Altar? Shrine?

[Lover of War]

Which one would be better to honor a certain Goddess? If i do an altar is it bad if i don't put down like the God half such as a candle? How do people have patron deities and honor both the God and Goddess? Could i use Ares as the God? I'm not sure if it would be good to have him, since he is the God of war.

[TheGirlOfSecrets]

I think it doesn't really matter to be honest. If you don't want to do something, then don't do it, if you want to do something then do it. As for picking gods and goddesses, that's another story lol. But anyway, just do what you think is right, good luck, blessed be:) oh and I don't see why it would be bad to have ares, I'm sure there's other things hes associated with

[Echo_of_shadows]

I honor both the God and the Goddess, but I haven't really used representations of them on my altar. If you are creating an altar to represent a specific deity, representations of other deities don't need to be present. For example, if you were working with Ares, no other deities need to be represented on your altar or invoked in ritual. If you do want to use representations of deities on your altar, you're not limited to just using candles. Some tools that are usually placed on the altar have male or female energies. The cauldron and the cup have female energies. The wand and the athame have male energies.
If you feel that Ares resonates with you, then it's perfectly okay to work with Him. Even if you don't feel that He is your patron god, you can still work with Him. Some of His aspects are: aggression, courage, boldness, divine law, freedom, masculinity, and righteous indignation. If you don't want to use a candle to represent him, you could use small statues such as a statue of Ares, or that of a dog or boar. You could even use a toy spear, helmet, or chariot.

[Lover of War]

Oh, I was asking because i just figured out Aphrodite is my Patron goddess. I meant that like would it be wrong to honor Ares as the god half and her as the goddess? Sorry if i made it confusing, but thanks.

[Echo_of_shadows]

Are you looking for a god to honor along with Aphrodite? If you are, are you looking to worship one of her consorts? Aphrodite had a few consorts other than Ares, such as Hephaestus, Poseidon, Hermes, Dionysus, and Adonis. If you are wanting to work with a god associated with Aphrodite that isn't one of her consorts, you might want to try one of her brothers such as Apollo, Dionysus and Hermes.

[TheGirlOfSecrets]

I agree with Echo_of_shadows, but you don't necessarily have to have Gods and Goddesses that are connected... I mean, you know, great if you can, but it's all up to you really. I am closest to the Goddesses Hecate and Gaia, but I don't have my God/s yet, so if anyone could help with that, that would be great. And yes, I am aware, Hecate and Gaia are completely differentt...

[Shadow Riverlark]

As others have said, your God and Goddess don't need to have any special connections to each other, and you don't even need to worship a specific god alongside Aphrodite. Choose who resonates with you to worship. In the end, all that matters is how strong you feel your connection with divinity is. =)

[Lover of War]

Alrighty then thanks very much, i was just worried maybe that could be rude, but yea thanks

[loona wynd]

Alrighty then thanks very much, i was just worried maybe that could be rude, but yea thanks

If you are that worried about a Male/Female balance on your primary altar then dont set up a permanant working altar for a God and Goddess yet. Set up a shrine just to Aphrodite. Use that for working with her. Then set up temporary altars for any other Gods you may work with until you get the set you feel is working for you. My advice though is keep it within the pantheon. I'd personally have Hephestus be the God as that is her husband, but its your practice.

[Lover of War]

Ok thanks

[AnaisStar]

I set mine up if the two work well together, and I work with them both. So I have one for Ganesh/Laksmhi and one for Apollo/Selene.

If you dont have a "mate" or "partner" for her then I would just do an altar or shrine to her until it feels right to add a male figure to it. I am not Wiccan so I dont follow my altar set up to what they say you should have. I just put things that feel right to me.

My Ganesh/Lakshmi altar has statures of both, a censer (as I burn incense daily to honor them), a cauldron for any spells. Candles for both, a lotus seed mala, some elemental items, a few crystals, a special lotus shaped candle holder for Lakshmi, and a space for offerings.

I'm still working on Apollos and Selenes but I have a Selenite sphere for Selene and a cauldron. And candle of/for Apollo. I am stil working for the right things that I feel work for them to add to the space.

Im going to set up one to Airmid that most likely will just be for her.