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Altar for the Growing Family

December 28, 2011 in Altars

Haven’t had an altar submission in a while but I wanted to run this one for you all.

My husband and I are due to have our first child in February of 2012 and we were looking for ways for our family to incorporate our spirituality into everyday life so that we can start the baby off with traditions honoring the earth. We had never done an altar before, but loved the idea of symbolically representing our fears, hopes, and dreams, and allowing good spirits into our home.

This photo is a close up of the objects around the feet of my Ksitigarbha figure, the guardian of children. The oil burner burns a combination of sandalwood for protection, harmony, and psychic awareness and ginger oil for success and health. A yellow candle burns in the center of the alter. To the right is my cedar smudge stick and a shell dish that I found on a family vacation 3 years ago. The smudge will be used at my intimate Mother Blessing in January (intimate in that my husband and I are celebrating together, alone). To the left of the candle is a small hippo totem, asking for protection for our growing family. The small white square bowl holds jasmine flowers for healing me during my pregnancy, nuts for wealth and success, and a small velvet pouch that holds the pearl necklace that I knotted and wore at my wedding as another representative of my husband’s and my feelings of financial inadequacy before for the birth of our son. We are hoping to receive relief from these worries. The runes were made by my husband in his youth. The cards under the runes depict 3 herbs (that I didn’t want to leave out for fear that my kitties would chew on them). They represent various ailments that I hope to be corrected. The valerian is for my pregnancy related insomnia, the red raspberry asks for strength and health within my womb, and the nutmeg, well, that’s just for luck. :-)

Hope you like it! I am in love with it and enjoy looking at it and meditating on each object within.

Today’s altar is brought to us by our reader, Joanie. Thanks for sharing!

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Altars in Many Parts of the House

May 23, 2011 in Altars

April sent photos of 4 altars that are in various places in her house. She says:

I literally have altars all over the house!

This one sits on my kitchen counter, blessing the food I make

Kitchen Altar

The next one is in our family room. It changes with the season and normally has fresh flowers on it. This is where we do our morning family meditation.

family room altar

the third one is our family altar and the one we use most for our “services”. It is in our bedroom, so it is one of the first things we see in the morning and the last we see at night. I love having this one in the bedroom as we can meditate before we get our day going, or if one of us is sick, it comforts us.

Family Altar

The last two photos are the same altar, my alter. It is small enough that I can move it throughout the house. It was made for me by my sweet hubby when I first started practicing reiki. It combines all of the things that spiritually fulfill me; Buddhism, Wicca, Reiki and yoga. The little heart shaped bottle was given to me by one of my best friends and Wiccan mentor to celebrate our wedding. It is full of herbs and stones that signify lasting love. It has been on my altar for 11 years now. It holds a rose quartz from my husband, my mala beads and a reiki infused
candle. It is so special to me since my husband made it. It is made from Aspen wood because our daughter we are in the process of adopting is to be named Aspen.

Altar

Altar

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A Mini Altar For the Hospital

May 9, 2011 in Altars

Things with this pregnancy aren’t going so well, and it seems that I’ll be on bedrest in the hospital for some time – we’re hoping for a few more weeks of growth for the baby at the least, but we’re in good hands, with careful monitoring, in a hospital with an excellent NICU – we know from experience, because our son spent many weeks here when he was born 13 weeks early, 3 years ago next month.

One thing we’re doing different this time is being a little more open about our faith. We are far more comfortable with the environment than we were last time, and we’re far more comfortable with making the space our own.

We’re starting with an altar-in-progres here in my room, which will eventually move to the shelf that we know baby will have near his or her bed in the NICU. We’re just getting started – but so far, I think we’re doing well:

hospital altar

My eventual plan is to borrow one of my son’s small (handkerchief sized) playsilks for an altar cloth, and to include family photos and an LED tealight candle, and then to see what else is needed.

I’ve got one more guest altar post in the works, which I’m hoping to have ready for my next posting, but it’s likely I’ll go on hiatus for a bit after that, given everything else going on, as we’re likely to be a bit busy here for the next few weeks.

*****

As always, we’re interested in featuring your altar in upcoming posts — send photos and descriptions to submissions@thepaganhousehold.com

Blessings,

Janet

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Family and Ancestor Altars

April 11, 2011 in Altars

Patrick is going to post next week on creating family and ancestor altars, so I asked if he’d let us see his ahead of time. Here’s what he shared:

First is his family altar. It features the Goddess and the GreenMan, with the Family Light from FWTI in the center. There’s also a corn dolly made at Imbolc. The snake skin for the change that the family hopes to bring.

family altar - goddess and greenman, family light, corn dolly from imbolc, snakeskin for change

The second one is the start of their ancestor altar.  He says that right now, it’s only got his wife’s side of the family, because they’re still researching his family.

ancestor altar - photos and family tree

 

So, tune in next Monday to read some ideas on how you might start your own family and ancestor altars!

*****

As always, we’re interested in featuring your altar in upcoming posts — send photos and descriptions to submissions@thepaganhousehold.com

Blessings,

Janet

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Supermoon Ostara Altar

March 28, 2011 in Altars

Around here, Ostara usually comes with snow. If not, we have little beetles that look like lady bugs – between that and St Patrick’s right about the same time, this is the altar cloth I almost always use in March.

Supermoon Altar

There’s a nice dark blue bowl (a Japanese rice bowl, actually) for scrying there in the back. In the middle is “The Moon” from the Daughters of the Moon tarot deck – one of my favorites from this deck. It’s hard to see in the front, but there are a couple of pieces of moonstone, one carved into a crescent moon shape. There’s also a sphere of bloodstone that has always reminded me of the moon, a piece of kyanite, a blue sea shell, and my typical smudge bundle.

