i dont flit to xtianity !!!! just long term brainwashing!!!! )

at certian times of the year like yule and eostra, i honor the gods by pondering and lighting a candle, i dont feel that i need to do this , i just want to because i want to do something that says to them yes you are there and i am here , i honour you and want them to aknowledge that fact, though i feel that they will never show themselves to me......errr i think i said that already....erm

its like.....if i believe in them ....they will help me in some way......does that make any sense ????? not that i believe in them just for my sake!




hmm as ive said before i know what i mean and struggle to articulate that!!

If I want to talk to them then I either sit in the garden with a glass of wine in the evening, and share the wine and whatever food I have with the ground and the birds, or if the weather's not fit (I live in Wales, after all!! ) then it'll be an inside version of it with a candle and some incense, and I'll just get lost in the meditation while I speak with them.

Other than that, they're there all the time in my day to day stuff - the dew on the grass sparkling in the morning, the wind in the trees howling overhead, in the cry of a buzzard wheeling on the updrafts, or my first sight of the moon pale and beautiful in the sky. They can't be compartmentalised, I find - they're there all the time, whenever, wherever, whatever I'm doing - as much a part of me as I'm part of them, I suppose

Hi.
I mostly offer beer or mead at my private altar.Sometimes a bit of meat too.
On larger gatherings we continue with this,but adds horsemeat,bread,onions,flax,honey and of course make toasts.
To the local spirits I use the traditional offerings,like salt,silver or honey.Either left on a special place or in the case with the Skogsrå,leave it on any stone.After all,she rules and lives in all the forest.
Äring och fred.
Tjelvar

Personally, I don't honour deities, but I do make offerings - my offerings are made to the elements, and to the creatures that inhabit them. I'll try and explain but there's every chance it won't make sense

Since I don't worship and have no ties to any particular pantheon or deity, I don't make offerings to any of them. I have nothing at all against eclectic worship or chaos magic, but it just doesn't feel right to me to make an offering to a God or Goddess and then happily ignore their existence until the next time I need them. However, I do believe in the power of the elements (earth, air, water, fire, spirit), and I will make offerings to them and ask them to guide me if needs be. Within that, I will accept any personification of that element - whether its a salamander or an angel with a flaming sword for fire, a mermaid or a mussel for water. So, my offerings are made to the element and any spirit or creature with a link to that element is particularly welcome to partake of it.

I try to make my offerings practical as well. If I make an offering to earth, I'll plant something, ensure that a struggling plant is well nourished, put out food for animals in the winter and hatching/birthing seasons and pick up litter and debris. For water, I make sure the ponds are welcoming to waterlife in all forms, clear the duckweed and dead lily pads from them, fish the carrier bags out of the local stream, feed fish, frogs or wading birds and possibly make a little libation to the water. To fire I offer fuel - building a good fire is an offering in itself, feeding it good seasoned logs and making sure it is properly fed with air, or if its not possible to make a true fire, I light a candle, making sure not to extinguish it with my breath once my offering is made. For air I make sure that the birds who visit my garden are protected, that they are fed and welcomed. I offer incense or burn oils, or make wind chimes or mobiles to hang in the breeze. And for spirit, my offerings are usually made whilst pathworking or meditating - whatever (within reason) is asked of me or needs doing.

In between these, my offerings are usually made in thanks for something I've been given. For instance, I spent this morning listening to the blackbirds and robins singing beautifully outside my office window, so half of my mid-morning flapjack is now on the grass outside the window for them - simple but effective

I make offerings to the earth whenever I'm eating or drinking outside. If it's a ritual then I'll share whatever we have with the earth, if it's just a snack or a quick drink of water, then a few crumbs or a few drops are left

Greetings all, sacred chocolate, the all time favorite of my coven, but I'll do pringles, quavers, rice cakes, and even mars bars for intimate rituals,
have a great weekend!

sorry dirty mind working overtime !!

hmmm hard to say how i honour my deities ... i would like to think that by living my life as i want to would fit into that category.
any offerings i make tend to be positive thoughts, some milk or water left outside for whatever finds it. also my art work is a form of offering ... its my expression of who i am and what i believe so i think that its valid.

Our relgious paths are much the same, each orisha has a specific color and food that is their favorite, as a Stregha this is also part of our path, food for the ancestors and food for our Diana Boveda outside, it is a shrine to Diana, similar to the shrines to the Virgin Mary. I love your descriptions of your Deity, I can tell they talk to you.
Blessings, Luna.

hmmmm well I don't worship, but I do honour.

I honour Nature in several ways.
At the sabbats I share a toast and an offering in front of my altar. Sometimes it is specific (milk at Imbolc, something red to drink and wholemeal bread at Lammas etc..) sometimes its just fruit juice and a rich tea (favoured offering to the spirits of my local woodland - the biscuits broken at the base of a tree vanished as soon as I turned my back ) but what ever it is I dedicate it to the occaision and eat/drink half and then leave the rest on my altar till I complete the ritual, then it goes into the garden.

At each ritual I will contemplate its meaning and try and understand what it means to me.

At other times its more a case of knowing where in the year I am and appreciating the spirit of Nature when I see those special things, like trees, grass, the sky, rainbows, the moon, clouds, hear birdsong etc...

For Andred and Herne its more a case of trying to honour the principles I hold in my path, to maintain my integrety and to try and do the right thing. Herne is pretty easygoing I find, but Andred is a much harder mistress in these cases. I also try to learn as much as I can about them, in whatever forms they may use.

For Leo, I try to learn more about lions (Big Cat Diary is my equivalent of Songs of Praise ) and I try to walk with him whenever I can (something i really should do more often)

For the spirits of my household (and a bigger pack of pranksters I have never encountered) I remember them and pay them respect. I really should do more house work and the like (something I hope to rectify this year) but each year at the winter solstice I leave them some whisky or brandy as an offering.

I also consider some of my poetry to be an act of honour

Kev

mmm, interesting. When I cook I often leave something outside, particularly if I do a roast at the weekned, I will leave the meaty bone of the lamb at the bottom of the garden in the bushes.

Other times I will feed my plants, and even wander down to the apple tree to stick a few plant sticks in the ground, or pour some liquid feed aroudn the base.

When I pick rosemary or other herbs I generally try to leave something in return, even if its just a watering.

I tend to look on it as been rude not to. I've been given something, and so I should show my thanks and appreication by giving something back to them.