Make Offerings to Get What You Want | The Seven, Episode 14
In Episode 14 of The Seven: Living with the Planets, Lucy Baldwin explores one of the most practical and ancient parts of planetary magic:
Making offerings.
Offerings are not bribes.
They are not spiritual vending-machine payments.
They are not aesthetic performances for an altar photo.
Offerings are acts of relationship.
They help you build reciprocity with the planetary currents, attune your psyche to the archetype you are working with, and participate more consciously in the forces already moving through your life.
Planetary magic is not only about rituals for big moments.
It can also become a daily or weekly way of living in relationship with the planets.
Watch or listen to Episode 14 of The Seven here:
Key Takeaways
In this episode, Lucy explores:
offerings as relationship, reciprocity, and exchange
why planetary magic is not just about getting whatever you want
planets as archetypes, gods, intelligences, or energies
historical offering practices in Greek, Roman, and Renaissance planetary magic
why offerings should be ethical, sincere, and non-harmful
the planetary week as a devotional cycle
how to use planetary days and planetary hours without perfectionism
embodying a planet as the first level of offering
small daily offerings versus larger weekly offerings
why sincerity matters more than aesthetics
common mistakes people make when making offerings
Planetary Magic Is a Relationship
The first thing to understand is that planetary magic is relational.
You are not simply pushing buttons.
You are not hacking the universe.
You are entering relationship with an archetype, energy, god, intelligence, or symbolic current.
Different people use different language for this.
Some people relate to Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Mercury, Saturn, the Moon, and the Sun as gods.
Some people relate to them as archetypes.
Some people relate to them as psychological energies.
Some people relate to them as cosmic forces.
The exact language matters less than the posture.
Planetary magic works best when approached with reverence, attention, and reciprocity.
Offerings Are About Reciprocity
Human beings understand exchange.
We understand giving and receiving.
We understand that relationship is strengthened when attention, care, gratitude, and generosity move both ways.
Offerings work through that same principle.
When you make an offering, you are not buying a result.
You are saying:
I am paying attention.
I am entering relationship.
I am aligning with this planetary current.
I am giving something of myself.
And yes, you may also ask.
That is part of relationship too.
A healthy offering can include desire. It can include petition. It can include asking for support, guidance, protection, fertility, success, wealth, love, courage, discipline, visibility, or clarity.
But the offering itself should come from sincerity, not manipulation.
Offerings Are Not Bribes
One of the biggest mistakes people make is treating offerings like bribes.
As if the attitude is:
I gave you incense, so now you owe me.
That is not the spirit of good planetary magic.
The planets are not vending machines.
The offering is not a trick.
A better posture is:
I give because I honor this current.
I give because I want relationship.
I give because I am grateful.
I give because I want to come into alignment.
From that place, asking becomes much cleaner.
The Historical Roots of Planetary Offerings
Historically, offerings were a normal part of life.
People made offerings to gods and planetary powers for protection, health, fertility, victory, success, stability, and favor.
They used bread, food, incense, oil, songs, prayers, statues, shrines, talismans, colors, music, fasting, purification, and devotional timing.
In many ancient cultures, the planets were treated as intelligences that could help or harm. Offerings were often made to win favor or prevent misfortune.
Lucy does not teach a fear-based model of planetary magic.
The point is not:
Make offerings or the planets will punish you.
The point is:
Relationship, attention, and reciprocity are ancient human ways of participating in the sacred.
Ethical Offerings Only
This should be obvious, but it is worth saying clearly.
Offerings should be ethical.
Non-harmful.
Clean.
No cruelty.
No coercion.
No sacrifice of animals or people.
No dark fantasy of “power” through harm.
The kind of planetary magic Lucy teaches is rooted in relationship, reciprocity, reverence, gratitude, and alignment.
You do not need to harm anything to make a powerful offering.
Incense is enough.
Water is enough.
A candle is enough.
A sincere prayer is enough.
