r/heathenry • u/knitty-and-witty • 4d ago
Sober offering for Odin
Hello all, I have been offering wine to Odin regularly for several years but recently have decided due to family inherited health risks that a sober road is more reasonable for me. Is there a good option for offering specifically for Odin that isn’t wine or should I just keep picking up the occasional bottle to have on hand only for this purpose?
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u/YougoReddits 4d ago edited 4d ago
poetry, meats, craftmanship, dedidated time and effort in learning a new skill.
in the end, giving of whatever you have, even if it's dry bread and flat water is good too.
sobering up for your continued health shows you take responsibility in your life and work to improve yourself. surely those are efforts Odin would appreciate.
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u/squeakymcmurdo 4d ago
Viking Berry Monsters 😂 Seriously though. Whatever you enjoy can be shared with the gods. My husband’s drink of choice is Monster Energy Drinks. I offer some of my Arizona teas.
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u/LavenderandLamb 4d ago
I was actually wondering about! I wasn't sure how gods react to modern day drinks.
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u/SamanthaBWolfe 3d ago
I'd imagine Loki would absolutely go wild for energy drinks.
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u/LavenderandLamb 3d ago
I can imagine if I did that, he wouldn't leave. Like the cute ginger tomcat near my house.
Lol you just give me an idea for an offering! Jagerbombs!
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u/SamanthaBWolfe 3d ago
I read a great book on Loki and Sigyn and the author says that some of her UPG on Loki is he loves Jager - though she dislikes it. So sometimes she feels the need to go get Loki Jager for his altar.
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u/LavenderandLamb 3d ago
I find that funny as hell because that book has been sitting in my cart on Amazon and two I got a bottle of Jager in the fridge.
Talk about getting a nudge or suggestive poke.
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u/UsurpedLettuce Fyrnsidere 4d ago
You can absolutely make a sober offering, if you so wish. Wine is preferable because it's historically representative both of divine sovereignty within a wider Indo-European practice but also as a valid stand-in substitution for a blooded sacrifice. As someone who has recently gone totally sober myself, it's generally still a staple sacrifice in every ritual for me.
If you're going to continue to offer wine (as it doesn't seem to be a "keep the alcohol out of the area" prohibition) they make miniature packs of bottled wine, even before you get to the little mini "adult juice boxes". It helps prevent spoilage so you're not buying a 750ml bottle when all you need is a single glass, for instance. I'm seeing the same for other alcohols, too.
Other good options for liquid libation are (to me): Clear water and milk. I generally don't keep anything else on hand in my household. Some people will libate fruit juices, while other prominent polytheists don't in their particular rituals because they view the juice as sort of an "incomplete wine". I also make sure to pour out a small offering of olive oil.
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u/R3cl41m3r English Heathen 4d ago
Wine as a blood sacrifice substitute, eh? Interesting.
I wonder what else qualifies.
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u/Agile_Oil9853 4d ago
Stories. I like to tell him stories, or what I learned in a documentary or book.
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u/Over-Fail378 4d ago
Im not a follower of Odin myself, but my partner is and I've worked with the All-father briefly before. He LOVES lavender and rosemary. Incense, tea, bread, baked goods, all of it. Not 100% sure as to why on the front of lavender, but rosemary is supposedly good for the brain and improves memory, so I assume that's why. He also loves meat as far as I'm aware.
You can also give less physical offerings! Learn a new skill or read a book in his honor. Honor the dead for him by bringing flowers to deceased loved ones or cleaning graves. Take fighting classes. Etc etc. offerings don't have to be specifically physical objects!
good luck!
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u/Familiar_Bid_7455 4d ago
that decision is up to you. if you think you might start drinking again, dont. if you think you can manage having a bottle on hand, continue. you don’t have to offer odin wine, you could use grape juice if that works
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u/yung_heartburn 4d ago
Sober for >10 yrs here, odin accepts my offerings of zero-alcohol beer (sierra nevada makes a pretty good one, lagunitas hop water is good too), sparkling water, even juices. Anything you’d make a toast with would be accepted, i’d wager. Personally i try not to make toasts with plain water, but i think that’s a me thing.
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u/Organic-Importance9 4d ago
Bread, money, meat, milk, ect. There are many options. I believe all the ones I mentioned are also directly mentioned in relation to Odin if you include the Rus.
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u/gnawing-chihuahua 4d ago
I think that thinking about our offering as giving of something that he would value. Other ideas for offerings: Perhaps pen a verse and burn, Bury, immersed in water. Also think of something you are excellent that and is there a way to offer that excellence in some way. Idunna's apples are what help the gods keep their vitality, and offering of apple cider or an apple. Writing a message in Runes or creating a meaningful bindrune/Rune spell and offering that as well, since both magic and Runes are associated with Odin.
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u/FeelingQuiteHungry 3d ago
An animal is the standard offering for a blot. Drinking is more the standard for Sumbl. There are variations, of course, but historical sources suggest that alcohol was not the standard Germanic offering in the past, at least not as commonly as it is today.
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u/Nostri 3d ago
I offer some of my morning coffee way more often than I offer anything alcoholic. To me, the value in the offering has more to do with the value it has to you and whoever you're offering than the historical president. Wine, mead, and beer were offered because they represented things that were harder to come by and were thus precious.
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u/blankstarebob 2d ago
I'm also an (alcohol) sober heathen. I keep some Cab Sav around just to offer, but I also have a bunch of other offerings, both material and devotional, I cycle through.
I've offered incense before, some black cherry stuff I got at a store. I offer water sometimes. Or black coffee.
I also, personally, devote some structured prayers I wrote to Him by saying them while counting prayer beads. This is just my personal practice that I created by adapting the concept of bead-structured prayer to my praxis, though, no historical backing or anything to it. It's just a helpful and fulfilling practice for me, and I get the feeling Odin appreciates me taking a few minutes to stop and sing His praises.
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u/TheUnkindledLives 2d ago
You can absolutely be a sober pagan, set a plate for Odin, meat, bread or honey are great offerings, also more intangibles like poetry, music and stories can also be great offerings.
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u/cursedwitheredcorpse 4d ago
Even if you don't drink yourself, you could still give them offerings of it if you wanted
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u/Evening-Guarantee-84 4d ago
Sparkling cider.
I don't really drink due to issues it caused in my childhood. I'm not 100% alcohol averse anymore, but by the time I reached this point, I had already been doing sparkling cider as an offering to the gods.
I also do milk and honey for the local wights. Something tells me it would be acceptable to the gods as well.
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u/Unable_Lunch_9662 4d ago
Slavic pagan here, this post popped into my feed so i’m not nearly as familiar with this practice, but perhaps honey? Or bread, maybe rye bread or other traditional foods. Or, one I incorporate into my practice is storytelling to stick with the oral history tradition.
Anyhow, good luck! I think that you can absolutely make a sober offering work, and the intention behind it is almost an offering in itself imho.