Lately, it seems as though the brainstorming for a post topic is taking almost as long as the actual post takes. So in response to this shifting difficulty, I’ll change it up a bit and have a single topic that I/we can elaborate on throughout the week. Yes, I’ll still be posting every day, but it will be on a single topic that can be explored a little more adequately than a single blog is able to do. Maybe I’ll even be able to have some topics to research now (and maybe a little time to do that research now that I shouldn’t have to brainstorm for 45 minutes to come up with a decent topic). Anyways, onto the topic of the week: Sacrifice.
Sacrifice is a natural instinct and has been represented in many myths. Wine/champagne bottles have been broken on ships in order to sacrifice the wine to the gods of the sea, animal sacrifices were made worldwide for any number of gods and reasons, and many cultures even had human sacrifices. The difference between the sacrifices in myth and the ones in the present day is that people have forgotten what sacrifice truly means. Sacrifice does not mean to give up or to lose; it means to make sacred.
So what exactly does making something sacred mean? Well, probably the best way to think about it is to consider your sacrifice a gift to the gods/universe. This means that instead of being annoyed that you’re losing the item/time/energy, you have to be glad that you’re giving it up. No one wants a gift that you are mad that you have to give. At the same time, it has to be a gift that is hard for you to give up. It has to be something that you care about. No one wants a gift that you’re annoyed you have to give, but at the same time, nobody wants a piece of grass that you couldn’t care less about.
In my experience, the best sacrifices are not monetary sacrifices or materialistic sacrifices because these things are usually replaceable. When I make sacrifices, I give up things that mean something to me or that are hard for me to do. For example, I have taken dried herbs and roots as well as gemstones that are related to a certain god and crushed them into dust. The entire time, I make sure that I stay in the moment and don’t think about the groceries I need to get or the bills that need to get paid. I spend the two hours simply crushing things in order to make a sachet to leave in the woods somewhere. I know that this seems silly, but have you ever actually sat in one spot and focused on doing a very brainless activity for two hours? It’s incredibly difficult, and therefore is an excellent sacrifice. I put my energy into the gift I am giving to the gods. It’s no different than giving a gift to a significant other. The energy and thought are the important thing, not the actual gift (though I’ve found that diamonds are the exception…).
This leads to the next type of sacrifice that Catholics have completely embraced. Have you ever sacrificed something that you enjoy doing for a god? Catholic priests have given up sex (well…they’re supposed to have given up sex…) and Catholics in general celebrate Lent, where they have to give up something that they really care about for 40 days. Can you imagine the kind of energetic build-up if you were to sacrifice something that you truly enjoyed for 40 days? This could be used for magickal purposes, but at the same time, it could be sacrificed. I’ve made these kind of sacrifices and they’re incredible. You wouldn’t believe the luck I got afterwards…or the dreams for that matter…
I’m not proposing that every sacrifice should be a six month long endeavor to make, but at the same time, it should be something that is worth something to you as well as be made with a good heart. I can’t stress that last bit enough.
For what purposes do we make sacrifices? Surely there must be some intent behind the action.
Do you here refer to sacrifice as a sort of arcane reagent, used to power a spell in place of one’s own energies?
Or is a sacrifice just a way of thanking the powers-that-be-not-seen?
Wouldn’t the reasons to sacrifice be just as varied as the reasons to do a spell?
I have made offerings in situations in which my full belief that I could achieve something through my own means was limited. In those situations, it was in the asking of the particular deities to help me along in one way or another when I could not help myself for one reason or another.
I have also made offerings to make room for things I wanted to let into my life. The sense that creating space was necessary motivated me to offer something, knowing that in doing so I was opening up to receiving what I hoped to attain.
And then I have also made offerings simply out of reverence for a force, to commune with them or give thanks for all that I have already received.
I’m not entirely informed on this, so perhaps MFTRW can add to this in another post or comment, but the Norse followers have ritual blots, or offerings/sacrifices, as part of their relationship to the deities, rather than as part of magick. I once heard a shaman describe the need for reciprocity with the Mother Earth and that making offerings was the way to do create that.