Introduction to Creating an Altar

So you’re interested in creating an altar… you’ve come to the right starting place. This won’t be a comprehensive list on all rules and do’s/don'ts but this will be an account of my best practices that I use when I’m creating an altar. 

We’ll start with a definition of an altar; it is a  table or flat-topped block used as the focus for a religious ritual, especially for making sacrifices or offerings to a deity. These rituals can range to many different purposes for annual, seasonal, monthly, weekly or daily frequency. An altar can be large, cover the length of a wall, or it can be small on an end table. For someone starting out I would recommend asking yourself these questions: What is the altar’s purpose? Where am I placing it? What upkeep am I ready to commit to? The applications, locations and purposes are infinite and that’s why this cannot be a comprehensive list. In my home I have two altars; one for the seasons and one for Aphrodite specifically. 

My seasonal one is in my living room and I tend to only make one for each of the witch sabbats. What better place for an altar than a focal point in a room?  The difference in location helps me define what is an ongoing devotion and a seasonal celebration. The break in the sabbat rule is for Yule and Samhain, those altars stay up for the entire months of December and October respectively, for the simple reason that I want to enjoy them for longer. I decorate the altar with imagery, greenery and decor that speak to me and the time of year I want to ritualize. I put out fresh flowers on Beltane, crows and pumpkins for Samhain, pine branches for Yule, and many candles on imbolc. The configuration and items I choose to place on the altar are different each time, but that’s the beauty of this process and can show the evolution from season to season.

My Aphrodite altar rests on my dresser in my bedroom and its “style” is more curated over time than starting from scratch every month or so. I collect items that have symbolic meaning to Aphrodite - roses, pearls, seashells - and items that give me a feeling of romance and beauty. I have several crystals, perfume bottles, and gold gilden items that help achieve that. For the most part, a lot of the items on my altar are set : I always have a small bust in the center, use a mirrored vanity tray to corral items together with purpose, and have a casket box to put my intentions and a written invocation for Her. The items that change more frequently are what I place as an offering and the incense that light. Cleaning the incense and replacing perishable offerings - real roses - would be the more intensive up-keep I do with this altar which is another variance from the one in my living room. 

I highly recommend research before starting out. It can be a google search or reading a book, but draw on sources that inspire you as well as educate you. With deity work specifically, altars are used for rituals that can happen as frequently as daily or weekly and have definite dos and don’ts. For example, I would never put pomegranate seeds on my Aphrodite altar because that invokes another goddess (Persephone) in the Greek Pantheon. If I were to place those or another item that wasn’t symbolic of Aphrodite, it could offend Her and no one wants to be on the receiving side of a being who feels insulted. 

Altars are a deeply personal practice, and I hope this inspired some of you to start one.