#smoke offering

[of-faunsandyellowflowers]

Happy Litha!

Happy Midsommar! Glad Midsommar!

Herb burning satchel:

9 herbs/flowers/berries of your choosing from:

Sage, mint, basil, chive, chervil, tarragon, parsley, rosemary, thyme, hyssop, honeysuckle, red heather, rue, lavender, fern, mistletoe, St. John's Wort, vervain, meadowsweet, heartsease, feverfew, iris, rowan, oak, fir, pine, aniseed, hazelnut, fennel, sunflower, white heather, mugwort.

(You can also add in elderberry, or juniper berries if youd like, keep it to 9 ingredients though)

a large square piece of cotton cloth, white.

golden colored ribbon/string/twine

The runes of your choosing. Here I put some of my favorite runes Thurisaz, Elhaz, and Fehu. These will help set an intention you would like while you burn your herbs, and make the spell more powerful. Make sure you meditate and put your energy within these symbols, otherwise they are just symbols. You are welcome to swap them out for any other type of rune you like

spell oil of your choosing. I chose my litha sun oil, but any will do. It all depends on the type of spell you would like to achieve.

Mix 1 part of each herb in a bowl. Pour on top of square cloth. Next, place the rune of your choosing on top of herbs. Fold up, and tie string around the top in order to seal in. Drop several drops of spell oil around your satchel. It doesnt need to get soaked, just enough that it gets in a variety of places.

Let sit in sun for a few hours. I put my talisman on it because I thought it looked cute!

When ready to throw in fire, hold the satchel within your hands and focus your intention once again into the satchel. Ask the gods for help, and if this is simply just a smoke offering, state that as well!

Next, throw it into the fire. Make sure to really get the smoke going! Let the smoke envelope you, and imagine the smoke cleansing, protecting, and doing those set intentions.

Praise the gods!

Note: you are welcome to tweak this anyway you see fit in terms of how you would like to burn your herbs. This isnt just for summer solstice, however the herbs listed are frequently used for said holiday. Whatever you feel comfortable with.

I hope everyone had a wonderful summer solstice! I certainly did 💖

[thetwistedrope]

does burning offerings count as smoke offerings? i've been thinking about utilizing my fire pit to burn food offerings and perhaps written prayers lately... not sure it's something my gods would really appreciate, though. maybe some of the manlier gods, eh? - rick

I've heard of cultures burning a percentage of offerings (maybe... Canaanite? ) but it's certainly not something you'd do in a Kemetic context, generally speaking. Religiously, food is for nourishing and eating, and its a huge 'waste not, want not'. So I think it would depend on the deities in question. For myself, I'd rather offer the cooking of the food and the smoke from that as opposed to the burning of the food itself, but that's because I'm coming from a Kemetic perspective.

In this case, I wouldn't be burning edible offerings. Nor do I think I'd burn food without a good reason.