Rosewicket Wicca Coven

An article I submitted to Witchvox a while ago...Though this is an edited version of my first draft, so there are a few small differences. I hope it helps anyone who is struggling with their Altar.

Basic Altars...

A common topic, I know, but I thought I should add my two cents. Especially, considering that most teens seem to get into the mindset of thinking that they HAVE to have candles, incense, and athame, a wand, and many other things to be wiccan.

This is not true.

Yes, these things can make your rituals more of a deeply spiritual experience. And it's true, that maybe more experienced Wiccans that have all these tools at their disposal may judge based on what tools or 'qualifications' you have. However, this is the flaw of the people, not of Wicca. Not having certain tools does not make you any less Wiccan. In fact, I found that when I stopped using my tools, I felt a stronger connection with the Divine, simply because it was more personal to me.

But of course, we all have treasured objects that we want to use, we want to recognize and represent the elemtents, ect. And for those of you that run into problems along the way, I leave you with these pointers:

For Altars:

An altar is for the most part any flat surface that you can use comfortably as the surface for your ritual. It can be a large table with pentacle carvings on it, or it can be a coffee table. For a long time when I started out, mine was a plastic storage tub flipped upside down and covered with a cloth. and this worked quite well, because if I was having someone over and needed to tuck it away, all my belongings fit inside it. Now I use an old dresser surface, and the first drawer in it for storage. I have also used a bookshelf. The most experience and respected Wiccan I know uses a piano stool.

Anyway, beening a teenager, the space that we call our own is usually impermenant. You may be in a temporary living situation, you may be moving out soon, or perhaps you have nosey siblings and family. I even have kept contact with a few in college, who have less them the most respectfull roomates, and here are some of the better reccomendations I know of:

1. If you happen to have one of these, you are very lucky. Ideal for those of you hoping to use desks. There are letter-writing desks that involve a pannel being folded down when in use, and folded up and locked again when not in use. These are ideal for most people, as you can leave all your materials inside, and simply fold it back up.

And for altar clothes...

I have always been afraid of accidentally knocking over a candle and lighting the cloth on fire, though I really can't say why. My solution? Find clear glass of some sort and layer it over the altar cloth. That way you can still see it, but fire isn't so much of an issue.

2. The dissapearing Altar. Like I said earlier, simply inverting a box of some sort can be of use. It makes for good storage, especially if you don't want your parents to see your altar. You can also use a piano stool, or the surface of another piece of furnature. Bookshelves work well too when at a good level. keep in mind, these can be permanent or temporary, your choice.

3. The portable altar. A favorite for those of us that can't keep everything at home all the time. There have been numerous books about it, and I'm sure a quick google search would do you wonders...

The Portable Altar...

I will go more in depth here, as Ihave one of these that I use on occasion, but it could be your main altar if you so choose. For example:

Instead of having an altar surface, you could contain all the objects you with to carry in a cloth or small box. This way, when you set up, you can either spread the cloth over the surafce or set the objects on top of the box. I heard somewhere that should you choose to make it a cloth, you can turn it into a bag for your objects by threading a cord around the edges of a circluar cut of fabric. This way, when you pull the string tight, it folds in as a bag, ans when you let it slack, it flattens into an altar cloth.

Now, for what put inside your poratble altar, I suggest the following.

-One or more divination tools. I choose to bring my pendulum, as it seems to not suffer from being in a different environment. I would bring my tarot cards if I were bringing this in a several-day trip of some sort, but not for everyday outings. However, the choice is yours. I also bring my I-Ching coins, but I use them for other things besides just divination.

-a pentacle of some sort, or other symbol with meaning to you. Instead of buying another pentacle, I choose to simply take the pentacle charm off of my necklace and use that on occasion. You can buy your own or make them from clay. Or, perhaps you could buy a disk of wood and draw or burn the symbol on (all materials for this can be bought at a craft store for under five US dollards). If you want to focus on having an object of each element, this can be your tool for Earth.

-A crystal. There are infinate possibilities here. You may want to select a few crystals based on what purposes you are likely to need them for. You may choose your birthstone or crystals with personal meaning. And, on another note, when looking for these, I find it best not to go to a new age shop, as they often charge too much for crystals. The best crystals I own are from random sciency shops I stumble across, museum gift stores, and the like. Also note that your crystal does not have to be in raw form. Many of mine are tumbled and I even use crystals that are shaped and placed in jewlery. For example, I work with the bit of moonstone set in my pentacle all the time. If you are trying to have an object for each emelent, the crystals would be for fire. However, I find that tigers eye and red tigers eye seem to work the best when I need a specific crystal for fire.

