Everything Under the Moon

I keep my altar in a drawer, well-kept and very tidy (as tidy as can be expected, given the space available, at least). I do have a couple of subtle shrines in my room. I have a bible-thumper roommate, and it would be would make my living situation considerably more irritating to explain the bone knife and the pentacle and stuff to her.

All of my altar pieces were either handmade, gifted, purchased secondhand, or found. Each one is special to me for various reasons.

The drums are my God-and-Goddess symbols for any more elaborate rituals I may perform. They're handmade by a lady from my hometown who works with gourds. She got the deerskin from a Native American friend, and just 'felt like it should be turned into a pair of drums'. The one on the left is decorated five pairs of even-armed crosses, the one on the right is smaller, and has five sets of three triangles along the sides. I saw them and thought "OMG... perfect..."

Below them are my more frequently used God-and-Goddess symbols, a small sharp rock and a snail shell. They have a very significant story behind them, even though they don't look like much. I keep them in my backpack for mobile rituals when I'm camping.

Between them is my libation dish, a gift from a potter friend of mine. Resting in it are my pentacle (which I made), and my only crystals; a couple of quartz nubs, and a chunk of what I think is amber. My obsidian is in a protection charm bag I keep in my backpack.

Below that are my element symbols; My lighter (a gift from an old patient after he quit smoking) and a candle (made from beeswax I helped harvest a long time ago), for Fire. An abalone shell, (a gift from my Wiccan aunt, my very first talisman), for Water. A fan (I made from feathers I gathered), plus my incense, for Air. A smudge (purchased), for Earth. Also, five candle nubs that I use in 'mobile' rituals.

Below that, my tools. My burnout bowl and spoon I use to stand in for my cauldron and ladle (made when I went to survival school), my wand (made at the same time I made my staff, which isn't pictured), and my bone athame. The athame is a new addition. I found it recently at a secondhand store, I picked it up and the energy just about floored me.

The small dragon-tooth shaped object is an Ocarina. It's a type of clay flute, and I play it sometimes when I'm meditating.

Aaand that's it. Let me know what you think, if you want.

I love the drums! And I salute you in using only found and repurposed, 2nd hand and well loved items. That makes the altar so personal and powerful. My sympathies re the room mate., alas the world takes all kinds.

Your altair looks so cool! You actually gave me many ideas of building my own,which right now is in a bad,hidden in the darkest spot of my closet.
P.S. I totally love the knife!

I have an emergency altar-in-bag that I use for when I'm out little like 3"x4" drawstring bag with a silver and a gold crayola, one red, blue, green, yellow, purple, and black crayola (all cut in half for ease of transport in the small bag, an obsidian marble for protection and scrying, clear quartz for protection, hematite for grounding, a small branch carved into a knife to use as an athame, and a small bowl to use as a libation bowl as well as small cakes (about as big around as a quarter) in tinfoil. Those get changed out bi weekly


A man's Magick demonstrates what sort of person he is, what is held most deeply inside of him.
There is no truer gauge of a man's character than the way in which he employs his strength, his power. -- Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden

Bychan Wulf wrote:Your altair looks so cool! You actually gave me many ideas of building my own,which right now is in a bad,hidden in the darkest spot of my closet.
P.S. I totally love the knife!

Just keep crawling secondhand stores and farmer's markets. Almost everything in my altar never even saw a magic shop (I think... not sure about the bone athame.)

I can tell it was made by machine, the ridges are too precise for it to have been hand-tooled. But, it is quite lovely. I tried meditating with it. The vibe that I got was definitely cow-related, but there was something else there and I'm trying to put my finger on it. It doesn't seem too old, as far as knives go.

If you want to know how to make a burnout bowl, I can PM you the directions.

Very nice! Thanks for sharing.

Deerstep wrote:If you want to know how to make a burnout bowl, I can PM you the directions.

I would love that!