A friend wrote: "Thinking about my 'offering of sacrifice'. I realized this morning that my kids, made within my body, nurtured by my body, raised in the household that I set the daily tone for, [are a] long outpouring of sacrifice. To my family line, to my world."
This immediately got me thinking about the Goddess, and I don't mean a particular cultural Name, but THE Goddess, the Great Goddess, the Creatrix of all we see and are, and about sacrifice.
Wicca, and the various Wiccan-style Pagan traditions, give offerings to our Deities as tokens of affection and respect. Usually this is wine, fruit, milk, bread, honey, or other food substances and takes place a ritual context. In my tradition, it expresses love and gratitude and helps us feel that we and the Gods are participating in the ritual together. Sometimes we make bigger offerings that involve more energy and effort. We might make something and ritually destroy it in offering to the Goddess; I might bake a special cake for Her and take it out and bury it in the Earth. We call these offerings sacrifices, because we sacrifice ("make sacred") our energy and goods.
However, I've never had the sense that the Goddess needed my offerings or sacrifices. She does not need my offerings to love me, and She does not need them to communicate with me or to act on my behalf. She loved me and spoke to me way before I ever started formal rituals or offerings. It's like when a beloved elder relative comes to visit and you offer her a cup of coffee and some cake. She does not need that coffee and cake, but it is polite and caring to offer it to her, and she appreciates the thoughtfulness. If you were not to offer them, she would still visit and love you, but she might think you were a bit rude, and some life lessons in thoughtfulness and generosity might follow.
When I was really little, my mom used to give me a bit of money at Christmas so I could buy a Christmas present for her. The idea is cute and silly, because I was using her stuff to give her stuff, but it acts as an analogy for the offerings we give our Lady. "All things come of Thee, Oh Goddess, and of Thine own have we given Thee" (to paraphrase 1st Chronicles.)
This places the Wiccan-style Pagan traditions outside of antique Pagan traditions and even some of the monotheistic traditions, where sacrifice was/is seen as necessary to forge a proper bond with the Deity, and without which, one could not have a proper relationship. The rushing-out of chi or prana in shed blood during an animal sacrifice forges a strong link with the Otherworld. The nature of the animal sacrificed "toned" the nature/quality of the power gushing forth and attracted/excited the denser spiritual parts of the Deity being invoked: like attracts like. It was believed that the bond with Deity and perhaps even the strength of the Deity depended on such sacrifice as well as great quantities of other offerings. The bond had to be renewed frequently with more sacrifice.
The point of the Christian mythos is that there came a time when there were not enough animals or offerings to satisfy Yahweh or atone for humanity's basic errors, and so the God himself had to incarnate and sacrifice himself to Himself to forge that proper bond between humanity and Deity. Because that God is considered to be outside of the limits of Time, so also is his sacrifice seen to be outside the limits of Time; it is ongoing, which is why the Eucharist (in liturgical churches) and the concept of being "washed in the Blood" (in the charismatic churches) are so important.
So we have a situation in many ancient (and some contemporary) Pagan religions, and even some monotheistic religions, where sacrifice is seen as necessary to have a proper relationship with Deity. How startling, then, are the words of our Great Mother Goddess as spoken in the inspired liturgy of the Charge of the Goddess:
"Nor does She demand sacrifice, for behold, She is the mother of all living, and Her love is poured out upon the earth."
The earlier Charge of the Goddess actually did make reference to sacrifice: "At mine Altars the youth of Lacedaemon in Sparta made due sacrifice." However, this was dropped. The sources of the Charge of the Goddess are many: Aleister Crowley's writings, Leland's Aradia, Apuleius' The Golden Ass, and the inspiration of Gerald Gardner and, especially, Doreen Valiente. I believe that the eventual omission of the line about the "due sacrifice" in Sparta was dropped because it conflicted with the Goddess-given gnosis that She does not demand sacrifice.
Because She is the mother of all living, that means Her essence is inherent within us, just as my friend's essence and nature is inherent within her children. I, you, this computer, my cat, bulls, dogs, turtledoves, loaves of bread, water, honey -- all are already of Her body, and there can be no alienation or separation from Her intrinsic form in us, anymore than my friend's children could one day decide to take out part of their DNA.** Traditional sacrifice acts as a bridge, but why build a bridge to yourself? So we don't need to sacrifice to the Goddess, in the traditional sense. Her ongoing love, "poured out upon the earth" is the bridge to us. When we love Her back, we are herself loving Herself.
When we create something to give to Her, we are participating in Her inherent Power of Creativity; She is the source of creativity. When we offer something back to Her that is beautiful or sweet or fine, we are acknowledging Her beauty and and sweetness and fineness. And, She is acknowledging those qualities in Herself. We are also growing our spirits by mimicking her generosity. (We can learn a lot about right love of self from the Goddess.)
Finally, offerings can act as a language, a means of conversation, and there are offering techniques that are very powerful in this regard. These things create more of an awareness of Her in us, and strengthen our awareness of Her in our lives; they are very worthy to do, and powerful, and meaningful, but She does not need them anymore than my mother needed that 25 cent figurine I bought for her with her own money, and our relationship is not predicated on the offering.
I am comforted by the idea that I do not need to do anything in order to be loved and nurtured by the Great Mother. It makes me love and appreciate Her even more.
**(Which they would never do because my friend is AWESOME.)
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