Worship - Placation

Gods and spirits alike require appeasement from mortals.

There are numerous ways of placating the gods: Obedience, prayer and sacrifice . The different priesthoods place different emphasis on these.

Prayer

Praise the entity, possibly yourself as well. Often prayer involves some sort of request. In such cases it is usually accompanied by sacrifice. Some people consider it boorish to pray for themselves, and hire experts (i.e. priests, holy men). This also includes commisioning special rituals at temples.

Compliance and Conformity

This involves compliance with the entity's ethos.

Sacrifice

Animal sacrifices: Animal sacrifices are considered the most potent, and are cherished by most gods and spirits. The blood is given to the spiritual entity, and the meat to its worshippeers. Some deities favour specific sacrifices: Anu prefers horses, Mithra bulls, Ereshkigal black lambs, Ishum hares or other small, quick animals, Dagon, Nergal and Namtar prefer human sacrifice. Some deities will not accept animal sacrifices (Eos, Hypnos, Kishar)
Vegetable sacrifices: Virtually all deities will accept offerings of incence, precious wood and honey (both burned), wine and mead (poured out on the altar). Kishar prefers sacrifices of vegetables and fruit.

Mineral sacrifices: Buying idols and icons of a deity, and offering them to a temple are considered pious acts and worthy sacrifices. Donations of gold and other valuables are also accepted.
Musical sacrifices: Music transcends the spheres more easily than any other offering.