A disciplined action can be enough.
A beautiful meal can be enough.
A moment of real gratitude can be enough.
The Planetary Week as a Devotional Cycle
The seven-day week itself is structured around the planets.
Sunday belongs to the Sun.
Monday belongs to the Moon.
Tuesday belongs to Mars.
Wednesday belongs to Mercury.
Thursday belongs to Jupiter.
Friday belongs to Venus.
Saturday belongs to Saturn.
This means the week can become a simple devotional cycle.
You might make a small offering to the Moon every Monday.
To Mars every Tuesday.
To Mercury every Wednesday.
To Jupiter every Thursday.
To Venus every Friday.
To Saturn every Saturday.
To the Sun every Sunday.
This is one of the simplest ways to begin living with the planets.
Planetary Timing Without Perfectionism
Planetary days and planetary hours can strengthen your work.
They give the practice rhythm.
They connect your offering to an established symbolic pattern.
But timing should not become another reason not to practice.
If waiting for the perfect planetary hour means you never make the offering, make the offering at the imperfect time.
Showing up matters.
Consistency matters.
Relationship matters.
Perfectionism is not devotion.
If you can work with the planetary day or hour, beautiful.
If not, begin anyway.
Embodying the Planet Is the First Offering
Before you light incense or place flowers on an altar, you can make an offering by embodying the planetary energy.
This is one of the most practical teachings in the episode.
You can offer yourself as the place where the planet becomes lived.
Saturn can be honored through structure, boundaries, discipline, saying no, strategic thinking, and care for physical reality.
Venus can be honored through beauty, pleasure, harmony, flowers, fragrance, adornment, music, and making things lovely.
Mars can be honored through effort, confrontation, courage, exercise, sweat, heat, and direct action.
Jupiter can be honored through generosity, faith, leadership, long-term thinking, wisdom, and expansive responsibility.
Mercury can be honored through play, humor, learning, trade, writing, speaking, commerce, and clever exchange.
The Moon can be honored through cycles, water, home, dreaming, journaling, emotional truth, and intuition.
The Sun can be honored through visibility, vitality, creativity, health, energy, and being seen.
Your way of being can become an offering.
Small Daily Offerings
Offerings do not have to be elaborate.
A small daily offering might look like:
lighting incense
lighting a candle
refreshing a bowl of water
turning on a small altar light
saying a short prayer
touching into gratitude
placing a flower, fruit, coin, or symbolic object on an altar
taking one action that embodies the planet
The size of the offering is less important than the quality of attention.
A single sincere moment can matter more than a complicated ritual performed without presence.
Bigger Weekly Offerings
If you are working deeply with a planet, you may want to make a larger weekly offering.
This might include:
preparing food or drink
dressing in a planetary color
lighting candles or incense
reading a hymn, poem, or prayer
making a specific petition
offering gratitude
spending more time with the planetary current
For Venus, this might be incense, flowers, perfume, music, chocolate, strawberries, or beauty.
For Mercury, it might be a candle, writing, communication, playful exchange, or even a small lottery ticket or scratch ticket.
For Saturn, it might be completing a daily habit, showing up consistently, clearing clutter, setting a boundary, or doing something disciplined over a set number of days.
For Jupiter, it might be cooking a generous meal, giving generously, making a wise long-term decision, or offering something abundant.
The offering should match the planet.
Sincerity Matters More Than Aesthetic
A beautiful altar can be wonderful.
Aesthetic can matter, especially with Venus.
But aesthetics are not the heart of the offering.
The heart is sincerity.
Attention.
Gratitude.
Reverence.
Presence.
A common mistake is believing the offering has to look magical in order to be magical.
It does not.
A messy but sincere offering is better than a perfect altar with no felt relationship behind it.
If you cannot feel gratitude, that can become the offering too.
You can say:
Help me find beauty.
Help me feel gratitude.
Help me remember reverence.
