Creating Your Altar

Approaching your magical altar, you breathe deeply, you visualize the Goddess and your personal Deities, you light a candle to focus your spiritual workings, and you begin your devotions.  You might bless this space with Water and Earth, you might sanctify with Fire and Air as you smudge.  You might sing my song, Goddess Blessing, which appears on the Crow Women’s fourth album, Pantheon. You are in sacred space, and your altar is at its center.

Altar maintenance

An altar in or around your home can bring focus to your life and your spiritual practice.  You may have a primary altar, with images of the Goddess, your magical tools and symbols of the directions.  The Crows performed a ritual of cleansing, charging and blessing our magical tools- it was described in a previous blog: A Ritual for Blessing Magical Tools.

Seasonal altar cloths are part of altar maintenance, as well as cleaning up any ash from burning smudge or removing items that were intended to be temporary.  This attention can refresh the spiritual energy of these altars. Regular attention to your tools and other objects placed on your altar will maintain its sacred status.

You can work with others in your coven or circle to create a temporary altar for a certain ritual or time together.  You can also work alone with a more permanent and primary altar.   And, your altars can be marvelously creative projects that are ever-changing and dynamic.

Your home altar space

In my home, I have purposed an area in my bedroom for an altar, placing there my tools and images of the Goddess, Divination cards, candles, smudge and fire, water and salt.  There are also crystals and shells, and some jewelry that has magical properties. I also add meaningful objects that may linger for a short while, such as a special card, a gift from one of my coven sisters or written spells that I am working on.

My bedroom altar is in a corner, and various indications of magic and blessings are posted on the two walls surrounding my altar.  The whole space is sacred and holds the energy of my devotions and observances.

This altar, which is my primary altar, is located on top of a small cabinet with drawers containing incense, divination cards, photos of ritual spaces, crafted objects from past rituals, and the significators of the “office” I hold for the current year in my coven, the Crowwommyn.  For instance, this year I am The Maiden, and my charge is to bring Maiden energy to our circle and to priestess our Valentine Ritual.  These accoutrements are the Maiden shawl, my whimsical Maiden wand and my jar of bubbles!  At Imbolc we assume our new titles and duties for the year to come (chosen by the Goddess in our January ritual of Choosing) and we exchange these trappings of our office. Check out our Imbolc page, where all of our posts about that Sabbat are collected.

Outdoor altar magic

You likely have areas in your home or outdoors where special objects and tokens are arranged that have deep meaning or charge that sets them apart from mere décor or adornment.  You probably have at least one altar in your environment- even if you don’t realize it.   Are these truly devotional altars?  And if they are, what brings these arrangements to the level of a meaningful spiritual space? 

Outdoors, I have placed altars that are for the most part conceptual, that may be marked by a small token, rock or image.  When I set up these altars, my intention was to surround my home with protective energy and magical enhancement. The above Eastern altar greets the sunrise and brings dawn blessings.

I have an altar in each direction around my home- the Southern altar, above, is ringed with red rocks. The Western altar contains a vessel for gathering rain or snow, and a piece of pottery that resembles a fish!

Directional altars are often found in the homes of Wiccans and Pagans. These can be quite simple- perhaps a candle in a color appropriate to that direction, and a small token representing that direction. For instance, my Northern altar is created with locally sourced rocks, and a human hair and bone/bead ornament.

Because honoring the directions is so important to Pagans, Wiccans and those who understand the power of the elements, we often sing the song, Calling the Elements, by Carole Mc Williams, as part of our ceremonies.

Unique altar spaces

There are also arrangements of special objects around the house and outdoors, where placing them in specific locations brings blessings to those areas. For instance, under a table in my living room, I have on display a number of objects, fanciful and meaningful, including a Wonder Woman figure, several spiders and a vessel of rose petals from various rituals. I consider this an altar which collects various magical and memorable items of significance.

You might create an altar dedicated to a specific Goddess or Spirit, maybe one that you are working with for a while, or on a more permanent basis. For example, when I had my Croning ceremony, I dedicated in perpetuity to Grandmother Spider, and thereafter the other two Spider Deities have joined her in a special place on my altar.  I have Spider Woman- the Mother, and Arachne- dancing spider Maiden to honor these meaningful deities in my life. Because these magical beings have been so essential in my magical life, I created a song, My Familiar is a Spider to honor them, to be released on the Crowommen’s 4th album honoring many dieties: Pantheon.

Traveling altars

Each Crowwommyn has crafted her own personal “portable” or “traveling” altar- for many of us, a cigar box or similar. They are decorated and adorned with meaningful images, and containing altar items for ceremony away from home.

Why not look around your indoor and outdoor space and identify your altars, either deliberately placed or emerging spontaneously?  Have you located meaningful items in certain places for your notice?  Is there a special photo on display with a small heart or poem nearby?  Objects representing important events in your life?  If you realize that you don’t have these occasional altars, you can create as many as you want!  Like many Pagans, you probably have many treasured objects that bring you joy, that enhance your spiritual path. Let your environment become your altar!

Blessed Be.

For more from Marilyn about altars, you can check out her post Elemental Altars Blessing My Home and Sacred Art Surrounding my Home, both written when she lived in a different location. It’s interesting to see how her ideas have been adapted in her current living space.

For more information about the Crow Women pagan choir, and access to all the blog posts by Marilyn and the other 9 crowsingers who have written for Pagan Song, you can visit the Crow Women author page here on Pagan Song.

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