Altars - Tumblr Posts
Altars: How to Create Your Own (BOS series pt. 4)✨
Considering making an altar but you’re unsure of where to start? Well this post is here to to help you! I will cover the basics of building an altar. When you build an altar you can’t really go wrong, it’s something for you to take control of decide for your yourself.
What is an Altar?
A good place to start when looking into building an altar is to know exactly what an altar is. Essentially an altar is your place of power and where a lot of your magical work will take place. They can also be places to workshop or show reverence to your defies or to a spirit. The uses of altars are endless, and they’re all unique to the individual and the purpose they’re making it for.
There are different types of altars and different themes. Don’t feel like you can only have your altar up during specific times. If it’s a personal altar then let it stay up all year! Me personally, I like to leave mine up year long, and I like to add a little bit of decorations during the different sabbath to celebrate. My altar is set up to honor the the elements (with spirit) along side my goddess Bastet.
This is not an inclusive list by any means. As I stated above, there are endless of types of altars and even subcategories for types. The kind of altar you make is completely up to you, so don’t feel like these are your only options.
house altar🏡- This is the energy center of the house and is an altar for the entire family to use/draw power from. Usually this altar is located in the center of the house or the living room so that it is accessible to everyone. These altars often change with the season, and have some sort of object or item to represent each member of the family.
personal altar💞- Usually only connected to one of two people, and most often kept in the bedroom or closet. This type of altar is very personal to the person who makes it, often representing everything that they love and have passion for. It’s full of things like personal items, patron deity statues, anything that has value to them.
working altar💰- This is an altar that is usually only put up when it’s needed. Used mostly for spell work and spell casting. It’s unique to the spell and intention. When building this kind of altar, think carefully about every aspect of it and how it can add to and enhance your spell.
shrine ⭐️- A type of altar made to honor a specific (type of) deity or spirit. These usually have things like idols on them and a space to give offerings. When building this kind of altar, work closely with the being who it’s meant to honor. Figure out what they like or don’t like.
travel altar✈️- Often seen in mint canisters, these are a small collection of trinkets or items that you carry daily or only during extended stays and you want to keep a magical connection. Use things that you care about, but are also easy to replace incase anything ever goes missing.
Supplies You’ll need or Want
Below is a list of some really basic supplies that you’re probably going to want when building your altar. That doesn’t mean these things are necessary, always make sure to use what works best for you!
Flat Surface- This can be anything from a windowsill to a table. Just any surface that’s flat enough to display everything properly.
Cloth- this is not only to protect your surface, but the cloth can be a sign of respect if you’re making a shrine.
Incense Burner / Oil Diffuser
Candles (and holders) / Wax Melts
Bowl- Used mostly for salt and water, but also to make offerings
Pentacle- A sign of protection, feel free to draw this on your cloth or even a piece of paper.
Cup / Chalice- Used to hold water for blessing, cleansing crystals, or to make offerings of any drinks.
Cauldron- Used to burn or mis things together
Crystals / Stones
Some other, more traditional things you’ll see on an altar are things like:
Athame- A knife used for directing energy (sometimes used as a boline as well)
Boline- A knife used to cut herbs or branches, inscribe candles or carve runs / sigils into anything
Bell- Used to call on spirits or the divine. Basically opens up communications with the spirit realm.
God and Goddess Idols- Idols representing someone’s deities
Wand- A tool used to direct energy, usually gifted to you by nature but can be bought or crafted as well
mortar and pestle- Used to grind herbs, bones, or any other materials
Building your Altar: A how to guide
The part you’re probably waiting for, just exactly how do you build your altar? There is really no direct way to build one but I can offer some basic guidelines. Never feel like this is the only way to build an altar because you can do whatever feels right to you. As long as it looks good to you, and works with your energy well.
First off, you’re going to want to think about exactly where to place your altar. Think about the energy spaces in your home and room. What is your favorite spot or place? What makes you most comfortable? You should ask I take into consideration if you have pets, or high traffic areas. If you’re going to have breakable things on your altar you don’t want your cat jumping up there, or someone bumping into to it. Think carefully about everything.
Secondly, find your surface. My first altar was on a dresser in my closet, so just about anything will work! It can be as big or small a space as you need. Currently I am using a book shelve so my cats can’t reach or break any of my items.
Next get your cloth. You can get fabric from your local craft store or Walmart. Solid colors are cheap and there are tons of them to pick from.
The next thing you’re going to want to decide is your theme, or what kind of intentions you have for your altar. You can pick a center piece that reflects this. I used candles as my centerpiece to reflect me honoring the elements and my goddess Bastet.
Now the next best thing I focus on when building my altar, are where the candles and incense burner are gonna go. Since my main focus is the elements I have placed each candle in their proper direction. If you’re working with candles always have fire safety in mind.
After that comes your tools. Things like cups, bowls, athames, and anything else you would use. Figure out where you want to put these tools that way they’re easy to access.
The next part is to add some personal belongings and really set the mood for the altar. Me personally, one of my specialties is tarot, and that is heavily reflected in my altar. I also love crystals so I’ve added crystals in the spaces between my candles. I also like to decorate around each sabbath. Currently I am transitioning from Mabon to Samhain. I also added a cat statue to honor my goddess Bastet.
Those are the basics of setting up an altar! If anyone has any questions or would like some advice, please feel free to send me a message or ask! Hopefully this will help some of you!
Blessed Be💜
-The Witchy Cat😻
Digital Altars📱🔮
Altars are considered a key element of witchcraft for deity worship, elemental, planetary or ancestral connections, or spell work. However, they can be costly, you may not have the space for it, or you may be in the broom closet. But you don't need a physical altar, you don't even need physical tools. Digital altars are a great way to worship deities in the case you’re unable to set up a physical altar. There are heaps of alternatives if you’d like to get creative with it.
Some people doubt the integrity of digital altars, however I believe they gain metaphysical energy as they’re created, which can be used for witchcraft. Think about emoji spells for example!
Digital altars are different to digital shrines, which are similar in concept, but different in purpose. Shrines are more of a permanent honouring of a being, and they don't necessarily have to be used actively. Meanwhile altars are for active worshiping, when you’re actually giving an offering or trying to contact that deity. However, digital altars can also function as a shrine, depending on use!
Below are 19 different options for digital altars (but I'd suggest using multiple!)
