👐 Weekly Witchy CHALLENGE - Making Magickal Offerings

[Susurrus]

@jessica72 I have done a lot of research on the Morrigan & have made a couple of posts about her & some really great resources for learning her stories.

• The Morrigan: Celtic Goddess
• The Morrigan - Goddess School
• The Morrigan - Druidry.org

There is a great series through Pagan Portals. Available in book & free with Kindle Unlimited by Morgan Daimler. Stephanie Woodfield is also another great resource for her. I did a lot of reading & you will find contradicting correspondences, but if you read her stories through the Tuatha De Danaan & The Ulster Cycle you also have to remember to take her correspondences & modernize them because ancient times was recorded more by word of mouth & it wasn’t until Christianity essentially moved in that the Celts/Druids practiced in secret that didn’t change over to Christianity coming through. The Romans were the first to start writing recordings of the Celts as they were a prominent culture. It’s a little complicated at times. I would just say be careful where you get the information from about the Morrigan & her sisters & find supporting information for anything that is from a secondary or tertiary source.

• Pagan Portals: The Morrigan: Meeting the Great Queen - Morgan Daimler
• Pagan Portals: Raven Goddess: Going Deeper with the Morrigan - Morgan Daimler
• Celtic Lore & Spellcraft of the Dark Goddess - Stephanie Woodfield

I’m happy that she found you.

Off the top of my head:

• black & red candles
• red meat
• pomegranate
• crows/ravens
• Samhain
• Dark Moon
• sequences/the number 3

I’m not trying to discourage you, because I know that call from the Morrigan. If you have any questions or would like to talk about it, just send me a message. I am constantly looking into her & her aspects. The more you learn & Honor her, she will make herself known to you. It’s happened to me more than once & out of the blue when I needed some guidance moving forward & through the holidays.

[BryWisteria]

@Amethyst I’m sure the creative coven will have lots of offering ideas for you to consider, Amethyst! Thanks again for sharing such a great challenge theme!

@Debra2 May your meditation help to reveal ideas for you, Debra- happy meditating and I wish you good luck!

@theloneblkwolf I love your practice of having a tea/coffee date with your ancestors and spirits- what a great ritual to do! That’s a good point about being mindful of how long the offerings stay out for, especially when ants are a concern. And the ongoing money bowl is a great financial practice to have in place! Thank you so much for sharing, Lunairess!

@Kasandra Good for you for being daring, Kasandra- I’m sure Tysteal will appreciate such a thoughtful offering You are smart to be cautious about burning- start small and make sure there isn’t a fire alarm nearby (sometimes they can be hidden out of sight) that any smoke would set off. Good luck and I hope it goes well for you!

@Susurrus Thank you for sharing how you make your offerings to your different deities, Siofra- it seems like you have unique practices for offerings to Brigid and the Morrigan. And I can tell you put a lot of thought and care into your spell remains and offering disposal- thank you for sharing your methods!

@jessica72 Congrats on deepening your bond with the Morrigan, Jessica- I’m so excited for you! Thank you for sharing the correspondences you uncovered and also for the lovely crystal offering you did- I think adding in an affirmation is a wonderful boost to the spellwork- great job!
(And I smile everytime I read one of your fun words- “looky-loo” is officially going into my vocabulary )

[Garnet]

Weekly Witchy CHALLENGE - Making Magickal Offerings
An offering to your God/Goddess means many things to many people.
Most organized religions ask an offering during their services. In reality this offering is to support the building. Electric, repairs and maintenance plus the support of the priest/preacher. This is in not in any way wrong, just perhaps mislabeled.

An offering, to me, is a sincere gift to your Deity.
When I had a hibiscus hedge, as they bloomed, I would pick the biggest and prettiest flower, offering it with a bow on my altar. When it had withered, it was removed, disposed of and another one chosen.

My son thought it was disrespectful to give back a gift that had been given to me.
I explained, "If Goddess granted me the beautiful flowers, the very least I could do was to offer the prettiest bloom as a thank you to Her. "
When the flowers no longer bloomed, I offered the change in my pocket, a cup of coffee, a cigarette, what ever I had that was meaningful to me.

Again, my son said, “So what do you do with the change?”
I told him “Nothing, it belongs to Goddess.”
“What if I take it?” He asked.
“Then it would be gone, wouldn’t it.”
“Then your offering is void.”
“No, sweet boy. If an offering leaves the altar, my opinion is that it was Her will.”
“But I stole it.”
“Did you? Or was it Goddess’ Will?” I told him. “And before you ask, when the coffee is cold and old, I remove it and replace it with something else.
Life is a circle, my son, life is a circle.”