Help me come into relationship with this current.
That is sincere.
Sincerity is powerful.
Gratitude Is the Core of the Offering
The most important part of an offering is not the object.
It is the felt state.
Can you feel appreciation?
Can you feel reverence?
Can you touch the planetary current inside yourself?
Can you notice beauty, life, time, play, courage, wisdom, emotion, or radiance?
This is where the offering becomes real.
A candle without attention is just a candle.
Incense without presence is just smoke.
But a small gesture filled with gratitude becomes magic.
You Can Work With More Than One Planet
Another mistake is thinking you should only work with one planet.
You can work with multiple planets.
You can honor the whole week.
You can have specific planets you return to often.
You can work with one planet for a season, then shift.
You can work with a challenging planet in your chart.
You can work with the planetary weather, such as Mercury retrograde or Mars retrograde.
There is no need to make planetary magic artificially narrow.
The planets form a living system.
You are allowed to be in relationship with more than one current.
You Probably Need Saturn Too
Many people want Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, or the Sun.
They want love, money, communication, confidence, expansion, pleasure, visibility, and manifestation.
Fewer people want Saturn.
But Saturn is often the missing medicine.
Saturn brings structure.
Time.
Discipline.
Boundaries.
Commitment.
Reality.
If your magic is dreamy but not embodied, Saturn may help.
If your desires are clear but your habits are chaotic, Saturn may help.
If you ask for expansion but cannot hold structure, Saturn may help.
Saturn offerings may not feel as glamorous as Venus flowers or Jupiter feasts.
But Saturn is often what makes the rest of the magic real.
Offerings Make Magic a Way of Life
The deepest teaching here is that offerings help planetary magic become daily life.
Not just one ritual when you need something.
Not just a candle when things feel urgent.
A way of being.
A rhythm.
A relationship.
A devotional pattern.
The more you live with the planets, the more the planetary currents become recognizable.
You begin to feel Saturn in your boundaries.
Venus in your pleasure.
Mars in your action.
Mercury in your speech.
Jupiter in your generosity.
The Moon in your cycles.
The Sun in your radiance.
Offerings train attention.
And attention is one of the deepest forms of magic.
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Lucy Baldwin (00:08.942)
Okay, hello, welcome to another episode of The Seven Living with the Planets. I'm Lucy Baldwin, and in this episode, I'm talking about making offerings and sort of like how to work with the planets, what that can look like on a daily, weekly, monthly basis, and mostly talking about offerings rather than ritual. Sort of offerings and ritual are maybe the two main categories, and I'll have an episode about rituals.
And my last episode, in case you missed it, is about identifying which planet you might want to work with. So if you're not really sure, then I would definitely recommend going back and listening to that before you watch this episode. But for now, I'm going to talk about offerings and stay tuned because I'm going to share some of the mistakes that you might be making. And I'm going to talk about some of really key important things to think about when making offerings. So the first thing that I want to say is that planetary magic is a relationship.
It's a relationship a relationship with an archetype. I often talk about taking the planets on as allies, taking these archetypes on as allies. We can, you know, I dance around the language with it all the time. Sometimes I call them gods. Sometimes I call them archetypes. Sometimes I call them energies. It doesn't matter how you think about it. But this giving offerings,
piece is about creating that relationship and creating a sense of reciprocity, a sense of exchange and putting our attention towards the thing, aligning with the thing. And we'll talk about different ways that this can look. also manifestation. So much of this is about getting something in return. We want something. We wouldn't be doing this magic if we didn't want something, right? We were trying to get things. We're trying to
create things, we're trying to become things. and so the reciprocity is just a very natural, normal part of the human experience and giving and taking. And humans put an awful lot of bandwidth, whether we want to or not, into tracking who is cheating and who is reciprocating and who is giving a lot and who is taking a lot. And we're always kind of keeping track. It's just a natural thing that we do.