Image/Collage Altars
Picrew Altar Sketch (by Camade)
This game was designed specifically for creating altars suitable for sacred spaces to perform deity worship, to connect with ancestors, and to be a witch’s working table. After saving it you can edit the picture frames to add pictures of your deity, your family or any other being. It has a lot of variability so it’s great for creating multiple altars very quickly in a consistent aesthetic.
Here’s a link to one I made the other day, using colours and imagery to suit my purpose. This is probably the easiest of the options, while also being the most versatile. However, there are limitations as you can't really make it specific to your chosen deity unless you edit the image later.
Canva / Morpholio / Photoshop
These allow for creating single image collages to set as your phone or laptop background with crystals, cardinal directions, deity images, candles, wands or any other altar tools, along with quotes, intentions and prayers. This can be as subtle or structured as you want, making it helpful for closeted witches.
You can use the collages you create for wallpapers on your laptop or phone, or you could get them printed out and stick them on your wall!
In-Game Altars
Minecraft
On Minecraft you can built entire structures as an altar or shrine, but you’re limited with decorations unless you install a mod. Mods can give you a lot of room to be creative and have a strong aesthetic. Alternatively, you can build just one room and line it with books, add an enchanting table, potions, diamond/emerald blocks, brewing stands, cauldrons and more, using the standard texture pack.
@gailcraft was kind enough to speak to me about her experiences using altars on Minecraft. She usually uses her Minecraft altars to function as a travel altar or when her physical altar hasn’t been cleansed, mainly as a visual representation of her physical altars rather than an actual workspace. When using her Minecraft altar, she generally keeps it strictly digital, writing out prayers on signs and giving in-game offerings of food and potions which correspond with the deity.
As you can see in the images she’s provided, she’s created a cottage-like structure to house her main digital altar to serve as a safe space, decorated with candles, crystals and plants inside. She has separate deity altars for Hades and Persephone, decorated with skull paintings, gold, spiders eye, crystals, flowers, a skeleton skull, lanterns and the aforementioned offerings in picture frames.
These are great altar alternatives as they don’t require much maintenance or energy, and are suitable for witches who are unable to have a physical altar or who travel a lot.
Another really cool idea for digital altars by @neonswitchhouse is to make digital spell jars by placing items in chests that may best represent your purpose, and you can specify this by writing intents on signs above the chests.
An added bonus is that you can design a skin for your avatar to look like yourself, and you can get pets like wolfs or cats.
Animal Crossing
New Horizons has so much potential for digital altars as it’s super customisable. You can dedicate an entire room in your house to witchcraft, decorating it with a glowing magic-circle flooring, candle wallpaper, candles, stonework kitchen sets, gothic mirrors, decorative bottles, cauldrons, brick ovens, pillars, stone and candle chandeliers. They also have divination sets with crystal balls, incense, bones (in the form of dinosaurs) and a whole load of other decorative options. The main issue is that collecting all of these is time-consuming unless you purchase them online. You can make offerings by placing items that correspond with your deity in your room.
There are heaps of examples of this. @spookynerdghoul has one here and @blomi-isle has one here. Alternatively @ostarasghost has a dedicated corner which you can see here.
You could also make an outdoor altar space, or multiple all around your island. You can create patterns to put on the floor as runes or sigils that correspond with your intent, if you’re looking to do spellwork or deity worship in-game. You could make offerings through art by creating patterns and placing them on stands.
There’s even a zodiac-themed item set that you can create by wishing on shooting stars. You can customise and dress up your avatar to wear cute witchy clothes too, or download outfits from their online section that other players have designed.
On my island, I have one section with a stonehenge which lines up with the full moon, as well as a separate rocky-section with some candles and a skull-hat, and a crescent moon island with a pattern of Saturn that I created, but I encourage you to go more full-out than I did!
Stardew Valley
@baduhennasravensraven classifies these as shrines, but I’d like to show it as an example as a potential altar. They’ve set up multiple sheds to serve as shrines/temples for different deities! You can see images in their post here.
Like for Minecraft, you do needs mods to get the full experience, but again you can make digital spell jars by growing the plants that best represent your purpose and placing them in with items that may best represent your purpose.
Sims / Avakin
I’ve grouped these together because they’re similar, but in both you can design and decorate houses in a 3D virtual world.
Again, expansion and stuff packs are needed to use Sims to the fullest, but you can find some great ones by @simdertalia here and here, or one by @lycheesmods here. Some more of the relevant ones are the Magic School mod (fair warning: it’s Harry Potter inspired) and the Paranomal pack, where you can have ghosts as roomates and perform a séance.
Here's an example altar made on Avakin by @onixdace. I'm not that familiar with this program, but it looks similar in concept to other house-design/decoration games.
Hollowmoor
@hollowmoor-game is a steam game still in the works with a planned release in 2023. I’m not sure yet of specific ideas in using it as a digital altar, but I’m sure it’ll be great, and I’ll update this post when it does come out.
According to their page, “As a budding young Witch or Wizard you’ll need to manage your farm and explore the mystical world to gather your ingredients. Brew potions! Forge enchantments! Complete orders for the townsfolks and learn their stories! Bring magic back to Hollowmoor!”
It seems promising! I believe it’s similar in concept to Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing, so I’m sure you could form a digital altar in the same way in Hollowmoor once it’s released.
Abstract Art Altars
Dream AI
[Edited 10 Dec 22] I’ve recently become aware AI art generators steal from creators online and I no longer endorse this method. Instead I recommend using art apps like CSP, playing a devotional playlist and drawing or painting what comes to mind to create an abstract piece of your own for a specific purpose. This way, in very low opacity, you can write out your intention and add images to be displayed subliminally on your altar.
Dream AI is an artificial intelligence art-creating app. You can use this to make an abstract artistic altar by typing in words like your deities name and their associations or a short prayer or intention, use the outcome as an altar by making it your phone background. You can also set a base image to inspire the art with your deity of choice, making a sort of subliminal image of that deity within the creation. This is helpful for closet witches, you can just claim you like the art the AI produced if anyone asks.
Alternatively, you can use the art as a digital offering by posting it on your tumblr altar captioned with a prayer, like @crazyskirtlady has here. Check out her page for more examples of techno witchcraft!
Mixed Media Altars
Notion
Notion is a great organisational app where you can add a mix of photos, gifs, text, embedded videos, music and playlists onto a page, making for a multi-media style altar. You can also store resource notes and links for any research you do.
