Libation
The pouring of a liquid offering as a religious ritual, or liquid so poured.
This is a very ancient method of making offerings to the gods and have been practiced by several pagan traditions and cultures, such as Egypt, Greece, Rome, pre-Hellenic Crete, Babylon, and the Yoruban.
This type of ritual liquid pouring was also extensively used in divination, and the offering could be poured onto fires, stones, statues of the gods, people, animals, cups, glasses, basins, fountains, lakes, rivers, the sea, or the ground.
Libations can be poured from any bottle, cup, bowl or dish, but in ancient times special vessels were often created for these rituals, usually in the form of animals. The material from which the container was made could be clay, metal (precious or base), glass, or even a sea shell sometimes was used. In ancient Crete, for example, special apparatus were used, called rhytons. These were usually made from terracotta or fine stone (alabaster, marble, serpentine, etc.). They were often conical or piriform in shape, though many of them were in the format of an animal's head with the exit hole at the mouth and the inpour at the back of the head.
See Acutomancy, Pyromancy, Stoichomancy, Horoscope, Horary Astrology, Zodiac, Numerology, Bibliomancy, Kabbalism, Alchemy, Casting Black Magic Spells, The Chakra Store, Commanding Spirits, The Tarot Store, Divination & Scrying Tools and Supplies, and The Pyramid Collection.
Sources: (1) Morwyn, The Complete Book Of Psychic Arts, Llewellyn Publications; (2) Walker, Charles, The Encyclopedia of the Occult, Random House Value; (3) Dunwich, Gerina, A Wiccan's Guide to Prophecy and Divination, Carol Publishing Group; (4) Melton, J. Gordon (Editor), Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology, Gale Group Publishers.
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