Step 1: Pick a God

Obviously, before you even begin, you should know the deity you’re pouring the libation to. Sometimes you can do homework and offer something special to the God in question if appropriate. (e.g. Janus is said to enjoy sweet things.)

Step 2: Attain a liquid

Obtain a glass of liquid. It is preferable if you pick something you like to drink yourself; because after all, you should only provide the God, and anyone for that matter, something that you yourself would drink. If you pick wine, mix it with water, unless you are offering to a chthonic deity.

Step 3: Pour the liquid

Pour a small amount out onto the ground or into a libation dish.  Use your mind to picture the essence of this libation expanding throughout the local space, becoming available to the God.

(If doing a libation to a chthonic deity, you should spill it on the ground by placing the vessel on the earth, and gently turning it over until all of the liquid spills out.)

Step 4: Pray

Begin the prayer with “To you,” and the name of the deity.

This prayer of Socrates from Plato’s Phaedrus can serve as a model for the rest of the prayer:

“Beloved [God], and all ye other Gods who haunt this place, give me beauty in the inward soul; and may the outward and inward man be at one. May I reckon the wise to be the wealthy, and may I have such a quantity of gold as a temperate man and he only can bear and carry.“

Socrates directs this prayer to Pan, a deity of wilderness and nature. Simply change the name to fit any God of your liking.

Step 5: Drink.

You may now drink as well. If you are drinking alcohol please remember to drink moderately. But do not drink if you are offering to a chthonic deity. Spill it all.

Note #1: The libation only needs to sit in the dish for a few hours. After a few hours you can dump the libation outside. This is especially important for offerings of wine, since wine has corrosive elements that might damage the bowl if it’s made of metal.

Bibliography

Dunn, Patrick. The practical art of divine magic: contemporary & ancient techniques of Theurgy. Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn Worldwide, Ltd, 2015.

Nova Roma. “Simpe rituals for starters.” NOVA ROMA Dedicated to the restoration of classical Roman religion, culture and virtues. Accessed August 17, 2017. http://www.novaroma.org/nr/Simple_rituals_for_starters.

HellenicGods. “LIBATION IN HELLENISMOS – ΣΠΟΝΔΉ.” http://Www.HellenicGods.org. Accessed August 28, 2017. http://www.hellenicgods.org/libation-in-hellenismos—sponde.