@caduceussky and @arabellascraft were both kind enough to walk me through how they use their Notion altars!
@caduceussky has multiple different altars for different uses, like for deities and spirits, productivity, work-life balance, and prosperity spells that she uses in conjunction with physical altars, depending on convenience and her personal preference.
For deity/spirit work, she typically sets up her Notion altar first as a placeholder while she’s working on setting up a physical altar, then she treats it like a travel altar. She also use Notion for spell altars that have to do with work and study, since she uses her laptop for those, with separate pages set up for certain spells, sort of like digital spell jars.
For deity/spirit altars, she plays a devotional playlist while setting up the altar and adds a photo of a candle and photos of the deity/spirit or their associations like a collage. Digital offerings can go here, too, such as devotional writing or art. It can also be used as a journal to write her experiences and lessens she’s learnt from the deity/spirit.
For spell altars, she writes her intention at the top of the page, and any additional manifestations underneath. Similar to her deity/spirit altars, she includes photos of associations of the spell’s intentions, and sigils specific to the spell.
@arabellascraft uses her Notion altar for spontaneous rituals and spellwork as her physical altars are generally temporary. She meditates to her Notion altar or leaves a note, for example for gratitude.
She practices Irish folk traditions, one of which being having a moment of reflection and prayer when you first see the new moon of the month. Having her Notion altar in her pocket makes practicing this simple as it’s portable, however, one weakness is that there’s a lack of a physical connection. On the up side, the ability to embed playlists into Notion keeps her in the spiritual mindset rather than having to go back and forth in Spotify.
There’s about to be a Notion AI too, with the function of brainstorming assistance. This means you can type in something such as “What can I do to increase my mindfulness,” and a list of related answers and ideas will be produced, or “Write a poem about the God Apollo,” and the AI will generate one for you. You can join the waitlist here.
Phone App Altars
#Self-Care
This game includes a digital altar with a function to integrate your personal experiences by setting objects to a meaning, memory or realisation, like a journal. It also has organising functions to put objects away from you altar when you’re done with them and bring them back out when you’d like to display them again.
You can gain objects for your altar by performing in-game tasks like putting away laundry, fill-in-the-blank word activities with your choice of affirmations or life tips, simple puzzles, and gain tarot cards by picking a daily tarot card. You can also light a candle and type in an intention!
It does take a while to collect enough objects to display for a particular purpose, but if your digital altar is going to be your main altar, this one is a good long-term option.
The app is customisable to a certain extent with colours and designs, but some of the fancier stuff you have to pay for (like nicer backgrounds and patterns).
Here’s an image of my current altar on this app after about a week of use, along with an image of the main page.
Discord
On Discord, you can join a public server with custom categories to use as digital altars, such as this one by @homeiswherethehearthis. Alternatively, you can create a private server with chat rooms for various areas of worship and then post pictures/gifs and write prayers there.
With Discord altars, you can write messages to your deities, send them pictures, links to articles or books about them, as well as send them offerings of your creations. It’s a great way to have a massive private or shared space dedicated to your deity.
Further, you can add Discord bots that can do divination for you, as suggested by @lyresstrings in this post, such as a pendulumn bot, a daily tarot bot, or a horoscope bot. There’s even one that states the current moon phase!
Notes App
In the standard Notes app you can create folders for specific deities, and inside each folder, add notes daily, with images, links, song names and lists of correspondences to that deity. Further, you can write letters to your deity within the notes app, as well as intentions, wishes, and things you’re greatful for.
A great feature of this app is that you can actually lock your notes with a password just incase you’re worried about someone going through your digital altar.
This one is a good option to use in conjunction with a Collage altar if you make it your phone background.
Pinterest Shuffles
Pinterest Shuffles is a sister app of Pinterest, but instead of boards, it’s like scrapbooking. It’s an amazing tool for creative expression with a similar vibe to what Polyvore used to be.
The altars you can make with this are similar in concept to collage altars but the uses are specific to phones, meaning you can only make phone wallpaper images. With Shuffles, you can incorporate images directly from your Pinterest boards, which is great if you already have a deity board and want to condense it into a single image to set your wallpaper.
You can add text with intentions and prayers, or you can just use symbols of your deity of choice. I’d suggest making multiple of these, all with different intentions, so you can change your wallpaper based on what you’re asking of the deity for that day and worship on-the-go just by looking at your lock screen.
I made one as an example which you can view here. This is currently my home screen wallpaper! I added symbols of Saturn such as a clock, skeleton, herbs, capricorn, the world tarot card, the shrine of Saturn in italy, a crow, the number 3, karma, saturn-related texts, and my favourite images of Saturn.
Social Media Altars
Tumblr Blogs
This is probably the most common digital altar, mainly because of the massive witchcraft presence on Tumblr, and the ability to make multiple secondary blogs for each deity.
You can reblog general posts that remind you of your deity, images, gifs, spells, associations, prayers, emoji spells and more. However, are often considered to be more shrine-like activities. You can turn it into an altar by creating posts with digital offerings such as art and collages captioned with text spells, emoji spells, or prayers/worships (as inspired by @crazyskirtlady), or write poems for your deity.
Blogs are totally customisable, and you can change the designs with pictures, music, fonts and more. One important thing to note with secondary blogs is that you cannot initiate social functions like DMs, comments, even following and liking, and you can never change your secondary blog into a primary blog (trust me, I’ve tried. I made the mistake of making this account a secondary blog, now I can’t interact with any of you unless you reach out first).
The tagging system is a little weak though, and it can be difficult to search through all your posts and reblogs, so I suggest if there’s anything you want to keep track of, you have a separate space for it, such as on Notion.
Pinterest Boards
With Pinterest, you can create multiple boards for different deities or spirits, adding images that remind you of those beings from what others have posted. Finding inspiration is super simple! You can add images of representations of your deity, like food, clothes, crystals, art, sculptures, elements, animals, objects and more.
In the same sense as creating a Pinterest board, you can dedicate an entire Instagram account to your deity. You don’t have to follow anyone, and can keep it on private, or you can share it publicly. You can post your offerings, photos of things you come across in every-day life like images of the sun, the ocean, trees, plants, bugs and more.
