Steps In Building Altars
Although some altars build themselves or spring up without conscious planning or forethought the planned or working altar usually follows steps that resemble the following:
Purpose: The purpose or reason for constructing a particular altar is usually the first step. You may want to consider naming or otherwise labeling the building your altar. It begins with a desire to honor, celebrate or change something in your life. Examples might include:
- Honoring your God/Goddess or other beliefs in the powers that be.
- Celebrating separations, unions, anniversaries, milestones, beginnings or completion's.
- Paying homage to special people dead or living.
- Celebrating or connecting to the aspects or roles in your life such as; maiden, mother/father, matron/mid-life, crone/aging, inner child, warrior, provider, healer, teacher/mentor, artist etc.
- Healing mind, body or spirit.
- Working altars designed to illicit changes in your growth, status, attitudes or life circumstances.
- Altars to aid in long-term magick.
- Creating a space to encourage specific moods such as romance, peace, tranquillity, creativity etc.
Once you have decided what your focus will be it is important to state the purpose in a clear way. For working altars (in particular) you will want to understand the exact nature of your purpose. You should write this down in a concise statement that might look something like this:
- The purpose of this altar will be to build a place where I can honor (God/Goddess, spirit, grandmother, my chosen profession, my marriage, my education etc).
- I build this altar to represent my desire and commitment to enhance/increase (a habit, quality or talent) in my life.
- I build this altar to aid me in my desire and commitment to decrease (a habit, quality or unwanted emotion/situation) in my life.
- I name this altar Peaceful Space and construct it as a safe and comforting place where I will come to know peace and the quiet of being with myself.
- This altars name is Prosperity and I build it as a place to aid in the growth of my need for wealth in the realm of (intellect, finances, health, relationships).
Choosing Space: Choosing the place to set your altar is an important consideration. Some of the things to consider:
- Will this space accommodate the size and number of objects I will be placing there?
- Do I need this altar to be in an area where I will see it often? In a more quiet private area?
- Will I be burning candles or incenses? Is this area a safe place to do that?
- Is the area I'm choosing safe in terms of disruption from pets, children and visitors?
Suggestions:
- Shelves - Cupboards - Closets
- Dresser Tops - Stands - Tables
- Nightstands - China Closets - Coffee Tables
- Desks - Window Sills - Book Shelves
- Virtually any space can be an altar including porches and corners of your yard or garden. Be inventive.
Colors: Colors are important to set the mood and enhance the properties you wish to represent on your altar. You may use the colors from the following lists, but keep in mind that although colors tend to be universal in their symbolism you should always consider what the color means to you personally when you see or think of it. For example - most lists include purples and greens as representing healing energies, yet white and particularly yellow/gold/amber represent healing energies for me. Therefore I most often include yellow/gold or amber in my healing work.
- White: Protection, Peace, Truth, Purity, Sincerity
- Green: Healing, Money, Prosperity, Fertility, Finance, Luck
- Pink: Emotional Love, Harmony, Honor, Morality
- Red: Love, Passion, Energy, Courage, Health, Sexual Love, Strength, Vigor
- Yellow: Friendship, Learning, Clairvoyance, Attraction, Confidence, Protection
- Purple: Spiritual Shield, Dignity, Ambition, business Progress, Power, Tension
- Blue: Forgiveness, Healing, Tranquillity, Health, Patience, Understanding
- Orange: Stimulation, Creativity, Adaptability, Encouragement
- Black: Quiet Power, Self-Control, Power to Absorb, Depression, Re-Birth
Altar Cloths: Cloths, linens and coverings are an important part of many altars and although not a necessity they do add color, texture and mood to any setting. Cloths can be purchased as table cloths, doilies or stand scarves. They can be made at home and embroidered or taken from trunks in the attic. Many yard sales and auctions offer all varieties of cloths in all sizes, shapes and colors. Linen handkerchiefs make wonderful additions to altars, some feminine handkerchiefs can be purchased with roses or pansies embroidered in the corners. Scarves, blankets and towels make useful coverings as well. Choose your coverings with colors that correspond with the intent of your altar. Choose textures by the mood they enhance according to the purpose you have in mind.
Candles: You will not always want or need candles for your altar, but they are popular and are often used to:
- Draw or dispense energy.
- Focus during meditation, chants or prayers.
- Represent colors and help establish mood and symbolism.
- Set moods.
The style, size and shape of candles can be chosen based on need, cost, associations and convenience.
- Large Pillars-when you need to burn the same candle continuously or re-light several times.
- Seven Day-usually in glass containers so they can be left unattended with ease, good for times when you need to leave a continuous flame for long periods of time.
- Small Pillars-convenient and more economical than larger ones.
- Votives & Tea Lights-very economical, plentiful, can be used in a variety of holders, require less supervision than tapers and pillars.
- Tapers-plentiful, versatile, available in many shades of color, but do require close supervision.
- Special Shapes-can be poured at home into molds or purchased in various shapes, which can maximize the properties of the shape with color and burning.
Some popular shapes and their meanings:
- Skull-healing mental and emotional disturbances, developing psychic powers and other plane awareness, enhancing telepathy, draws and dissipates nightmares.
- Cat-wisdom, requesting aid of a spirit helper or familiar.
- Owl-wisdom and insight.
- Dragon-power and protection.
- Unicorn-connects with magickal and fairy realms, protects the innocent.
- Dolphin-ocean and water magick, promotes oneness with nature and harmony with natural forces on all levels.
- Moon-lunar magick, to represent goddess figures and feminine aspects.
- Wizard-spirit guide, guardian.
- Pyramid-alignment with higher plane energies, banishing or drawing energies.
Candle Holders: The holders you use for your candles serve not only to make your candles burn more safely, but also add height, shape and depth to your altar space. They can be simple or elaborate, matching and sensible or to any extreme of unique.
Herbs/Incenses/Oils: The lists, properties and magicikal uses of herbs, incenses and oils are long, complex and vary from one user to the next. The options are endless. They can be chosen from short comprehensive lists found in books or web searches or studied at great length to discover the combinations that work best for you. Following is a link to a short list of possible choices and their most common properties:The Herb List
Objects: The objects you chose for your altar will be entirely personal. You may chose things from lists of symbols and representations, but it is most important that you chose things that are right for you. Remember the altar is a tool that connects the conscious mind to the sub-conscious. The point is to make a connection between these two realms. The objective of choosing items is to bridge this gap, send messages back and forth between them and therefore must speak a language that is understood by both the conscious and sub-conscious parts of your mind. Everything you place on your altar needs to make sense to you, speak to you on some level. The following list represents some of the objects you might use on an altar. (More detailed lists are included under each altar type)
- Pictures - Photos - Drawings
- Statues - Miniatures - Carvings
- Written Words - Poems - Essays - Affirmations
- Flowers - Plants - Seeds (live, dried, preserved in any form)
- Post/Greeting Cards - Newspaper Clippings - Magazine Articles
- Needle Work - Jewelry - Stones - Shells
- Mementos - Collectibles - Trade Tools (things you use in your work/profession)
- Coins - Plackets - Charms - Amulets - Books
Using Your Altar: In general the way to use an altar is to charge it to gather and focus specific energy or to keep an open working channel between the conscious and sub-conscious mind. This can be accomplished in several ways depending on the type of altar and the individuals personal ways of using energy. Some altars are best left quietly to work while others will need to be tended everyday. For more specific ideas see the Using Your Altar sections listed under the more detailed altar sections.
In Love and Light
-Betsy-
- The Elemental Altars
- Ritual & Sabbat Altars
- Personal & Healing Altars
- Invitation to Share Your Experiences
- Back To About Altars
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