Hi guys, I'm very new here so Hello everyone :) ` I need practical advice. How do you go about leaving offerings at home? How long do you keep them and what do you do with them once you're done? Thanks
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I don't really keep my offerings at home. I usually brew some tea and then spill it into a running water stream or just on the ground outside with the intention "This is my offering". I also sometimes go and feed the ducks/fish at our local pond as a form of offering but I don't do this very often since I don't want to overfeed them. I don't really keep my offerings up as I use the process of disposing of them as my way of giving it to my deity. If I can't go outside I just spill it into the sink. :)
@Corvin , thats very helpful. The "outside" offerings are way more obvious. Leaving it at home is one of those things people mention but never really go into it and I was curious how it works exactly. Thanks
I'm glad I could help.
i leave offerings for my ancestor altar pretty often. and it's usually things that don't attract pests (tea, water, black coffee, buttered bread, tangerines, etc)
For something like that I try to give them at least fresh coffee every day, but I leave the food for maybe a few days, and sometimes a week - and then I'll bury it or toss it in the stream.
@KaliMonsterr thanks for the answer! unfortunately burying or tossing in the stream would mean a bit of a trip for me. Any suggestions on how to go about it in the city?
I would say either recycling if you have the option or just dumping it in the trash or down the sink while envisioning it being returned to the earth eventually.
Thanks @KaliMonsterr dumping it never really felt right but visualising might be exactly what I was missing !
Hey Ania! I usually don't do physical offerings. I'll wright letters, poems,... I feel like its more personal. Another thing I do is offering boxes. Each box is labeled relating to who I'm offering to . So for an example say your god that you are making an offering to is Hades. So you make a box dedicated to him. You can decorate it in honor of him if you want . Then you can wright an offering letter or note depending on how formal you are with them and such.Stating that this is his offering box and its in honer of him. And that letter/note goes inside/on/under the box. So this is where you can go 1 of 2 ways. 1 keep sticky notes/paper by the box. You use this to document anything you have done in his honor. So say there was a memorial where a car accident was and there's trash on or near it. You would then clean said trash up. Then when you get home you would wright something along the lines "9/12/19 today in honor of you Hades I cleared trash from a memorial site." or you may volunteer at a dog rescue shelter for 3 hours you would wright in "Honor of your love and bond with Cerberus (his three-headed dog ) I volunteered at the dog shelter for 3 hours today 9/2/19". And when your box is full you can put it in your B.O.S and maybe wright how your relation ship with this god has developed. Now the 2nd thing you could do is put money in the box but the money would go to a charity in honor of them. So for this example you would wright a letter or note again stating your intention. "In honor of you Hades all the money that I put in this box will go to my local homeless shelter. So it may help with the job program they run. So they too may become blessed as you have blessed me with the opportunities to earn my wealth. In your honor I will donate this money at the end of the year." Hades is known for hidden wealth. Any spare change or found money pennies would go into the box. Hope this gives you some ideas.
`I love this idea, thank you so much! I guess I was fixated on the more traditional take on offerings but this is just perfect.
Thanks again :)
@Ania O good I'm so glad! You could even do this with ancestral offerings too .