Be careful with this option, however, as you can’t just download photos from Pinterest and post them without credit. This option is more appropriate for art you’ve created yourself and documenting your experiences with captions, poems, emojis, short letters, gratitudes, and intentions.
Musical/Playlist Altars
Spotify
One post by @asatroende got me thinking about how apps like Spotify can be used as digital altars by creating playlists with songs you associate with a deity as a form of prayer. Some examples other than normal music includes subliminals, podcasts, instrumentals, and white noise sounds. If you add a short ambient candle sound in the middle of the playlist, this can aid in visualising a candle, making your prayer or offering, then it
You can add a picture of your deity as the album cover and add an intention or emoji spell in the description to customise it further. Spotify also allows you to make folders, and insert multiple playlists within those folders, which is great it you have multiple deities you’d like to make altars for.
An added bonus is that if you have a Notion altar, you can embed this playlist into it!
For my Spotify altar for Saturn, I added Sleeping At Last’s ‘Saturn’ from Atlas I, a 1:24 minute candle sound, then the planetary/space sounds recorded and posted by NASA called ‘Nasa - Saturn’. This way, I can get in the mindset, make my devotional prayer to the candle visualisation, then mediate to the sounds of Saturn for 30 minutes. I used an emoji spell as the description, and used an image of Saturn eclipsing as the cover.
Apple Music
I’m not a user of Apple Music, but I’m sure it can be used in a similar way to Spotify. If you have the free version, you can only add songs that you own to a playlists. To get around this you can use a youtube-to-mp3 converter to get ambient sounds, subliminals and more. However, this isn’t necessary, and you can just include music you own that reminds you of your chosen deity.
Virtual Reality Altars
Oculus
One last idea is if you have the technology and setup for it, you can create an altar in a VR game or space. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find any practical examples of this one.
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Special thanks
I’d like to give a big thank you to @gailcraft, @caduceussky and @arabellascraft for giving me permission to talk about their personal digital altars, and for providing me with information regarding them. A further thank you to @gailcraft for providing me with images to share with you all. Go check them out!
Here’s the explanation for baby withces:
Some people doubt the integrity of digital altars, however I believe they gain metaphysical energy as they’re created, which can be used for witchcraft. Think about emoji spells, for example!
Digital altars are different to digital shrines, which are similar in concept, but different in purpose. Shrines are more of a permanent honouring of a being, and they don't necessarily have to be used actively. Meanwhile altars are for active worshiping, when you’re actually giving an offering or trying to contact that deity. However, digital altars can also function as a shrine, depending on use!
Altars can be used for multiple purposes, for deities, patron planets, ancestors or general spirit work. Some people have one altar for everything, or separate their altars to keep these purposes separate, minimising the ‘cleansing’ you may have to do between each ritual.
Traditionally altars include tools to represent, the four elements, the cardinal directions, genders (although this is sort of being phased out), and offerings. The sub-categories of these are where you can get creative in the representations. More on that in a future post!
Tags for this blog
Could you explain what an altar is and how to use one? Thank you!
Hello there! I would be happy to tell ya!
Okay, so commonly in witchcraft (and other practices and religions I’m sure but I’m speaking strictly about witchcraft), you have these things called altars. These are basically areas that you designate as using for your witchcraft practices. Here is where you would cast spells, create charms, work on sigils, write in your book of shadows, even just hang out at! This is entirely separate from shrines. For the most part anyways!
So, to create an altar, you have a billion different ways you can go about it and it is entirely up to personal choice! I decorate mine with anything i find that is witch related, beautiful, inspires me, or is a “natural gift,” aka rocks I like, twigs I want to use, leaves I press etc. This is one way to do it.
Here’s one example! (I couldn’t find the original source, but it was on @fuckyeahaltars
Here is another example, by @slackmcnasty !
There are also the more traditional ways to create an altar! These are usually styled around the elements(earth, air, fire, water) or the cardinal points(north, east, south, and west). This can change depending on your fancy. For instance, you may place candles at the “south” oint, which correlates with the element of fire. You could place seashells or bowls of water at the “west point” which corresponds with the element of Water. For air/east you could have feathers, incense, wands, yellow candles or other things ou might associate with that element. And for north, or earth, you could have bowls or dirt, salt, you could have your favorite crystals. You could grow herbs, collect twigs or leaves, and more!
I can’t find any good pictures of these kinds :/
You can also decorate according to purpose, or season! For instance if you wanted to promote more love of some kind, or protection, or divination, or other things, you would center the whole altar around this. So basically, you would decorate and empower it with the ability of your desire (i.e. love, happiness, protection, banishing etc) and place on it any objects that bring this to mind or can assist in this goal. So, if you were creating a love altar, you could place rose quartz, amethyst, flowers, the Lovers tarot cards or other ones, things you think are beautiful, self care items like lotions or sprays, statues or other embodiments of any deities you might involve in this process and even more!
For seasonal altars, you would decorate it similarly to how you decorate your home for a holiday. Halloween/Thanksgiving?? Decorate with those cute little fake pumpkins and get leaves from outside and acorns and whatnot! Follow suit with other seasons or holidays.
You can also keep them super simple! If you’re a minimalist, or don’t like a lot of clutter, there is absolutely nothing wrong with keeping the bare minimum that you need on it!
Altars are incredibly personal and also super fun to make! Don’t ever feel pressured for them to look like anyone elses.
Here are some helpful posts or tumblrs for you to look at!
http://fuckyeahaltars.tumblr.com/
http://altars.tumblr.com/
My Advice for A Secret Altar
Witchlessons post on Secret Altars
Info on Travel Altars
Corkboard Shrines(which would be so cool to use as an altar idea too)
I hope this was all helpful sweet anon!!
Ask The Witch
Hi, I am a very new witch, and I was wondering if you have any advice for an altar? I am a closet witch, and I share a room with my sister, so I don't know what to do for an altar? (also i don't really know how to make an altar im sorry im just beginning at this and im trying to learn things)
Hello there! First off thank you so much for being patient and giving me a chance to relax. It means a lot!
Back to your question! Altars are super duper personal. You will never see two that look the same, and that’s something that’s super beautiful! I’ve had dozens of different altars and I can never recreate them.
They can be very simple, and they can be very complex. First, it’s going to depend on your practice. Do you do a lot of work? Do you use a lot of tools? What kind of things do you incorporate in your practice? Do you work with elements? What about spirits, or thoughtforms?
