👐 Weekly Witchy CHALLENGE - Making Magickal Offerings

[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

[Ostara]

Another thing about the Morrogan is my favourite colors are black and red. My wedding was black and red. My daughter came by tonight and I noticed her fingernails because they were long and black (not like her at all), and I took her hand and told her how beautiful they were. She said they were to long but she turned them over and they were red underneath! I was speechless.

[mary25]

My Offering to Jupiter

As many of you know, I have invoking deities associated with justice, including Jupiter, as I work to restore my adult son’s rights in court. I especially like working with deities who have a connection to the planets because I LOVE astrology. When I learned that Jupiter would be in my sign of Pisces for almost all of 2022, I was delighted because that is very good news for me, and also for everyone else, regardless of sign.

Jupiter’s transit through Pisces in 2022
Maybe you have heard of the good fortune associated with this transit. This year is supposed to be one of the most wonderful years of my life and I feel like a little girl on her way to an amusement park for the first time Basically, astrologers are saying this is the year of great blessings – have faith that miracles may occur, that you will have the abundance you need, that you may find true love, that you will be healthy, etc. Of course, faith with your actions behind it, of course! But good things for all

My Jupiter Offerings
For this challenge, my offering took 3 forms: (1) research about Jupiter (2) traditional Jupiter offerings and (3) offerings of benevolent “works” in keeping with the Jupiter in Pisces transit energy.

1. Research Offering
Jupiter supports learning and research. I researched what Jupiter in Pisces is like for the collective. I also did some research on ancient Roman rites (https://romanpagan.wordpress.com)
and offerings for Jupiter and looked at the correspondences for Jupiter ( https://crystalsalchemy.com/jupiter-crystals)

There are deity invocations and “planetary” invocations. Planetary invocations are fairly inclusive, according to some of the authors I read. For example, Jupiter (the planet) may be interpreted as benevolent, male energy, creator energy, fatherly energy and could be aligned with other gods, including Egyptian, Celtic, Norse, Christian and of course, the Greek god, Zeus. https://sphereandsundry.com/jupiter-in-sagittarius-altar-prayers-and-offering-ritual/; [Jupiter Planetary + Magickal Correspondences » Plentiful Earth](Jupiter Planetary + Magickal Correspondences » Plentiful Earth

2. Traditional offerings
I read that although Thursdays are the best time for offerings to Jupiter, Sunday evenings are also a good time, anytime after sunset but especially during one of the hours of Jupiter. To calculate the hour for the planetary devotion (etc.), you put in your location and the date in an online calculator like this one.

I created a small altar tonight with the aim of creating a larger one I will use for 2022 later. I took a blue jar candle and put the glyph of Jupiter on it with a gold paint pen. I wrote Jupiter on the jar as well as some words associated with Jupiter energy, such as benevolence, justice and abundance.

On the altar I placed an amethyst, some honey, nutmeg, saffron, and frankincense incense. These are all associated with Jupiter. I didn’t have wine so I put some amaretto in a glass. Jupiter likes nice things

3. Benevolent works offering
While Jupiter will be in my sun sign of Pisces for most of 2022, in my birth chart, Jupiter is in Taurus. I read that one of the best ways to align with Jupiter’s energy is to take on Jupiter’s characteristics yourself. So, for me, one of the best ways to be lucky in 2022 is to be benevolent and basically, high vibration in every way I can. (Source: Cafe astrology: Jupiter in the signs) While Jupiter is very much about the good life, in general, in Pisces, it’s really about being a good person. So, I wrote down the good things I had done in the past few weeks and I put that on the altar. One of my deeds was donating platelets, which was good because Jupiter rules blood and circulation, and another was while I was in court Friday, I helped two Spanish speakers get interpreters they needed so they had access to justice. They both got what they wanted from the judge and they were so happy. So that was Jupiter-y , too

I have to say, that felt so much more like a contribution than the tangible things, like the crystal and incense. I think I am going to make that a thing in 2022. However, I think the tangible things have an important place and while I was praying and meditating, having them there made me feel much more in tune, spiritually. In fact, I cried, so it was very emotional for me. Also, frankly, I am under a lot of stress. So, it was good to take a break from legal work this weekend and rest and devote myself to spiritual work.

Anyway…thanks, again for the wonderful challenge and helping me connect to spiritual energy that I know will sustain me in the difficult weeks ahead!

[mary25]

Oh, Janis, I loved your insights about offerings in our conventional lives. I read in one of my son’s books that crows are very intelligent and that they are capable of recognizing human faces. So you may be right! they may recognize you and who knows? even venerate you! as their own goddess…wouldn’t that be cool?

[mary25]

what a beautiful and meaningful offering. Isn’t it funny how recipes seem to be one of the most enduring remnants of people who have passed on?

[BryWisteria]

It’s time for a friendly reminder!

This challenge will close TOMORROW

If you would like to participate and haven’t done so already, please post about your challenge experience(s) by the deadline: Tomorrow: January 11th, 7:00 AM EST (Eastern Standard Time Zone)

Blessed be!

[steph]

I am always offering the World something’ one of my favorite things to offer are plants ‘ flowers or even just a view that I appreciate and that brings me Joy !
Offer Up Love so Joy and Love is all you See

[Athena]

@theloneblkwolf I love the idea of two altars. I feel as if this is something I should as well, one for Athena, and one for the elements (since I work with both). I need to up my offerings, as I feel like I have not provided enough to any of the deities I work with.

I love the idea of a money bowl. I had never given that a thought, until I read your post. Thank you!

[Athena]

@mary25

while I was in court Friday, I helped two Spanish speakers get interpreters they needed so they had access to justice. They both got what they wanted from the judge and they were so happy.

@mary25 What a wonderful thing to do! It makes my heart warm reading that you were able to help those in need. This world lacks such compassion, and to see it alive in others is great!

I do hope that the stress you feel at work becomes more manageable as you continue to meditate and takes those much needed breaks! Self-care is of the upmost importance when it comes to keeping us from burning out. (just my 2 cents ).

I hope you have a less difficult week this week and beyond!

Blessed be!

Athena

[Athena]

@Amethyst I just wanted to tell you that what you wrote to say is beautiful! I am sure the Lord and Lady enjoyed hearing it!

Have a beautiful day!

Athena

[debra2]

Thank you @Garnet.

[RyuWyn]

Hey all!

I have much to be grateful to the Goddess Moon and the God Sun that together took care of my home and little babies when I was away looking for a new place to live. I offered them a little grateful meditation and planning to get some flowers to put on my altar this week, a little offering for their blessings.

Wishing you all a good Moonday