All About Altars!
Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2020 6:07 pm
Let's start with the barebones basics of altars.
When creating an altar, you want to first focus on how you intend to use it, and then second, what tools/items will support that use, and lastly, what theme (if any) you want to have. Themes are aesthetics, but making your altar appeal to you is part of what will bring you back to it regularly. If an altar doesn't appeal to you, you're not going to use it, and you may end up actively avoiding it.
Let's start with how you intend to use your altar. There are a few different types of altar. There are devotional altars - these are usually for a single entity, and will have items associated with that being, along with tools for making offerings such as cups, bowls, incense burners, etc. There are spell work altars - these are generally temporary set-ups but they can be permanent. Just about every asian shop has some kind of permanent prosperity altar somewhere in it, and a lot of people keep honey jars on their desks, or one of those glass globe altars with plants, crystals, and landscaping to symbolize their needs. There's also ritual altars, which can be temporary or permanent, and are usually formal pieces dedicated to a particular style of practice.
Each type of altar has different requirements for tools and themes, which is why knowing the purpose of an altar is the first step. Once you have decided on the purpose of an altar, it's time to think of tools. Spell altars that aren't permanent are usually very simple - they have the supplies for the spell, and any tools to hold those supplies. For example, if you're doing a clear-communication spell, you're going to have a yellow candle, and probably some scolecite and orange calcite. You may have some basil and mint, or perhaps some communication oil to dress your candle with, made of plumeria, mint, and citronella.
If you're doing something without candles, such as a grisgris or mojo bag, you may want small beads carved into animals to go with your crystals and herbs, such as the raven, or the bee.
Devotional altars, you will want figurines associated with your spirit. You will want offering bowls. You can get really extravagant, smothering your offering altar in crystals and flowers, growing a plant on it. You'll probably want some kind of incense burner, and altar tools associated with your spirit - for example, my altar for my King has a blue altar cloth, an altar tile of His sigil, several bells, a candle dressed in amber oil, an offering/burn bowl, an incense burner, and a statue of a camel. Mine is rather simple, but some altars can get very busy and extravagant. Make sure to google both hindu and mexican altars for examples of this. No one way is right - the most important aspect of an altar is YOU.
Altars are the focal point where that which is spirit meets that which is physical - and as a meeting point between the two, as the place where they blend, the best method for altar creation involves how YOU work with those elements as they combine. An altar isn't meant for just anyone who comes by.
My husband and I have a household relationship/wedding altar, which we created together - altars intended for group use usually have offerings from every person using the altar - but for private altars, the general rule of thumb is that only the person creating, using the altar, only the person the altar is FOR, should be touching ANYTHING on it, or building it.
If your altar is going to be used in rituals, you're going to want to stock up on the tools that you most use in ritual. Again, this is deeply personal.
For me, a wand, a knife (athame), offering bowls and burn bowls, candles, candle holders, altar cloths, cups, altar tiles, special papers and pens, incense burners, a bell, various crystals, a black mirror and a crystal ball, a tarot deck that I only use for rituals, and a diabetic finger stick. I also invested in glass sheets from picture frames, which I put on top of my altar cloths, before putting my altar tools on top, to protect the cloths and the surface of the altar from damage and dirt. Incense ash, heat from a burn bowl, and wax, have destroyed many a fine altar cloth and I prefer to prevent that.
Once you've decided what your altar will be for, and you've decided what tools and supplies you're going to need, it's time to start building your altar.
The first step is to decide the surface you'll be using, and where that surface will be located. How much space you'll have is an important consideration here. If your altar is going in a shoebox under your bed, you're going to want to limit yourself more than if you have an entire wall, or a specific ritual room with a handmade altar in the center.
Next, start looking at the tools and supplies you want for your altar. Shop for things that feel right to you, but also fit your aesthetic for the purpose of the altar. Realize that it's not always going to be completely perfect, and that's ok - my King has a porcelain alpaca for his Camel figurine, because I can't seem to find anything better yet.
SET A BUDGET. It's ok to be willing to spend $7,000 on an altar, but it's not necessary. It's also just as ok to spend $10. For most of my adult life, my altar tools and supplies have come from dollar stores, walmarts, and thrift/resale shops. My husband's altar is a bedside table that he picked up at the local goodwill for $5.
Lastly.. HOW WILL YOU BE INTERACTING WITH YOUR ALTAR?