Lucy Baldwin (02:31.734)
So this is part of that, this plays into that, and we can use that to give and ask for things in return, and it can feel like a really healthy, generous, loving, nurturing, supportive exchange. So I'm going to talk a little bit about the historical context of how offerings were used in the past, and then I'm going to talk about kind of how I use them today and give you some ideas and recommendations.
So we're kind of one of the major things that we're doing with these offerings is we're essentially telling our psyche, telling our mind, telling our conscious and unconscious to resonate with that archetype, to sort of take on some of its characteristics that we're getting on the side of that and the sort of qualities that come with that archetype.
It's also, you know, participating in the cosmic order, participating in our own fate. You know, and this is, again, it's all just different language games around the same thing, but it's like, if you really believe in magic, like fantasy magic, which to some degree, that is just science that hasn't been understood yet, there is a cosmic order.
and we can participate in it. And maybe we do have fate and maybe these are archetypes and maybe we can win their favor. And so we can look at it that way. That's different than the angle that I just talked about, which is like getting on the side with these energies and sort of pulling in these qualities. But historically, it was really treated as like, if you don't, then you can get, there can be consequences.
if you don't make those offerings. And that's a fear-based model, which I don't super love and I don't actually use that and I don't find it useful or applicable, but this is how it was treated back in the Roman and Greek periods. So I do kind of like though to take a more mystical approach. I do like to think of it as participating in this greater sort of tapestry and sort of
Lucy Baldwin (04:56.429)
putting my will into the grand unfolding of my life and also my role in the great story of life and existence and humanity. So traditional devotional practice was very different. It wasn't so psychologically oriented. It was much more literal. There was much more of like a magical interpretation.
we now think that we're better than that sometimes. And I think I'm guilty of that too. That's why I'm always hedging and I'm always giving the psychological angle. But the truth is that there is a spiritual, mythical, magical side to this that you can tap into this deep human current of...
connecting with something greater. And I do believe that there is, this is from having studied anthropology and really like looking at human patterns, like faith is very natural to us. And even when we believe, when we think that we're believing in science, we are having faith in science because a lot of scientists will never admit this, just like a Catholic would never admit that Catholicism doesn't have all the answers.
science absolutely does not have all the answers, not even close. There's so much that we can't possibly understand. so, faith is always going to be part of this. But I think that... So, I like to just kind of own that and...
even though I sort of outwardly on this podcast hedge a lot, right? I talk about it in psychological terms. I really allow myself to believe in these archetypes as something greater, as bigger energies that maybe do have more, let's say, will in their own right. Okay, so...
Lucy Baldwin (07:08.013)
Let me see.
Yeah, yeah. And what I'm talking about is planets as gods, not just archetypes, right? So, like, the sun is Helios, Sol, Apollo, you know, those are all kind of different versions of the sun. The moon is also Selene, Luna, Diana. Mercury is also Hermes. Venus is also Aphrodite, Mars, Aries.
Jupiter, Zeus, Saturn, Cronos. So people made offerings to these gods, just for manifestation, not just for self-development, but for protection, for their favor, for, like I said, out of fear. If you don't give your offerings to Mars or Saturn, they're going to fuck with you. And I don't see it that way. For success,
fertility, victory, health, stability. And they offered things like bread and food and incense and oil and they would sing and statues, of course, and shrines and also animals. Like sometimes they would offer animals. Now I'm thinking about all of this stuff that's been coming out.
where people think that people are, you know, the Jeffrey Epstein stuff and people making offerings to doing dark, dark stuff and maybe just cut that out. But I I just cut this out too and we'll just start again in a second. Okay.
Lucy Baldwin (09:02.701)
But we, of course, are not offering anything that is unethical to offer. That should go without saying, but I just want to put it out there, like we're not offering. I don't recommend offering animals. I don't recommend offering... I don't know, we're just not sacrificing people. We're not doing anything like that. And there is no benefit as far as the magic that I do and the magic that I'm teaching.
