A is for Altar

My definition of an altar is that it is a specific space designated as sacred in which (LOL I had to retype that word 3 times, I kept trying to type witche...lol) one can conduct acts and rituals of worship. There are many types of altars that one can do. There are personal ones, large permanent ones, tiny travel ones, ones for a specific god or goddess, element, direction, holiday, or event. It doesn't take much to create one.

What goes onto an altar is as personal as you wish it. Some places have large public permanent altars for all to use and so are either a conglomerate of odds and ends or sparse. One of my favorites of this type is called the Fairy Shrine at Wisteria Campground and Retreat in Ohio. Micheal has been kind enough to allow me to post this video of it. It is a large shrine/altar.

Wisteria's Fairy Shrine

I usually set up an altar as a signpost of sorts, or at least a visible reminder that one is entering sacred space when I create my candle-lit labyrinths at the UU Fellowship I go to.

Altar next to entrance of New Year's Eve Labyrinth

I was also fortunate to help with a Samhain Altar/Ancestors' Altar for the Fellowship. It was along the lines of Day of the Dead celebrations (a future post when we reach the letter D). People brought in mementos and pictures of someone that had past on so we could honor their memories and the place they hold in our lives.

Just a small part of the altar in the darkness.
One white candle and one black candle flank a skull with bright yellow flowers in the eyes.
Behind it a mirror to reflect the ancestors in our own eyes.

Usually I will change my personal altar to reflect something I need to bring into my life or to coincide with the season. This is one of my winter altars that I have had before.

Winter Altar

It doesn't take much to create a space that means something to you. I have had them on a single shelf, on a dresser, in a drawer, in the top of a locker, and on a bedside table, like this:

Pictures and items to help me remember my creative spirit.
From left to right: a dagger someone gave me to honor my lioness, a watercolor of bluebells I did, a small dish for incense (currently sage), a lamp that belonged to my mother, a picture of an angel guiding a man through a country field called Muse, a peacock feather in a crystal vase behind it to remind me that beauty is inside out, a small piece of pottery I got my first mother's day, a vase filled with pens and pencils and a old candle holder in the shape of a lotus flower (has currently been replaced by a chalice oil lamp that a friend gave me as a Yule gift), paper to tease my spirit out into word and lastly, taped to the wall, is a small bag of hay from a ritual that will be burned in the future (I am still in the ritual, still Hunting).

So just grab a space and make it yours. Do what your spirit calls to create a small sacred space of your own.