The Serkyem-offering is an offering of Golden Drink, where the drink literally contains actual specks of gold.
In the Orient, the traditional liquid solution is tea, as that is, well, traditional Eastern drink. In the West, many practitioners do alternatively use other goldenish coloured drinks, like cider, apple juice, Pommac (N-European mixed fruit soda,
Wiki-article ) etc. As to what drink to offer yourself, the general idea of giving offerings is, that a proper offering is something that the offerer him- or herself deems valuable, or tasty. Therefore, it is a good idea to use any goldenish coloured drink that you yourself happen to like - no need to stick to the Oriental fashion of tea, unless of course you like brown or black tea. (I believe green tea was not used in Serkyem. And to tell the truth, brown tea is a British invention, so black tea would be the traditional Oriental solution, since the tea was made black by roasting and smoking, being therefore a wrathful and potent solution. There is this tea called Dorje-ling, meaning Vajra-county or something, better known as the Darjee-ling as the British colonists wrote the name thattaway, and that would of course be a proper drink for the base of Serkyem.)
So basically, for Serkyem, the base solution is goldenish coloured drink, traditionally black tea, in which gold dust has ben added. However, most Westerners do not seem to include the gold specks, as many think it as a wasteful practice, and also because it is thought of as being difficult to get gold dust. Any numismatic shop nevertheless sells old gold coins, and all tool shops sell iron files, so getting gold dust is rather easy, actually.You do not need much gold per offering. Few coins should last a lifetime of offerings.
To offer Serkyem properly, you need to pour it until the cup overflows, as this has some symbolical implications. Therefore from the practical point of view, the
Serkyem cup set needs to be two-tiered; the long necked upper cup that overflows, and the lower plate where the upper cup stands that prevents the overflowing drink from flooding the altar. There is of course no real tradition in having a two-tiered cup, but if you are the person who keeps the altar clean, I'm sure you'll agree in the sanity of having the lower plate as well. (I use personally a wine glass as the upper cup, and a dessert dish of a same design as the lower plate - the Tibetan traditional silverware cups hide the golden colour of the offering, so I prefer glassware.)
These same basics should apply with any deity you are making the offering. It is the liturgy that changes, and that is somehing that is good to get from a Guru or some senior Sangha-members, so as to get the tune of liturgy correct, etc, unless of course some Guru makes it all public. (wink wink)
Happy offerings,
ZP