After that you gotta think about your own personal preferences! Do you like aesthetically pleasing items? I do! I keep anything beautiful that I find or buy or am gifted on my altar. Things that inspire me! Do you want a more minimalist approach? Keep only the basic tools you need.
Now with all of this in mind, think about your “discreet” altar. Have you ever read the Sweep Series? I adore these books! Anyways, in it, the main character makes her own altart, in secret. Her parents and sister don’t know she’s practicing, so she puts it in her closet, pushed all the way back so they won’t see it when they go in. On this altar, she keeps a little bowl of salt, a candle, a sea shell, and i think a feather??? I could be wrong but the point is she uses very simple things that are easy to hide or explain.
You wanna use this same idea! Think simple, easy to explain, or easy to hide quickly. A collection of stones and feathers and candles and a cup of water or something is relatively easy to explain. You’re collecting things! You find them pretty!
Another idea is keeping everything you like or want on your altar entirely removable. So, you keep everything in a box somewhere, and pull it out whenever you need the altar. Some people will use a drawer or a shoe box. I have seen some who use a little chest to hold all of their items, and then use the top of the chest as your altar when you need it!
I hope this was useful! Feel free to send me any other questions you have or if you need some inspiration!
Ask the Witch
Druid’s Travel Altar or Pocket Altar
Creating a little pocket or travel altar for your nature spirituality practice is a great way to be able to "carry" your practice with you, particularly when you are hiking, traveling, or simply out and about. I've made a number of pocket altars over the years, and I get questions about how to make them, so I wanted to share here in today's post. This is a fun spiritual craft project that you can do that also helps you understand what is important about your work.
Read the full article on The Druid's Garden and check out Dana O'Driscoll's book, Sacred Actions: Living the Wheel of the Year Through Earth-Centered Sustainable Practices.
In case any of you other witches cats like to get a little too involved with your witchcraft, you can set up a wall altar so your cats can’t reach it!
My final form of my travel altar
Crystals
Mini cauldron (bottom of an incence burner)
Razor
Herbs
Elements (made out of deer anlter)
Pentacle (necklace pendent)
Coin
String
Birthday candles
Matches and stricker
Paper for sigils
Spell pouch
Blue apatite
Moon stone
Tourmaline
Aquamarine
Malachite
Selenite
Amethyst
Raw sapphire
Raw ruby
Clear quarts
Granet
Rose quarts
Egg shells
Poppy seeds
Mandrake root
Chamomile
Rose petals
Lavender
Rosemary
Practical Magic Tech: Spellcasting Altars (101)
This post is part of a series of animistic, spirit-oriented spellcasting for beginners. Go to the masterpost to see them all.
This is a 101 theory post. Go to the masterpost to find actionable steps for altar building and consecration.
Loosely defined (remember, we aren't trying to label everyone, we just want to clear the weeds in our corner of the magical universe), an altar is a sacred space used to facilitate two-way communication and movement with the unseen worlds.
Altars are often built to house and honor gods and spirits. There is a fairly significant difference between someone building an altar or shrine to honor their god(s), and a spellcasting altar for witchcraft.
Our goal with a spellcasting altar is not really to honor anything. We can build a separate altar or shrine to honor a god if we would like to do so.
Instead, for the purposes of this series, a spellcasting altar is:
A hardwired connection to the otherworld,
Which makes gathering metaphysical energy easier, and
Drawing power out of the ethereal and grounding it into physical objects is easier, which means
Successful manifestation is easier.
Delivering targeted spells is easier.
Also, it's beacon that naturally accumulates and collects spiritual power (this is why people can put things on their altars to automatically charge them).
And it's powerful method of classical conditioning.
Classical Conditioning: It's Hella Useful
If you use a spellcasting altar for most of your spellwork, after a little while just being in its presence is going to click you into a magical headspace.
Yes, spellcasting altars are imbued with actual magical power and have very useful metaphysical properties. But their utility extends beyond the metaphysical.
Also they're a great place to store all your spellcasting stuff.
(By the way: try using a specific stimulus, such as an earthy grounding scent or wearing a headband, every time you practice grounding, centering, and exiting a magical headspace. It's a really really helpful tool)
Does it need to be a physical altar?
No. A physical altar is only one piece of spellcasting "tech". If that tech is not viable for you, you have many other techs to draw upon.
Digital altars can also hold metaphysical energy. True magic can be done through web pages. Ask anyone who's been in an occult server on the rough side of the web.
All that being said, you don't necessarily need any altar. They're a handy tool but no one tool is everything.
Let your path serve you, not the other way around.
What about size? What about shoebox or mint tin altars?
Oh boy, get ready for my favorite hill to die on!:
Spellcasting altars are nothing more than container spells.
In a jar spell you take, idk, some rosemary for sleep protection, some iron nails against nightmares, and some lavender for sweet dreams. You put them all together in a jar and consecrate them to your intent and those independent components come together to create something greater than the sum of their parts in order to effect magical change.
In a spellcasting altar, maybe you take a candle for connection to the otherworld, a crystal to accumulate energies, and little colorful stones to represent the Western buildingblock elements (fire, earth, air, water). You put them all together on a specially marked flat surface and consecrate them to your intent and those independent components come together to create something greater than the sum of their parts in order to effect magical change.
When you cast a container spell, you are linking up a variety of powers to work together in the long term. And nobody is out there telling you to get a gallon-sized glass jar. In fact it's popular to use the teeniest little jars possible.
Get yourself a mint tin if that's what you prefer. Hell, a matchbook with a sigil drawn inside. Make your altar into a notebook or a tumblr blog. All that is necessary is that you find it to be useful; that it gives you more back than what it takes to use it.
But I do have one thing to say in support of the classic on a shelf/flat surface altar: They're kind of like hypersigils, and that's really handy
What if you made a container spell for general prosperity, and then put that container spell inside a bigger container spell for general empowerment of everything placed inside of it?
That's what a spellcasting altar is!
It's a big cauldron of power designed to help you manifest your desires and link power to objects in the way that you choose. Start adding other finished spells back into it, and it's like a magical combo move that multiplies power and makes it easier for you to manage everything there.
Too much volatility and movement in your financial life? Take some of the prosperity stuff off of your altar - and just like that, the magic in your life has shifted.
All your spells are lagging and there's not much motion? Light a spicy, fiery candle on your altar to give everything there a tangy boost.
