About Altars
Webster's defines altar as: a structure on which sacrifices are offered or incense is burned in worship; a table used as a center of ritual. I contend that they are more basic than this. More a part of our daily lives and can function beyond the time we use them for ritual. Or perhaps they are part of ritual. Part of the ritual of bathing and dressing. Cooking and preparing for rest. Part of the ritual of healing, growing and effecting the changes we wish to make in our lives.
Personal Altars are a collection and/or display of items that relate to one another in such a way as to connect the collector/designer in a meaningful way to a belief, state of mind or purpose. We design them everyday whether we think about it or not. We collect and arrange things according to our likes and moods. We can tell a lot about ourselves and others by paying attention to the things we collect and display in our immediate surroundings.
In taking time to think about and construct specific altars we can utilize objects and symbols in this realm that connect to the self and/or other worldly realms to serve purpose, most often to celebrate or make changes in our lives. To further influence the self and/or the "powers that be" we can create links between the conscious and the sub-conscious to illicit desired outcomes. In this way building and working an altar can be a powerful tool that can set changes in motion.
In this section I wish to present the use of altars with this purposeful expansion in mind. The section, "Steps In Building Altars" is an explanation of the steps required to build a working altar. It includes some correspondence and symbolism charts. The "Elemental Altar" section includes the specific properties of the five elements, Air, Fire, Water, Earth and Spirit with detailed information about the properties of each and suggestions for their use. All other sections consist of actual altars that I have constructed. I am in hopes that the altars of others will be included in these sections. To contribute, see the section, "Sharing Altar Experiences".
In Love and Light
-Betsy-
- Steps To Building Altars
- The Elemental Altars
- Ritual & Sabbat Altars
- Personal & Healing Altars
- Sharing Altar Experiences
Images and templates used on this site are copyright© 2000 - 2002, Edward Hall and GreyLight Internet and Multimedia, unless otherwise noted. Text and writing is copyright© 1988 - 2002 Betsy Foster.
