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 Posted: Wed Dec 25, 2013 6:44 pm
I'm going to say right off the bat, for those who know what went down in the pagan blogosphere, that I am not trying to point fingers. I found it to be an interesting topic and wanted to discuss it without the off topic comments.
Ok. With that out of the way.
A deity starts poking at you. You want to give an offering. But there's one problem. You have no idea who it is. So what do you do? Let's discuss what to do if you want to give an offering without knowing who it is.
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Posted: Thu Dec 26, 2013 5:58 am
I'd play safe and offer something like a bowl of water. I personally hold water in high regard - I know what it's like to live through a severe drought and I know how horrible being dehydrated is - so it's very important to me. I think any deity should be able to appreciate something as vital as water for a first offering.
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Posted: Thu Dec 26, 2013 8:39 am
iKillCaustic--uKillMe I'd play safe and offer something like a bowl of water. I personally hold water in high regard - I know what it's like to live through a severe drought and I know how horrible being dehydrated is - so it's very important to me. I think any deity should be able to appreciate something as vital as water for a first offering. But then what would you do to it after?
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Posted: Fri Dec 27, 2013 5:22 am
X-Yami-no-Ko-X iKillCaustic--uKillMe I'd play safe and offer something like a bowl of water. I personally hold water in high regard - I know what it's like to live through a severe drought and I know how horrible being dehydrated is - so it's very important to me. I think any deity should be able to appreciate something as vital as water for a first offering. But then what would you do to it after? I'd drink half and pour the other half at the base of a tree.
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Posted: Fri Dec 27, 2013 10:32 pm
It's a difficult question. Honestly, I'd probably out some effort into trying to identify the deity before attempting to offer to them.
In regards to what I do with food/drink offerings, part of my particular practice is to share. I give off my plate and I take a drink, usually with a toast before I pour for the gods. I'm in a situation where I can afford to throw dispose of the offerings after the gods get what they want out of them. Honestly, in my experience, once the gods are done with it, it all becomes pretty unappetizing anyway. However, I've got no problem with people who eat the offerings when the gods or spirits they are sharing with are done, if that's the arrangement they have. So long as the Gods don't mind, why should it bother me?
One interesting practice I've seen though involves giving votive or representational offerings. Like using a plastic, ceramic, or wooden loaf of bread, rather then actual bread. It has the benefit of being reusable and not going bad, but I think it only works in certain contexts.
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Posted: Sat Dec 28, 2013 10:35 pm
CalledTheRaven One interesting practice I've seen though involves giving votive or representational offerings. Like using a plastic, ceramic, or wooden loaf of bread, rather then actual bread. It has the benefit of being reusable and not going bad, but I think it only works in certain contexts. This is actually something that has interested me about Kemetic practice but haven't gotten around to doing yet cat_sweatdrop I know it works in Kemetic practice because of the concept of heka. But it would be interesting how it would work in other practices as well.
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Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2014 7:31 pm
If I wasn't sure of the identity, I think I would avoid it.
That would honestly freak me out. When I feel the deities I know, I know them by feel. If that... made any sense...
A foreign presence would bother me. I would make efforts to find an identity, but if that seemed fruitless I would just leave well enough alone.
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Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2014 3:08 pm
Personally, I wouldn't feel comfortable giving an offering to a deity that I didn't know. It takes me a while to become comfortable enough with a deity to communicate with them at all, even if they're all but yelling "pay attention to me" in my face.
I wouldn't offer an unidentified deity anything until I at least knew who they were.
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