We're not harming people. That is not an offering. There's none of that going on here. I just want to be really crystal clear about that. And yeah, so yeah, they were treated as intelligences that could basically help or harm you. And so you wanted to win their favor. And obviously, like if you were in the military, you would be working with Mars more, right?
So, they also had sort of like daily household gods and they worked with the planets like on a daily basis and they lived with the planets. Like they really had a big role in their sort of everyday life and they had altars to these planets and that was normal. It wasn't considered like unusual. Like nowadays we consider that weird.
Or it's witchy and that's fine. That's great. Let's just you know, call me what you want to call me So the seven-day week itself is structured around the planets Obviously, we start with Sunday. That's the Sun Monday moon day the moon Tuesday is associated with Mars Wednesday is associated with Mercury Thursday is
Thor's day, that's Jupiter. Friday is Venus and Saturday is Saturn, you guessed it. And so the week was structured as this devotional cycle and they lived this like planetary calendar. yeah, so let's see.
Lucy Baldwin (11:50.383)
So in Hellenistic astrology, planets were, they governed like temperament, life outcomes, fate. And so I already said all this. I'm just going to skip this.
Lucy Baldwin (12:12.108)
but I want to add this line in. So planetary magic wasn't about getting whatever you want. It was about learning how to live in right relationship with the forces that are sort of already acting on you all the time. And of course, this is how I use it too. So, but this was a very common, understood way of doing things. So, okay. I'm going to...
Lucy Baldwin (12:42.702)
I'm just gonna kind of, sorry, I'm looking at a script here and I'm gonna skip through this part.
Lucy Baldwin (12:56.45)
Okay, so.
Lucy Baldwin (13:12.078)
Okay, so nowadays I talk a lot about ritual and I have sort of certain ways of doing ritual. But back in the day, it was much more technical and much less aesthetic. And I feel like we've moved in the direction of becoming more aesthetic. there's a lot of sort of like...
there are a lot of Instagram witches, right? And that it wasn't how it was, you know, it really mattered. The timing really mattered. And I'll talk about that. The materials mattered. The words that we used, your intention, the preparation used to matter a lot more. And I'm way more casual because I've sort of tried to break it down into and like take what works.
and also modernize, but the aesthetic piece, I think, is where culturally a lot of people have gotten kind of confused. Like we think that it's an aesthetic, but it's actually, I see it as a relationship with our own unconscious and how we relate to reality.
Okay.
Lucy Baldwin (14:33.09)
so let's see.
Lucy Baldwin (14:47.214)
Another piece of this was talismans. People made talismans. They wore certain colors and they literally prayed to the planets, just like how Christians pray to God. Sometimes they would fast or purify themselves before ritual. so like clothing, environment, music, all of this was very involved. in this is, I'm talking about the Renaissance period.
So it was kind of like a lifestyle. And there was the household and then there was the temple and they were two separate things, but you were always doing it. So you were involved with it at home and then you would go to the temple for these sort of sacrifices and formal rituals and there would be priests. And in the household, it would be like a daily sort of offerings, prayers, small shrines.
The timing was an important piece of it, but there reciprocity was also a big, it was basically the most important concept. Like it's all about reciprocity because humans naturally, we understand exchange. And so they had this idea, do a des, which basically means that I give so that you may give.
It's like if I give to you, then I know that you're going to take care of me. So you give your attention, you give your respect, you give your offerings, you behave in alignment with the values of that planet, and then the planet will support you and you can align your fate according to the best possible outcome for yourself and be in alignment with that archetype.
And like I said, they feared the planets and so they would make offerings to avoid like getting sick or losing or dying or having bad luck or going into poverty. So it wasn't just about like getting things, it was also about avoiding bad things. So, okay.
