Magic Monday

[ecosophia]

It's getting on for midnight, so here we go with a new Magic Monday. The picture is of  Morihei Ueshiba, founder of the martial art Aikido and lifelong student of traditional Japanese occultism. Most people who know about him know of his extraordinary martial arts abilities; far fewer know that he practiced kotodama, the Japanese system of sound- and letter-mysticism, and was a longtime member of the deeply occult Omoto-kyo sect of Shinto. 

Ask me anything about occultism and I'll do my best to answer it. Any question received by midnight Monday Eastern time will get an answer, though it may be Tuesday sometime before I get to them all. If you're in a hurry, or suspect you may be the 143,916th person to ask a question, please check out the very rough version 1.0 of The Magic Monday FAQ here.

I've had several people ask about tipping me for answers here, and though I certainly don't require that I won't turn it down. You can use the button below to access my online tip jar.

With that said, have at it! 

***This Magic Monday is now closed to new questions. See you next week!***

Comments

Thankful Prayer

[(Anonymous)]

Because of your Sphere of Protection posts I have started night-time in-bed praying by imagining and giving thanks to the elements. The activity has been really nice and has improved my sleep and mood. I did not have a prayer habit prior to your posts. Because of a young child I am not imagining the rays and spheres of light, nor the concept of banishing.
What is the correct sequence of thoughts for a prayer?
Exempli gratia: being in the correct Mood, then addressing the Entity correctly, then giving Thanks?
What about sentences of Forgiving, asking for Forgiveness, and Accepting the future?

Re: Thankful Prayer

[ecosophia]

There's no fixed order for the elements of a prayer. The important thing is to find a sequence that works well for you and is received well by the beings to whom you pray, and that's best done through personal experience. You can do all the sentences you've described, in whatever order seems to work best; give it a try, and pray for guidance!

[(Anonymous)]

Michael M. Hughes has a new public working here: https://medium.com/@michaelmhughes/all-one-family-an-invocation-of-hermes-to-protect-immigrants-78d233a82b4b

Interestingly, on the same day that this went up a 69 year old antifa activist was shot dead while firebombing an ICE facility: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/tacoma-ice-police-shooting-washington-willem-van-spronsen-antifa-detention-centre-a9004131.html

Mr. Hughes notes that there are " many individuals and groups are working more aggressive magic against ICE, operators of the Trump concentration camps, and the architects and perpetrators of racist, inhumane policies."

several questions:

1) what are your general thoughts on the working?

2) do you think the timing of the firebombing antifa guy and this new spell relating to precisely that are likely related?

[ecosophia]

1) It's less incoherent than most of his workings, but no less vague, and of course he continues to use bunny-slope techniques and to make his workings public so that anybody who wants to counter them can easily do so. I doubt it will accomplish much.

2) That's a good question. It fascinates me that an Antifa activist who claimed to want to help illegal immigrants would try to firebomb a facility where they are being held, and blow up the facility's propane tank -- an act that would likely have killed a great many of the people he supposedly wanted to help...

[(Anonymous)]

I have seven questions in all here. I’ve split them into sections, since many of these unfold from common themes.

I think I may have an idea for the cause of part of the massive shift in the 1980s. I think it may have to do with Neptune: I find that Neptunian influences seem much more negative with people who have Neptune in Capricorn or Aquarius compared to other generations. This might indicate that Neptune has two falls: one in Capricorn and the other in Aquarius. Both of these make intuitive sense to me, since Neptune, the planet of spirit would seem at odds with Capricorn’s very serious nature, and Neptune and Uranus are at odds with each other, so it would make sense for this to be the case.
One of the ways Neptunian influences manifests itself is illusions, hallucinations, and delusions. This describes what you’ve called the “vacation from reality” which we’ve been on, and which got under way in full in 1984: the same year that Neptune entered Capricorn. Thus it seems likely to me that part of what got that process going was strong Neptunian influences manifesting in a fairly negative fashion.
The delusion would continue on to the present, as part of the influences the planet has, not just negative, but as a whole as it traverses Pisces. Neptune does fairly often bring out delusions, and so it seems likely the delusion could continue: particularly given how intent many people are to continue to believe in the illusion.
This would also explain why the period immediately prior to Neptune’s discovery was marked by fairly negative Neptunian themes: Neptune was discovered in late Aquarius, and had thus spent most of the time it was coming into focus in Capricorn or Aquarius. This would also place Neptune’s exaltations in Cancer and Leo, which the planet traversed from about 1901-1929, before entering its detriment in Virgo.
What strikes me is that while there was an occult boom in general since the discovery of the planet, there was a fairly large boom of occult schools which seem exceptionally well designed, thought-out, and competently run during the first three decades of the 20th Century. This boom then collapsed, but it seems fairly dramatic for a planet moving into its detriment: a planet moving from exaltation into detriment though could produce just such a whiplash.
This raises three questions: First, does this line of reasoning make sense to you? If not, would you mind saying what doesn’t work with it?
Second, can you think of anywhere I could look for more evidence for or against this?
Third, if this is part of the reason why we’ve been taking our long vacation from reality, does this mean we should expect people to start getting much more aware of the reality of our situation when Neptune moves into Aries in 2025? I sincerely hope so, since it seems crazy how long we’ve been able to live in our hallucinatory bubble....

