Notes on my altar
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I want to talk for a sec about my altar and all the crap I keep on it.🕯
My altar serves two purposes, the first being a place for me to recharge. There comes a point most days that I need to sit and focus for a minute or I’ll spiral to a place that’s tough for me to bounce back from. For that reason, I treat my altar like a garden and tend to it so it’s beautiful. It’s isolated in the only quiet corner of my small house and everything is arranged carefully in a way that immediately settles the obsessive part of my brain.
In the same vein, most of that stuff isn’t necessary to my practice. The rocks and crystals aren’t arranged in a special power grid—they’re set out in a way that makes me feel better.
My altar is also, of course, the place where I do my witch work, and when it’s serving that function, things are pared-down. My identity as a folk witch (for me personally) flows from two main sources that I don't talk a lot about, not only because they’re personal, but because I can never really articulate them in a genuine way. The first is my connection to Western Pennsylvania and the second is my faith. Everything you see on my altar are branches from the trunks of those two trees.
When it comes to what I actually use, it’s normally:
-my mortar and pestle
-the plants I’m working with
-my cauldron if I’m burning them (this was initially just a small fireproof pot)
-an offering
-something to rep my ancestors
-something to rep who I’m praying to
-(some form of protection)
That’s pretty much it.
When you start studying witchcraft, you read a lot of rules for your altar. The origins should be understood, considered, and then adapted to your practice. It’s up to you what you need. Sometimes I keep the four elements on there but usually it’s by accident. I forget to cleanse my containers. I don’t let my candles burn—I have three toddlers in the house. It doesn’t affect my practice because right now it’s not part of my practice. I still do ok.