He may not believe as I do, but as I never pushed any specific religion on him, he accepts what I believe. Not for him, but for me.
And you know what? That’s alright by me.

By the grace of the Goddess,
Be safe, Always
Be blessed, Always
And know you are loved, Always.
So mote it be!
Garnet Trailblazer

[Susurrus]

@Garnet

He may not believe as I do, but as I never pushed any specific religion on him, he accepts what I believe. Not for him, but for me.
And you know what? That’s alright by me.

I am the only practicing pagan in the house. I have 1 son in denial, but loves Norse Mythology & reads about ancient/old Norse ways, Vikings, Scandinavia & that area, all of it.

It’s his concept of what paganism is that he isn’t sure about, so I have a book about Paganism for Beginners, just so he has some idea of what it is & how the Gods & Goddesses related to concepts of the Wheel of the Year, Solstices, Astrology/Divination. I’m not pushing him, but I answer his questions honestly & if he does ask about anything on my altar or what I’m doing, I am open with him about what it is I’m doing & why. I told him that it’s fine if what I do isn’t what he also does, I told him to do what feels right to him, but to take his time.

I love your entry Garnet, I can really relate to that experience.

[jessica72]

@BryWisteria You are most welcome to add that one! I would say that I could put it down to 16 years of being in the same job - child care. I try and make things fun for the kids. But it’s a worry when the kids that I have looked after for years come out with ‘me mannerisms’. Just yesterday I had one come out with “oh well it isn’t going to fall any further” when she dropped something on the floor. I couldn’t help but laugh at that one. I love my kids. I don’t have any of my own - thankfully not to him anyways so it’s a blessing really. to do the job I do.

But I have always been a little different and well and truly had my own vocabulary even before I started in this job. I think it’s a perfect fit really. I’m a little strange and I don’t mind being a little silly to try and make someone else smile.

@Susurrus Thank you so much for sharing that. I will for sure check out your posts on Morrigan! I don’t feel discouraged, not at all. I’m grateful that you took the time to think of me to share it. I’m still very new to all of this and I would never want to disrespect anyone who works with the deities and has far more experience than I do, or even the deities themselves by not taking full advantage of all the wisdom offered to me.

It was that one line that I found in my Dark Goddess book within the Morrigan affirmation when I was having a flip through “I am shielded from the self-serving intentions of others” that was my ah-ha! moment . If that one line doesn’t sum up my relationship with Mitch then I don’t know what else can.

[Susurrus]

I’m happy for you!

@SilverBear has a meditation for Meeting Macha, she is 1 of the sisters that are part of the Morrigan.

Anything else, please feel free to ask.

[LadyAuld.ofChico]

I love baking and I love baking as offering. My favorite go to is Honey Cakes. I have a recipe that is similar tasting to a spice cake. Depending on the Diety I will put different fruit on top or customize in other ways. Gaia specifically loves Honey cakes. When I offer to her I will also leave a cup of milk sweetened with honey.

I am more familiar with the Celtic Gods and Goddesses, but I feel most comfortable with Gaia. Something about being able to step outside of my door and put my hands on her, the physicality of Gaia that is hard to find in Diety.

It is my usual practice to leave offerings out overnight. I am an evening ritual witch. Once everyone is tucked in I can get to work. Also the evening atmosphere gives a magical quality to my spells. My family is very respectful of my space so I do not worry about it being disturbed before I wake up. In the morning I will walk the offering outside to my garden, lawn or usually compost. I will take a few deep breaths and thank the Diety, say a few words to them as friends and bury the offering. One of the links referred to a discussion on how long an offering should be left out. Many suggestions were given and ultimately all the answers were right. Maybe in the future I could bring my pendulum out and consult how long I should or could leave the offering.

I have yet to work with any offering other than food. I totally absorbed all of the links above. Pages of notes were written in my book on this topic. I love the idea of offering to more than God and Goddess, like my house spirit! I love my house spirit, how fun to say thank you to them.

The offering can be more than food. I liked the idea of a kind gesture or planning a date with the Diety, like a monthly nature walk date with Gaia. Yes Please! That is happening from now on. I have a gratitude song that I regularly sing to the God and Goddess. I had no idea that was considered an offering to them. But it makes so much sense! Really anything that shows loyalty and love is an offering.

