Offerings for sacred places in nature
Haigh a chara, hi my friend, welcome back.
Heres a guide of some simple yet meaningful ways you can leave offerings, blessings, prayers, gifts, spells and more to Nature, without harming Her or the creatures that call Her home.
I’d love to hear of the offerings you leave to nature, especially if you’re in another part of the world or come from a different culture. I adore hearing of all the ways in which we honour the land and our cultures so leave a comment below and we can talk!
Whether you’re honouring somewhere sacred to you, or a known sacred site, leaving behind offerings which are both well received by the spirit you’re giving thanks and appreciation for, and in alignment with the natural world, is very important. I do believe certain sacred community sites under guardianship are a little different and leaving behind semi-permanent offerings such as mirrors, glass jars etc are ok — as someone is ensuring no damage is being caused to the site. However, if you’re leaving offerings for trees, water sources, stones, or places of great meaning to you then being mindful of what you offer and leave behind is paramount. Are you really honouring any part of nature if you’re littering or leaving behind items which can harm plants and animals?
Here is by no means a comprehensive list. I keep certain aspects of my personal practice away from prying eyes. I also advise that more people have this approach to their practice — or maybe that’s the 8H stellium talking? Either way, always use your intuition and use things that are native to your land. Personalise and tailor things to you and who you worship. I hope this post sparks something within you and you feel intuitively called to make something uniquely yours. May this be of some inspiration or a simple starting point.
Offerings for Sacred Places
First and foremost is getting clear on who you’re making the offering to. Are you honouring a Goddess or God? Which one? The more you know about a specific deity or Goddess, the more you can tailor your offering for them. An example would be the Irish Goddess of Hope & Healing Arts: Airmid. She is represented by the symbols of wells and natural springs, and a mortar & pestle. Airmid is a skilled herbalist and a renowned healer which means offerings surrounding blessed water, herbs, and medicinal remedies would be the ones most suited to Her.
Airmids’ healing charm is still used across Celtic realms today:
“bone to bone
vein to vein
balm to balm
sap to sap
skin to skin
tissue to tissue
blood to blood
flesh to flesh
sinew to sinew
marrow to marrow
pith to pith
fat to fat
membrane to membrane
fiber to fiber
moisture to moisture”
This charm is a potent healing prayer that can assist your mind and body in recovery. You can also use this charm for loved ones going through illness to bless their bodies with recovery.
If art is an offering then so are words. So are poems. So are prayers. So is song.
When spending time at your sacred place, offer what your heart feels called to. Folk songs fill me in ways I cannot describe. I feel so connected to my roots, so at peace with myself, and experience joy every time I sing them. When making my offering art for Bealtaine this year, I sang the entire time. Some melodies of songs I knew, some melodies were songs my heart as known for a long time that finally felt ready to release. Song. Prayer. Honouring the blessing tree over the sacred circle by tying a prayer to Her. Leaving another offering at the Sun stone (the stone that fills with the colours of the Sun come Summer Solstice dawn). There are so many ways to give thanks and share blessings with a place. To honour those who came before you, those who walked the land before you, and to honour the Goddess at the same time. Don’t limit yourself or your expression. Joy is healing and an offering of its own kind. So make sure to enjoy your time in ceremony with Nature.
As much as having joy is wonderful, I also want to share that it’s ok to have more than one emotion at once. I’m yet to sing as a form of offering and not have tears running down my face. Tears of release, tears of mourning, tears of expression in all forms. Offer honesty to yourself and this vulnerability will lead to connections you hadn’t thought of.
Movement medicine is one of the most Yin, empowering, and potent forms of offering and healing a women can take part in. Ceremony with yourself. I could, and perhaps I will, speak on dance as connection to the divine in another post. For now I will share, we have danced around fire, around stone, around community for thousands of years. It is in our blood, our bones, our very being. Dancing in nature is not only a deeply healing and moving experience for you, but an offering of heart, soul, sweat and effort for the Divine too. To dance is to be vulnerable. To dance is to transmute. To dance is to connect and channel.
Creativity as an offering
“On this altar should be placed pagan offerings to gods of food, beverage, flowers, herb, incense, and candlelight. But an important kind of offering is almost forgotten – the offering of creativity.”