If you plan to work standing up, you want an altar that is between hip and chest height. If you're going to be kneeling a lot, meditating at it, you want it to be about knee height (and if you have pets, you'll want to have a way to store it safely away from them). If you do a lot of ritual work where having it in the center of your space works better for you than having it on a wall, pay attention to how you use the space, because having an altar that's too large, or too high, or too low, will fuck up the flow. Do you want it to be square? Rectangular? Round? Will your altar need to serve multiple functions along with just being an altar? My altar has two drawers, and book shelves under it. My husband's altar has a drawer as well. I know people who take a small portion of their bedside tables and turn that section into an altar - if you are using your altar for other purposes, you will want to make sure that altar objects, nor every day objects, spill over each other, as this will cause the energies to likewise be disorganized.
If you have a lot of tools and supplies, get a tote. One that fits in a nearby storage space is going to be really helpful. I have shelves in a closet, but my mother uses a tote for all her christmas altar supplies.
Having your items well organized for ease of discovery when you go to set up an altar, or to clean one, is important.
You will also want to pay attention to how you dispose of, or clean, various altar supplies and tools. For instance, one of my offering bowls is stainless steel, and I wasn't aware, and when I washed it, it rusted. Altar cloths are of particular note here. Silk must always be hand washed. Velvet picks up lint, dirt, hair - and shows it all - and also must be hand washed. Linen, cotton, and polyblends can usually be machine washed. Rayon and vinyl melt at a certain temperature, and I do not recommend them as altar cloths at all. Even under glass, there's a danger of melting.
A final note - part of altar design, as I've mentioned, is aesthetics, with the other part being ease of use. When you are designing your altar, it's probably a good idea to create a map, either on paper or in your head. Knowing the size of your surface will dictate the number of objects on your altar as well as their size, it's important to have that map so that your altar space is maximized. Personally, I don't like a lot of clutter on my altar - I'm not a fan of dusting, and I'm a lackadaisical housekeeper and that extends to keeping my altar clean and tidy, so clutter for me is a bad idea. If you're someone who uses your altar every night, and you move the objects and dust and wipe down and wash them all right after ritual or once the agreed on period of an offering has been met, if you're someone who actually actively maintains your altar regularly, go ham with it. If you're someone who wants literally everything plus the kitchen sink on your altar, if you're prepared to maintain it, go for it.
If you spend hours looking at pinterest pictures of altars and feeling like a failure, stop looking at pinterest altars. If you find pinterest altars a source of inspiration, keep looking, keep designing, keep creating.
As long as your altars align with your passions, there is no wrong way to make or use an altar.
~fin
When creating an altar, you want to first focus on how you intend to use it, and then second, what tools/items will support that use, and lastly, what theme (if any) you want to have. Themes are aesthetics, but making your altar appeal to you is part of what will bring you back to it regularly. If an altar doesn't appeal to you, you're not going to use it, and you may end up actively avoiding it.
Let's start with how you intend to use your altar. There are a few different types of altar. There are devotional altars - these are usually for a single entity, and will have items associated with that being, along with tools for making offerings such as cups, bowls, incense burners, etc. There are spell work altars - these are generally temporary set-ups but they can be permanent. Just about every asian shop has some kind of permanent prosperity altar somewhere in it, and a lot of people keep honey jars on their desks, or one of those glass globe altars with plants, crystals, and landscaping to symbolize their needs. There's also ritual altars, which can be temporary or permanent, and are usually formal pieces dedicated to a particular style of practice.
Each type of altar has different requirements for tools and themes, which is why knowing the purpose of an altar is the first step. Once you have decided on the purpose of an altar, it's time to think of tools. Spell altars that aren't permanent are usually very simple - they have the supplies for the spell, and any tools to hold those supplies. For example, if you're doing a clear-communication spell, you're going to have a yellow candle, and probably some scolecite and orange calcite. You may have some basil and mint, or perhaps some communication oil to dress your candle with, made of plumeria, mint, and citronella.
If you're doing something without candles, such as a grisgris or mojo bag, you may want small beads carved into animals to go with your crystals and herbs, such as the raven, or the bee.
Devotional altars, you will want figurines associated with your spirit. You will want offering bowls. You can get really extravagant, smothering your offering altar in crystals and flowers, growing a plant on it. You'll probably want some kind of incense burner, and altar tools associated with your spirit - for example, my altar for my King has a blue altar cloth, an altar tile of His sigil, several bells, a candle dressed in amber oil, an offering/burn bowl, an incense burner, and a statue of a camel. Mine is rather simple, but some altars can get very busy and extravagant. Make sure to google both hindu and mexican altars for examples of this. No one way is right - the most important aspect of an altar is YOU.
Altars are the focal point where that which is spirit meets that which is physical - and as a meeting point between the two, as the place where they blend, the best method for altar creation involves how YOU work with those elements as they combine. An altar isn't meant for just anyone who comes by.
