Personal Altars

NeilJ

Every now and then I play with the idea of creating a small personal altar in my room. Don't know if I ever would of course. I still live with my parents and whilst they know of my beliefs and are quite tolerant of them; I feel that an altar would be rubbing their faces in it a little. I don't know though, cause to be honest would really like one anyway. I should point out that I use a brick shed at the end of our garden to do work, but it's a bit cold down there at times hence the wanting something in my own room. Ok so am rambling slightly, so back to what I want to ask. Was just wondering what types of altars, if any, other people have and where you have them.

BB,
Neil

Rev Hellfire

NeilJ wrote:

I still live with my parents and whilst they know of my beliefs and are quite tolerant of them; I feel that an altar would be rubbing their faces in it a little.

While I know diddly about your particular beliefs I would have assumed taking such step would be a good thing. Taking such a step would show to both you and them that this is not merely a passing fad on your part and something you are commited to it.

NeilJ

Rev Hellfire wrote:

Taking such a step would show to both you and them that this is not merely a passing fad on your part and something you are commited to it.

Trust me when I say that at this stage they are completely accepting of the fact that it's not a passing fad. I've been at this quite sometime and am fairly active within the pagan community.

Neil

Nevyn

It depends on what you want to set up.
It can be as simple as a shelf some thing as minimal as a candle and one or two
object on it,
or as complex as an altar cloth and lots of items.
Or you can have one set up for everyday devotions and one for circles/workings/sabbaths/esbaths/blots (depending on your path) which can
be tidied way when you are done.

I use a chest of drawers as mine.
It has a minimal set up and a more complex one and I store things in the drawers when not in use and keep my supplies there like candles and insense.

Cactus Col

This may seem like a silly thing to say but ... why not just ask your mam if she minds you having one in there, as (and I assume this is the case) she's gonna be in there tidying up and what not.

If she does go in tidying up and such, you may want to point it out to her anyway, just so she doesn't go moving stuff about and upsetting the alter.

NeilJ

If I asked then they'd probably act ok about it, but at the same time let it bother them quietly. To be honest the purpose of my post was just curiousity over altar designs others might have. Thought that I might find something nice that might work well in my room.

On the topic of mother's cleaning rooms. I think the last time my mother cleaned my room I was still a few years shy of puberty. In fairness even if she offered I wouldn't let her for two simple reasons
a) It's not her job and she does enough around the house
b) If she did tidy up my room I'd never be able to find anything ever again

Neil

akari no ryu

I've been apprehensious about setting up an altar again.
Our room has been consecrated and I open a circle before I do any serious work in there but I've been made all to aware of the vulnerabilities of having a tangible altar.

joseph dawton

I can't see what harm a little altar will do, it's common enough in many religions.

Mine is a mniute table facing north and contains some seeds, leaves, rocks and crystals, candles, a brass goblet for water and an incense burner. Some poeple like to have little statues etc, athames (for Wiccans) etc but really it doesn't matter as long as it reflects your beliefs and is used respectfully.

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Nevyn

Something as simple and as small as a bed side locker can be used it can have enough space on top for the basics and storage to keep things safe and out of sight when not needed.

It is nice to have a marked space in your living space for the altar to your gods, that you make room in your living space as you do in your life.

It can serve a good reminder to get things done or to take time out and 'pray/talk/listen' and a place to leave things you find and come across until you can find time to think on them.

Some times mine can look like a nature table from a primary school class room.
Put I don't let it get cluttered, everthing has it's time and then it is removed.

If you altar is in a place that on one is going to wander into and pick things up then you can do a lot more with it, but certain tools should be in my opinion stored away safe until you need to use them.

Mine is in my sitting room so it has 3 moods if you will
set up for working,
daily devotional
and when I will have company over which usually is all tidied away execpt for
a hollowed out piece of rose quartz with a candle in it.
This is usually enough to deter any one from putting thier cup of tea on it

Talliesin

Cactus Col wrote:

If she does go in tidying up and such, you may want to point it out to her anyway, just so she doesn't go moving stuff about and upsetting the alter.

To my mind an altar is not really an altar if it's in an untidy room, it's a table waiting to be an altar again.

If Neil agrees with me he'd be keeping the room in a state of tidyness anyway.

That said, my bedroom currently has a table waiting to be an altar again in it...

turbot

An altar is just an organised set of symbolic representations...
like a magical joystick, instead of which, there can be many controllers.

If you have statues on window sills, and you burn candles near them, that can be considered an altar.

As different dieties represent different archetypes in your consciousness and are associated with different energy streams, it's my opinion that rather than worrying what your parents will think, make sure you construct your altar and magical space to be harmonious and that the activities you perform there are condusive to good energy and vibrations that your parents will recognise as being comfortable, pleasant and "good".

Provided your spiritual activities bring / generate more harmony to / within your house and you personally, I'm sure your parents will find ways of making sense of what you are doing that are acceptable to them.

Since you share this space with them, it's wise to respect their space by only doing that which is likely to create greater harmony around you, including for them.

Talliesin wrote:

To my mind an altar is not really an altar if it's in an untidy room, it's a table waiting to be an altar again.

If Neil agrees with me he'd be keeping the room in a state of tidyness anyway.

That said, my bedroom currently has a table waiting to be an altar again in it...

I disagree Talleisin.

Certainly, in a clean, well aired room, there is likely to be a better feeling, and more of a sense of freshness and well being.

Tidyness and cleanliness might be conducive to you being in an optimal state of mind when you are near your altar, yet this is to me is more about personal expression and how you relate to such, instead of the tidyness of the room.

This isn't neccessary for an Altar to be useful or work though, however, if you can't concentrate amidst clutter, then keeping a tidy space probably works best for you.

Talliesin

turbot wrote:

Tidyness and cleanliness might be conducive to you being in an optimal state of mind when you are near your altar, yet this is to me is more about personal expression and how you relate to such, instead of the tidyness of the room.

Really, it's more a matter that if the room isn't tidy sooner or later the altar gets untidy. Altars don't have things on them by accident, and the position of things on them isn't by accident.