Household Spirits

[Semjaza]

This sort of ties in with the Kitchen Altars and Deities thread, in a sense.

Do any of you leave offerings to 'domestic' spirits, other than gods and goddesses? Milk, honey, water, or bread for the 'Good Neighbours' or brownies or whatever they'd like to be called? The spirits or fey that, up until one or two hundred years ago (give or take for location), people made offerings to in exchange for the spirits' goodwill, help, or protection of the home and household? Or would you consider this to be 'superstitious'? :)

I don't leave such daily or nightly offerings at the moment. I would if I had my own house. Where I am now, the most I do is call out a warning when I throw a pan of water or broth etc over the side of the deck for the cats or chickens. I really don't know where I picked that bit of faery lore up, or why it stuck when most of the other occult social graces flew out of my head, but oh well...

Cheers,

Semjaza
FFFF

[Kmartin60]

LOl..a bad response....sorry! :hahugh: So far i have only done it twice...I finally got my altar set up, and for no good reason thoguht "Ok! I can do this" and went and using my finger as a anthame drew my circle, set it, then called my towers? Directionals? not sure what to call them..have it written down but at this moment...brain kinda empty! :lol:

Anyway...was basicly looking for anyone, Angels, dragons, fey...whoever felt called to come and then couldnt think of what to do a spell for! (I had one when started but..shrugs...dunno what happened!) My mind went blank as a new chalkboard never written on! So, basicly thanked them for coming to visit and left a small piece of candy bar for them as I removed cirle and sent energy into ground...Was really cool though!

So, figure I will do this reagardless a couple of times a week as I grow more..just to keep them in contact, and ask for wisdom...now that I think of it, hope they dont mind? shakes head...sigh...:yayah: Do you think I messed up?

[MajorTal]

yes, I leave a red wine/ honey mixture "ambrosia" for an offering.

Cheers!

***Tal***

[Zephyrstorm]

I haven't been lately- need to fix that.

A friend of mine does so religiously. She leaves mead and cookies and parts of her dinner leftovers.

I have to be kinda cautious about how I go about leaving offerings around here, my land lady is kinda a neo-conservative Christian. I think she'd ask if i started leaving offerings by my door, which is where I used to do it.
Time, I think, to come up with a new method.

[SilverSeraphim]

Living in an apartment complex, it would be a tad difficult to leave outdoor offerings without someone eventually nosing around and causing problems. And we have bug troubles, so indoors is out, too. Oy. 8O

[David19]

I'd like to start leaving offerings for various spirits, but, this is just going to sound like an excuse, but i haven't really had time, and when i do think of it, something always comes up, one of these days i will do it reguarly (i've kind of done 1 or 2 offerings for nymphs if that counts, but i'm not sure if i'm a Hellenic recon or not (i'm also interested in Sumerian reconstructionism)).

[Nitefalle]

Well, I can't leave anything in my backyard, my dog will eat/drink/mess with it. He's very nosy. We have a little desk fountain that we keep in the kitchen and I've sort of dedicated it to the house fey - I make sure it's always clean and full, that it doesn't run dry. I also told the fey that they can have free reign of my garden, as long as they don't mean me or my household any harm.

[Tanya]

We have a Thai spirit house, but we also have a dog. offerings for the 'little people' would just meet a more common end.... usually we leave offerings in the day time for the birds.

[Crysiira]

I live on the third floor of an apartment complex. Yeah, not much offering goes on. I tell myself someday, someday... I did do an offering on Midsummer's Eve; according to my research, it's the night when fae pass through the worlds most freely. It was not taken, though. I have a strong feeling that the fact that there are so many people around, probably none of which are other fae-welcoming pagans, has dissuaded any fae from even dropping by to visit. Ah well. Here I go again with the someday, someday.....