Something I couldn’t recommend more for connecting with both the sacred site itself, and with Nature as a whole, would be to welcome creativity as an offering. Foods, trinkets, symbols, water, flowers, herbs, resin, incense — all these are beautiful and potent offerings that will be adored by those receiving. However, putting your heart and creativity into hand-crafting with nature is a magic of its own kind. And I see it as weaving your own essence and magic into something personal that you gift to Divine, God, Nature etc.
What are your natural ways of expressing creativity? Are you a painter? A fibre artist? Do you draw?
You don’t have to be exceptionally skilled at any of these. What’s most important is your time and effort, and the enjoyment you get from expressing yourself in this manor.
Something I adore is macrame. I will insert some photos so you can see some things I enjoy making. I have previously made macrame necklaces with sacred stones and hung these on trees as an offering at some sacred sites. Using wooden beads, organic hemp, and stone. Protection for the natural world, and offering to Goddess, a piece of my heart.
For places where there isn’t a guardian of the site, I do not leave anything that isn’t bio-degradable. For larger sites where people make pilgrimage to, this is where I leave some of my macrame offerings.
Below are protection loops with charms weaved into them, mixed fabric decorations that prayers or chants are spoken to, and some stone macrame ‘necklaces’ which are used for prayer trees.
This is what works for ME. And I do this as I was always into fibre art. If this isn’t something that’s previously interested you, trying to replicate my offerings is of use to nobody. (the photos above are examples. I would never share actual offerings with the internet. some things are supposed to be kept sacred and private!)
A prompt you may find helpful: What did you enjoy making as a child? What did you enjoy creating as a teen? The answers are usually found there. Hint: Daisy chains!
Something that I do at every sacred site I visit, be that standing stones or a favourite tree guardian, is create an art piece with the natural resources around me. Mandalas, intuitive creations, nature art. Whatever name you give this, its a beautiful way to get your hands and mind connecting to the earth around you. I use stones and driftwood on beaches. Winter in the woods means the ground is covered with twigs, branches and leaves. You can create magic with what you find. Pine cones and stones. The list is endless. You weave invention, prayers, wishes, and charms into your crafts as you create.
You can make your favourite runes or oghams with things found in nature, or draw them on a rock or wood. Do not carve into living trees as this is disrespectful.
Daisy chains, flower crowns, St. Bridget cross are other beautiful ways to create and weave with natural resources — especially suited to Spring and Summer months.
Knot magic is another form of offering. Using natural fibres only, you can knot what you’re using to infuse your craft with a potent spell, prayer, charm — or even curse. But the last option isn’t suitable for an offering.
You can decorate shells or fill them with little offerings (pine cones, acorns, a carved ogham stave) and leave them at your favourite trees. Make wands out of fallen wood and carve with protective runes. Make a mini broom with fallen twigs and decorate with dried fruits and cinnamon.
Your options are endless. Get creative and always be respectful. Leave only natural materials. (E.g. Milk offerings can be poured into egg shells that you save).
A mini guide:
Winter: Twigs, what you find on the forest floor, cinnamon, dried citrus, holly berries, root vegetables, cloves, cardamon. Red, deep purple, dark brown, white, silver.
Spring: Flower chains, milk, eggs, elderberry wine, seeds, Bridget cross. Blue, yellow, white.
Summer: Flowers, flower art and chains, berries, blessed water, milk, mead, beer made from harvest grains, stones from beaches (do not take more than is responsible or more than you need. Always ask the water spirits for permission before taking anything from the ocean/sea/beach.), elder flower, summer herbs, milk, anointing oil. Green, blue, brown, yellow, pink, purple.
Autumn: Harvest goods, a mix of summer and winter offerings, prayers and charms are especially potent this time of year as you move towards the darkness (in the northern hemisphere), bread, fruits. Yellow, gold, orange, deep purple, brown, red.
Mountain spirits enjoy stones and crystals. Water spirits enjoy earthy/forest goods. The forest enjoys shells and the bounty of harvest time.
I would love to hear from you if you use any of these prompts. Do you have any offering ideas that haven’t been mentioned? Share below in the comments!
Le grá
Em
