Animal Sacrifice

[satanicprinesss666]

Does anyone who actually practices animal sacrifice, for any reason be open to explain how it works?

 

[giusma]

I just don't becuase animal sacrifice belongs to an archaic religious framework in which life, blood, and exchange with the divine were understood in literal and material terms, and the level consciousness was different from now. Some traditional or reconstructed currents may still include it, but in most cases its function can be understood symbolically or psychologically. If one understands how the mind operates, the “sacrifice” is not the animal it self, but the act of offering, attention, and transformation and it can be done in many ways. My choice in not moralistic, is functional to a specific way to make things, is blood sacrifice is needed I would use mine. Today, reproducing the external form without the underlying cosmology often results in empty imitation rather than effective practice.

 

[Saint]

Animal sacrifice in my eyes (and I have every right to think this way, and reason) is for those who lost (or never truly had) the ability to do decent workings and so they hope their gains comes from killing something instead of them actually succeed in something out of their own.
My Satanist ex thought it will get his curses casted by his cult done on me, until he got wrecked by Lucifer and me for being an idiotic clown who imagined performance and power behind blood thrown around like a lunatic. It cost him his job, his parents, his peace and stability. His sacrifice worth nothing.

Let's approach this from an another perspective. People love giving offerings for many reasons. Let's put aside the bond building out of pure intent and love, and focus on the most common reason; gains. Because for many people, these are simply bargaining chips for results. They believe, the 'greater', the more abundant the offering, the better the result. Offering foods, minerals, incense, oils or things like artistic works made by your own hand does not always feel satisfying for everyone. This is where focusing on life essence comes to the picture; be it blood, or a life.

Truth is? What can be achived 'with blood' and 'animal sacrifice' in magic, can be achived without it. No exceptions. Like it or not.
Sacrificing a living being does not differ much from any other sacrifice, you just offer more is all. It's still up on you and the judgement of the spirit.

Also, here's a thing: in my eyes SACRIFICE is giving something you love, and appreciate, something that does matter to you.
If you throw anything into the way of a spirit for result you have no decent bond with, it is not a sacrifice. Just an offering.

 

[Johny111]

It so happens that I know a little about it, but very little. I know, for example, that roosters are used in necromantic rituals, but also when summoning earth spirits. In fact, the animal is not sacrificed to them, but the spilled animal blood is magically impregnated to serve as a transmitter for messages we send to certain spirits. The rooster is a messenger, he is the one who delivers messages and announces the dawn. Therefore, rooster has the magical power to stand on the border when the forces of the night are strongest, and that is precisely before dawn.

 

[Amadeus]

The first guy who mentioned this topic to me was an orisha practitioner who got initiated in Nigeria. He used roosters, pigeons, goats and even guinea pigs. The man did some rather strange stuff. Occasionally he returned to Nigeria for festivals and some of images looked like there had been a total slaughter fest of animals, probably goats...? I can't remember all the details but a lot of work was done to please Babalu Aye, Ogun, Shango, Ellegua.
I remember watching his collection of images, there weren't always animal sacrifices but also fruits were left somewhere near a river, in a forest.

The explanation, energy being given and taken by the spirits, in order to receive benefits. Energy, the universal currency.

 

[Johny111]

I am somehow convinced that traces of that practice can also be found in some other geographical areas. Also, instead of blood we can impregnate water, so that water becomes the carrier of our messages, and water is poured onto the ground, or into a tomb, just like blood, wine, milk, and similar liquids. Every liquid has a certain property and power.

 

[SkullTraill]

While I don't partake due to moral incompatibility (I don't even like animals that much or put them above humans as many do in modern times -- I just can't stomach ending presumably innocent life to boost my selfish desires), I think it would be an insane folly to assume that the rich history of animal sacrifice/ritual offering (I agree with @Saint's sacrifice vs offering argument) is completely without merit and amounts to ignorance, lack of understanding and/or essentially foolishness. I think the greatest practitioners existed in the past, and I think they had their reasons for performing animal ritual offerings.

Without getting political, even today, I think the most powerful practitioners who enact the greatest changes (especially affecting others) engage in animal, or even human sacrifice (we will not discuss this on WF for legal and moral reasons).

But in addition to the moral issue, the biggest problem I have with animal ritual offerings is that I don't believe they are tools to directly increase the efficacy of the working, but a tool to sever your own ties to humanity and spiritual goodness, which may increase your "power" in some sense, but IMHO comes at a huge cost... which is never going to be worth it for me, for the kind of work I do.