I also have another, unrelated set of questions: I started LRM a few weeks ago, for the second time, but in both cases ran into an issue: the work went well with lesson 1, but when I got to Lesson 2 found myself facing an issue. The first chapter of the book I chose to work with in the sentence exercise, Mystical Qabala by Dion Fortune, is drenched in the myth of progress. I despise the myth of progress, and so my mind rebelled against the sentence I chose.
This time, when I quit, I decided to jump back to Druidry, and so I’ve been practicing the SoP. This has felt remarkably good, and the ritual is fairly strong and powerful, but I recognize this as being likely part of the Watcher at the Threshold. I was initiated into the AODA several years ago, but never got anywhere with it; so this is in a way coming back to something I tried to start years ago, which makes it even more complicated.
My questions are thus:
Fourth, when you said it was necessary to learn to acquire information from sources you find repugnant, were my issues with The Mystical Qabala the sort of potential issue you had in mind?
Fifth, am I correct to see this as being likely the work of the Watcher at the Threshold? If so, what’s the best approach here? Is it to continue on with my AODA work until I’m finished, and then go back to LRM?

Sixth: Pagan Prayer Beads reads very differently from your other books. I like it, but it feels very different from your other works. Is there a particular reason why it has such a different style?

Seventh, I know you don’t do dream interpretation, but I have a question: I’ve had someone appear in several of my dreams for years now. We’re always in the forest, often singing and dancing, but sometimes just talking. She wears a very short white tunic, and looks fairly young (maybe 20ish), with hair the colour of gold. When we talk, she seems remarkably wise and thoughtful, and she has given me some great advice over the years. It never seems to occur to me to ask her her name during these dreams: I’m not sure why.
The reason I wonder if you might know what’s happening here is that the last time she came in my dream I saw the symbol of the AODA on her tunic. I’m not sure if this is new, or if this is the first time I’ve been able to remember it, but it seems to me that this means she is one of the gods of the Druid Revival movement, but I don’t have any good sources on them. Do you know who she might be, and could you point me to some sources which discuss her (or the Druid gods in general)?

[ecosophia]

1 & 2) I know of no other planet that has more than one fall, so you'd have to justify the idea that Neptune has two. That said, many astrologers consider Neptune to be exalted in Cancer and so in its fall in Capricorn, so that much seems accurate. It would be interesting to trace Neptune's cycle through all the signs and get a sense of what it does in each.

3) As soon as Neptune leaves its rulership in Pisces its power should wane considerably, so there's hope. ;-)

4 & 5) Yes, that's exactly what I meant. I recommend The Mystical Qabalah precisely because it offends people. Those who are captives to their emotions and can't get past the offensive bits typically stop there; those who can get past that have passed a test, and have earned their way into the next level of the work. Only you can decide which of those categories you belong to. As for which of the systems you should do, pick one and then do it, exactly as given, even though the instructions upset you in one way or another. That's the test you face.

6) Did you notice that I co-wrote it with another person?

7) I don't do dream interpretation, and figuring out the identity of someone you saw in a dream is part of that! As for the deities of the Druid Revival, there's some material in Ross Nichols' The Book of Druidry and some in Lewis Spence's The Mysteries of Britain.

books

[(Anonymous)]

Any opinions on The Diviner's Handbook by Tom Graves?

clarence

Re: books

[ecosophia]

Graves has a very good reputation as a dowser, and the book of his I've read (Needles of Stone Revisited) was well worth the time. My guess is that The Diviner's Handbook is pretty good.