[shuvanilu]

Sometimes we leave out bowls of milk, and on special occasions we leave out apricot brandy in a little tea-cup. My daughter likes to leave pennies at the base of our willow tree for the fairies.---shuvanilu

[stella01904]

I keep a shrine in the indoors for protective family and household spirits.
As far as Fairies, they also like shiny and/or tinkly things. Coins, pins, mobiles. I have a place outside where I do that.
Stella

[Desert_Witch]

We have a fireplace in our apartment and the mantle is a "ancestral Alter/Shrine" where we make offerings to the Ancestors and the Little People. When we do food offerings they are very small and we remove what was not taken the next day. We leave the shiney stuff up though. To my discredit we do not leave offerings regularly like we should, just when we feel as though we "need" to. I was taught that the Little People go wherever a person of Cherokee blood goes...

[skilly-nilly]

I have a fairly elaborate Hob House (photo hopefully attached) because I put a lot of importance on having a good household spirit in order to keep out the bad ones---my belief system is not F***y-friendly.

At this moment, there are 2 eggs in the offering bowl. I also leave shiny things and mice bits of food on occasion.

Outside, I have a cast-iron sunflower on a stake that I put offerings in--oatcakes, grain, alcohol, whatever seems appropriate at the time.

On Hallowe'e'n, I put out milky tea and scotch for my Beloved Dead; but that's a different kind of Spirit.

[DandelionDame]

skilly, I had never actually seen the Hob House before - what a gorgeous set-up! Lucky Hob.

Mine is a basic cottage-style birdhouse that I painted myself and put the Elhaz Rune above the door, along with a note on the bottom. I haven't done many offerings at all, though. I had read that they don't like offerings or payment, but maybe an occasional "ooopsie, how did this grain get here?" kind of thing. I figure my Hob (whenever it comes) will probably be a no-frills kind of New Englander like most people I know and love are.



I have a fairly elaborate Hob House (photo hopefully attached) because I put a lot of importance on having a good household spirit in order to keep out the bad ones---my belief system is not F***y-friendly.

At this moment, there are 2 eggs in the offering bowl. I also leave shiny things and mice bits of food on occasion.

Outside, I have a cast-iron sunflower on a stake that I put offerings in--oatcakes, grain, alcohol, whatever seems appropriate at the time.

On Hallowe'e'n, I put out milky tea and scotch for my Beloved Dead; but that's a different kind of Spirit.

[dragonprincess]

Everytime I bake cookies, I'll make a couple tiny ones and put them under our trees and bushes for the fae.

[Gyda]

Cofgodas get usually milk and honey(sp) every week, with a word of thanks.

Gyda

[seekerofknwoledge]

I don't know if this qualifies, but I leave offerings for my house/personal spirit (I'm a Hellenistic Recon so this translates to my agathos daimon or "good spirit"). Usually it consists of some homemade bread and milk. I pour the liquid on the ground outside my door and leave the offering inside for a bit on my altar, and then tuck it into a special tree outside where I place all my offerings.

[Glowy]

I have a Fae statue outside in my garden( you should see my garden) that I put mead, coins, and shiny polished rocks in. My garden is pretty much a major bio mass.

[Gyda]

I leave a bowl of milk/honey once a week with a word of thanks for the Heath Wights.

Gyda

[Nitefalle]

Also, whenever I cook, I give a small offering of salt to the house fae. I don't really know why I started doing this, but I take the tiniest pinch and throw it behind me - doesn't matter which hand or which shoulder, I just feel the need. It's almost a compulsion.

[Philosophia]

Since my animals will eat any of the food or drink I leave out, I tend to just put a simple bowl of water with some rose petals on my altar and a few trickets around it.

[MariThorn]

We leave leftovers outside for the God and Goddess' animals. We also try not to scrape everything off our plates at dinner, as it is rude to be stingy with the animals outside. After esbats and sabbats we take ale and cake outside for the wee ones. If we are eating out, we often try and sneak a little something out for the critters. I have also left money in people's homes, a penny or two, tucked away for the fae that live there.

[Adrianus]

I do libations every morning but to the gods my Trad honors, not to the land spirits.