This was such a fun week. Thank you so much for inspiring me to research a little bit. Sigh, If only I put forth this much effort in high school.

[christina4]

CHALLENGE ENTRY

I have a few altars but the altar I’m going to talk about is my Bast altar. She is the daughter of Ra and Isis. (I also worship Isis). I have a Bast statue surrounded by offerings of crystals (jet is her favorite), catnip, 2 candles, 2 incense holders for incense cones, perfumes, balms (specifically healing balms are her fav.), oils and flowers.

I researched before I placed and offerings. She also loves when humans dance, listen to music and I leave her a little bit of whatever it is I’m drinking at the moment.

[BryWisteria]

@Garnet Beautiful exploration of what offerings mean in your practice, and how important they are in your life as a whole! The interaction with your son was very powerful to read- you are so wise, Garnet! I really admire your strength of heart and faithful love to your Goddess And lovely chant too- thank you!

@Jessica72 Hooray! You have so many really fun words- I ought to start a collection and try to use them more, they add a bit of fun spice to language and yes! Fun words like that do bring smiles for everyone Child care sounds like a great fit for you, and I have no doubt at all that the children adore you- even through just text I can tell you have such a bubbly and fun personality!

@LadyAuld.ofChico Your Honey Cakes sound amazing! Thank you for sharing your methods of giving offerings, and I’m really glad if some of the links proved to be helpful for you! May you enjoy finding fun ways to make offerings (be it food, time, or lovely dates!) and may your deities continue to watch over and smile upon you Great job!

@Christina4 I know you’ve been building up your bond with Bast, Christina- thanks for sharing how you like to give offerings to Her! I am sure all of your very thoughtful gifts are appreciated- and I love the note about Bast enjoying when people dance! Well done!

[Kasandra]

Success!
I took a small amount of plantain, and burned it in my cauldron in my bathroom apartment with the fan on. I put it near my crimson dragon statue that represents Tysteal. As an added bonus, I mixed the burned plantain with all the crushed ends of my burnt matches that I’ve yet to throw away. I lit a red candle, made myself some sweet berry tea and sat by my draconic altar for a few minutes. Lately, the nights have been bitterly cold (in the single digits) and snowy (3-4 inches of snow yesterday), so it’s the perfect time to ask the dragons for warmth and protection!

[Magdelina]

As a ritual and spiritual practice, I make deity offerings daily. The first deity is my spirit guide Isis. She revealed herself to me as Isis in an oracle reading with my new Gateway of Light Activation oracle 2 weeks ago. Since then I have honored her with rose petals and buds, favorite flower incense and 2 red candles. I printed up her image and put it in a frame until I can purchase her statue. The second deity is the daily deity Bast. Her offering is black tourmaline and amethyst in a small cork jar ( make these myself for each daily deity I honor) and light a white candle that burns all day. I also offer Bast’s favorite incense and when it is a special day or if I have received a special gift I offer her one of her favorite foods if I have it on hand. Both deities are honored with mediation and prayer throughout the day and at the end I try to remember to thank them for their guidance and gifts. Below is a picture of my altar today.

Blessed be

[debra2]

Entry to Weekly Witchy Challenge – Making Magical Offerings

This Ritual can be done at any phase of the moon during the day or during the night whenever needed.

You’ll need 1 large white or pink bowl
1 white candle
water
small fresh flowers ( white blooms are best)
1 piece of white cotton cloth

Place the bowl on the altar ( or any surface you desire). If desired, cast a circle. Affix the white candle to the center of the bowl with warmed beeswax or with drippings from another white candle ( so the bowl acts as a candle holder).
Pour water into the bowl. Float the fresh flowers on the surface of the water.
Light the candle.

Visualize your reason for this ritual; remember why you’re giving thanks to the Goddess and God. Touch the water on both sides of the candle with your fingertips, saying these words:

Lady of the moon, of the stars and the earth;
Lord of the sun, of the forest and the hills;
I perform a ritual of thanks.
My love shines like the flame;
My love floats like the petals
Upon you.

Lady of the waters, of flowers and the sea;
Lord of the air, of horns and of fire;
I perform a ritual of thanks.
My love shines like the flame:
My love floats like the petals
Upon you.