Vampirism

[(Anonymous)]

There were many changes in my life recently, and I feel quite odd, but better, the main reason for this is that I went no contact with my mother, who has always been quite unloving towards me.
Since then I feel better, but she's visibly aged a lot and I've been said that she's not mentally well, and I was wondering if that could mean that she's been vampirising me?

Thanks for your time and help Mr. Greer

Re: Vampirism

[ecosophia]

That's a real possibility. Do you like garlic? Eat more of it for the next few weeks.

Geomancy Question

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG!

I cast a geomantic chart as a test a couple of weeks ago and have been thoroughly working through the details. The question was of little consequence, regarding recovering a long lost personal item. (Looks like I can get it back, but may need help from others.) If I'm understanding placements in the house chart correctly, I am in the first house and the lost item is in the second. My question is regarding the Company of Houses. Paired houses 1&2 don't have much going on (Fortuna Major and Amissio, respectively). Are all 2nd house questions limited to the pairing of the 1st and 2nd house (significators only) or do you consider houses the figures pass to or is this another time when passing into another house is required?

Thanks again for generously sharing your knowledge and hosting this forum!
_grey_

Re: Geomancy Question

[ecosophia]

Okay, first, don't worry about company of houses until you've worked out the basic answer, which is given by whether there's a mode of perfection uniting the figure of the querent with that of the quesited, or not. Second, a lost object -- any lost object -- is in the fourth house, not the second. So see if there's a mode of perfection linking the figure in the first house with the figure in the fourth.

Third, if you've spent a couple of weeks analyzing a single geomantic chart, you're overthinking it. The answer in a house chart is given by the presence or absence of a mode of perfection between the significators, full stop, end of sentence. Everything else is just commentary on that, and half an hour should be enough to note the relevant factors and deliver a judgment on the question.

Sacred Geometry Oracle

[candace_k]

Hi JMG,

I was looking through “The Sacred Geometry Oracle” I saw that you mentioned that you have a version you like better coming out, I haven’t really started working with this one. Should I wait for the new one? (My previous method materials are getting really worn out) so I was looking at using different systems.

Re: Sacred Geometry Oracle

[ecosophia]

I'd encourage you to wait for the new one. The Llewellyn edition is butt-ugly, and I ended up changing the order of some of the cards due to having a better grasp of some of the symbolism. There'll be additional materials building on the SGO in the years to come, too, and they'll presuppose the new deck.

Purple Candle

[(Anonymous)]

JMG,

I’ve wrapped up 7 Thursday mornings of justice talks with Spirit Above and a purple candle that I made. Can’t say I’ve seen any results in terms of getting any of my stolen stuff back or catching thieves, but it was a good exercise in discipline and will to commit at dawn for 7 weeks as well as to reach out and make some debts, karmic or monetary, right.
Is there any step to take with the candle for disposal? Or are there other uses for a candle with an etched circle and a cross above it? Thank you for another installment of Magic Monday!

Re: Purple Candle

[ecosophia]

Bury it in your back yard so that justice stays with you. It's not a good idea to use a candle for more than one spell -- it muddies the energies.

[(Anonymous)]

What sort of food processing is ethericly problematic? Pickling seems like it would be fine (do to all the living things), but what about canning, jams, etc?

[ecosophia]

A lot depends on whether a living person does the processing; that maintains and can even strengthen the etheric effect, since you're putting some of your own energy into the food. I find pickling, drying, and home canning of all kinds to be perfectly fine.

Geomancy-Finding Locations

[emmanuelg]

Hi JMG,

In your book, 'The Art and Practice of Geomancy,' page 145, there is a discussion of using Geomancy to find the location of things or people;
The list skips from the tenth house to the twelfth house--
Should there be a list of things found under the eleventh house, or is it possibly left out for traditional reasons?

As always, thanks so much for your insights, and also thanks to the commentariat for the fascinating discussions!
--EG

Re: Geomancy-Finding Locations

[ecosophia]

Good for you, for catching that! A surprisingly large number of people skim right by it. Your mission, if you should choose to accept it, is to study the meanings of the houses and figure out what missing things belong to the eleventh house...

Magic Mondays

[(Anonymous)]

Another grateful thank you for your posts, JMG, and your books. Still feeling my way into it all, and glad to have the weekly contact.

