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paganposting · 1 year ago

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How I Made My Altar

Creating an altar is something that varies a lot by tradition, but this is a guide on how i personally made and maintain mine. Hopefully this is helpful to someone!

Step One- Planning and Sourcing

In my tradition, there isn't necessarily a huge difference in making personal vs deity altars. As I've heard several of my teachers say- an altar is the place in your home where magic is always welcome. if you wish to add to that by including deities that are always welcome or honored in that space, great! if a deity does request their own specific altar, no problem!

The more complicated aspect for me, is that i feel deeply i must be in right relationship with the items on my altar. Part of this is everything being ethically sourced. All things on this table were either found by me, purchased from a small local business I trust, or received as a gift. These items have been accumulated over the last 5 years of my practice. If you are just starting out and feel as i do about sourcing, you might have a lot of arts and crafts projects ahead.

What aspects of your practice you feel are necessary to represent on your altar? Should you have artwork? Plants? Symbols or sigils?

What work will be done at your altar and which tools should be there? Are you doing meditation that requires a nice smelling herb or oil? Will you be doing spells on it that require big empty space?

Step Two- Find or Make Materials

My recommendation if you don't have the budget to buy a specific dedicated table/ shelf for your altar is to clear a space where you feel the most presence of magic in your life. My earliest altars were cleared off spots on bookshelves and in the kitchen.

Now that you have a list of themes or specific items you want on your altar, go on a nature walk and find things that call to you. Whenever I go to new or interesting places, I keep my eyes peeled for things that might be useful in my practice. Don't take too much, and ask permission from the land before leaving with anything. If the item feels oddly heavy as you walk away with it- give it back.

Step Three- Assemble

The main thing i do at my altar is meditate and pray to deities. Because i view this space as my gods' front door, i care a lot about it looking aesthetically pleasing. I am not part of a tradition where it matters what things go on the left or right, the elements are not associated with cardinal directions, and deities aren't really unsatisfied sharing an altar with each other (even if they may not get along in some lore). Because of this, i just lay things out intuitively, aiming for some symmetry. I also prefer to do spells outdoors, so my altar doesn't need to have a workable space beyond a nice spot to charge things.

Do I feel the need for my altar to have directional correspondences?

Is it important to me to optimize aesthetics?

I work a lot with the seasons, and this is meant to have some nice summertime vibes. With the harvest season coming up, i'll definitely redecorate it.

If anyone has questions please let me know

go n-éirí leat! good luck!

#paganism #pagan community #paganblr #witchblr #witchcraft #baby pagan #baby witch #baby witch tips #altar #pagan altar #altar ideas #altar setup #my altar

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the-witchy-housewife · 1 month ago

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｡+*✧ 5 Witchy Ways To Make Your Home More Magickal ✧*+｡

This is an article from my website, The Witchy Housewife. You can read it at the source here or look under the cut to read it here on Tumblr. If you enjoy my work, please consider subscribing (at the bottom of this page) to receive articles as they're posted via e-mail, exploring the shop, leaving a tip, or reblogging this post. I run this all myself, so all support is greatly appreciated. 💜🔮✨

Most practicing witches, whether just starting out or involved for decades, have carved out a sacred space for themselves. It is rare, however, that I see that same level of attention given to the rest of the home. In doing so, we risk the stagnation of energies in just about every other room of the house and miss out on this beautiful flow dancing about room to room. Today, I would like to share five simple ways to make your entire home a more magickal place to live in.

1. Regularly cleanse, bless, and ward.

It is so important – both for the success of workings and the overall energetic wellbeing of the household – to have a regular routine of cleansing the home, refilling it with positive energies, and charging the wards that surround it. This habit breaks up energetic stagnation, deters lingering negative energies, and promotes a sacred feeling of warmth that permeates throughout the entire home. In addition, I think you will find that this sort of energetic housekeeping will improve the results of any future magickal workings performed within it. Not to mention, making a habit out of any sort of magickal working – cleansings included – will naturally “exercise” and improve your own magickal abilities overall.

