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Author Topic: Basics of an Altar  (Read 1439 times)

MongolianCow

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Basics of an Altar
« on: April 15, 2016, 09:57:07 am »
I was just wondering(I mean need to know) the basics of an alter a small one.
Sincerely with Malk,
A MongolianCow

Jenett

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Re: Basics of an Altar
« Reply #1 on: April 15, 2016, 11:07:38 am »
Quote from: MongolianCow;190098
I was just wondering(I mean need to know) the basics of an alter a small one.


The basics of an altar are going to depend on the particular religion and/or specifics within that religion, so it's sort of hard to answer generally.

(You might also want to look at a couple of other recent threads where people talk about theirs: here, here, and the long thread of people posting pictures, here)

As I mention in several of those threads, I make a distinction between a shrine and an altar, and an altar is a working tool in my tradition, with some specific requirements. I don't have good photos of my full altar setup handy at the moment, but the items for me (initiatory religious witchcraft, decidedly Wiccan influenced) include:

Alignment:
In our tradition, the altar faces north, and is usually on the north wall of the room we're doing ritual in (i.e. people do not walk behind it during ritual, though that's a possible alternative.)

Our layout requires at a minimum (with relatively small objects, not a lot of extraneous stuff) a table about 2 feet long by 1 foot wide. More elaborate setups can happen, they can take a lot more space.

Ideally, the table this is on is made of natural materials (in my dream world I would have a stone top and wooden legs: I do not live in that dream world), commonly with an altar cloth on top in a color/design suitable to the ritual focus.

A lot of the specifics of why we use the tools we use is specific to the tradition, but there are reasons for the material / colour / object choices that usually tie into multiple aspects of how we do ritual. (Feel free to ask if you'd like to know more though there's some things where the functional explanation may be longer than I am able to do in a forum setting.)

Along the top:
- Goddess candle on left top (possibly also representation: statue, art, etc.)
- Ancestors candle at center top (possibly also with art or other objects)
- God candle at right top (possibly also with representation: statue, art, etc.)
- Phoenix candle in rightmost corner (tradition specific thing)

Left half:
- Small container of water
- Small container of salt
- Small bowl (for mixing the two)
- Optional: asperger (thing for flicking water)
- Chalice
- Pentagram (usually of a shape and material that we can put the chalice on)

Center
- Central plate for cakes and ale, with some kind of bread on it (sometimes also other things, depending on the ritual)
- Possibly also something holding items to be charged during ritual

Right half:
- Incense holder
- Stick of incense
- Athame
- Wand, if it's going to be used.
(I feel like I'm missing something here, but I think I'm thinking of the lighter.)

Quarter altars
In full ritual mode, there are also altars for each quarter: these have:
- Candle
- Wand (if wands are being used)
- One or more symbols/decorations/etc. related to that element
- Generally an altar cloth for that element.

Candles and their role
In my tradition, candles aren't just a 'that's pretty' thing, they actually serve a particular ritual purpose of being a 'chair' for the entity that we're inviting associated with that candle.

For that reason, candles aren't reused for different entities. (I carve a letter into the bottom to help me remember which one, if I do need to change them out in the same candleholders, or tie a ribbon to the base or something. For my routine practice, I have deity-specific candleholders.)

Other notes
There are other things that might appear depending on the actual focus of the ritual. If people reading this are thinking of ritual tools, you'll notice that there's no mention of some of the other common ritual tools: some are larger group tools brought ought only when appropriate. (My HPS had a ritual sword, but it's awkward to use in an enclosed space safely, so it was much more common to use an athame, etc.)

Decorations and art can also be everywhere from very simple to very elaborate, and these days, I am mostly in the very simple school. But statues, prints of artwork, pottery and ceramics, ribbons, fabric dolls, all sorts of things are possible.

