Wouldn't it be interesting if spirits could talk? They'd be able to tell us if offerings worked.
There was a time, in the 70s before I was born, when the country and area my family originally came from was war torn. Internal conflicts like civil wars, and external meddling like the USSR and USA doing proxy war shit around the area.
At that time my mother had gotten separated from the rest of the family. In the chaos and confusion, my grandmother (my mom's mother of course) believed that my mom was dead.
By ancient tradition and custom, in our culture, we have ancestor altars we make, which is a simple little table or platform, upon which is placed a picture of your departed relatives and ancestors, there is a container which holds the incense, and on that ancestor altar we regularly place drinks and food for our dead relatives, and burn incense, and call then to drink and eat.
My grandmother had set up an ancestor altar for my mom, since my grandmother believed that my mom was dead. And so every morning, my grandmother would prepare hot tea and food to offer my mom, and burn incense.
During those years when my mom was separated from the rest of the family, she said that every morning when she woke up, she felt an odd feeling of being full, like she had eaten shit and had energy as if she had eaten breakfast. It was only after she had been reunited with the rest of the family that she learned that my grandmother was offering my mom drinks and food every morning.
Since ancient times, we would cook rice, and make food and prepare fruits, and bring those things to the temple to offer to the folk-gods. There was a practical or real reason why such offerings to such folk-gods were made. The reason was that in such ancient times, being that there were no grocery stores, you worked hard to grow your own rice, raise your own farm animals. And your family and village depended on that food you worked hard to make. And so, offering such folk-gods such food was a way to show such folk-gods that although your family and people depend on such food to live, you are willing to give a portion of that food which you worked hard with your human labor to grow and make, because such folk-gods take care of the people. Quid pro quo.
It is an exchange of energy. Energy can neither be created or destroyed, but it can be circulated. The Gods and spirits put in the spiritual energy to take care of us and help us with our prayer requests, magic, etc, and in return we put in our human energy to give to such spirits and gods what our human energy can create.
Making such offerings is universal to all animist cultures on earth. My godmother is Mexican, and she has a Boveda, which is what an ancestor altar is called around Latin America and the Carribean Islands. On the Boveda are pictures of your dead relatives, cups of water, candles, drinks, food, coffee, cigarettes, and so on.
The native americans, back in the old days, placed a small handful of tobacco by plants as offerings. The plants - such as sage or trees, etc - put in their energy to do what they do for you, and in return, the tobacco back then was grown and prepared by human labor and energy.
My godmother is also crowned in Ocha (she is a Santera, Santeria), and in Ocha you also make offerings to the folk-gods (Orishas). Not just animal sacrifices, but also offerings of food, liquor, pastries, cookies, cigars, candles, and toys.
I wear something called a "Nyi Blorong" around my neck. Nyi Blorong is an Indonesian folk-goddess who has the torso of a lady and the bottom part of a snake. It's believed that Nyi Blorong's spirit (energy signature) inhabits a tree that has been struck by lightning. The portion of such a tree that is charred black is cut after sacrifices are made to the tree and to Nyi Blorong, and the said blackened portion of that tree are carved into pendants in the image of what looks like a mermaid, but with the bottom of a serpent. Such pendants are blessed by a shaman who invokes the spirit of Nyi Blorong into them. You wear the pendant, and every Thursday, or on the day of the full moon, you give your Nyi Blorong offerings of a cup of water, incense, and also as an offering you spray perfume or run sweet smelling oil on her. When you need help or need something, you would pray to Nyi Blorong and ask her for favors. And she responds quick.
I also have something called a "Por Ngan" which is like a pendant or amulet. Por Ngan is an ancient aminist folk deity of Indochina. He is usually depicted as a man wearing a pointy hat, sitting on a bag of gold, surrounded by naked women, and he has a giant erection. Por Ngan is a "dirty" deity with no morals. He specializes in vices and dirty work. The Por Ngan amulet is stuffed and packed with magical elements associated with Por Nang, and a talesman etched on a thin silver sheet wraps all that stuff into an amulet. A shaman or witch-doctor would then invoke the spirit of Por Ngan into that amulet. You wear Por Ngans strictly below the waist and near your crotch. Making offerings to Por Ngan is odd but simple. Wearing him near your private parts is one way to keep him energized. Another way to make offerings to Por Ngan is by placing him inside dirty panties in your panty drawer at night while you sleep. Having a young pretty girl or a hooker sit on him is another way to make offerings to him, which also charges him. To call Por Ngan to help you when you need him, you would rub liquor on him and ask him to do you something. Por Ngan is a dirty folk deity with no morals, and so he can break up marriages if you want to be with the husband or wife, he can make people you are interested in want to have sex with you, he can be used to call more customers into your business, he can charge your words you speak to be enchanting so that you can influence people which is good if you are a lawyer or politician or salesman, he can make people you dislike lose their job, lose their wife or husband or children or home. If Por Ngan has enough energy, he can also be used to make people you dislike sick or die.
