My (Mini) Altar

Share photos of your altars or other magical tools and pagan decor.
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Silversong
Posts: 245
Joined: Sun Jun 07, 2015 1:40 pm
Gender: Female
Location: Somewhere over the rainbow (if the rainbow is in Oregon)

My (Mini) Altar

Post by Silversong »

My family practices largely at the river by my aunt's house and in the grillhouse on my property, but this year I decided I would finally set up my own mini altar in my room. You have no idea how hard it was to clear off enough space. I have way, way, waaaay too many statues and crystals, mostly of dragons, in my room. :flyingwitch:

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This is my altar as it currently stands. I apologize for the slightly bad quality of the pic; I have to take these with my cellphone more often than not. From left to right:

- Crow's feather: this is a primary of the wing, and we found it on the side of our driveway one day as we came home from the wildlife center. It's almost completely unscathed, despite being naturally shed, and I truly believe it was Goddess-sent. This stands for the element of Air on my altar.
- Selenite: I have way more crystals on my dresser, due to there not being nearly enough space on my altar (or else I wouldn't be able to move x3), but I do keep a few on my altar. Selenite is frequently used for crystal balls, and it's used for clarity of thought and sight. I keep it on my altar to help me be able to see what I need to when I need to.
- Earthlight: more often called my crystal candle. I bought this at the Portland Art Fair (I think) and it actually does light! It's got a container for oil on the bottom, which can be filled with ultra-pure paraffin oil (far right). You can mix a few drops of essential oils into the paraffin oil to scent it. I haven't used it yet, but I plan to. I suppose this could stand for both Earth and Fire, but for me it rings of the element of Fire. (In a pinch I would use it for both, though ;3)
- Clear quartz point: barely visible; at the bottom edge of the shelf. I plan to use this for a wand, once I actually find a piece of wood to use for a wand.
- Green crystal dragon: better pictures can be found on my Silversong's Crystals thread. It's an Eastern dragon, and a more peaceful presence than the red dragon on the other side of the altar. The two balance each other out nicely. Mostly because I do intend to begin working with dragon magick at some point in the near future, but also to give the altar a personal touch and let the helpful dragons and other such entities know that they're always welcome in my workings.
- Green crystal: you may or may not be able to differentiate it from the green dragon directly in front of it; again, better pictures on my crystals thread. That crystal has always had a special meaning for me, so it gets a special place. (Unfortunately it doesn't stand up straight XD)
- Birch branch: not, in fact, for a wand. I found it on the ground, and the idea sparked in my head to collect one branch from each of the ten magickal woods (birch, oak, hawthorn, hazel, willow, apple, rowan/ash, grape, fir, and elder) and have them at the top of my altar; I'm not sure why the idea holds such an attraction for me. I doubt I'll ever finish it XD It's ridiculously hard to find rowan or elder, or hazel for that matter, in Oregon, and I don't intend to buy them.
- Altar beads: I'll get a better picture of these below. The altar beads were made my my aunt and mother, and we each have our own set. They can be worn as a necklace, but they're more often laid out so you can see them properly. The gray beads range in shade and luster, and represent the phases of the moon. The yellow and blue beads interspaced between them to make sure they're spaced properly according to the sabbat symbols also placed around the circle represent the Sun. Around the circle are spaced eight metal beads, with a sun on one side and a crescent moon on the other, each with an attached set of pendants associated with that sabbat. At the front, hanging off the edge of my altar, is a pentacle with three loops, attaching the two sides of the necklace, as well as a third strand with the thirteenth moon cycle hooked onto it. There's a hook at the end of this for the bearer to attach their own personal touches, but I haven't added anything to mine yet. Mom's has a labyrinth and a spiral goddess on it, if I remember correctly.
- Prayer bowl: made by yours truly, by hand, in art class, with clay and paint (and a lot of hot glue when three of the legs decided to detach during baking. A ridiculous amount of blood, sweat, and tears went into those legs, for what they're worth). I may get closeups of the outside at some point. There are five legs, and between them are five patterns. The patterns are identical, except for the symbol in the center. Those are: a tree in green for Earth (my favorite out of them; most of them didn't end up very well XD as a result, the one in front), yellow swirls for Air, red flame-type swirls for Fire, purple I-can't-remember-what-it's-called triple spiral symbol for Spirit, and blue wave-ish symbols for Water. (Spirit was supposed to be between Air and Fire, but Silver derped as she was carving it and then really liked the Fire symbol and knew she wouldn't be able to copy it, so it happened. Oops. Oh well.) Along the inside edge of the bowl is painted my name in various languages. (I request that you don't try to translate the ones you can see.) Inside the bowl are slips of paper, each with a thank-you written on it in tiny lettering. I was feeling extremely grateful one night and realized what the bowl was for.
- Red crystal dragon: better pictures can be found on my Silversong's Crystals thread. It's a Western dragon, and a more vibrant, passionate presence than the green dragon on the other side of the altar. The two balance each other out nicely. Mostly because I do intend to begin working with dragon magick at some point in the near future, but also to give the altar a personal touch and let the helpful dragons and other such entities know that they're always welcome in my workings.
- Clear quartz in bedrock: stands for the element of Earth on my altar. I have absolutely no other way to use chunks of quartz set in bedrock at the time, so.
- Amethyst: one of the smaller amethysts I have, and possibly the most transparent. Possibly the darkest purple, as well. It was in with my tarot cards for a while as an experiment before I got the feeling the cards didn't like it very much and removed it. (I felt like the cards were basically saying, "Thanks, but we don't need the help. Shoo." XD) I have a certain affinity for amethyst, however, and as I have way too many sitting on my dresser already, this one gets a spot on the altar.
- Sand dollar: this was found yesterday, actually, at Seaside on the beach. Two days beforehand, I wished for a whole or almost whole sand dollar so I could have something representing Water on my altar, and I knew sand dollars are apparently pretty rare usually. The last day at the coast, we actually went down to the beach. There were sand dollars, whole and otherwise, everywhere. I took one, and only one, remembering the Rede - "Live ye must and let to live, fairly take and fairly give" - and gave fervent thanks to the Lady and to Poseidon for answering my wish-prayer. It was brown in the center when it was wet, but now it's green. O_o Still pretty, though. Represents the element of Water.
- Pentagram necklace: though I usually refer to it as a pentacle, it's technically a pentagram. Mine has runes around the edges, and I usually don't wear it (when I do, it's under my shirt... absurdly Christian small town and anyway I like having it against my skin when I'm wearing it), so it can most often be found at the corner of my altar.
- Paraffin oil and bottles: I got the bottles during my trip to the beach as well. The oil is for my crystal candle. The bottles are for when I actually start mixing oil for scents, to keep certain scents I like and that work well for certain types of spells and ceremonies. I need to experiment a bit with it. Funny story, with the two bottles that are larger than the others... I grabbed them after the fact, last minute, and didn't realize they were considerably larger until it was too late. Oh well! XD All the bottles have eyedroppers in the tops, which is convenient.

Bowl sides:
Earth:
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Air:
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Fire:
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Spirit:
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Water:
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Altar beads:
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(Well, it's not much better, but a bit)
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SpiritTalker
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Re: My (Mini) Altar

Post by SpiritTalker »

Wow - this simple looking altar has wonderful symbolism. I especially like the idea of a branch from each of the magical woods collected over time & thru various travels thru life. It's truly original & one of a kind yet familiar in the symbols.
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