Lady of the caves, of cats and snakes;
Lord of the plains, of falcons and stags;
I perform a ritual of thanks.
My love shines like the flame;
My love floats like the petals
Upon you.

Look into the candle’s flame, then down into the water. Blow gently upon the water’s surface and watch the flower’s movements. Meditate. Commune. Thank.

When it’s time, remove the petals from the water. Place them in the center of the white cotton cloth. Wrap the cloth around the petals. If you’ve cast a circle, close it now.
End your rite of thanks by quenching the candle’s flame, pouring the water onto the ground, and burying the fowers in the earth.
It is done.

Excerpts are taken from Living Wicca by Scott Cunningham, a guide for the solitary practitioner.

Blessed Be

[MeganB]

I love this challenge I don’t have a full post to write but I still wanted to share my thoughts (and pictures because yes, I actually did stuff too lol)

I give offerings fairly regularly and it always varies. With Brighid, I have a daily offering of a candle as long as I have a candle to give. I’ve been trying to be more attentive to the lands spirits and give them offerings, too. I give my ancestors an offering of water regularly. On special occasions they also get a plate of food or coffee, whatever I feel like offering.

I got my order of candle wicks in the mail today and was finally able to put some candles together from my leftover wax. This candle is a trial run and I will be making some more next week (probably in a video, too).

The red candle is scented and I wanted to melt it down with some non-scented wax to hopefully make the scent less… smelly? It’s very strong lol it didn’t work that well and it’s still very strong but that’s okay. Now I’ve got a lovely red candle in a beautiful candle holder I found at a yard sale. I’m hoping to make a Brighid-specific candle next week.

[Athena]

@BryWisteria

To participate in the challenge, please share:

1. How you explored magickal offerings this week

Magical offerings happen often in my household. I have a makeshift altar set up for my ancestors, and on it, I have pictures of those who have moved on. Every night, I light a white candle for them, and every Day of the Dead, I lay out food for them. As a child, I often left bits of bread in the rose garden for any fae that may have been there (never asking for anything in return). Unfortunately, I do not have a rose garden at my house now :. The Goddess Athena sit on my altar. Offerings to her often include water and blue candles. I also made prayer beads for her, and placed them around her neck. From time to time, I use them and then “give” them back. I try not to ask for much from her, and most often just thank her.

These are just a few ways I make magickal offerings to my ancestors, deities, and magical entities in my life.

I cannot wait to read what others have posted. I am always looking for new ways to show my thanks.

Blessed Be!

Athena

[jem1]

My challenge entry
So,I’m a big fan of devotional activities,so that’s what I did.
For Apollon I listened to some music and for Hestia I tried some crochet and then I did some devotional art.

Blessed Be

[Jewitch]

Trigger/content warning: In this post, I’ll be discussing my experience with the end of biological family lines and adoption. This may make some people uncomfortable, so if this topic makes you uncomfortable, please feel free to skip over my post.

For my challenge entry this week, I didn’t do anything too hands-on like I normally like to do. For this week’s challenge, I did a lot of contemplation about my recent draw toward really diving in to ancestor work.

I frequently have dreams about my late maternal grandparents. My mom was adopted, and her adoptive parents didn’t have any biological children of their own. I have been feeling the urge to begin providing them offerings and honoring them on a regular basis, but until a few days ago, I couldn’t figure out why I suddenly had that urge so strongly.

Upon reflection, I came to the conclusion that they reach out to me in my dreams because, although I’m not their biological grandchild, preserving their memory is partially up to me. They both had siblings, so they still have biological family members carrying on their siblings’ lines.

I feel like I’m in a similar position to my maternal grandparents: Being an only child and gay, I’m not sure I’ll be having any biological children of my own (at least not through “‘traditional’ methods” for lack of better words), so I’ll likely be the end of my parents’ biological line.

This is something I’ve always struggled with. I’ve always felt enormous pressure with being the likely end of a family line. I know biological family isn’t everything, but I can’t help but feel guilty to be (essentially purposely) ending that particular line since I’ll likely be choosing not to have biological children of my own. I do plan on adopting someday; I would love to be able to help give a home to child(ren) who wouldn’t otherwise have a stable, loving home life.

All this is to say that I’ve reached the conclusion that, although my maternal grandparents’ biological line is coming to an end, I can be part of continuing their non-biological family line by preserving their memory and honoring them.

When I contemplated how I can honor them and carry on their memory, I decided that it would be a good opportunity to create an ancestor altar and begin honoring them by providing them earthly offerings as well as communing with them.

