The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum

The Orthodox home altar is pretty minimalist. All that is required on the table itself is a vigil lamp (check), incense burner (check), holy water bottle (check), some provision for offering candles (check) and ideally enough room for the prayer book(s) to live on (nope).

The wall behind, however, is another story entirely. There's no such thing as too many icons, and if I was free to do as I want on the wall, my setup would end up looking like this - and expanding.

I'm saved by the fact that actual painted icons are beyond my budget, but paper-print ones are cheap, can be mounted collage-style on card, and rotated, rather than displayed at all times. If I ever get around to collaging, that is.

I just pinned a bunch of Orthodox home altars on Pinterest last week. I love that gallery wall sort of look and I'm leaning that way myself.

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I have a bad habit (which includes art supplies, kitchen gear and now magic gear) of collecting "essential" items which I don't actually use. :ashamed: My shrine at the moment is at a medium state where everything on/in it has a purpose.

Although, come to that, I probably have more shrines than is strictly necessary; about 4 of them in a 1-room flat. My dad is an actual model railroader, so I come by this tendency honestly.

 
My weakness is picking up all the little offering dishes at op shops/thrift shops, because you can never have too many, which is a terrible excuse, because I never use them all anyway.

I think I have *counts* eight shrines in my tiny 3mx3m bedroom, so. ? They aren't all big shrines, and I utilise a lot of wall space, but even I am impressed they all fit in there somehow. I suspect that when I get a place of my own, that number will exponentially rise.

The Orthodox home altar is pretty minimalist. All that is required on the table itself is a vigil lamp (check), incense burner (check), holy water bottle (check), some provision for offering candles (check) and ideally enough room for the prayer book(s) to live on (nope).

The wall behind, however, is another story entirely. There's no such thing as too many icon

 
That pretty much describes my (Hindu) shrine. I have a small table that has an oil/ghee lamp, bell, incense holder, cup and spoon for water (three sips for ritual cleansing), a small plate and bowls for offerings, and a set of 4x6" cards I printed from Word that have the mantras and prayers I use (I still haven't memorized them... Sanskrit is not the easiest language in the world).

The wall above it is another story also... a set of three shelves for my deities' statues. I have a tendency to "collect" deities for my veneration. I've pretty much settled on my core group. I've tried to scale back, but I feel creepy... it's like uninviting guests to a wedding. And they are deities I feel a particular affinity for. I'm embarrassed to say there is one more I would like, but I cannot find a small enough statue. I guess I'll use a picture.

Marilyn was never one to object to people picking ideas up from each other, so I'm fairly sure she would have been fine with you sharing it.

That's the most solid reply you will get to this, though, unless Jubes or Ladybug shows up to chime in (not very likely; they've both been inactive here for quite a while - but they're family, not just a friend as I was). This is a very old thread that's been recently revived, so many of those who posted in it earlier might no longer be around TC; that's the case with Marilyn, who died a few years ago, and is one of those memorialized on our sidebar and at the beginning of April every year.

You're probably going to feel crappy about having done that, which you shouldn't; it's very easy to lose track of the age of threads and posts, especially when the thread has current activity.

Sunflower

 
Oh, I didn't notice the dates or make the connection in names (though I have seen the memorial sidebar), thank you for replying.

Marilyn would have been honored for something she did to inspire someone else, especially this long after her death. Share, use her as a muse, learn! Learning was her favourite way to make a mark on the world.

I clicked without noticing I already replied to this thread ... and while it's not actually what the thread is about, I'm in the process of building an ancestor shrine which is an actual model train set. And yes, it will have All The Things on it.

So, is anyone else familiar with this scenario? Is there a "bare mininum" amount of items that's acceptable (either to you, or to your deities or practice)? Is less better than more? Or, is more More MORE required?

More is better than less, if you can do more without causing yourself stress or difficulty. My Gods will settle for less than ideal without getting upset with you, it's the thought that counts, not the material items. That said, I do always put my best effort into showing appreciation to my Gods. I like to keep ritual objects, even if I don't use them often, simply because they are ritually potent.