With that being the truth, let’s put our common knowledge together to clear up false beliefs and assumptions for new initiates (or for the mildly curious who stumble across this site). Abrahamic religion teaches that “demonic” offerings tend towards abominable acts (the type of which their Old Testament is rife with, and that the average LHP practitioner finds repugnant). Let’s clear that up now.
What offerings have you made, to whom, and if you want to share, what was the offering made in return for? What offerings have you been asked for (by whom, in return for what)? Have any of your offerings been refused (or counter offers made)? Have you ever refused to give a requested offering (if so, how did the god/goddess respond)? Have you ever not paid up (what happened)?
These are just some ideas…but let’s start the discussion!
I e made offerings of food, alcohol, fruit, flowers, money, semen & sexual energy etc…just depends on the spirit.
Although I practice another tradition as my base line that does practice animal sacrifice so yea…there’s that too. But it is only done by priests and only when necessary, not an everyday thing.
I offered chocolate to King Paimon and Astaroth, strawberries to Metatron, wine to Odin, flute songs to Aduachiel. I write and perform a new song on the 27th each month at sunset for King Paimon, that one was the strangest so far.
A new song each month…that would be a creative challenge! Do you mind if I ask if it was you who offered this, or did King Paimon request this? Can your song be about anything, or must it have a theme? Is it forever, or do you only need do this for a set time?
It varies spirit by spirit (from the traditional blood to Belial to fried chicken to Anubis). What I have gotten in return is the resurrection of old aspects of myself that were worn by the tests of time (courage, stubbornness, the openness to emotions, etc). Kind of boring on my end as far as the discussion goes lol
Here is an example of a more unusual offerings has been to my servitor for success at work. On top of blood, I also give him all the energy directed at me from being praised for my work in exchange for continuing to build my performance. It has resulted in me going from mediocre to becoming the most well known and successful machine operators in my factory on all shifts. I have supervisors fighting over what shift I should belong to lol.
I’ve made some weird offerings, largely before I had any real concept of what I was doing. I offered beer to Thor in an outdoor solo rite on a night so cold it nearly froze my bones. Wrote a song for Apollo as a teenager, and have offered seeds of various types to vegetation gods, leaving them to be carried wherever the gods intended. I planted flowers for a god. I’ve given sexual energy to several beings, and offerings of devotion to Hermes. I’ve given money to the homeless in the name of Jesus as a service offering (donating money or time, instead of a food or beverage offering). I’ve never had the feeling of any of my offerings having been refused.
I’ve made offerings to a great many spirits over the years, nearly always in the form of food, alcohol, and/or tobacco, but by far the majority of my offerings have gone to King Paimon, and La Santa Muerte.
To King Paimon I have offered a great many kinds of food and drink, as well as candles, incense, water, coffee, and the energy I expend at work. I also wrote a song for Him that I play as an offering.
To La Santa Muerte I have offered money, plants, candles, oils, incense, crystals, figurines, Her own altar space, tequila, wine, cigar smoke, bones, and candy. I also made a promise to Her to give all of her money offerings to charity.
But most importantly, I give King Paimon, and La Santa Muerte my love, devotion, respect, and attention. I make every effort to be a better person because I am a devotee to them.
He actually asked for it on our first contact. It could be about anything I wanted, the only constraint is that it must have lyrics. I’ve always been an instrumentalist musician so this is a huge challenge. It seems like I should do this as long as i want to work with him. I actually found it fascinating because it was a perfect crossroad of my fears and weaknesses and a good way to learn how to express myself, i would never have thought of this on my own, very astutely picked.
I generally don’t do offerings. I view it as mainly a religious thing, as the practice is mostly found in demonolatry and pagan worship, not Western ceremonial magick.
However, I have, on a handful of occasions, given offerings to spirits I sought to be on good terms with.
I was dating one of King Paimon’s wives at the time, so I gave an offering of chocolate when I evoked him, as a gesture of my respect for him.
I was drinking some cider one night and got a clear hint that Belial wanted some so I poured him a glass.
When I evoked Lilith for the first time, she asked me to bring her “a nice red wine” the next time I called upon her, so I set a glass out for her as soon as I could.
I offered a bowl of fresh baked apple crumble to Azazel.
None of these, with the exception of the offering to King Paimon, were given in ritual, or as a “payment” type of deal. They were sincere gestures of goodwill and respect.
In EA;s work, he never mentions offerings. In both Works of Darkness and Evoking Eternity, as well as the evocation course, he has the student evoking demons and other spirits without giving anything (that is not to say he doesn’t do offerings, because he does, it’s just that they are not a main part of his system). Konstantinos, in his book Summoning Spirits, which follows the Golden Dawn system, also does not talk about offerings.
I have found offerings to be very system specific. There are systems of magick that lean heavily in that direction, like demonolatry, Voudon, and Jason Miller’s Strategic Sorcery (Miller is greatly influenced by Eastern systems of magick). Since I work mainly in EA’s system, I follow his dictum that spirits work with us because it allows them a chance to use their power in the world, in a way they otherwise cannot. They do not need anything else from us, though gestures of thanks are always appreciated, of course.
My experience bears this out. My magick works almost all of the time, and I’ve had no complaints from the demons and angels I work with.