My husband and I have a household relationship/wedding altar, which we created together - altars intended for group use usually have offerings from every person using the altar - but for private altars, the general rule of thumb is that only the person creating, using the altar, only the person the altar is FOR, should be touching ANYTHING on it, or building it.
If your altar is going to be used in rituals, you're going to want to stock up on the tools that you most use in ritual. Again, this is deeply personal.
For me, a wand, a knife (athame), offering bowls and burn bowls, candles, candle holders, altar cloths, cups, altar tiles, special papers and pens, incense burners, a bell, various crystals, a black mirror and a crystal ball, a tarot deck that I only use for rituals, and a diabetic finger stick. I also invested in glass sheets from picture frames, which I put on top of my altar cloths, before putting my altar tools on top, to protect the cloths and the surface of the altar from damage and dirt. Incense ash, heat from a burn bowl, and wax, have destroyed many a fine altar cloth and I prefer to prevent that.
Once you've decided what your altar will be for, and you've decided what tools and supplies you're going to need, it's time to start building your altar.
The first step is to decide the surface you'll be using, and where that surface will be located. How much space you'll have is an important consideration here. If your altar is going in a shoebox under your bed, you're going to want to limit yourself more than if you have an entire wall, or a specific ritual room with a handmade altar in the center.
Next, start looking at the tools and supplies you want for your altar. Shop for things that feel right to you, but also fit your aesthetic for the purpose of the altar. Realize that it's not always going to be completely perfect, and that's ok - my King has a porcelain alpaca for his Camel figurine, because I can't seem to find anything better yet.
SET A BUDGET. It's ok to be willing to spend $7,000 on an altar, but it's not necessary. It's also just as ok to spend $10. For most of my adult life, my altar tools and supplies have come from dollar stores, walmarts, and thrift/resale shops. My husband's altar is a bedside table that he picked up at the local goodwill for $5.
Lastly.. HOW WILL YOU BE INTERACTING WITH YOUR ALTAR?
If you plan to work standing up, you want an altar that is between hip and chest height. If you're going to be kneeling a lot, meditating at it, you want it to be about knee height (and if you have pets, you'll want to have a way to store it safely away from them). If you do a lot of ritual work where having it in the center of your space works better for you than having it on a wall, pay attention to how you use the space, because having an altar that's too large, or too high, or too low, will fuck up the flow. Do you want it to be square? Rectangular? Round? Will your altar need to serve multiple functions along with just being an altar? My altar has two drawers, and book shelves under it. My husband's altar has a drawer as well. I know people who take a small portion of their bedside tables and turn that section into an altar - if you are using your altar for other purposes, you will want to make sure that altar objects, nor every day objects, spill over each other, as this will cause the energies to likewise be disorganized.
If you have a lot of tools and supplies, get a tote. One that fits in a nearby storage space is going to be really helpful. I have shelves in a closet, but my mother uses a tote for all her christmas altar supplies.
Having your items well organized for ease of discovery when you go to set up an altar, or to clean one, is important.
You will also want to pay attention to how you dispose of, or clean, various altar supplies and tools. For instance, one of my offering bowls is stainless steel, and I wasn't aware, and when I washed it, it rusted. Altar cloths are of particular note here. Silk must always be hand washed. Velvet picks up lint, dirt, hair - and shows it all - and also must be hand washed. Linen, cotton, and polyblends can usually be machine washed. Rayon and vinyl melt at a certain temperature, and I do not recommend them as altar cloths at all. Even under glass, there's a danger of melting.
A final note - part of altar design, as I've mentioned, is aesthetics, with the other part being ease of use. When you are designing your altar, it's probably a good idea to create a map, either on paper or in your head. Knowing the size of your surface will dictate the number of objects on your altar as well as their size, it's important to have that map so that your altar space is maximized. Personally, I don't like a lot of clutter on my altar - I'm not a fan of dusting, and I'm a lackadaisical housekeeper and that extends to keeping my altar clean and tidy, so clutter for me is a bad idea. If you're someone who uses your altar every night, and you move the objects and dust and wipe down and wash them all right after ritual or once the agreed on period of an offering has been met, if you're someone who actually actively maintains your altar regularly, go ham with it. If you're someone who wants literally everything plus the kitchen sink on your altar, if you're prepared to maintain it, go for it.
If you spend hours looking at pinterest pictures of altars and feeling like a failure, stop looking at pinterest altars. If you find pinterest altars a source of inspiration, keep looking, keep designing, keep creating.
As long as your altars align with your passions, there is no wrong way to make or use an altar.
~fin