.::Sacrifice::.

I’m currently reading this excellent book on tarot and voodoo. In it, the author speaks of “sacrifice.” Sacrifice is taken from the Latin sacer (sacred) and facere (to make), so the literal meaning is to make sacred. In (Euro) Western culture sacrifice takes on a different and, as usual, corrupted meaning. The western understanding of sacrifice is about giving up, relinquishing, etc. Sacrifice is often looked at as a burden, a punishment… Sacrifice is also associated with death, rather than the sacrality of sacrifice.

When we are in relationships, we consider ourselves to be sacrificing or giving up something(s) for the person we’re with. In reality, we aren’t giving up something, we are offering up something in order to make sacred our relationship, and to strengthen and deepen our bond to the other person. We offer up that thing in order to receive the blessings that will surely come from our sacrifice. Westernization has us thinking only of what we can take, what we can add on to our “wealth,” what we can appropriate for ourselves… And never what we can give, what we can sacrifice. When we sacrifice, we feel as if we are losing something. It is this spirit that also blocks the Universal blessings that come through sacrifice.
Our greatest gifts and blessings often come after we have sacrificed. Sacrifice makes room for the blessing.
Peace and Love.
The title of the book is The New Orleans Voodoo Tarot by Louis Martinie and Sallie Ann Glassman