As a side note:
Lots of people apparently want to spell altar with an e, but it's correctly spelled with an a - altar - and I've edited this thread title accordingly.) While we don't normally make a big deal about spelling here, this is one of those words where spelling it right will help with searches, the 'related posts' widget that shows up at the bottom of the post, and all sorts of other things.
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njsquarebear

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Re: Basics of an Altar
« Reply #2 on: May 04, 2016, 09:13:47 am »
Quote from: MongolianCow;190098
I was just wondering(I mean need to know) the basics of an alter a small one.
Sincerely with Malk,
A MongolianCow


There's lots of information by googling "basics of a pagan altar" as wellhttps://www.google.com/search?q=basics+of+a+pagan+altar&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8 including illustrations and photos and videos on Pinterest and YouTube.
peace,
Brian (njsquarebear)

rocquelaire

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Re: Basics of an Altar
« Reply #3 on: May 04, 2016, 09:34:12 am »
Quote from: MongolianCow;190098
I was just wondering(I mean need to know) the basics of an alter a small one.
Sincerely with Malk,
A MongolianCow

 
Jenett has given you some very useful information. I just wanted to add that if you give some more detail about the religion or tradition you're interested in, or, more generally, what you want the altar to do for you, people might be able to give you more specific pointers.

Jainarayan

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Re: Basics of an Altar
« Reply #4 on: May 04, 2016, 12:05:47 pm »
Quote from: MongolianCow;190098
I was just wondering(I mean need to know) the basics of an alter a small one.
Sincerely with Malk,
A MongolianCow

 
Like others said, it will depend on your tradition. My altar is dedicated to Thor primarily, though I worship all the Æsir and Vanir there. I have a resin statue of Thor, a bottle of rainwater I collected, a few oak twigs tied with leather, two candles and an incense holder, and a wooden bowl in the center. That's for pouring a libation offering. I also have an ancestor altar that has a candle, incense holder, and pictures.

MongolianCow

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Re: Basics of an Altar
« Reply #5 on: May 09, 2016, 08:01:11 pm »
Quote from: rocquelaire;190719
Jenett has given you some very useful information. I just wanted to add that if you give some more detail about the religion or tradition you're interested in, or, more generally, what you want the altar to do for you, people might be able to give you more specific pointers.

 I mainly looking into Gallic, and Germanic.

Eastling

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Re: Basics of an Altar
« Reply #6 on: May 11, 2016, 07:38:35 pm »
Quote from: MongolianCow;190098
I was just wondering(I mean need to know) the basics of an alter a small one.

 
I can't tell you the basics of altar construction very well, because I don't really know them myself, but I was inspired by this thread to try to imagine what said basics might be for my own eclectic/syncretic practice-in-progress.

I came to the conclusion that the center of a functional Ani-Shaddai altar is the elemental quartet representing the gods: a bowl or chalice (water), a lighter or matches (fire), some kind of wearable coin or medallion (earth), and a ritual knife (air). All of these will be functional somehow: the bowl is for making offerings in, the lighter for lighting candles and incense and other things that need to be burned, the medallion for wearing as jewelry and using as a personal mark of power and grounding, and the knife for...look, I'm working on it, okay?

You also need to have space for offerings to be made in the bowl--which could be burning papers (small ones! Don't set off your fire alarm or destroy your home!), cakes, wine, or other things I haven't figured out yet.

You may need a mirror behind the altar for symbolic and possibly practical reasons.

You should probably have a supply of candles. Not sure what the significance of that is yet.

You definitely need incense or other forms of scent for attracting the attention of the gods.

Keep a supply of salt around! It's important in ritual workings, though don't ask me why just yet.

You need access to water for cleansing.

Also, keeping writing implements around--regular or calligraphic pens, red and black (I was surprised to find that basic calligraphic pens are only about $3 in stores around here). Keep a stack of small slips of paper around to use them on--Post-It notes are tested and approved for this purpose.

Finally, for rituals I have yet to figure out, you'll want non-toxic markers or body paint to draw symbols on yourself or others with.

And I guess having something to play music might be good, too.
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Demophon

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Re: Basics of an Altar
« Reply #7 on: May 11, 2016, 08:03:47 pm »
Quote from: MongolianCow;190098
I was just wondering(I mean need to know) the basics of an alter a small one.
Sincerely with Malk,
A MongolianCow

 
I mostly just have and candle and an incense stick holder on my main one, plus a few things to represent the deity it honours. Simplicity works for me.