Feeling irritated by someone? Print out a picture of them and place it on your altar, facing away from you. No spellcasting, chanting, or ritual required - an act of magic was done because an action was taken in a magical place designed to manifest every intent you put within it.
The real benefit of spellcasting altars is that they do a lot of the heavy lifting for you.
You're probably not interested in practical magic because your life is great and you already have enough time, energy, interest, or ability to manage everything in a mundane way agreed upon by Society.
I actually think there's a pretty good chance that you're interested in practical magic because there's not enough of you to go around to deal with things in a mundane way.
Magic is real, and real things tend to take real work.
So how is it helpful to turn to a new methodology of managing your life, when it takes just as much time and energy as you were spending before?
Spellcasting altars, even small ones, even digital ones, help us out. They automatically collect power for us to use later on, so we don't have to drink our precious Get Stuff Done juice. They house doors to the otherworld you can just open and close, instead of having to create the door every time you need it. They help us automatically get into the spellcasting mindset through a hardwire connection to the otherworld and the magic of classical conditioning.
Spellcasting altars do specific things and fill specific needs. Therefore, they're not going to be necessary or even useful for everybody. Try them out and see if they're useful for you. If so; a tool has been added to your toolbox. If not; you have considered and discounted something unhelpful, and now you can move on to better things.
This post is part of a series of animistic, spirit-oriented spellcasting for beginners. Go to the masterpost to see them all.
Practical Magic Tech: Spellcasting Altars Are a Powerful Tool For Sticky Situations
This post is part of a series of animistic, spirit-oriented spellcasting for beginners. Go to the masterpost to see them all.
In this other post, I was talking about two ways to think about spellwork: continuous magic, or one-shot magic. But our goal in this series is not to learn how to just cast single spells like a cook reading out of a recipe book. Our goal is to learn how to be a chef that can manage a kitchen and its staff.
So, real talk: Very often, aspects of our lives are not going to be solved with one spell.
Yes, it's really good to be able to cast a spell and have it manifest. But, more real talk: Getting spells to do something is actually pretty easy.
The real problem with practical spellwork doesn't lie in getting together some magic and causing stuff to happen. The real problem is situations resolving in the way you want, especially complex situations that are resistant to change or that require a lot of change.
In this other post, I talked about the virtue of a general spellcasting altar; one that you use to handle most any spell you need to sling.
In this post, let's talk about specific spellcasting altars, built to address one area of your life, or one important situation, that requires close monitoring and regular, active spellwork.
An Altar With a Goal
When I build a general spellcasting altar, I align it towards my method of spellcasting in general. I might invite a god or goddess of witchcraft to oversee the altar. I will probably store my tools and components near there that I use for spellcasting. It might be my good-vibes spiritual center that reflects my current path and progress.
In contrast, I build goal-oriented altars to very specifically reflect their purpose:
An altar to assist me in divinatory power might be dressed in indigo, silver, and violet; have figurines of mermaids or ravens, be decorated with mirrors, stuffed with amethyst, and drizzled with wormwood.
An altar to aid my finances and prosperity might be covered in green and gold, have stacks of fake money and dragon figurines, jars of coins, nuggets of jade, lodestone weighing down paper money, and just loads of chamomile and basil as far as the eye can see.
An altar to assist with bringing peace to my home might be decorated in soothing pale blue and white, filled with plates of cream and honey, decorated with a figurine of Hestia or Eirene, and sprinkled with aquamarine and blue chalcedony.
Most importantly for me, any such altar has space to hold one-shot and continuous spells as they work unto my needs. This may be in the form of a digital altar where spell cards are stored, or in a physical surface or container where components are held.
Goal-Oriented Altars Can be Like Hyperspells with Many Intents
I support limited, focused intent for individual spells. This means that any single situation may require a variety of spells to be cast upon it to achieve my goals.
Suppose I want to bring peace to my household. Depending on what's going on, I might need to cast a few different spells:
Reducing arguments
Increasing loving communication
Reducing feelings of anger
Increasing feelings of wellbeing
Keeping an instigator away from the home
Drawing enjoyable, healthy experiences into the home
If I build and consecrate an altar unto the purpose of peace in my home, that altar becomes like a hyperspell slowly storing and building up all these intents, until my purpose is finally achieved.
Certainly, one single spell might do - but we don't need to build altars for situations easily resolved with one spell. If your situation is being resistant to spellwork, or it's something you know will need ongoing maintenance, consider an altar instead of a series of independent spells.
Using Goal-Oriented Altars
Remember at the beginning of the post, when I was saying the real challenge to practical spellwork is resolving complex situations to your satisfaction?
Your situational altar is the command center for addressing a sticky, tough-to-manage situation.
Perform divination about this situation nearby
Store one-shot and continuous spells effecting that situation on this altar
Keep a detailed record of what you've tried so far
Use this altar as a platform for hosting complementary, simultaneously cast spells
Light candles or incense on the altar, or feed it with direct energy work, to charge all spells stored within it
As you continuously store spells and magics related to your situation in this one altar space, it will accumulate and gain power. That power will become more nuanced and more finely honed to your purposes with each spell you store in it.
With enough active focus and work, this altar will become a source of power in and of itself. Each successive spell will coast on the crest of the one before it, and amazing progress can be made in ways not as easily seen with spells individually and stored outside of an altar's nexus.
The types of spells you cast should be specially chosen based on how you need the energy to move in the situation.
A major benefit of a goal-oriented altar is that it lets you see your current, ongoing efforts - and past, completed efforts - all in one place. You can walk by your prosperity altar and see that your debt-banishing candle is nearly burned away, you have a whole pile of incense ashes for your cash-drawing petitions, and that you've already given the spirits an offering today. In a real way, it carves out space in your life to give important issues the attention you want to give them.
This also gives you a chance to consider the types of spells you're using and whether you need more or less variety, or more or less effort applied to a specific end.
Maybe the problem with your situation is a specific blockage that won't be overcome by more conjuration type spells; maybe you need a banishment-type spell to bust open the way forward.
The post that details that isn't in the queue yet, so if you don't see something like "spell categories #2" in the masterpost, remind me to write it. There's a ton of information to get down and sometimes stuff gets lost in the stampede.
Setting Up A Goal-Oriented Altar
Set up a goal-oriented altar with any methods used to consecrate a spellcasting altar (methods will be in the masterpost... if you're far enough into the future).