I don’t want to go into much detail because I feel it’s a very personal, private topic. However, I will say that part of my method of honoring my maternal grandma will be to cook her recipes. She was such an amazing cook, and almost all of my memories involving her revolve around the food she cooked.

In the next few days (hopefully today!), I plan on making some spritz cookies like I previously talked about in a previous post using her measuring cups/spoons and her “cooky” press. (“Cookie” used to be spelled “cooky” in English before “cookie” became the standard spelling through usage. ) When I get my ancestor altar set up, I’ll use some of those cookies as an offering to my maternal grandma.

[Amethyst]

First of all, I want to thank everyone for letting me see what type of offerings you do. I’ve always been at a loss with this subject so it’s been an honor to learn from you all.

My problem is that I live in an apartment building. We’re not allowed to dump food outside for the local wildlife so I would guess taking food out for pagan deities would be a big no-no. The same thing with wine, plus I’d just spill it on myself trying to roll it out of here.

Except for quarters, I don’t handle money or change so a money bowl is out for me. I need the quarters for laundry. It would be a shame to use the same money I’ve given to a God for washing my underwear.

So I’ve decided to use incense as my offering. Smells nice and the Gods like incense. I wrote the following to say when I give the offering to the Lord and Lady. I hope you like it.

Lord and Lady, I give you this gift of
smoke and scent.
May it give you as much pleasure as it is meant.
Bless the smoke to purify and protect,
as it is given with the most reverence and respect.

Blessed be.

[janis]

Offerings, moi?

At first glance I figured that I don’t “do” offerings. When it comes to offerings for deities or meals for ancestors I haven’t had a strong calling to a deity and it doesn’t entry my mind to offer meals to ancestors, yet.

Upon reflection though I realized that I’ve been making offerings since I was a child.

• flowers on graves of dead wildlife I’d buried.

• Santa Claus

• natural mandalas in the woods or beach

• candles in churches I visited in Europe

• returning crystals to the earth

• when I’ve journeying

• oh, and an egg the other day

All the Crows

Then I remembered all the crows over the years that, almost daily, I would offer food to. This habit started with my Dad when I was a child. We would offer honey to bumblebees from our thumbs, invite Stellar Jays sit on our hands for the peanuts we had but the crows where special!

We would observe our Northwestern Crow (Corvus caurinus) taking the peanuts the Stellar Jays would cache, stand guard for each other when picking up food and then bringing their young to join the feast…

It was when we moved to our home 23 years ago that I started mindfully “offering” the crows food and water.

We moved here in the spring during fledging time and jeez they were territorial and frightening! It took me awhile to notice the nests in the trees that lined our street and figured out what was going on. It was then I decided it would be best to make friends.

I started feeding them daily from that day on. Mostly it will be a pair who show up but it’s been as many as 15 when it snows. Lately I’d been getting lazy and just tossing some dog kibble on the porch but this challenge has reminded me to honour and thanks The Crows with intention.

The Ritual

I collected the offerings of; hard-boiled eggs, dog kibble, suet bird food, shelled peanuts and some shiny things.

I infused the platter on my alter with wishing them good health & a safe haven, and thanked them for their calls of warning of racoons, skunks and ravens.

I placed the offering on our back porch the next morning and watched when the regular pair appeared, then another crow, then a seagull, hummingbird and junco appeared. It filled my heart to witness.

I will continue my mindful offerings to these social animals that I feel such an affinity. I won’t leave my place without a pocket full of kibble to offer the crows on dog walks, out shopping and basically everywhere I see a crow. I swear even in places I’ve never been, crows come, patiently wait or follow me for a treat. I wish I had just a wee bit of their memory and focus.

Cheers,
Janis

[Ostara]

@janis I just want you to know that reading your entry literally gave me goosebumps about feeding the crows. I have been fascinated by crows all my life and would feed them bread. I am a baby witch so this week’s challenge has been a challenge for me. I have studied the different goddesses and am really drawn to the Morrogan. I am still researching, but tomorrow morning when I go to work I am going to bring bread for the crows. They love hanging out where I work! I will let everyone know how it goes and if there are no crows to be found. We will see.

[Garnet]

Such a beautiful and respectful ritual. I loved and agreed with all of
it…well [maybe not the snakes,]but everything else.
You have come so far in such a short time. Goddess must surely bless you.
Garner - Trailblazer