RecycledBenedict

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Re: Basics of an Altar
« Reply #8 on: May 12, 2016, 11:32:18 am »
Quote from: MongolianCow;190098
I was just wondering(I mean need to know) the basics of an alter a small one.

It might be repetitive, but I agree with several other answers in this thread, that it very much depends on the chosen particular path.

One of the users here - I do not remember which one - prefer to make a distinction between an altar and a shrine, which sounds like a useful distinction in the English language to me, but less obvious in Swedish, since we don't have any good word for shrine (the equivalent of 'domestic altar' being one of them). Another distinction to keep in mind is the difference between a devotional altar and a working altar.

Those of us who practice several distinct paths in parallel, have several shrines or altars.

Only some paths use elemental symbolism, and the four elements were not a part of a Gaulish or Germanic world-view. I have a small station for each element in its particular direction in my private oratory, but that is not a solution workable or desireable for everyone.

My Classical Syncretist Mediterranean Neo-Platonic shrine is still unfinished. It is a furniture with an upper cupboard, a lower cupboard and several shelves in different sizes in between. For the time being, I am aniconic, as the Romans were initially, according to Varro, but, when I find suitable ones, I am going to put images of Graeco-Egyptian deities in the upper cupboard and a Roman plaque depicting lares and genii on the upper shelf (Egyptians kept images in boxes, Romans in the open air). On the lower shelf (from right to left, since my right hand is my main hand) stands or lays a cone-shaped candle extinguisher, small libation jugs, small libation bowls, varying offering plates (but usually a copper plate), a varying candle and candlestick, and an incense burner. In front of the varying candle a tea light for Vesta.

In the drawers and the lower cupboard I store ritual texts in a folder, offering plates, candles and candlesticks not in use, crystals, matches, incense, bicarbonate, salt, spelt flour, small photocopied cards of Maat, towels and the 1JJ Swiss Tarot (Yes, I know -  tarot is not ancient, but at least it has Juno and Jupiter among the trumps, and since I am indoors I do not see any birds). On the floor I have a bowl for lustrum.

Due to lack of space, I have a seven-branched candlestick with planetary candles at the side of the shrine-furniture, but those who reconstruct pre-Imperial classical religion would of course not use that one: The 'astrologization' of religion happened in the late stages of Graeco-Roman, Graeco-Levantine and Graeco-Egyptian religion.

My Druid shrine is a small and very low table, in front of which I have a meditation bench. Closest to the wall I have three candlesticks: For nature spirits, for deities and for ancestors. A vase (or bowl) stands on the shrine table, but I change its content only eight times a year: I prefer branches and vegetation that looks decent even when dry, like holly, spruce, fir or a sheaf. Three bowls stands on the table: One for 'purifying rain' (which P.B. Ellis mentions in his book The Druids), one for communion libations (inspired by, but not identical to, the one RDNA uses, since I do not have any RDNA lineage), and a black one for scrying in water (but last one is not Druidic per se). I use a hirlas horn to pour fluids. To the right lays a matchbox, a candle extinguisher and an aspergillum (but a left-handed person would of course have them to the left). I also have a small folder with ritual texts. Incense was probably not a part of religious practice in Gaul and Britannia before the Romans, and it is unlikely, that incense was used in Caledonia and Hibernia in pre-Christian times. Revival Druidry use incense now and then. Whenever I use incense, I take it from another shrine in the same room.

Tea lights become very hot. It is usually a good idea to keep them in a holder or put them on a plate covered with heat-isolating sand. Likewise, it is a good idea to put cencers/incense burners on insulating cork.

My other shrines and working altars are messy at the moment, and it wouldn't be instructive to describe them. For those readers who need to use chalk in rituals, I can recommend UniChalk Marker produced by Mitsubishi Pencil Co, which is a chalk-based marker pen which fastens well on most surfaces. Just check beforehand how it reacts to the particular surface of your floor. It is very easy to remove from most surfaces with a damp cloth, but on a few surfaces several scrubs with scouring powder or soap are needed after an operation.
« Last Edit: May 12, 2016, 11:34:36 am by RecycledBenedict »

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