I have always wondered why do entities / spirits / demons / angels sometimes require you to make an offering by giving up something (like cigarettes, meat, sugars etc). This is a common theme in many of the established religions also for example ie: people in Indonesia give up meat etc when energising amulets etc.
Why do these entities place value on such sacrifice? Why do they even care?
They don’t require it, that’s just something a person chooses to do, for whatever reason they feel its for. However, I personally don’t believe every offering a person does gives energy and just a mundane “thank you for your help” kind of thing.
The whole point of sacrifice is equal exchange. You give up something important to place the energy that that item,habit etc you had to make room for something else in your life – something of equal value. When we sacrifice to deities we show our selves and our deities how committed to equal exchange we are. That even if we lose something in the process the exchange is more valuable to us than keeping our old item/habit. Sometimes we must make room for new things and giving up something in return is also very humbling.
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I look at it as a bit of a worthiness scale.
Like, are you willing to give up X in return for Y.
If you can’t be bothered, why should they be bothered to help/teach?
Everything is chains of cause and effect, you cut off potential by removing a cause from flourishing into an effect and it harvests the energy.
I won’t get too deeply into it but this is why killing babies and children is deeply desired by some parasitic entities which feed on humanity.
They have more potential, therefore are more desired by anti-human entities.
Spirits that guide you to flourish are creating more potential for experiences and so on, and enjoying a little with you along the way, which is a healthier relationship.
I think the two explanations that resonate with me most is the belief that these entities require you to part with something of value as a demonstration of “worthiness” and the “faith” generated from that act empowers their own existence - so not entirely benevolent as some established religions may have believe.
An exchange of goods that’s at disposal of a service needs great rapport — such as businesses, their customers and distributors. So if anything is offered, it is because you want them to partake and enjoy what you’ve given or exchanged in return.
I honestly want my deities/spirits/entities etc etc to genuinely enjoy the offerings that I give them. I call them by their name and ask them to indulge with whatever and have hoped they enjoyed it and satisfied their appetite.
I don’t know about require, but it allows you to appreciate it better. At least with me it does. Think about anything you want. You tend to appreciate it more if you have sacrifices for it. In those cases it could be money, time spent, or any of a number of things. That is how it works for me. For others it may be different.