Lucy Baldwin (17:12.696)
So, like I said, each planet corresponds with a day of the week. And so, if you're going to be making offerings to a planet or working with a planet, thinking about doing your offerings on that day of the week is a great thing to consider. It's not a requirement. There are also planetary hours each day. So, each planet will have certain times of the day that are associated with it on any given day.
And a lot of people do like to, you know, this is recommended. I try not to get too caught up in the timing of it because I really want to... I would rather show up and do the offering than have to do it perfectly and then never show up for it at all. Like I don't want perfection to prevent, you know, the need to do it just the right way to prevent me from doing it.
But it can also help us. It can also give us a framework. one thing that I used to do is like, would do a small little moment short kind of like offering each day, but I would do a different planet each day. So like every Monday, I would do it to the moon. Every Tuesday, I would do it to Mars. Wednesday, Mercury. You get what I'm saying. And that worked really well. What I do now is a little bit more freeform. Like I kind of just have certain planets that I hit.
like most days. And I kind of just come back to those same planets because I find that those are the planets that I always need. Like always I'm sort of drawn towards. And like I said, in my last episode, I talk about which planets might be most beneficial for you to work with and how to kind of figure that out. You can also think about like the astrology and what's happening astrologically. So if it's Mars retrograde,
than asking Mars for help or maybe making offerings to Mars saying, you know, kind of like, take it easy, right? Mercury retrograde, thinking about making offerings to Mercury or even doing a ritual with Mercury to, you know, give you the only, you know, teach you what you need to learn as gently as possible or whatever. So, yeah, timing is something that we can definitely...
Lucy Baldwin (19:38.242)
work with. And also looking at your natal chart, like if you have planets that are in challenging placements, thinking about those as planets that you could work with. a big part of this is embodying these energies, embodying these archetypes. So how you're holding yourself, how you're talking, what are you saying, what are you talking about, what are you wearing, what sorts of things are you doing in your day?
What are you eating? What are your daily routines? What is your sort of like emotional tone? know, Mercury is really playful and silly and childlike Mars is very like intense and masculine and like commanding Jupiter is more like grandfatherly and wise and But still, you know, just like I think like both profound but also
Lucy Baldwin (20:39.695)
I don't know if there's a way to get rid of that or just cut it at somewhere maybe before Jupiter. How are you making decisions? So for example, Saturn is like having structure, having boundaries around things, saying no to things, not eating the dessert, thinking strategically.
paying attention to your body, being like really in your physical reality, noticing your surroundings, taking care of your surroundings. Venus is like beauty, making things beautiful, making yourself beautiful, seeking pleasure, harmony, music, adorning yourself. Yeah, like making things smell nice. Flowers. Mars is like...
doing stuff, confronting your problems, seeking to reconcile, heat, effort, going to the gym, exercising, making yourself sweat, waking up early in the morning, not overly adorning yourself, right? This is more like austere. Jupiter is being really generous, giving generously, expanding, having faith, having leadership, sort of taking charge, having wisdom.
knowing, like trusting yourself, having that sort of sense of confidence to hold yourself, thinking long term, making long term strategic moves. Mercury is, like I said, being playful, being silly, learning, trade, obviously, gambling, but also talking, writing.
being in that sort of communicative relationship, but also commerce. Mercury was very much like business and commerce. The moon is like home and cycles and water like being and also, you know, claiming your emotions and feeling your emotions and sort of like dreaming and journaling and that kind of thing. And the sun is being visible.
Lucy Baldwin (23:03.075)
being healthy, having energy, being seen, putting yourself out there. yeah, so I just went through all of the planets for different ways that you can embody them. So embodying them is kind of like, I would say, the first sort of level. Like if you're not ready to make an offering, you can just focus on sort of embodying that planetary energy.
carrying that energy in yourself, in your way of being, like choosing to take on those traits and qualities as you're offering. So it's not a thing that you're doing separate from your life. It's something that you're bringing into what you're already doing. It's a way of being. And then sort of the next level that I would say is doing what I would call a sort of like either daily or weekly
small lighting of incense and saying a little prayer of thank you or lighting a candle or just even sometimes some of my altars have bowls of water and just having a bowl of water and sort of replacing the water and maybe putting it on you somehow, putting it on your heart or your head or wherever depending on the deity, right? And these might look different for different deities.
