A point of clarity needs to be resolved. It seems some folks who have read my blogs and former website essays misunderstood some instructions where food & drink are concerned. This short blog is hopefully an attempt to correct these misunderstandings.
The only thing you should be offering your ancestral spirits on a REGULAR basis meaning every time you approach Them is two things: a glass of spring water and a plain white unscented tea light candle. Nothing else.
Things like coffee or other drinks should be reserved for once a month - at the most often you give it to Them, got that? Same with beers, wines, teas, and any other non-water drinks out there. Doing so can cause your spirits to become “over fed” and therefore LAZY and not willing to work - until They are hungry again which can be as long as a few months or even a few years depending on how much you go overboard on your offerings.
Thus be aware of this simple yet highly important thing which you must take into consideration while taking care of your own Ancestral shrine. To not do so is to court disaster especially WHEN you need Their help! You may be thinking, “Oh I don’t need Their help right now!” which may be true at the moment yet you cannot say that next week for certain can you? You never know when you will need Their help so overly feeding your Ancestors will NOT help you.
Trust me. I do not care what others on the Internet say about feeding Ancestors because I heard it direct from an old black Santero back in 1988 who said (about handling spirits): “A fat slave is a lazy slave!” and he used the N word in lieu of the word slave to make his point and what he meant by it was if you overly feed your spirits they will become lazy. That is advice I have always heeded since that time.
Yes there are those with bovedas and shrines where they lavish food, drinks & all sorts of gifts upon their Ancestors and guess what? Not one of these folks is capable of getting their spirits to wake up & work when they need them. That is what happens when you over feed a worker - they can't work. You feed them just enough to carry them on then make them earn their supper not give it to them before earning it.
So I pass this wisdom on to you. Use it wisely or not. It is ultimately your spirits what you do with. If you overly feed your spirits and They do not work for you then you cannot blame me for I forewarned you.
