The Book of Offerings 2026 Edition

By Mel C. Thompson

So monotheism isn't working out for you, but you're not sure how to start out in polytheism? The first section of this short book provides a series of axioms that can help form a basic framework for developing a form of polytheism that works for you. It offers only the bare minimum of religious structure, and offers a wide array of options for making a home altar, finding a pantheon of gods and developing your own practice.

Because the first version of this book was so thin that it could scarcely be described as little more than a pamphlet, I decided (in order to make the book thick enough to be an Amazon paperback) that I would include appendices. These appendices center around my own form of semi-Shinto polytheism. But I provide these appendices by way of mere information about my personal practice without suggesting that the reader adopt my gods or prayers or rituals.

If the reader continues on, they will find themselves deep in the weeds in terms of comparative religion studies and comparative language studies. This overly-technical material won't appeal to everyone and is also included rather as filler for those whose interests lie elsewhere, or as spicy debate material for people who enjoy such quibbling. (And while the original pamphlet still exists, it's brevity makes it hard to produce at scale; and so I risked compromising the wholesome simplicity of the main material in the front of the book in order to make the book available at any time or any place to anyone.)

The updated 2026 version of this book contains two new sections, a better ordering of the chapters in the book, and some reediting of of the prose sections in back.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0HFHY5QXN
• ISBN13: 9798193118770
• Release Date: August 2026
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 114 Pages
• Weight: 0.36 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.3" x 6.0"