My home is comprised of many different altars. I have my working altar, my goddess dedicated altar, my altar to deceased furkid, my altar to deceased father.....you name it, somewhere in my house are little erected sacred spaces.

However, not all of them are stationary.

I present to you my little traveling ( Writer's Altar. )

I moved in with my father after my mom died and he didn't want the house to change at all. This little desk of my mother's (which I finally got permission to clear off) doesn't feel like sacred space, but it's the closest thing I have to privacy and something of my own.

This doesn't quite count as an altar, but it's a start. As I see more and more of your altars in this community, I'll hopefully do better

( Three, resized photos )

I'm exploring Conjure and I was reading about Chief Black Hawk. I found myself praying to him and afterwards I had an experience of the imminence of God. Subtle, not 'knock ya on yer ass", but potent. I identify as Devil centric, and here I am talking to "The Lord". Heh, I'm still assimilating that one. In gratitude I set up a shrine to Chief Black Hawk. I don't know much about him, aside from his shrine being set up in a bucket of sand, so I improvised. I don't think he'd mind my sharing these photos.

( Read more... )

I came across these photos while uploading photos to my redbubble account, and felt bad that I've yet to properly share them with anyone.

I haven't shared them because most of them aren't very good pictures, and I know next-to-nothing about Jainism (other than that their spicy banana chips are amazing).

As this community is ever-so-eclectic, I thought I'd share them. I will do a bit of narration, but please, if anyone can give me more information about Jainism, I would be forever grateful!

( Jain Temple at Kangra )

Been a while since I posted any photos here -- thought it was time to show the current state of things!



Revamped Kali altar. Most of the items on it are the same as the old version but arranged a little more conveniently.



Ganesh altar in his new location, with accoutrements (his red bowl and the bouquet of dried roses are new.)



In progress Ochun altar -- I've ordered an 8x10 color print of her from Lucky Mojo, when it arrives that'll go up on the wall over it.

as I got the tree and the "nativity scene" up. (My husband Ron loves when the moose comes out!)

( Herez picshures! (compliments of my crappy cell phone): )

Hey guys,

I'm back again, with other stuff I should have already posted. But at least it is being posted before Yule, haha.

I decorated it with all the usual things, like candles, fall leaves and pumpkins. Pictures of some of my cats that I've lost in the past. And a picture of my grandparents, that is sitting in a small ceramic cauldron that my grandmother let me have. And one of just my grandmother. I actually was the one that found her when she died. I had gone to check on her, because we lived across an alley from each other. And when I went to her room, I found her on the floor, and I tried to wake her up, but she was already gone. So I frantically called my parents, it was my mom's mother..and they ran over to the house. The police were called of course, and we found out later that she had, had breast cancer, but was hiding it, and only getting by with the pain, by taking simple Advil. I left her an offering of Reese's Pieces, because she liked candy in general, but she really loved Reese's products. For the cats I left some dry food in the apple dish. And for my pet hermit crab, Herman, that died just a couple weeks before Samhain, I left some dried fruit, next to his shell that I kept. You guys will probably reconize the orange cat figures from my last post, as I put them on there with pictures of Mamerine when he was a kitten.

The the God and Goddess figures I made from jute twine, and I always have them on the altar. I arranged them to show the Goddess in mourning over the God. And a funny thing happend with that. I was in the middle of setting it up, and had gone downstairs to do something, when I came back the Goddess had fallen forward, with her head on his crotch. I didn't think to take a picture, before I set Her back up, but it made me laugh.



( A few closeups )

Hello everyone,

I've not posted in a while, since Beltaine I think. And this one is a bit late, but better than never as they say. :)

This was a shrine I put up on October 1st, in honor of my cat Cameron...or Mamerine as I usually called him. He was my cat, like my child, he was my familiar, and we were together always. I watched his birth when I was about 8 years old, and instantly fell in love with him. He had problems with his liver throughout life, and had to be medicated several times. Well there was a last time in the summer of 2004, when he continued to get sicker, and skinnier. I would fix him chicken, and hand feed him, take him outside in the sun in hopes of helping with his condition etc. But on October 1st 2004, my mom and I just couldn't put him through anymore, he had that look in his eyes that animals get when they are ready. He was just so frail, unlike the Mamerine that I had always known. He was sad, and seemed like he could barely move...it was time. So I held him while they put him to sleep, and when I felt his tail go limp I knew he was gone, and doing much better.

The vet asked us if we wanted a special plaque for him, that they would make up, with The Rainbow Bridge, poem, and the date of his death, along with a footprint and a bit of fur. So we got it, and I added a small picture I had taken some time before, with my Izone camera.

It's been five years, and still I think about him nearly everyday. Cry for him most times, but like I am now, and dream about him. I've lost many animals in my life, and I'm sad and miss them all, but I don't think I'll ever get over losing him.

Anyways, on to the shrine. Even when he was alive I collected orange cat things, toys, stuffed animals, figurines and such. So this year, I put up a shrine for him, with browns, that are associated with animal magick. And his plaque and some figurines I've gotten. The cat lying down I got a few years after I lost him, and then one sitting up, I got this past spring in England, when I was visiting my fiance and his family.


( A few more closeups )

Well over a month ago I made a post about the shrine I made for Hestia and Zeus Ktesios. I have other shrines around the house, I'm just lazy about taking and posting pics.