For those new to the ideas of cleansing, blessing, and warding, this is how I generally define it: To cleanse is to rid a person, place, or thing (in this case, the home) of stagnant, unwanted, draining, counterproductive, or otherwise negative energies. After a cleansing is performed, a blessing may follow. In my opinion, blessing a space with more productive energies serves two purposes: To set the tone for desired future outcomes and to further deter negative energies from re-entering the space. With that said, to bless – again, as I define it – is to invite in and refill the recently-cleansed person, place, or thing with fresh, positive, intentional energies. And finally, to ward is to create an energetic protective barrier around the person, place, or thing as a more passive and longer-lasting preventative measure. Some people may also refer to this as bubbling or shielding, though different people may have different definitions for each.

Now personally, there are different cleansing rituals I use for different circumstances, but my most often used rituals take place monthly or as-needed when energies get too muddied.

My Monthly Cleansing Ritual: I perform this ritual on the first of each month. Any cleansing tools to be charged on the altar should be set at least a day before performing the cleansing. The morning of, weather permitting, open windows and play uplifting music or cleansing affirmations, frequencies, or subliminals of choice. Take a cleansing shower. Clean the home as you normally would. When physical cleaning is complete, use a smoke or spray cleansing blend of choice, walking with intention from room-to-room. Pay special mind to corners and doorways. I like to use sound cleansing – bells, drums, or even snapping your fingers will do – in these spaces to really ensure the breaking up of any “stuck” energies. If you are someone who performs banishing rituals, you may choose to do so now. At this point, I also take a moment to cleanse myself, particularly as an empath. I then tend to my wards by first taking a blessed salt blend around the perimeter of the property, followed by sitting at the center of the property and funneling my own energy into the ward. If you would prefer to instead bless first and ward after, feel free to do so. It is your ritual, after all. Regardless of which order you perform the ritual in, the blessing process may be a deeply personal one, so this is a step I suggest thinking on a bit rather than following to the letter. In my ritual, I use a spray with positive energy-promoting herbs (as well as herbs that may promote the intention I wish to set for the month) and follow up with prayer to my deities. If you’re interested in a more in-depth look at my Monthly Cleansing Ritual, I do have detailed instructions available on my Monthly Blessings Patreon.

My As-Needed Cleansing Ritual: This is essentially a truncated version of my monthly ritual. If the energies are something I’ve tracked in or absorbed too much of, I will take a cleansing shower first. Following this, perform your usual smoke or spray cleansing, focusing especially on any room(s) that may be the most abundant in the energy that brought about this need for an emergency cleanse. You may also like to perform a shorter version of your regular blessing ritual. Unless the situation is really dire, I will generally stick to my spray in this case.

In regards to the physical cleaning portion of this, I do have to recommend Grove Collaborative for cultivating a more natural-based cleaning cabinet. In the future, I’ll be looking into more do-it-yourself methods for cleaning essentials, as is part of the focus of this blog, but in the meantime – and for anything that may be too tedious to make – I really do love Grove.

And one final thought on the cleansing process before we move on: If nothing else, it would at least be worth it to regularly cleanse yourself. I’m afraid your floors (and your home overall) will never be clean if you are consistently tracking in the (energetic) mud.

2. Arrange altars around the home.

To some, an altar may just be some simple magickal workspace, but I tend to view an altar as a sort of energetic nexus – a point of focus in (or out of) the home enchanted with a specific intention. Having a variety of these energetic points all across the home can promote different energies in different places and act as a sort of battery for the mood you wish to set in any room you wish to set it. Here are just a few ideas for altars around your home:

• The Shrine Altar: A space dressed with statuary, artwork, trinkets, and offerings honoring the deity or deities you are devoted to in your practice. This is your place of divine worship.

• The Working Altar: A space with all the tools and dressings to make magick happen. This, combined with a Shrine, is what most people traditionally think of when referring to an altar.

• The Divination Altar: A space with all the tools and dressings for divination, spirit communication, and other sorts of communion that take place beyond the veil. You may wish to set aside a space here for your spirit guides and teachers to provide their own guidance.

• The Ancestor Altar: A space for maintaining connection with your ancestors. When decorating and leaving offerings, keep in mind the things that your ancestors would enjoy.

• The Protection Altar: A space for gathering protective energies to keep yourself, your loved ones, and your home safe from harm. Think of it as a battery specifically for your wards.

• The Hearth Altar: A space for inviting warm, positive energies into the home and transmuting any negative energies that may enter. Even better if you can get your family involved.

• The Prosperity Altar: A space for inviting wealth, prosperity, and abundance into the home. Similarly to the Hearth Altar, It’s a good idea to have this altar face the front door to act as a “greeter” to these energies, and you may even choose to combine them.