for the different planets, right? for Venus, it's like I lighting incense makes sense. That's what I do for Venus. I light incense. For Mercury, will light candles. I will usually say like a prayer. Sometimes I buy like a scratch tickets. For Saturn, I'm going to show up for something. So for Saturn, it's like...
showing up for myself in a way or taking on a daily habit for X number of days. It's a very different sort of thing. For Jupiter, it's like, I'm going to cook a steak. You can see very different vibes here. And I did kind of got bigger and bigger there. So the daily things that I would do are very small. It's like...
Lucy Baldwin (25:20.117)
Sometimes it's just some of my alters have lights. So I'll just turn the light on and I'll do like a I'll just take a moment. I'll just take a beat to just sort of touch in with my own gratitude for that planet. That's like the number one, I think, important thing, though. And this is where I want to get into some of the mistakes that people make. So
Some people, you know, we think that we're just gonna like give flowers or, you know, give a gift or do something for the planet. And that is good. But the most important piece is feeling, is like feeling gratitude, feeling that sense of devotion, feeling that sense of like...
touching in to that archetype, touching that part of yourself or touching your appreciation for beauty or your appreciation for life or your appreciation for... And I'm thinking in terms of planets, right? So beauty, obviously Venus. Appreciation for life, I was thinking the sun, right? Because the sun is the creator of all life. Appreciation for...
play and humor and all of that. Mercury. Appreciation for pleasure, Venus again. Appreciation for my ability to like do stuff, my voice, just being able to go out in the world and like do stuff. That's Mars. Appreciation for time, the time that I have, Earth, know, things like that, more Saturnian. So feeling into...
that is actually the most important part of the offering. But giving the gift, like giving something, if I haven't made this clear yet, is really powerful. I don't think I've said that yet. But, you know, offerings are not bribery. We're not like bribing the planets. They are, these are intelligences, these are gods that are way beyond...
Lucy Baldwin (27:36.624)
us, like what we could ever know or understand. it's really important to just, like, I recommend holding the posture of gratitude, reverence, appreciation, and not thinking that we're like outsmarting them or manipulating them or like, I'm going to get, you know, not this like expectation of I'm giving you this, so you better give me that.
And also, another major mistake is that a lot of people think that it's all about the aesthetic. And it's actually more important to just be sincere and be genuine and to find that part of you that actually, because we all have it, like we all have genuine. And if you can't get in touch with it, if you can't get in touch with your genuine gratitude for existence or beauty or whatever, then I would just be really like authentically vulnerable with that deity and just be like, please help me, like please help me find beauty.
Please help me find love. Please help me feel the appreciation that I know that I feel. That's a perfectly good approach because again, it's sincere. So you're giving an offering and maybe you can't get in touch with that gratitude. I know plenty of people, it's hard. Like it's actually something that I take for granted because it's a muscle and a skill that I have built over many, many years of doing this work. So just like giving this sincere offering of like where you're at right now, but...
acknowledging it and taking that beat to really feel into it. We are so used to just kind of skating through things and our attention and our concerted sort of focus is a huge deal. And it's harder than you think to show up in that attitude, in that stance regularly.
Also, a mistake that people make is they think that you should only work with one planet. I don't think that that's true at all. And a lot of people think that they don't need to work with Saturn. And I think that a lot of people do need to work with Saturn. So that's my one more thing. And okay, so.