Sidney

Re: Magic Mondays

[ecosophia]

You're most welcome.

[(Anonymous)]

Every time I get started with a regular practice, be it prayer or ritual magic, a few weeks or months in, I start waking up in the morning with the immediate thought that whatever I've been working with isn't real. It seems like I get good effects, and the rest of the day is free of such doubts--just that flash first thing in the morning, which comes unprompted and seems not to respond to conscious argument. Has anyone else had this problem? What could be going on here, and how do I reconcile it with the rest of my experience?

[ecosophia]

Your mind's trying to trick you into giving up the practice. Don't argue with it; dismiss it by an act of will and go on to do your practice.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm apparently a "quick healer", which I found amusing since I have a few injuries which have taken a while to heal. I've recently noticed lots of other people seem to take even longer though, which surprised me. I remember the discussion of cleaning supplies disrupting the etheric level, and it makes me wonder about something: is healing an etheric process? If it is, would those compounds disrupt the process?

[ecosophia]

Healing is very much an etheric process, since the etheric level is the level of the life force. Yes, it's possible that people who use cleaning supplies that disrupt the ether may heal more slowly as a result.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm the person who posted about Uranus/Neptune in Capricorn on my ascendant, and I've had a few more thoughts and a couple questions.

I'm fairly eccentric, but not for the sake of being eccentric: rather, I see more efficient ways to do things. I'm also fairly spiritual, but I have no interest in leaving the world to pursue it: my spirituality needs to be part of life, and that means having a job, family, etc. Asceticism, being a hermit, have no appeal to me. So, you're quite right to note that these energies are who I am, and I can't think of being anything different.

I have Neptune and Saturn nearly precisely sextile, with Saturn in Pisces. Does this mean that Saturn and Neptune are going to be remarkably intertwined in my chart, almost to the point of functioning as a single unit?

I also have Aquarius in the second house, and Pisces intercepted in the second. This also places Saturn, the significator, in the second as well. Does this indicate finances are going to be a very substantial part of my life, to a much larger degree than nearly anyone else?

[ecosophia]

1) Nah, it means that Saturn and Neptune will help each other. Conjunction is the aspect that causes energies to function as a single unit; sextile is the aspect of assistance.

2) Not exactly. Having the ruler of the first house in the second means that a lot of your identity will be based on what you have and how you make your living, but -- since it's in an intercepted sign -- that won't necessarily be evident to the people around you.

[(Anonymous)]

Hello JMG,

1. Do you know of the Taoist "Micro-cosmic orbit" / "Small Circulation" / "Lesser Heavenly Cycle" / "Circulation of Light" practice? (So many names for one thing). Do you think it is possible to practice that alongside the SoP?

2. About color breathing. So we "inhale" this differently-colored energy from an infinite ocean of color and take it into our body. But what do we "exhale" into? Back into this infinite ocean? What I'm asking is it possible to exhale this energy into the space you're in, to fill it with this energy? And what are the downsides of doing so.


Always grateful for your selfless efforts to educate us,
Aspirant.

[ecosophia]

1) Emphatically not. Do not mix any kind of qigong with Western magic. I gave myself a bad kidney yin qi deficiency by doing that, and had to drop all my Chinese martial arts and qigong practices in order to recover. I know other people who've had even worse experiences from combining the two. They're both valid but they don't mix well.

2) You breathe it back out into the infinite ocean, in normal practice. Yes, you can learn to concentrate energies in a room or other space by breathing them in from the cosmos and then out into the space; Franz Bardon talks about that at some length in Initiation into Hermetics.

[(Anonymous)]

Hello JMG! Greetings from the Burned-over District!

1. Do the deities one chooses to use in the SOP have to be from a real/historical pantheon or tradition, or can they be fictitious deities, as in gods and goddesses from an RPG/Fantasy setting?

2. If Norse/Germanic gods are to be used in the SOP, what would be the proper placements?

3. You mentioned in your recent SOP posts that this practice can be performed without deities and instead just using the elements (IIRC), but does omitting specific deities make the practice less potent?

4. I still can’t figure out what pantheon to commit to for when I start diving into the SOP. Would my ancestry (which is mixed: one half is Anglo-Saxon, and the other is Ashkenazi Jewish) have any bearing on what pantheon or tradition would work better for me? I’d really like to get into using SOP; so far I’ve been doing the standard LBRP using the Hebrew god-names and I’m not too enthusiastic about using those (I’m not real big on Abrahamic religions or monotheism in general), though I have certainly felt the subtle effects from doing this daily.