Keep a goal-oriented altar as long as you need it. For some people, altars for prosperity or protection might be kept indefinitely, as these issues are often ongoing for most.
Other altars might be extremely specific, like "help me get into a new housing situation with room mates I gel with," and will be relatively short term.
Take down the altar when you're done with it. It's not like you have to, keep that bad boy for as long as you want. But you don't need to keep the altar up once your purpose has been served.
This post is part of a series of animistic, spirit-oriented spellcasting for beginners. Go to the masterpost to see them all.
6 Alternative Altar Inspirations for Witches that are Bored of Altar Tables
No matter what path you follow as in witchcraft are, chances are you have some sort of sacred space. If you are a witch whose practice is part of your religious beliefs, this might be a place to communicate with your deities. If you work with spirits, this could be a place where honor your ancestors. Non-religious witches like myself often use altars as a space where they can connect with their magical and spiritual sides. Even though we all share this desire to have a place all our own dedicated to our craft.
That doesn’t mean we all need the same type of space. Whether you are a new witch who can’t show off your craft publicly (we’ve all been there) or just a witch who isn’t really into the more standard altar table setup, there are plenty of options for customizing and creating an altar space that meets your needs.
Window Altars
One easy way to create an altar is to take up a windowsill. Depending on the arrangement of the room you’re using, your personal preference, and the space available, the size of this type of altar varies.
This generally small altar space can be good for witches in the broom closet and green witches who like to keep their altars populated with plant friends. Because it is literally a window to the outside, these altars are also great places for charging things like crystals, spells, and water under the light of the moon.
Benefits:
Good for altars that are heavily planted (hello, sunlight!)
Generally discreet
Keeps your altar space contained (for all us witches that do not know when to quit)
Garden Altars
While pretty much any altar can include plants, there is something else to say for an altar that is almost completely plants. If you have some space indoors, why not design a witch’s garden that doubles as an altar space?
A small tray planted with succulents with offering bowls and candle dishes set into the soil and crystals scattered around can be a unique, and even moveable altar! You could also use potted plants so that you can change the arrangement or plants out whenever you need a refresh.
Benefits:
Deeply connected to nature and the earth
Pluck herbs for spells right off your altar
Generally pretty moveable
Bath Altars
If you love bath magic as much as I do, you’re a water witch, or your bathroom is one of your most sacred places (self-care anyone?), a bath altar could be the perfect thing to give your craft a physical home.
We’ve all seen those pictures of wooden tray tables for baths surrounded by eucalyptus and candles. Add a statue of your deity (or a symbol of something important to your craft), some crystals (check how your crystals are affected by water and humidity first!), and some jars of your favorite things to mix into bath spells, and your bath altar is set.
Benefits:
The perfect place to combine witchcraft and self-care
Perfect for witches that incoroporate the water element in their craft a lot
Magic really does belong in every room in the house
Travel Altars
If you tend to practice on a whim rather than waiting to be in a specific place or if you need to be able to stash your altar quickly, a travel altar is perfect. These altars can be fit into matchboxes, Altoids tins, jewelry boxes, and even hollowed out books! If you can carry it with you and find supplies small enough to fit, anything goes. (I’ve even seen locket altars!)
Some witches will create multiple travel altars for different purposes or focuses, but don’t feel like you need to collect them if that’s not your thing.
Benefits:
Small and discreet, it’s hard to make a mess with these
Very customizable (and easy to have multiples of!)
Perfect for witches in the broom closet
Virtual Altars
Tech witches, I haven’t forgotten you. If you’ve been following me for a bit, then you might know that I threw out the idea a while ago about a altar lockscreen/wallpaper for your phone/tablet/etc. Now that I’ve talked to some tech witches, I know this is actually a pretty sound idea!
Whether you commision an artist or design one yourself, a lock screen wallpaper for an electronic device (you could even go as big as a laptop with a touch screen!) could make the perfect altar for a tech witch. Even if you decide not to use it as a wallpaper, designing an image that serves as an altar and opening it in GIMP or Photoshop where you can create additional layers for placing other virtual elements could be useful.
Benefits:
Travel friendly
Can be synced across devices, so your altar is always with you
Easy to change and “redecorate” throughout the year
Paper Altars
(This incredible paper altar was created by Stella Witchcraft! Please click here to check out their full post and their blog!)
Similar to a virtual altar, a paper altar is a portable, customizable altar. Many witches choose to include paper altar setups in their grimoires, but there’s nothing stopping you from making larger paper altars with poster paper that can be rolled up and stored away.
If paper altars are attractive to you, don’t be deterred if you aren’t an artist! Minimalism in paper altars is perfectly fine. You can always outline your altar with symbols or even words alone. If you’re happy with it, it is perfect. You don’t have to meet any requirements for aesthetic or any other witch’s expectations.
There you have it! Of course, there are so many more types of altars, and even table altars can be created to fit your own personal needs. If you’re attracted to more than one of these, why not try combining the elements that call to you to make something entirely your own? The possibilities are endless.
Looking for more? Check these out: 6 More Alternative Altars for Bored Witches
Sabbat Altar and Celebration Ideas for the Solitary Witch
YULE Altar ideas: Put mistletoe and pine on your altar; put a candle up there to represent the Sun; keep your Yule log on your altar; use symbols of the Sun; decorate with red, green, white, blue, and yellow (red and green for holly, white and blue for snow and wintery colors, yellow for the Sun). Celebration ideas: Kiss a consenting person under the mistletoe for luck; give gifts; have a feast; make magickal wreaths with herbs corresponding to the spell intent (you might use lilac, lavender, and camomile for a wreath that brings peace into your home).
IMBOLC Altar ideas: Use candles to represent the return of spring; make a cute little corn dolly; put a Brigid’s cross on there to honor her; decorate with yellow and green to represent the Sun and return of spring. Celebration ideas: Clean your house; have a self-dedication ritual (to a particular path, deity, philosophy, standard of life, etc.); clean off your working altar and redo it; cleanse and charge any tools or crystals you need to.
OSTARA Altar ideas: Use fake eggs, rabbits, and other symbols of fertility or spring; put some potted plants on the altar; place some packets of seeds you might be planning on growing; decorate with purple, yellow, green, white, and other spring, pastel colors. Celebration ideas: Paint and blow eggs (take proper precautions when handling raw eggs, obviously, especially if you’re putting your mouth on them); if you have a greenhouse, want a potted plant, or it’s warm enough where you live to plant outside, plant some seeds; buy a potted plant; organize your herb shelf.