Supermoon Altar 2

*****

As always, we’re interested in featuring your altar in upcoming posts — send photos and descriptions to submissions@thepaganhousehold.com

Blessings,

Janet

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Kirstin’s Altar

March 14, 2011 in Altars

I apologize for missing my last post – we’ve had a string of illnesses here that just doesn’t want to stop.

This week we have Kirstin’s altar:

Kristen's Altar

Kirstin says:

this is a photo of my altar.

It is set on an old chest of drawers, with all my other ritual belongings hidden inside. Blended well amoungst my trinkets and books, so as not to appear to ‘witchy’ to my husbands religious family that visit.

I often change it, just so that it always feels like ‘me’.

In this photo it is not set up for a ritual, I last used it to meditate. I have brass bilby’s to represent the male and female element’s. Surounded by my most often used pieces including xena cards, crystals, book of shadows, goodluck & meditation charms and candles.

*****

As always, we’re interested in featuring your altar in upcoming posts — send photos and descriptions to submissions@thepaganhousehold.com

Blessings,

Janet

 this is a photo of my altar.

It is set on an old chest of draws, with all my other ritual
belongings hidden inside. Blended well amoungst my trinkets and books,
so as not to appear to 'witchy' to my husbands religious family that
visit.

I often change it, just so that it always feels like 'me'.

In this photo it is not set up for a ritual, I last used it to
meditate. I have brass bilby's to represent the male and female
element's. Surounded by my most often used pieces including xena
cards, crystals, book of shadows, goodluck & meditation charms and
candles.

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Winter Altar

February 14, 2011 in Altars

I figured I’d show off a little bit of how I organize my altar supplies this week.

Here’s my current altar, due to be changed out in a few days  on the full moon – the snowflakes are fitting – we’ve still got nearly a foot of snow on the ground, even after two days above freezing:

January full moon altar

We’re using this nice microwave cart for an altar these days, because of the built in storage. First, we have this nice drawer for little things and spell needs:

storage for herbs, small crystals, bags, and other spell supplies

Usually there are a couple of lighters in there, along with many commonly used supplies – for a quick ritual or spell, just pull open the drawer and pull what you need. I’ll be the first to admit it’s gotten a bit messy in the last couple of years; I’d like to improve on that and put in little baskets to keep things separate, but like everything here, it’s one project at a time.

The other nice thing about this cabinet is the lower storage area:

storage for altar cloths, crystals, candles, and more

Again, more organization would be good, but the lower right has the altar cloths, in order they should be used (next one is on top). There on the lower left, towards the back, is the travel altar that often serves as an organizing space for any ritual that’s not done here on this altar – my big shell full of stones and crystals, along with mini candles live there full time. You can see other goddess images, candles, and bowls and chalices there too.

*****

As always, we’re interested in featuring your altar in upcoming posts – send photos and descriptions to submissions@thepaganhousehold.com

Blessings,

Janet

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Where Does This Altar Go?

January 31, 2011 in Altars

I know when we started trying to figure out where to put our altar, it was hard to figure out what to do. We tried looking for a table, but there was no good place to put a table in our oddly shaped living room. Eventually we settled on the mantle above the fireplace….until my husband decided that was the perfect place for one of those nifty flat-screen TVs. Burning candles under the TV isn’t generally considered a good plan.

Our main altar now is in our bedroom. We want to eventually have an altar in the living room as well, but we have a need to keep things “toned down” for at least a few more months. When we manage to get all of my son’s medical gear out of here, there should be more space for planning something else.

A shelf, the top of a cabinet, or a little space on the end of a kitchen counter all make nice altars. Friends who live in an older house use the little “telephone nook” in their wall. Another friend uses the top of an antique chest of drawers, right in her entry way. Basically, any flat surface will do.

And now on to the altars…

First, an altar in the corner of the kitchen courtesy of @sithyogini. She says this altar represents her family – everything on it comes from them or otherwise represents them.

kitchen altar

kitchen altar representing the family

And here’s a Yule altar from @sithyogini as well, with representations of the God and Goddess:

Yule altar

Yule altar with Goddess and God

Want to see your altar here? send pics and a description to submissions@thepaganhousehold.com – include what name you want me to give photo credit to!

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Just What is an Altar, Anyway?

January 17, 2011 in Altars

Every other Monday, I’ll (hopefully) be showing off someone’s altar, and talking about how to incorporate altars into your home.

When we moved to this house in 2001, I was thrilled – for the first time ever, I’d have a place to put a permanent altar, rather than packing all my tools in a plastic tub, and taking  them out and using the top of the tub as an altar as needed. Little did I know how difficult it was going to be to actually get to that permanent altar space.

First, what is an altar?

While it can take many forms, in its simplest form, an altar is a surface used for ritual – for offerings, for working spells, for honoring specific deities or spirits.

Over the years, I’ve used my altars as a place for focus during meditation, and a place for expressing my faith, a place for working spells and a place for honoring ancestors. While altars don’t have to have a lot of work or expense put into them, I find that a little bit of thought makes an altar a centerpiece of my spiritual life – an anchor of sorts, no matter how chaotic the rest of the world is.

Every full moon for the last couple of years, I’ve re-done my altar. For the full moon right before Yule, this is how it ended up:

Yule 2010 Altar

Janet's Yule Altar, 2010

What doesn’t show well in the photo is the center of the altar – a snowflake pattern of crystals surrounding a mother Goddess figurine.

center of altar

Crystal layout on altar

I didn’t start out doing things like this – over the next few weeks, I’ll discuss how I worked my way up to this, and the sorts of things I keep around for altar use.

As a reminder, I want to see your altars! Send me a photo and let’s chat about getting your altar in one of my articles. Any kind of altar, for any use or any ritual, is fine.

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