[ecosophia]

1) Okay, as a rule, if you use fictional deities in your magic you'll get fictional effects; if you want real effects, invoke real deities. There is a difference.

2) Here's the set I would use:

Air/East: Thor the thunder and storm god
Water/West: Njord the god of fertility and the sea
Fire/South: Freyja the queen of the Valkyries and warrior goddess
Earth/North: Frigga the queen of the Aesir and spinner of fates
Spirit Above: Odin, seated on Hlidskjalf at the summit of the worlds
Spirit Below: Fjorgyn the earth goddess, wife of Odin and mother of Thor

You could swap out Heimdall for Njord if you prefer, or have Tyr in place of Thor, but these are the ones I would use -- mind you, I'd pour each of them a horn of ale first, and ask their permission to invoke them in the ritual!

3) It's less potent, but that just means you have to work harder and practice more to make it work well. You can do it either way.

4) First, your ancestry does not matter. Let me repeat that: Your ancestry does not matter.. I know Shinto priests whose ancestors came from England, Cabalistic magicians whose ancestors came from Africa, and Druids whose ancestors came from literally everywhere on Earth with the probable exception of Antarctica. My suggestion? Hit the local library, find some books on mythology, read a bunch of myths, and choose a pantheon based on the myths that appeal most to you.

Grove and wand

[sea_spray]

Magic monday question

Hi JMG

I've previously asked about which way to circle in a druid grove done to the DMH in the southern hemisphere and you answered with clockwise as it's been established already. I'd just like to check my understanding as there are several elements which involve rotation and direction.

Chair placed to the south of the alter facing north towards the noon sun.

Proclaiming peace in the four quarters: East, North (direction of "passions and desires" and the direction of the sun at noon here), West, South.

Walking the cauldrons around the circle: Pick up the east (air) cauldron and walk clockwise; pick up the north (fire) cauldron and walk around; then west (water) and then south (earth).

Sphere of protection East(air), North(fire), West(water), South(earth) ... (how I usually do it)

Clockwise circle to leave the grove.

1) Is this right? If not would you mind correcting me? I may be over thinking this.

Thanks for your guidance. I did this once and completely messed the directions but still got a good effect. TSW even when you mess it up a bit.

A second question if the last one wasn't too much. I've started using a wand I carved from a sycamore branch to do the SOP. I've noticed it has a substantial effect on the SOP. I haven't done the enchanting detailed in the DHM though it seems to be picking up a substantial charge. Once, after doing the SOP, I could see it glowing with my eyes closed.

My question is:
2a) Does a wooden wand absorb the energies its used to direct and become better for that with time?
2b)Would it be a good idea (flexibility) to use the same wand to cast the protective circle and banishing pentagram in Dion Fortunes Psychic self defence, or would this be mixing energies and systems and therefore bad.

Thanks

Re: Grove and wand

[ecosophia]

1) You've overthinking it. Relax.

2) Yes.

3) I'd use a different wand for each set of practices.

Natural magic and combustion

[(Anonymous)]

If a planet is combust, does that mean that even natural magical workings involving the affected planet are less effective? I was following the instructions in your Encyclopedia of Natural Magic using Eyebright for clairvoyance, but then realized it might not work since I was born under a new Moon.

Also, just finished Providence--just sayin' anyone who isn't reading WoH, you are missing out! Thanks JMG, they really are nearly impossible to put down, haven't had this much fun reading stories since I was a kid :)

Thank you for MM!

Re: Natural magic and combustion

[ecosophia]

1) You're overthinking it. Relax. (In my experience natural magic, especially with herbs, is much less influenced by your natal chart than, say, the making of astrological talismans.)

2) Delighted to hear it! Please let your friends know if you haven't already; word of mouth is the best advertising there is.

[ganeshling]

Hi JMG,

Do you have a rough ETA for 'The Merlin's Wheel' and 'The Celtic Cabala'? Are you planning to add any more books to the CGD group?

[ecosophia]

Merlin's Wheel (which the publisher, typically, is retitling with the blander label The Mysteries of Merlin) is at the publisher now and will probably see print in mid- to late 2020. The Celtic Cabala is still being written -- give it a few more years. I don't have any other books currently planned in that sequence, but we'll see.