Lucy Baldwin (29:51.587)
Yeah, I think that I want to go back to the sort of levels of practice. So I was saying that the first level is sort of embodying the planet, right? Sort of like trying to take on its characteristics. The second level is these small offerings and this could just and I would recommend starting small. It's like, now, I just want to quickly say you don't have to have an altar to make offerings to any given planet. I have a lot of altars and I've actually it's a
pool life hack where in my house, most of my surfaces are offerings and my kids know, or sorry, are altars and my kids know that those are like sacred spaces. And so they don't clutter my surfaces with crap. It's amazing. And they help me dust and they like it and they're only allowed to touch the altars if they're dusting. So it's amazing.
Yeah, think that, but you don't have to have an altar. So you can just make an offering, like you can put it outside, you can have a special place where you put offerings, you can keep it in your kitchen, you can whatever. You can have a general altar that's just like, it could literally just be a candle where you put your offerings every day, just like a surface where you put your offerings every day. And maybe you have an incense burner and a candle.
Or maybe it's just a place in your house where you put your offerings. Or maybe you just put them in different places. I recommend having a place, even if it's outside or it's just like a small sort of portion of your counter or whatever, your nightstand. So yeah, those are sort of small offerings like lighting the incense.
And then you can do bigger weekly offerings with the planet that you're working with. If you're trying to sort of really connect with the planet, I do recommend making a sort of bigger weekly offering where you're actually preparing something. Because remember, historically, the preparation was a big part of all of this. And it doesn't have to be like a whole ritual, but you can do your offering as a whole ritual every time. So you can, or once a week.
Lucy Baldwin (32:13.508)
where you like read poetry and light incense and dress for the occasion and then make your offering and just sort of give gratitude. You can also use those times to ask for things that you're hoping to get, know, trying to get what you want. And then, yeah, and then after that, that's when we get sort of into like doing regular rituals and doing sort of bigger...
work with these planets over longer periods of time. So yeah.
You know, one thing I do want to just mention one more time is like, we're going for sincerity and not aesthetic. I know I already said that, but I just think that that's kind of the big take home here, especially with offerings is it's really about feeling into it. And of course, aesthetics can be a piece of this, especially with Venus. Like it makes sense to be more aesthetically focused with Venus specifically. And so thinking about like, what is the
planet that you're trying to work with and what is going to make sense as an offering to that planet. Okay, that is all I have for this episode. Thank you so much for watching and I will see you in the next episode. and by the way, if you want to get free rituals with my online community, then join my online community, Inner Circle, at the link in the bio. We also do really cool connection games. So I will see you there.
New to Lucy’s work?
Start with Lucy Baldwin’s complete overview of planetary magic here
This episode is part of The Seven: Living with the Planets, a podcast exploring planetary magic as a path of self-growth, ritual practice, desire, embodiment, and spiritual transformation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an offering in planetary magic?
An offering is a gesture of attention, gratitude, reciprocity, and relationship with a planetary current. It can be incense, food, water, a candle, prayer, beauty, discipline, or embodied action.
Are offerings the same as rituals?
Offerings and rituals overlap, but they are not identical. An offering can be very small and simple, while a ritual is usually a more formal magical container.
Do I need an altar to make offerings?
No. An altar can help, but you can make offerings outside, on a small surface, at a candle, at a bowl of water, or through an action that embodies the planet.
What day should I make planetary offerings?
You can use the planetary week: Sunday for the Sun, Monday for the Moon, Tuesday for Mars, Wednesday for Mercury, Thursday for Jupiter, Friday for Venus, and Saturday for Saturn.
What is the biggest mistake people make with offerings?
The biggest mistake is treating offerings as aesthetic performance or bribery. Sincerity, gratitude, attention, and relationship matter more than looking magical.
Next Steps
If this episode resonated with you, continue exploring Lucy Baldwin’s work here:
You’ll find current offerings, free practices, podcast links, and ways to go deeper.
A good next step is joining Lucy’s free Inner Circle community, where she offers monthly rituals with different planetary currents and community connection calls. You can also find the free guided Existential Kink practice there if you want to explore desire, shadow, receiving, and radical approval in a more embodied way.