! That's a good question, it personally had me wondering for a while.
I wouldn't say you NEED to do offerings. Gods, deities or spirits are in a different realm and they are "busy" with other things, so they don't need us to put things out there for them. Offerings are more of a nice way for us to be grateful and appreciative for their presence, knowledge or help.
Picture it like a nice neighbor helped you move into your new house, so you bake them a pie to say thank you. You didn't have to do it, but you did it anyway to show your appreciation for their time and effort. It's a way of building a good, strong relationship.
I personally don't work with any specific deities, but I do send out gratitude to the universe in general for helping me in my spell work. If you work with a specific god or goddess you can look up what kinds of offerings people put out for them. A quick Google search will probably come up with tons of answers. (Remember to check several sources and go with the most mentioned offerings in different sites, don't just pick the first thing from the first site you find).
Another way of doing it, if you've been working with a deity for a while, you will get a feeling of what they like, or what represents them, so that will make a good offering.
Some common offerings can be blessed water (that you blessed yourself), a candle that you dedicate to that specific god, incense, maybe some art of a craft you made, coins, fruits, etc.
A lot of deities related to African based religions (voodoo, Yoruba, etc.) like things like rum, tobacco or cigarettes, people even put fried chicken on their altars as offerings.
So, as you can see, offerings can pretty much be anything, do some research or maybe try out some different things until you find the one that feels right for you and your gods. The idea is to do it from a humble and grateful state of mind.
Hey
I wouldn't say you NEED to do offerings. Gods, deities or spirits are in a different realm and they are "busy" with other things, so they don't need us to put things out there for them. Offerings are more of a nice way for us to be grateful and appreciative for their presence, knowledge or help.
Picture it like a nice neighbor helped you move into your new house, so you bake them a pie to say thank you. You didn't have to do it, but you did it anyway to show your appreciation for their time and effort. It's a way of building a good, strong relationship. I personally don't work with any specific deities, but I do send out gratitude to the universe in general for helping me in my spell work. If you work with a specific god or goddess you can look up what kinds of offerings people put out for them. A quick Google search will probably come up with tons of answers. (Remember to check several sources and go with the most mentioned offerings in different sites, don't just pick the first thing from the first site you find). Another way of doing it, if you've been working with a deity for a while, you will get a feeling of what they like, or what represents them, so that will make a good offering.
Some common offerings can be blessed water (that you blessed yourself), a candle that you dedicate to that specific god, incense, maybe some art of a craft you made, coins, fruits, etc.
A lot of deities related to African based religions (voodoo, Yoruba, etc.) like things like rum, tobacco or cigarettes, people even put fried chicken on their altars as offerings.
So, as you can see, offerings can pretty much be anything, do some research or maybe try out some different things until you find the one that feels right for you and your gods. The idea is to do it from a humble and grateful state of mind.