[MankyCat]

My mother got me a fairy door. :hahugh:

I had a thought of putting that door up and leaving offerings of "found treasures" for the little fey folk and entities that watch my home (2nd level apartment, but it feels like home so much that my guy keeps calling it our house).

I have some nifty flattened gold toned glasses (no glass, just wire, very artsy)) that I found a while back and just found a cute marble last weekend. The marble make me think that doing 'found treasure' offerings would be a good way to go... considering I'm always finding nifty things. Got me thinking about filling a clear jar with these little things I find. So... that's probably what I'll do, along with leaving little treats now and then.

Something just makes me think that fey would appreciate the idea.

(Heck, many artists appreciate the 'found art' idea typically... which isn't much different.)

[Belgalad]

This may be a stupid question, but what is the purpose of these offerings? Has anyone ever had an offering vanish without a material explanation? Has anyone experienced phenomena as a result of leaving or failing to leave an offering for these spirits?

I'm really wondering if I should start doing this, if it'll keep things a little more chaos-free, or if I shouldn't be doing it with any kind of selfish intention, or if they even get taken at all anyway, or what.

[Tanya]

we have a thai spirit house in the garden.. at sabats we leave milk, wine, cakes incense, and my daughter likes to decorate it with flowers.

I spend a lot of time in the garden talking to it....even when I'm peeing in it or weeding it....I try to go out first thing in the morning barefoot and talk to her for a while.... center myself before all the crazy of the day begins.

[Zephyrstorm]

This may be a stupid question, but what is the purpose of these offerings? Has anyone ever had an offering vanish without a material explanation? Has anyone experienced phenomena as a result of leaving or failing to leave an offering for these spirits?

I'm really wondering if I should start doing this, if it'll keep things a little more chaos-free, or if I shouldn't be doing it with any kind of selfish intention, or if they even get taken at all anyway, or what.

Personally, the way that I give offerings, it's rare for me to have a way to see what happened to them. My offerings indoors are often of the material and pretty variety. The spirits enjoy not only the items, but also the mutual joy that can be found.

All the other offerings are poured on the ground outside. Since we have raccoons, it is possible that they get those. ;) Not something I am upset about.

[Kes]

This may be a stupid question, but what is the purpose of these offerings? Has anyone ever had an offering vanish without a material explanation? Has anyone experienced phenomena as a result of leaving or failing to leave an offering for these spirits?


I don't have any hard data or anything, but I've found that when I put food/items out specifically for whoever else may be in my house I tend to lose far fewer socks and my cell-phone doesn't inexplicably wind up in my shoe. :o

That's enough incentive for me.

[Kodi]

Do any of you leave offerings to 'domestic' spirits, other than gods and goddesses? Milk, honey, water, or bread for the 'Good Neighbours' or brownies or whatever they'd like to be called? The spirits or fey that, up until one or two hundred years ago (give or take for location), people made offerings to in exchange for the spirits' goodwill, help, or protection of the home and household?


I call them 'Good People' and i usually leave out some milk or some type of juice with some rice. during school i bring milk out to them every morning before i leave the house.
I just recently moved and at the old house i felt a strong connection to the Good People and at times could see them but just for moments, but i never really gave them offerings. I started leaving offerings out at the new house as a sort of 'i just moved here lets be friends' type thing. Gradually the relationship has progressed and i leave them all the time. :)

[Convallaria]

Sometimes we leave out bowls of milk, and on special occasions we leave out apricot brandy in a little tea-cup. My daughter likes to leave pennies at the base of our willow tree for the fairies.---shuvanilu

I love that! And so do they, lol. Shiney things are definitely a yay for the fey, haha.

I also like to put out a small amount of milk, however the cats usually find it.

[dancinghathors]

This is where I leave my offerings for the spirits of home. I offer them spring water with essential oils and flower essences. I got this idea from Christian Hummel of http://www.earthtransitions.com/ in her Space Clearing kit.


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3180/2486672849_222b94ea9d.jpg?v=0

I used to have a friend who would leave out a cup of tea for her spirit.