The main household shrine is partly shrine, partly working altar where about 90% of my worship is done. It's an old end table/nightstand that lost it's door a long time ago--right now the shelves are half books and half storage, but I want to get a box to place under it for the storage and distribute the books more evenly. The drawer holds incense, a few candles, my tarot deck and a few other odds and ends.

On top, I've got a glass hurricane in a three-legged stand that hold sand for burning incense. I use a Yankee Candle jar candle as my Hestia flame--I do not keep it lit all of the time, but do try to keep it lit when I'm home.. There is a plate and bowl for offerings and libations, as well as an imitation Wedgewood vase with a Greek scene depicted on it for holding whatever it is I'm going to libate.

The shelves above the shrine is home to stone animals I'm collecting to represent the Theoi (top shelf). It also displays my collection of sand and stones as well as a statuette of Kateri Tekakwitha, who, although She was a Catholic convert, and is in the process of becoming Sainted, I have felt a strong connection to since I was about 10 years old. Although I left the Church almost 20 years ago, I still feel a devotion to Her and do honor Her as a personal Daimon of sorts. The gold-plated leaf is an oak leaf, giving separate honor to Zeus as King of Gods and Men--a reminder to myself that, although I do have personal...relationships for lack of a better word...with some Theoi over others, I must maintain kharis with all of Them.

Hi there, everyone! It's been a while since I posted to the group, as I've been lax in taking photos of my various seasonal shrines and working altars, but I've been following along with everyone's work — gorgeous as usual! :) Finally I have some decent pictures of my own to share, as well. Some of them feature a dresser-top "Altar to the Three Realms," the first altar my partner and I created together over this past summer. Other pictures feature a ceramic offering dish that I designed and dedicated to Brigid for use during ritual (otherwise, it sits either on the dresser, or the fireplace mantel downstairs). But most of the photos are dedicated to the prayer beads that I recently started making...


Now, I know that this is a community for awesome, pimped-out altars, but to me, prayer beads serve as a sort of portable, inconspicuous, go-anywhere altar. They create their own kind of sacred space, woven together in a circle that can be entered through touch and movement, and their physical materials — hemp cords, various beads and stones of different shapes and colors, and the metals of charms — work to invoke the energies of the elements and deities to which they are dedicated and consecrated.


( More pictures and discussion behind cut! )





A commitment to peace, justice and truth has continued to play a central role in my spiritual life as I've continued to study and practice Druidry, and so recently I decided to host a give-away of the prayer beads I've been making. Winners of the drawing will receive a complimentary set of prayer beads and a copy of the Peace of the Three Realms meditation to go with them, which talks more in-depth about how to work with the prayer and use the different themes and visualizations to align yourself with the three elements.



If you're interested, there are more details available on my blog, Meadowsweet & Myrrh.

Peace and blessings to all of you!
/|\ Ali

starring, in no particular order...

a wallpaper book, a "hail Angrboda" stencil, garlic, matches, a pair of Tibetan tingsha, a brass incense burner, a jade feng shui symbol, amazonite, golden juniper incense, a reversal candle, a bracelet made of goat hooves...

( Read more... )

Hey everybody! This is my first post here, and, as a matter of fact this is my first altar. It's an ancestor altar I made for Samhain. I'll explain the details.
( Ancestral Altar Behind Cut )

Greetings Folks,

Sorry I'm a bit behind posting photos from the Samhain observances from my abode! However, there can be busy spells (no pun, oh what the heck, pun intended!) around here seeing as how my hubby is in grad school.

Things started gearing up on Oct. 29th when we carved our Jack O'Lantern and placed him in front of our home! Then we had a lovely ritual on the night of Samhain and made man offerings at our ancestral shrine and the following day on Day of the Dead we took offerings to our local cemetery as our own little quiet observance for Dia de los Muertos.

Pictures behind the cut!

( Samhain 2009 )

I've been very lax about posting or commenting to this community lately. We're in the process of moving from NC to WA. It's been a long process, requiring two cross-country treks with trucks and trailers, packing, unpacking, and settling in. As our new house is in a grove of very tall trees, I didn't even know where the moon rose for several weeks.





( On our first full moon, though, I discovered she's visible from my office window, and I put together an impromptu windowsill altar of water, salt, and fire. )

Hi everyone! This is the first time I've posted anything here; I've been a huge lurker!

Anyway, here is my altar.  (click for a large version).


 

( more details ... )
Hope you enjoyed!
 

 

Hi. I'm new here. Just wanted to share a picture of my Samhain altar:






On my altar: Half a pumpkin cookie, a chalice of water, corn husk doll, a mini pumpkin, a death angel I made, a necklace that was my grandma's, some rosemary, pumpkin candles, black candles, a mini grave stone, a hawk skull, a wand, and some leaves. I think that's it.

Sorry the picture is so small. Hope you can see stuff okay.

Hello! I'm a long time lurker and lover of this community and have finally decided to share my own altar. I wasn't going to do anything this year, but while breathing in some lovely incense I decided to start cleaning up my altar and ended up completely revamping it.

( Take a Gander? )

Thank you for taking a gander. =D Enjoy your Samhain/Halloween!

---Leah Bea