Offerings
Offering to your Spiritual Team
A spiritual team is a group of spirits and/or ancestors that you choose to work with. They come to aide you in your everyday living + work. You shall want to give thanks to your team for all that they are doing, have done + will do for you. In other words, show appreciation + gratitude to the ones who show up and out for you.
To show appreciation + how grateful you are for them, you will give them offerings. Give offerings based off the bond you have w| them + the things they enjoy. Depending on how many spirits + ancestors you're working w|, you want to give offerings to each individually. When it comes to giving offerings to your spiritual team and/or ancestors, think of it as giving a gift to the living. You'll come to learn what your team likes + love.
Offerings can be done in any form. Just be sure that they come directly from you to your spirits. Trust that you should be the only one who gives to your spiritual team. In other words, if any outsiders ask to gift your spiritual team to show appreciation, take the earnings and purchase the items on your own. Why? Innergs transfer + you do not want your spiritual team to receive any unwanted innergs regardless if it was intentional or not. For all you know your team may not even like the individual to begin with.
So, you don't have a team + receive assistance from a spiritualist, rootworker etc.? Or maybe you do have a team, yet still support another spiritualist, rootworker etc. It is imperative that you send offerings to them showing thanks + gratitude for the assistance their team provided you.
Why again? Well for one, this is considered spiritual class, so have the common decency + respect to show some spiritual etiquette. Two, you should always give for what they provided. Trust that Spirit will truly show up and out for you even more when they know you are reciprocating the innerG. When they know they're being used + abused, in one way or another, they will make an example of you! Please reframe from an episode of FAAFO (f*cking around & finding out!)
Currency
"You attract more flies w| honey than vinegar" - Benjamin Franklin
Give what you're able to give, but don't be stingy. Spirits know!
- Spirits + ancestors can use currency on the other side. The more you give the more blessings you'll receive. Transfer their funds to them by burning their money so that it changes into real currency or simply storing it on their designated altar. Once transferred or stored, they may use it on their side.
- Pay your spiritual team for the work they do. You will find that Lwas/Loas, will be much more generous w| their guidance + assistance when they're paid. Remember, everything is not free. ESPECIALLY your Spirits + ancestors help and innerg. Pay them what they're worth and nothing less than.
- If you're unable to give currency in the form of dollars or coins, other forms of currency can be:
- ancestral money
- rice (grain)
- cowrie shells
- copper/metal
- tobacco
- trade beads
- cotton
- kola nuts
- currency tokens
- paper w| a dollar amount written on it, that also resembles a dollar
Spirits + Ancestors know your heart, but they also know if you're lying about how much you're able to offer. Do what best fits for your spiritual team + budget.
Meals
"Sharing is caring" - Giles
Don't forget to pass a plate to Spirit!
- Show gratitude to your Spirits + ancestors by including them in the family meal. When you eat, set a plate on their altar as well and leave it there for them to enjoy. Once they're "finished", properly dispose of it. You can choose to bury it outside in your yard, leave it near a crossroad, or feed it to a tree allowing nature to take its course.
- Unable to leave food out for your team?
- While prepping your meal & when the food is finished cooking, say a prayer thanking your team for allowing you to have a meal to prepare + eat.
- Invite your team to eat first, letting the meal sit before fixing plates for the living.
- Give your team fruit & allow it to sit on the altars. Dispose of it properly once you see they're finished w| it.
Altar Care
"All I ask of you is try to earn my memory, make me remember you like you remember me" - Wiz Khalifa ft The Weekend
Keep Spirit's and/or Ancestor's space clean + decorate their altars w| things they love.
- Always keep a nice refreshing glass of water, incense and/or candle on their altar. You see an altar looking a mess, cleanse it. Your altar should never look abandoned.
- Maybe your ancestors loved to garden and always planted daisies. Go to your nearest floral shop to buy some daisies that you can sit on their altar.
Altar isn't big enough to set flowers on?
- Pick one flower out of the bunch or plant a garden in your yard if you're allowed to do so to dedicate to member(s) of the team.
- Alot of Spirits like liquor. Like Papa Legba who loves Rum & Orisha Oya who has a high love for Gin. Buy a bottle to sit on their altar.
Music
"Dress you up in Saint Laurent, speak that vodou w| my tongue" - Lil Xxel
Play a tune that your Spirits and/or ancestors love(d) to listen to.
- Dance to the rhythm of the beat celebrating them. You know it's that one tune your ancestor(s) loved to jam to. Take time to play that tune to jam together.
- Find a ritual song that your Spirits are known for loving. Let that tune play to meditate, dance to or even when completing chores.
Smudging
"But still, like air, I'll rise" - Maya Angelou
Wake your Spirits up in good spirits.
- Cleanse your Spirits + ancestors' altars to remove all unwanted innerGs from their surfaces. Smudge using sage and/or other herbs. Allow the sensational smoke to help them rise. Bring up nice conversations w| them that have nothing to do w| requesting a favor. They'll truly appreciate the company.
Meditation
"Kick off your shoes + relax your feet..." - Xscape
Give gratitude, thanks + send offers telepathically.
- Sit in a manifestive state, or don't & allow your mind to send thoughtful offerings to your spiritual team, regardless of what it is. [They can hear you]
- Manifesting things on the other end for Spirits + Ancestors can help get them things they need. You can even manifest currency so that they're never without.
Good Deeds
"Help yourself by helping others." - John Templeton
It's always good to pay your blessings forward!
- If you choose not to burn the money that you placed on your Spirits + Ancestors altar, give it to someone who you know or see in need that resembles or gives you the aura or innerg of that particular Spirit or Ancestor. Inform them that it is from Spirit or Ancestors. Say aloud this is from -"insert name of spirit or ancestor" - so that, that particular Spirit or Ancestor knows the offering belongs to them.
- Paying it forward will keep your blessings + favors coming back to you like a boomerang. Small acts of kindness will keep you on good terms w| your spiritual team.
Animal Sacrifices
"You sacrifice the few to save the many." - Joel Osteen
Remember we are in a circle of life!
- Sacrificing can feel uncomfortable to those who have a love for animals. Spirits + Ancestors love animals just as we do. The good thing is, we do not always have to cause physical harm to animals. Coming across a dead animal in your path could be a message from your team to bury, burn or save that animal for something great, so that its spirit is returned back into the Universe.
- As heartbreaking as it may be, another form of sacrificing could be your own pet. No you wouldn't harm your pet! But in the process of your pet's passing, you could pray to your Spirits to offer your pet to them. You may also bury it yourself, have a professional burial ceremony or cremate your pet to offer its spirit and/or ashes to your team.
- If you choose to cremate your pet, think about placing its' urn on the altar of your Spirit of choice or the Spirit that resonates w| pets & this form of offering.