the symbolism of liquid offerings

[Setnakht]

I was sent a wonderful scholarly article about the significance of
various liquid offerings: wine, beer, milk, water. As the article illustrates, each liquid had a certain symbolic significance. If we enlarge this idea to include offerings of foods, ointments, fabric, etc., we can conclude that offerings were not haphazard or without spiritual meaning.
Here is a link to this article:
http://escholarship.org/uc/item/7gh1...E17B4CAF01E6F9
I think that we can adopt one or more of these into our own ritual practice for when we present a liquid offering. Other offering formulas can be found in the work of Kerry Wisner from Akhet Hwt-Hrw and Richard Reidy's Eternal Egypt.

[Darkhawk]

Huh, I guess that's that author's specialty - I have Wine and Wine Offerings in the Religion of Ancient Egypt.

[monsnoleedra]

I was sent a wonderful scholarly article about the significance of
various liquid offerings: wine, beer, milk, water. As the article illustrates, each liquid had a certain symbolic significance. If we enlarge this idea to include offerings of foods, ointments, fabric, etc., we can conclude that offerings were not haphazard or without spiritual meaning.
Here is a link to this article:
http://escholarship.org/uc/item/7gh1...E17B4CAF01E6F9
I think that we can adopt one or more of these into our own ritual practice for when we present a liquid offering. Other offering formulas can be found in the work of Kerry Wisner from Akhet Hwt-Hrw and Richard Reidy's Eternal Egypt.

Tks for the link. I enjoyed this article and found a few others of interest as well.

[Firaza]

Thanks for the link!

[Nehet]

Thanks for the link. I enjoyed this article and found a few others of interest as well.

I love the UCLA online Egyptology articles. They're "bite sized" articles that can be finished in half an hour, or so. Setnakht sent me one on demons, awhile back which was quite fascinating. But I digress...

The liquid offering article was very interesting, in terms of practical use. I am totally including some of those invocations in my ritual practices. I'm realizing that I need to be offering Ausir milk on a more regular basis.

This makes me think of Helmsman's comment about a supposedly "serious" thread, "coke or pepsi for Nebet Het?" I believe offering such things is not appropriate, and that we should use better quality stuff. To me, that's just being respectful. There is also another good reason to stick to the basics: less stress for the person making the offering. It sounds, sometimes, like people put themselves through so much unnecessary stress over what to offer. At times, people may think I am boring or too strict for sticking to essentially the four liquids mentioned in that article. My response to that? I'm not strict or boring. I am just making it easy on myself.

People agonize over whether or not they're offering the right thing. I don't understand why. The formulas are there. I see no reason not to just use them. I've never run into a problem sticking to those 4 beverages. I have never had the Gods say "Nehet, you need to get more creative! Offer something new, for a change! We want variety!" Generally, they're perfectly OK with me just sticking to what works...and has worked for thousands of years. Don't fix what aint broken, ya know?

Interesting that the author points out that there is no one-to-one correspondence between offerings and Deities. It is uncommon for a particular offering to be given only to a certain God. There are a few key exceptions, like mirrors for Het-heru. Mostly, though, an offering that is good enough for one God is good enough for all of them.

Again, doesn't that make life easier?

Cool, rejuvenating water. Pure, life-giving milk. Wine and beer, which give intoxication and joy. What can be better than those things? If you don't drink, there's nonalcoholic beer can be offered, or juice instead of wine. I don't always want to drink, so I sometimes make those substitutions.

[Helmsman_of_Inepu]

Cool, rejuvenating water. Pure, life-giving milk. Wine and beer, which give intoxication and joy. What can be better than those things?

The other benefit is that it helps you distinguish between your daily practice and something special. If you are doing simple, respectful, quality offerings on a regular basis, it can be a lot more enjoyable adding extras for a festival or heka project. There's not a "How in the world am I going to top that?" challenge.