How to Make an Offering as a Hellenic Polytheist (based on historical methods)
Get the attention of the deity you’re making an offering to, this is typically by calling out their name, and/or some epithets. You don’t have to use epithets, it’s more formal if you do though. Epithets can also give the advantage of telling the theos your calling on, exactly what it is about them you’re about to be praising.
Same some nice shit. Tell them why you’re about to make an offering to them. This can be anything from, “This is my weekly offering” to “I think you’re pretty cool” or “Thanks for your help on that test last Tuesday” ect…
Define the offering. This is where you usually tell them what the offering is. Juice, fruit, wine, a bit of jewelry you’re dedicating to them, a devotional act you’re planning on partaking, ect…
Give them the offering. If you don’t have an altar or shrine space, this one can be a bit more difficult. But, there’s always a way to make it work. You can, for example, declare that you’re dedicating a necklace to Aphrodite, and now wear it in her honor, and then put the actual necklace on; or put it in a jewelry box for safe keeping until you do wear it.
(optional) Make your petition if you have one. This is where you can say, please do me this favor or help me with this thing.
Thank them for paying attention and *hopefully* accepting your offering.
If you want, you can even write a devotional hymn, prayer, or poem, that follows same structure as making an offering, and recite that while making an offering. For example:
Dionysus Anthion(of the flowers),
Crowned in flowers and ivy,
Staphylitês (of the grape).
With fruit sweet on our tongues and wine dark in our glasses,
Glorious God of fruit-bearing vines,
And ask that you bear witness to this offering.
We sing your praises in hymn,
As we pour libations of cream and honey,
Quenching the parched Earth’s thirst,
Feeding your sacred vine.
((optional lines)Drink of the cream,
That we may have a bountiful harvest.)
For your many glorious gifts.
It clearly outlines who you’re calling, what you like about them (in this particular context) what you’re giving them, how you’re giving it to them, and then thanks them. With the optional example in there of petitioning for something in return for the offering. It can be helpful for some folks, and it certainly makes it feel more ceremonial in my opinion; but it’s not a necessity.
Another form of offering format is much more for the sake of petition. It gets pretty straight to the point, asking for what you want. This is more like trying to cash in favors than it is a straight up offering, but is still a valid part of Hellenic Polytheism.
Call on the theos in question, by calling their name. You can also state epithets if you desire, or add a bit of praise. That way you’re not (metaphorically) walking up to a deity and saying, “Hey, remember that time I did X, well I want Y now.”
Call on your kharis or relationship with the particular theos you’re petitioning, and any of their connections you might be in good with. This is where you point out things you’ve done for them.
Make your petition, explain to them what you need. Make it clear, but realistic.
Make an offering or promise of future offerings upon completion of your request. Be clear about the offering, define it. It doesn’t work too well to say, “I’ll give you anything you want” because look at how hard it is for mortals to understand deities on any given day, we’re not likely to figure out exactly what they want, or we might not agree to their cost in hindsight. Offer what you think is fair trade, and what you’re willing and capable of giving, but keep in mind what the theos may want.
Keep in mind that the theoi have every right to ignore petitions, or simply decide they aren’t going to do it. Nothing we do as followers obligates the theoi to help us, but we can always ask when we need it.
Again, written or verbal devotions can be helpful for keeping this structured and making it more formal if you desire. I’ll provide another example:
Wife of Wine-Dark Dionysus,
If ever I have poured libations in your honor,
I ask you to hear me now.
Aid me in unraveling this problem,
Show me the path I must take.
For when I pass this trouble unscathed,
I shall sing your glories,
Pouring out unmixed wine to you on every night the moon is dark,
Until the year passes to a close.
You can be as poetic or plain as you like if you decide to use hymns, prayers, or poems with your offerings and petitions. It’s all personal taste.
Ways of Making Offerings in Hellenic Polytheism
There are as many ways to make offerings in Hellenic Polytheism, as there are Hellenic Polytheists. Everyone ends up developing their own ways of doing things. These are some examples of common offerings though.
