The Aliveness of Altars
An Altar is a Sacred Space, a Spiritual Focal Point and a reflection of your Divine Self.
Altars are vibrant, living representations of our spiritual journeys. They serve as sacred physical spaces that anchor our manifestations, intentions, spiritual path, and connection to the Divine and our Divinity. Altars are dynamic spaces that we create as stepping stones in our journey, as versatile and unique as we are. By interacting with our altar, we cultivate, maintain, and expand a deeper connection with our Inner Selves and the Universe/Quantum Field/Source.
Where to build your Altar
Anywhere that suits you... it can be a small shelf on the wall, a small table in the corner of your room or literally a whole corner. You can build a principal Altar and small ones in each room of your home.
What Goes Into An Altar?
Creating an altar involves more than just placing objects on a surface. Each item selected carries its own significance and energy. The objects on your altar represent the Elements, Spirits, Feelings, Intentions, even specific Goddesses or Gods that you would like to connect with in your spiritual practices. Common items include:
- Sacred Cloth: Defines the sacred space.
- Elements: Objects representing the Elements: Earth (stone), Air (feather), Fire (candle or smudging stick), and Water (cup or sea shell).
- Personal Items: Anything that holds personal spiritual significance, such as crystals, statues, symbols, crystal grids, or meaningful trinkets.
- Other offerings:
- Items related to Nature and her cycles: pine cones, flowers, pebbles, or a living plant
- A steaming cup of tea or cocoa, Dried fruit or chocolate
In the most basic form, an altar can be a single stone or a flickering candle that serves as a focal point for your meditation practice. If your spiritual practice is earth-based, you can include a nod to each of the four directions. A more elaborate altar could include many elements that bring to focus a different energy that you would like to focus on. If you are creating an altar for group ritual, perhaps each member of the group brings an object to place on the altar to represent a facet of the work you are doing together.
Your Altar
Your altar is a deeply personal space. You are guided to create this perfect space that vibrates with you the most. It is like creating a "station" for the Angels, the Elements, and empowering Energies! It reflects your uniqueness and resonates with your visions. Your altar is the Living Space that you built for yourself by yourself (does this sound familiar?); where you can meditate, practice, and create your Rituals (candle rituals, smudging rituals, and more). There are no strict rules; follow your intuition and let your heart guide you in creating this empowering and sacred space. I am going to share with you 5 basic rules to learn at first:
Making a Basic Altar:
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Gather Supplies: Dedicate a piece of cloth that will define the space the altar will take up. Gather up an offering for each of the Elements!
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Choose a Location: This should be in a spot that is convenient!
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Identify Which Direction is East: This is where the sun rises, or you can use a compass.
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Place the Items on Your Altar in a Sacred Way:
please again remember, there are no rules in these practices, specially that the Altar is built from the Heart, who knows the "Rules".
But I will give you a simple example to follow: Take a deep breath, set your intention, and create.- Arrange Your Altar Cloth: In the place you have chosen.
- Place the Feather on the Eastern Side of Your Altar: Welcome the Spirits of the East: Air, Intellect, Gratitude for Breath, Intuition, etc. Your Feather represents the Air Element.
- Place Your Candle or your Smudging Stick on the Southern Edge: Light it, and welcome in the Spirits of the South: Fire, Passion, Transformation, Inspiration. Your Candle/Smudging Stick represents the Fire Element.
- Place Your Cup of Water or a Sea Shell on the Western Side: Welcome the Spirits of the West: Water, Emotion, Flexibility, Love. Your cup of water or the Sea Shell represents the Water Element.
- Place Your Stone on the Northern Side of Your Altar: Welcome the Spirits of the North: Earth, Nourishment, Stability, Grounding. Your stone represents the Earth Element.
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Add Your Other Offerings: Crystals, Crystal Grids, Copper Pyramid, Orgonite Pyramid, Flowers, Figurines, Tibetan Bowls etc.
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Do your ritual: Create the Space and Time to do your meditation, chanting, journaling, breathwork and/or visualisation. You can read : Rituals: Meaning and How to
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Give Thanks: Take a few deep breaths and smile in appreciation at the beauty you have created. Recognize the wholeness that is represented in those offerings on your Altar. Give thanks to the Spirits of each of the Directions that you called and invite them to leave if they must or to stay if they love to stay.
Some of My Personal Altars
From my personal experience, I have created many altars, from the simplest to the more elaborated. Some had only a candle while others included several elements.
I create temporary altars for my photoshoots as well. Check their pictures!
"Remember that you are Water: Cry, Cleanse & Flow.
Remember that you are Fire: Burn, Tame & Ignite.
Remember that you are Air: Be still, Focus & Decide.
Remember that you are Earth: Ground, Build & Give.
Remember you are Spirit: Connect, Listen, Know, Be Still and Remember." Unknown
Read more!
- Rituals: Moon Cycles, Equinox, Manifestation and more
- What is an Intention?
- Permission Slips - The Activation Key of any Spiritual Tool
- Rituals - The Golden Rule and a Comprehensive Guide