• The Creativity Altar: A space for encouraging a steady flow of inspiration. This is ideal if you have any sort of creative pursuits and/or are subject to frequent creative blockages.

• The Study Altar: A space for encouraging focus and memory retention. Perfect for a library or an office where lots of learning takes place. Rosemary would be an excellent addition here.

• The Garden Altar: A space in your garden for promoting the growth of your plants and bonding with the fae and genius loci native to your area.

3. Celebrate with the changing seasons.

When I was younger, much of the year was quite boring to me, and I found myself always pining for Hallowthanksmas to roll back around before returning yet again to “business as usual” come January 1st. I think an unfortunate amount of people operate this way, as well. It was only when I started observing and appreciating the year in full that my life turned around in a big way, and I began to realize there is always something to look forward to.

Whether this means celebrating the sabbats, the seasonal shifts, or your own set of scattered observations – you can make holiday magick a year-round experience just by opening your eyes to Gaia’s natural cycles. In addition, I think you’ll find that matching the energetic ebb and flow of the Earth will serve to optimize your success with spellwork overall. Very simply:

During the spring… New beginnings are abundant. Appreciate the budding flowers, the baby animals, and the fresh spring air. Start new projects and/or take on new endeavors.

During the summer… Passions are at their highest. Host bonfires and barbecues and let yourself live life. Soak up the energy of the sun and transmute it into raw motivation.

During the autumn… Our efforts may be harvested. Bathe in gratitude for the abundance of this beautiful planet. Review and appreciate all that you have done for yourself.

During the winter… The world is at rest. The cold decelerates the very flow of time. Take a much-needed break, and plan to return or renew come the first signs of spring.

Consider also bringing the outdoors in – particularly during the colder months when it is too difficult to spend a significant amount of time outside. Foraging with the local flora in your area and using your findings for food, medicine, and decor is an excellent way to become familiar with the cycle of the seasons as it functions in your very own neighborhood.

4. Ritualize your everyday routines.

We often don’t realize just how many rituals we perform each and every day – repetitive, but necessary, processes that lull us into a meditative state. There is opportunity here. In our day-to-day life, there are so many little pockets within our routines to tuck intention and purpose into. And why shouldn’t we? Here are just a few suggestions for enchanting your daily routine:

In the Morning: Do affirmation work upon waking or in the mirror. Alternatively, listen to affirmations or subliminal audio on your ride to work or while getting ready in the morning. Incorporate color and shape magick into your wardrobe – including any accessories, makeup, or nail care that you may do.

Throughout the Day: Enhance your meals with carefully chosen herbs to improve wellbeing or attract specific energies. After workouts, take a moment to meditate on advancing muscular growth or expelling fat from troublesome areas. Use showers as mini cleansing rituals or put oils/herbs in a bath to attract energies.

During the Night: Do affirmation work just before falling asleep. Keep a small (non-fragile) stone under your pillow to regularly fill with energies of gratitude. Set an intention for your dreams. Keep a dream sachet under your pillow to help with achieving lucidity. Diffuse oil for a specific intention to set the tone for your dreams or even to set the tone for the next day.

However you spend your days, consider altering your home’s decor room-by-room to cultivate a specific tone and energy depending on the daily rituals you perform there.

5. Build a garden you can bond with.

One of the things I love most about being a witch is the awareness that magick really is all around us. In my opinion, cultivating a garden is the best way to go about experiencing this, and it offers so much versatility. On a very basic level, a garden offers a wide variety of personally-selected plants that can be used for cooking, medicine, magick, decor, aroma, and so much more. On a deeper level, a garden offers the space to get to know the spirits of these plants as they thrive and flourish prior to receiving their gifts – and this, in turn, will improve upon many of your more subtle spiritual abilities.

And for those of you who don’t have much of a yard to work with at this time, keep in mind that plants in any pot – that require any amount of sun and attention – are still living beings. Lavender, for example, is one commonly-used plant in the craft that can be grown indoors.

Pinterest, for the record, is a great place to collect gardening information tailored to your tastes (among other things like recipes and crafting tutorials). And for the more daring, you may choose to expand your horizons by looking into things like food forests or guerrilla gardening (bonus points if it yields something edible).

Regardless of what endeavors you decide to take on, darling, I wish you the best of luck in making your home, your community, and your life more magickal. Many blessings to you.

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