Burning offerings is most common with food. An offering is declared for a theos, and then burned in a (typically) open flame. This is a great way to make offerings for any deity in the Hellenic pantheon. Both Ouranic and Khthonic deities, as well as pretty much every other entity in Hellenism, accepts offerings that have been burned. Always be safe when using fire, and especially when placing things in an open flame.
Libations are liquids poured out to the theoi. There are a couple different ways to do libations.
Khthonic entities tend to prefer their libations poured directly onto soil. This includes not just Khthonic deities, but also some daimons and the dead. Neat fact, some ancient Grecian graves had a fancy jar above the grave, with a hollow bottom, so that family of the deceased could pour libations into the jar and it would fall directly into the soil.
Another way to do libations is to pour them into a drinking glass, or decorative vessel. This method is more common for Ouranic deities. In this method, you should dispose of the remaining liquid after a while, to keep it from getting gross.
Food offerings for the theoi can be given in ways other than burning.
A method that I’m quiet fond of is to set an extra place for the theos you’re offering to to. This means that if everyone else gets a placemat, a plate, fork and knife, glass, and napkin, the place for the theos gets the same set up. You call on them before starting the meal, explaining you’ve set a place for them to join you, and asking them to partake of your meal. You then go about dinner as normal, not actually serving anything to the plate. This makes the dinner itself more of an offering than any specific food.
You can also share food with the theoi. If you’re worried about offending the theos you’re offering to, just ask them first, they will let you know if they’re unhappy with the idea. What I mean by sharing food with them, is to literally share. To eat the same food you offer them. In this instance you offer them the food, and then you can either explain that you are sharing it with them and dig right in, wait a little while before eating it, or share it with other people who might be there. This is a good way to make sure food doesn’t go to waste. Not every occasion is appropriate for sharing your food with the theoi, but ti’s also a great way to make food offerings if you’re worshiping on the down low.
Finally, we’ve got the method of setting out a plate or item of food, and not touching it. This is common for Khthonic deities and the dead, especially the dead. It was considered bad luck to share food with the dead, so food offerings for the deceased weren’t eaten.
Another way of making offerings to Khthonic entities is to bury items that are being offered to them. Bury a few coins for an honored ancestor. Bury that roll you set our for Haides (just be aware something may very well eat it). People would make offerings to Khthonic entities in or on the ground, because it was symbolically closer to the entities themselves. So burying offerings is symbolic of basically handing them the offering.
Not all offerings are things that get disposed of. Some things are permanent items, and items we intend to keep for a long time. These items can be displayed almost anywhere. If you have an altar or shrine, then that’s a great place, but you can also put them anywhere you want. Maybe on top of a bookshelf? Or the kitchen counter?
I strongly suggest looking at the specific theoi you want to make offerings to, in order to find out what they would like. Different deities have preferences and favorites that they like to receive.
There are general offerings though that will be accepted by almost all the theoi.
Coins (some theoi like coins a lot)
How to Get Rid of Offerings
As mentioned above, not all offerings are disposed of in the act offering. When this happens, we need to look at how to respectfully dispose of an offer before it gets gross.
For libations, I’ll either pour them out into my garden, or let the act of washing my offering chalice remove the libation. The second form is the most common way I do it. I’ll start the sink running, and place the chalice underneath the water so it overflows until the water spilling out runs clear. Then I wash and dry my chalice, and put it back on my shrine.
For food offerings, it’s a bit harder. If you offered compostable items, then you can always put them into your compost bin as a respectful way of disposal. If you’ve offered things like meat, then you don’t have much choice but to burn it or throw it away. My recommendation for respectfully throwing away offerings is to offer a quick prayer when you remove the offering, throw it away, and then wash the offering plate it was on and clean the general area the offering was in. This makes it pretty clear that you’re not taking the offering away, but cleaning up instead.
