spirits, Magic
Taylor Ellwood
The relationship between sacred kingship and ...

One of the books I’m reading lately is King, Warrior, Magician, Lover by Robert Moore and Doug Gillette. It’s a fascinating book that explores the archetypes of the mature and sacred masculine. This is currently part of the spiritual work that I’m engaged in as I explore my own relationship with masculinity and heal the ancestoral and contemporary wounds that I’m becoming aware of as it relates to how masculinity is treated and perceived in modern times.

One of the aspects I’m exploring in particular is related to sacred kingship and the land. I am in the process of exploring the new city and surrounding areas that I live in. While I’ve lived here for a year, I didn’t have much opportunity until recently to really begin exploring the area and developing a relationship with the land. I find it fitting and useful that part of the process has also involved cultivating a relationship with the land, particularly on the basis of the relationship has with their home and how that relationship plays out in sacromagical work one does in connecting with the land.

offerings

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The Spiritual and Practical Ecology of Offerings

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In The Spell of the Sensuous, the author shares that when he was visiting Indonesia and learning from some of the Shamans there, he would observe that people would leave offerings outside of their house for the spirits. One day, curious as to what happened with the offerings, the author followed someone, saw them give the offering and then he waited a while. Then he walked over and he saw that ants were carrying off the offerings.

What the author came to realize is that making the offerings had a spiritual impact, but also an ecological one. The ants didn’t show up in the homes where offerings were being made, because the offerings were set far enough away that the ants could get the food and go on their respective way.

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Some Thoughts on Offerings

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In the latest lesson from the Strategic Sorcery Course, Jason talks about Offerings. It was interesting to read what he said and to see a similar philosophy when it came to offerings, but a different approach to doing offerings. I think his approach works and I'm actually doing it with two entities I'm working with right now.

Ironically before even reading that lesson or starting the course, I'd been doing a weekly offering to Dragon. Each week I make an offering of rice and tea to Dragon. Once a month I do a full ritual, where I paint myself and allow Dragon to do a full possession of my body.

I've also done an offering to Bune, which has involved writing about him on occasion, as well as doing a painting to him, and even incorporating him into my vision board for 2012. In the forthcoming book on wealth magic, don't be surprised if you see his seal on the cover. It's another offering I'll make to him.

In Magical Identity, if you look carefully, you'll see the seal for Purson, another entity I've worked with in the context of time magic. His seal shows up on the cover of another of my books.

I've also offered daily prayers or devotions to different entities I'm working with. So I don't think my approach is all that different from Jason's, but my expression isn't as traditional, at least in some cases. For example, when I was eighteen, I offered my blood (and life force) to the elemental spirits in return for their life force. One could argue it was a bargain, but I don't think of it in that way. I see it as more of a kinship oath, where each person swears kinship with the other person. Certainly my connection with the elements is different as a result of that working and I feel its fair to say that my elemental balancing work is its own offering to the elements.

But another type of offering I do is through tattooing. I currently have five tattoos, with at least two more planned. Some of those tattoos represent life events, but the dragon on my arm is an offering to the spirit of Portland, and the tattoo on my right forearm is an offering to XAH as well as a recognition of my emptiness working. My newest tattoo is an offering to the elemental spirits. By giving them skin, what I am truly offering is an acknowledgement of the highest form. They are placed on my body as a way of acknowledging their role in my life. The next two tattoos will also be offerings to specific entities I've worked with or am working with.

What it really comes down to is making the offerings from a place of sincerity and appreciation. Nothing less will do.

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Making an offering

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When I was eighteen I made an offering to the elemental spirits and every so often I make offerings to different spirits I work with. Sometimes the offering is an exchange of one service for another, but sometimes its just to make an offering, with no strings attached. The reason I make the offerings is to show respect, but it's also sometimes a release of attachment. An offering gives you a chance to give something that has meaning, but also release you from that meaning. The other day I took my old wedding ring and the handfasting cord off the wall and decided to make an offering to the elemental spirits. I no longer felt a sentimental attachment to either object and I realized I needed to let go of them, to let go of whatever lingering emotions there were that were attached to the objects in question. I took a walk with both objects and found a place where I could make my offering to the elements...and I made it.

The release was palpable, as was the response, a surge of energy that shot up my body after the offering was made. A sure sign of approval as any, and also a release for me. They accepted the two objects, accepted the meaning associated with them, and accepted the value of the release of those objects for me.