BELTAINE Altar ideas: Make a mini Maypole for your centerpiece; smack some candles up in there, especially beeswax, if that’s in your budget; put some faery symbols, like little statues or bells or something like that; a jar of honey or some beeswax is always dope; if you’re comfortable with it, some people like to put representations of genatalia on their altar. Celebration ideas: Light an awesome bonfire (also be very cautious with this because fire can quickly turn dangerous); leave offerings to the faeries; have a dance outside; this is a good time to plan to have a handfasting ceremony or wedding; cast any love workings you’ve been meaning to do; if you’re an adult and have a person/people who consent to it, you could choose to have sex during this time (but do be safe!); many people try to conceive children during Beltaine.
LITHA Altar ideas: Symbols of the Sun and the Moon, feminine and masculine symbols if that’s a thing in your tradition; decorate with black and white to symbolize the night and day. Celebration ideas: Get up before the Sun rises and go to sleep after it sets, so you can experience the day and night; have a bonfire (again, safety is important); have a picnic; just spend a lot of time outside.
LUGHNASADH Altar ideas: Put bread and grain on the altar; maybe some apples and other autumn fruits; pinecones and leaves are fall symbols; decorate with red, orange, yellow, brown, and other colors of the season. Celebration ideas: Bake (especially make the cute little bread men); give an offering to the Earth; go to an apple orchard and pick some apples; share a feast with the family or your friends.
MABON Altar ideas: Wine, or grape juice if alcohol is unavailable for any reason; leaves and pinecones; apples; a money jar (see first celebration suggestion below). Celebration ideas: For a week or two before Mabon, put money you can afford to give up in a jar, and donate it to charity or a cause you support on Mabon; have another apple harvest; have another feast; do a ritual to honor the Earth.
SAMHAIN Altar ideas: Pop a few gourds in there, more apples if you want; pictures of the deceased; tools for divination and spirit contact; decorate with black, white, and orange. Celebration ideas: Divination, spirit communication (obviously only if you know what you’re doing); hold a seance or a dumb supper if that’s more comfortable for you; light a candle in the window for spirits (use a fake one if you want it lit all night); leave some milk and honey for the Fair Folk; give offerings to the dead; put up wards and shields if you’re one of the people who would prefer to avoid spirit activity.
Minecraft + Magic
I’ve been playing a lot of Minecraft recently and it’s really got me thinking on/about it being used as a sort of like an altar/e-shrine that one could use if they were still a hidden witch or even a beginner witch. When playing I know that most players enjoy building a home so I figured why not build a home with rooms of worship inside it? Each room would then be dedicated to a god/dess and then i would go out into the world looking for the devotional items or things that would symbolize that god/dess. Inside the game there are many potential representations Torches - Candles Lava - Fire Element Rivers/Lakes/Waterfalls/Oceans - Water Element Dirt - Earth Element Feathers - Wind Element YOU CAN MAKE AN ENCHANTING TABLE WITH A FLOATING SPELL BOOK. YOU CAN BREW POTIONS TOO!
There’s so much potential for Magical workings in this game. Seriously guys go check it out or try it for yourselves~
I’ll try to take pictures of my house to show you what i mean, hopefully it’ll work… Anyways talk to me about it! What are your thoughts?
As a city-bound person who uses sea magick to ground and relax myself when I'm stressed, thank you. It's validating to see this kind of post.
Stuck in the City: Landlocked Sea Witches
Living on the coast or near the ocean is not an option for many people. Whether it be budgetary reasons, minors living with family, spoonie witches who need to live with caregivers, or being stuck in a landlocked state or country. Though because you have distance between you and the ocean, doesn’t mean you cannot connect to it still. Though your craft will likely not be as powerful at times as one who is practicing straight on the beach, never think that you cannot use the energies of the great oceans in your craft just because you are stuck somewhere else. With this masterpost I hope to help my fellow landlocked witches know how to connect and use sea magick.
Stop the Gatekeeping
First I would like to address a problem I have seen several times in this community (especially here on witchblr) about sea witchcraft. I have seen far too many people telling others they cannot use anything ocean related in their craft unless they are near or on the beach, and that if you wish to practice sea magick you “should just move to the coast”. This is an issue I already brought up in my little intro: for many that is just not possible.
Firstly, in several places living even near the coast costs extreme amounts of money, much more than certain people can afford. Secondly, it may not be medically feasible. If the spoonie witch’s caregivers or care circle cannot move or if moving is something that could upset their illness further, they should certainly not move just to please you “real sea witches”. Some countries are also simply landlocked, they’d have to move completely out of their homeland to reach the coast and for some that is not even an option. So before you go onto this post saying it is inaccurate because sea witches only live by the sea, please do not and think for a moment that not everyone has the same circumstances as you. We all have different lives, needs and situations going on and not everyone can live the same way. Let others practice their craft in a way that suits them.
Getting Started/Creating your Space
As in my previous Stuck In the City post, we are going to start with a space or altar set up that will allow you to help feel connected to the ocean. Depending on the space you have available there can be some fun ways for you to connect to it. First find a corner or a table or even a spare part of a room that you can use for your set up, the more room the better in my personal opinion but I understand that space can be very limited.
Clean and cleanse the space you wish to use, make sure this is done well enough for the space to be comfortable to work in. Next it is time to create space for yourself, create an area that you can either sit or even lay down in, whatever you find to be the most comfortable when meditating or rejuvenating yourself after a long day.
Once it has been clean and cleared find a nice flat space and surface to place your altar, preferable somewhere that is fire safe in case of wanting to use incense or candles. I usually in cases of meditation or long term practice try to make it somewhere comfortable with furniture or an area where I can sit or even recline during my practice. I personally enjoy some extra pillows or cushions in the corner though this is entirely up to you.
Some things to consider adding to your ocean altar: beach sand, shells of any kind (clam, oyster, cone, crushed, broken etc), crab shells, dried sand dollars, dried starfish, driftwood, ocean stones/pebbles, shell dust, sea glass, sea salt, dried kelp (powder), ropes, buckets/cups/bowls/containers, fish bones, fish oil, bottles, shark teeth, cork and sea water.
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