In many traditional settings, we are taught that animal or food sacrifices are the only way to send the orisha to task. This is both true and not true. But what is sacrifice? Sacrifice means to make something sacred. It does not necessarily mean to kill something. Sacrifice is the act of offering the mundane to the divine or the unseen. As much as we want to have spiritual experiences, spirits want to have material experiences. Sacrifice thus allows for a crossing or an intermingling of the two worlds- the spiritual and the physical worlds. To be clear, a sacrifice does not always base on blood. Usually when we hear about sacrifice we get so caught up in the performance of blood we forget to pay attention to what we are sacrificing.
Listen to the Part 1 of the Blogtalk Radio Broadcast on Ritual Sacrifice here
But it is important to know why and when to sacrifice a pig and not a turtle or chicken, or goat, flowers, etc. The answer is in the characteristics of what is being sacrificed. Animals and their characteristics are symbolic to the characteristics of human beings as well. When you look at symbols say the ancient Egyptian writing, most of these are phantom reflections of what is inside of you. The key to understanding this is, when looking at these things, to understand the symbology and to utilize your divine nature to control and direct the humanistic and animal nature. In truth, the humanistic and animal natures are one and the same.
Listen to the Part 2 of the Blogtalk Radio Broadcast on Ritual Sacrifice here
A bird for examples is an animal that lives between two worlds, they live in the heavens and they live on earth, they also have the ability to see things from a higher perspective. They also remind us to make use of our imagination to travel to realms that are not always accessible to humans. Something calling for the sacrifice of a bird may require you to study that energy- maybe you are spending too much time with your head in the cloud or not looking at the broader picture enough. Sacrificing a dog may mean that you need to calm down or are seeking loyalty.
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