Past life, wrong path

[(Anonymous)]

You've said before that in your most recent life you were running away from occultism, and that you believe that is part of the reason that life was cut short. You weren't following the path your higher self wanted, so it 'reset' things so to speak...

If I may, about how old you were?

Was it the sort of thing where your Saturn return came and a few years later you still hadn't changed course so the car accident happened, or were you a bit older?

Re: Past life, wrong path

[ecosophia]

I was in my late thirties, so I doubt it was the Saturn return.

[booklover1973]

I don't know if you have heard about Shin Dong Hyuks book "Escape from Camp 14". It occurred to me that it is very rare for someone to be born in an North Korean political prison camp for lifelong internees, considering the whole human population of the Earth. Do you have an ideas what could lead someone to be reincarnated into such an unusual and horrifying fate?

[ecosophia]

Someone who spent their previous life sending people to prison camps might well end up being born in one...

[booklover1973]

This time, not a question, but a comment. A while ago it occurred to me that the emblem Auryn, which its two snakes who bite each other in the tail, and with the writing "Do what thou wilt", which Bastian had in the Neverending Story, reminds me of a principle which originated with Aleister Crowley: "Do what thou wilt".

Rosicrucian

[(Anonymous)]

Are you familiar with the Lectorium Rosicrucianum (ha, Kectorium was a nice typo), a spin-off of the Rosicrucian Fellowship? Do you have an idea of which kind of esoterical work they might pursue (their members are supposed to carry that on after their death)?
I’m asking because I met a German family affiliated with it and they seem rather secretive and contradictory.

Thank you!

Re: Rosicrucian

[ecosophia]

I don't know much of anything about them, no -- but if you find the people who follow that path uncomfortable, that's a good sign to steer clear of it.

aikido

[(Anonymous)]

Does Aikido have the same counter-indications as Tai Chi and Kundalini yoga when it comes to practicing western magic systems? I currently working through Celtic Golden Dawn and was also considering taking up your suggestion to try western boxing and learn how to throw a proper punch. On the other hand possible brain damage and people with inferiority issues are a bit of a turn off.

There are some Aikido sensei around here who practice the old Ki techniques, but my guess is they only teach that stuff to advanced students which makes it a moot point for me since I have not stepped on a mat for a very long time.

Re: aikido

[ecosophia]

No, quite the contrary. Shinto occultism (which is what aikido's inner dimensions derive from) seems to be free of the particular issues that cause problems when combined with Western magical systems. My experience and that of students of mine is that all the Japanese martial arts are pretty safe for Western occultists.

[(Anonymous)]

Are there any practices for ancestral offerings or workings you can recommend for beginners?

Some of the works found online seem to be quite advanced and involve using a psycopomp such as the holy guardian angel as an intermediate.

Kaitlin Coppock has this on her website, but it seems a bit advanced for a begginer without experience working with a psychopomp.
https://sphereandsundry.com/a-guide-to-dead-and-ancestral-worship-altars-offerings-and-ritual/

ancestors

[(Anonymous)]

I've never called on a psychopomp when doing ancestor offerings, but then, I've never invited in unknown dead like that ritual does. I don't plan to start either; it seems a little risky.

Currently, I give material offerings weekly. Alongside the gods and nature spirits, I hail my Beloved Dead (those I knew in life), the Disir and Alfar (ancient dead of the family lines, including my adoptive family) and the Mighty Dead (different practitioners think of them in different ways, but for me they're the tradition-holders who passed their wisdom down to us). I light candles and incense for Them, and pour an offering (usually of whiskey or other alcohol, but sometimes coffee with sugar, or a special tea).

Once I have a large enough shrine space I'll start giving food offerings as well. I'm thinking cookies or honey cakes (I found a modern version of an ancient Greek recipe online), but I'll experiment and verify through divination what's most acceptable.

I'll post this link in hope the information will be of help to you: http://www.northernpaganism.org/shrines/ancestors/writings.html

BTW, I've noticed that the stronger the alcohol or brew, the better They like it. I got a very positive response from Surly Pentagram Sour Ale on Samhuinn! Also, my tradition teaches that offerings should never be consumed by the living, but removed within a day and left outside or composted. That may or may not be the case depending on your spiritual tradition or culture of origin.