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My newly rearranged alter



Spring Cleaning

~ ummei ~ To answer you question, it is dependent upon you. It is not really a shrine, unless you want it to be, where it is dedicated to one single purpose, therefore it is not necessary to have multiple alters. If you enjoy making multiple alters, by all means do so. It can become a hobby, or just be a simple practical alter. There is no real methodology to making one, nor should you be worried if you did it right. If you like the results, you did it right. ^_^

@Rune WolfHaven
I live'd in pretty much the same boat as you. Untell a cuple years ago when I dessided I didn't care what my parents though, and staghht up told them. ( luckaly though if things had gone bad I could have moved in with my wiccan father, but you don't seem to have that option.)Any way I have a few ideas that worked great for me.
1. For your god & gooddess figures you could draw a picture of you vistion of them. If you think there'd be a prob with that you could draw a pic of the moon & sun and invision that being their faces.
2. If you have room under your bed you could put your altar set up on top of a box or a pice of cart bored under your bed and just pull it out when you need it.
3. (if 2 dosen't work) you could make your entire room your altar. Just have things you'd put on your altar all around your room hidden in plane sight. A water botle or glass of water by your bed (for water), a house plant or a rock hung or placed in your room (if you think those would be hard, you could use a stone cross {for earth}), a fether or even a picture of the sky ( for air), and for fire, a picture of a fire (like a campground fire at a camping trip you whent on) or a prayer candle (white or red candles with eather religiouse sriptures writen on them or religious paintings) also you could find a stone or creature thats conected with fire and use the stone or a figurine of that animal.
4. you could take 3 one step ferthure and have the objects placed in your room at their corresponding cumpass points.
Hope some of this may help.

Firstly, I must make it clear that I in no way believe this to be an altar in any way. I don't believe I need one to 'worship' for my beliefs. I simply want to share a small section of my life with somebody not my immediate family. This reminded me of an alter (at one time, I think I had it set up as such, though over the years I have realized how ridiculous it is for me to have one, when I seriously don't have any beliefs that require one. It's 'evolved' along with me as I grow older), so I took a picture and included quite a bit of the wall behind. smile If anything, this would be considered more of a 'shrine' than an 'altar.'




Though I vehemently oppose labeling this as an 'altar', I will admit that each of the dragons on the centerpiece do have strong affiliations with the Elements. Their various coloration, symbols, and wing styles all hint at it. Obviously the Hydra is Water, the Amphiptere/Coatyl-like dragon is Air, the Welsh Red is Fire, and the smaller, Acadian Green is Earth. The Uncolored holding the sword is a mix, though I tend to think of him as being primarily Water and Air. And dragons have always represented something akin to Spirit for me. Each holds a very powerful Spark.

Anyway... There are 33 dragons in this photo. Can you find them all? And these are only a tiny, tiny sliver of the dragons I have in my room. This is only one wall, after all. smile

Here's a list of stuff I have:

Chalice (bought from a stall called "Aromik". They sell candles, incense and all types of witchy things. Most of my stuff's from there)
Athame (a kitchen knife I consecrated)
Sun Oil Burner (Bought from a store called "Dizzi Gothic". They have a cabinet of Pagan stuff)
Elemental Candles (bought at Aromik)
Sea shells (I picked these on holiday at the beach)
Chalice (Bought from Aromik)
Cauldron (from Aromik)
Pendulum (from Aromik)
Stones/Crystals (From Crystal Carols and Aromik)
Sun and Moon windchimes (from Aromik)
Feather (found whilst walking home one day)
Several types of incense (mostly sticks)
Censer (from Aromik)
Pentacle Coaster (from Aromik. I use it as a flat pentacle for consecrating and charging items)
Candle snuffer (from Aromik)
Various types of Fragrance oils
Lots of candles
My Working Candle (one I use to meditate with and do spells)
Pestle and Mortar (made out of stone. Bought From Aromik)
Steel offering bowl (from Aromik)
Healing Stones Set (bought from Aromik)
"Sun/Summer" candle
Spell candles
Trinket box (I use this to put my salt in)
Glass bowl (for my water)
Book of Shadows (a blank journal/diary book I bought from Dizzi Gothic. The covers have such pretty art by Briar!)

My altar has changed drastically since I moved into the rental house. I no longer had a nice sized closet to put it in in case my 'non-wiccan' friends or family came to visit. But I've since stopped caring as I don't know when or if they will visit so my altar is now sitting under my window sill. It's two wooden boxes that an old neighbor allowed me to use for storage. She never asked for them back when she moved so I've kept them. I've stacked the wooden boxes one on top of the other, and have the bottom for storage for items that I need but it's not an immediate need. The top box has my BoS and my little storage container for miscellaneous items I use now and then. The top I use for display. I have a purple pentacle cloth on it with a black cloth on top of that to catch ashes and what not from incense and candles. Since I find the black cloth easier to clean. I have my 5 candles for the elements. Incense holder, stones that symbolize me and the 5 elements, an eagle feather that I found on my grandparents farm several years back. For a number of years I believed it to be a turkey feather but my best friend and practicing Wiccan said it was an eagle feather. I also have one of those stone statues that's a moon and a wolf on it to. I'll post a pic when I take one here soon.

Edit:This was my altar. But now I've taken it down as I've added more to my altar, so the tiny space no longer is adequate to my needs. Plus having kittens in my room for a few months means I had to put the breakables away. So when I finally figure out the new altar I'll post pics. Till then my altar is still the wooden boxes just not on top of each other. Don't think I'll ever get rid of those. They are handy to me XD

That's lovely. May I ask what's in the picture frame? I thought they were Tarot cards but I can't see too well. smile