My godparents initiated me into an African religion brought to Cuba by slaves during the slave trade 600 years ago (not Santeria). We just call it "La Religion" which simply means "The Religion." In the Religion it is cultural tradition to pray and make offerings before entering cemeteries or forests. If you are going into the forest for whatever reason, such as a hike, we would say: "Puedo entrar con permiso, con licensia nzambi, con licensia basimbi, con licensia nkisi mi tata, munambo nfinda anabatu. Aqui pongo su malafo, su nsunga, y su simbo." Aqui pongo su malafo means "here I place your liquor," and you would spray some liquor out of your mouth and pour some liquor on the ground. Su nsunga means "your tobacco," and you would light a cigar or cigarette, blow some smoke on the ground, put out the cigar or cigarette, break that shit up and place it on the ground. Su simbo means "Your coins," so you would take out a few coins, like pocket change, and place it on the ground. Those are the offerings. Liquor (rum), tobacco, and coins. After the offerings are given, you would state your intentions to the spirit of the place why you have come to its domain. In the Religion, making such offerings is a must when entering a cemetery so that the spirit of the cemetery places you under its protection, that way no random dead spirit follows you home or fucks with you.
In my Asian culture, we do the same thing. Before entering a forest, we go to the biggest tree, which is the most senior tree there, and at its foot (by its base or roots) we place offerings of drinks and food and sometimes items like nice looking rocks or little gifts, and then we ask the spirit of the place to accept those offerings, state why we desire to enter its forest, and ask for its permission to enter its forest. If you desire to go into the forest to hunt an animal, or to fish at the local lake in that forest, then you would proceed to negotiate with the spirit of the forest, by stating how many of its animals you desire to kill or how many of its fish you desire to catch, and what purpose you need such animals for. Divination is used to see if the spirit of the forest agrees to give you permission to kill one of its animals and how many you can kill and take home.
Across China and countries influenced by China and its Taoism, we also make offerings to folk gods and spirits. And we usually use the moon blocks, which are two pieces of wood shaped like crescent moons used in divination, to determine what should be offered, one what day, and so on. The moon blocks are also used to divine when the folk-gods or spirits are done with the offered food and drinks, this way we know when to respectfully dispose of the food and drinks away. Respectfully disposing that food and drink, in our culture, influenced by Taoism and animism, is when we take all that food and drink, and we walk outside into the yard, and somewhere in your yard, usually way out at the perimeter, you leave that food and drink for there for the feral spirits. If animals like stray cats, birds, and so on, eat that food, its fine. But you leave it there until it's all gone, and later throw away what is not eaten, like the aluminum can the beer was in, the paper plate the food was on, etc.
There is protocol for what offerings you give to spirits that can be later consumed by you or cannot be. For instance, if you are offering food and drink to dead ancestors, and they are done with that food and drink, then you can eat and drink those things. This is because family shares shit. If you offer shit to folk-gods or spirits, then you shouldn't eat what was offered. because that's like an Indian Giver, where you fake out the gods and spirits by saying: "Oh yeah, this shit is for you, but when you're done, I'm taking it back and eating it myself." In the Religion, if a chicken was used to clean you or somebody's body from negative energy, then that chicken must not be cooked and eaten at all. If a chicken or animal was sacrificed simply as an offering, then in most cases you can cook and eat them, but usually we use divination to see if the spirits would let us cook and eat those animals.
Divination in Taoism with the moon blocks and in the Religion is a simple binary affair, where you toss the moon blocks (Taoism) or shells (the Religion) to produce a Yes or No answer. So you would ask a line of questions to determine the will of the gods, ancestors, and spirits, like this: "Can I eat the food I offered to you?" spirit says NO. "Should I throw the food away in the trash?" Spirit says NO. "Should I leave it outside?" Spirit says YES. "Where outside should I place the offerings, next to a tree?" Spirits say NO. "In the middle of the crossroads?" Spirit says YES. And so you would place the shit at the crossroads.
And so, placing offerings for a spirit at or around or on top of its sigil is good. Then you would consciously tell the spirit your intent: that the offerings are for it and tell it why you are making such offering for it, maybe it's a token of your gratitude, or maybe it's in exchange for a favor, or maybe the offering is being made to charge the spirit with energy. Then you can use some kind of system of divination, like a pendulum for example, to get Yes and No answers to determine when the spirit is done with the offerings and how the offerings should be disposed of.