-If you do not want your crystal to be for fire, you can bring a match (do not light it) or a candle (I would suggest you don't light this...but who knows, you might find a good time & place) or perhaps a battery powered candle that uses a flickering lightbulb. You might laugh, but the battery powered candles work wonders sometimes.

-Should you decide you want to actually bring the elements, you may put them in a vile of some sort. For example, you may want to bring a small vile of water, salt, dirt, sand, herbs, and so on. I personally don't do this just because I think those plastic viles are annoying.

-For air, many people get stuck on thinking they need incense. I say rubbish. Your possibilies are only limited by your interpretation. For portable altars, you can use (unlight)Incense; a feather; a fan something the colors yellow or white; or even symbols and carvings of birds butterflies, other flying bugs; something to represent God, Goddess, or Deities of Air; a carved piece of wood or stone with the characters for air written on it in magical alphabets; a symbol of the zodiac signs rules by air (aquarious, gemini, libera); or perhaps anotehr crystal corrosponding to air.

-For water, if you choose not to bring a vile or container of water, a symbol of it should do just fine. Perhaps you would like a small figure that's blue in color, or a symbol of an aquatic animal. A crystal with properties that corrospond to water can work as well, or you can bring a seashell.

-If you're stuck on having something to represent each element, one of the best sollutions I've come across was purchased at a local department store for under 10 US dollars. You know those pendent that open up so you can change what stone is inside? Bingo. Mine was gift, a simple heart necklace with interchangeable stones. However, instead of using my locket, I simply keep the stones with me if I need to bring crystals around. It consists of a heart shaped red jasper (fire), blue agate (water), jade (earth), clear quartz (air), onxy (spirit), and rose quartz for emotional matters and hematite for absorbing negativity.

So anyway, onwards to...

Materials

usually easy to come but of lying around your house right under your nose. Incense and candles are commonly used, either charged for the purpose or just to set the mood. A word of caution: don't rely to heavily on these things. I cannot tell you how many times I have heard that you NEED candles. That is a load of dung. You don't need to light a candle to be Wiccan.

For candles, there are alternatives. You may chose not to light it, which requires visualizing the flame and the heat. I have heard that this isn't a good idea because you can "get lazy". I dissagree wholeheartedly. While it's true, you want your rituals to be as rich as possible, this is a wonderful excercise for enhancing visualization skills. It keeps you on task, and you don't get bored (as I have with some excericises) because instead of yoru practice seeming like to no more then a mundane task, the visualising practice here will actually enhance your ritual. Battery powered ones are also a good idea. Unorthodox and even sometimes a mood-killer, they get a bad name. But I know people who were formerly in the navy and these things were perfect for them.

For portable or small alters, you may wish to include small figures or statues, the choice is yours.

So, if you can't have a full alter, it has been suggested that you have a small temporary one... However, the opposite can be just as worth while.

The Giant Altar

That's right, make a huge alter. Use your entire room, for example.

Should you chose to do this, place a candle holder and a candle at each corner of your room, or facing the four cardinal directions. This way, your tools simply look like decor.

suggestions for such methods are as follows:

1. As stated, put four candles in your room as directed.

2. Keep a vessel of water or a dish of some sort somewhere.

3. Keep a dish of salt or potted plant in your room as the earth element, and if it is a plant, it is already perfectly disguised.

4. Keep a paper, fabric, or traditional fan of your choice on display somewhere in a holder that keeps it upright.

5. keep a comfortable blanket or pillow that you may decorate as you chose for meditating or sitting on when you work.

6. Keep little charms out, such as statues, paintings, seashells, ect.

To work in this space, it is much like having a massive altar. You would purify your entire room before your start and when you work, light the candles (should you choose) and awknowledge the elements in the objects you have placed around the room. I would keep your pillow/blanket that is special for these workings in the center of the room, where you would keep most of your Magickal or Spiritual workings. The nice thing about this is, you are making a large place spiritual in a way that does not keep you confined. You can move around the room as needed, and cast the cricle wide enough so that all your scattered objects are included.

The only word of caution I wouyld say to people that use this method is that you should be sure to keep your room free of clutter as often as possible, but at LEAST duriing your workings. Otherwise, it heavily disrupts the flow of energy in the room. Plus, you wouldn't put trash on a conventional altar, so why would you do this should you choose a larger one?

and for those of you who, like myself, embrace feng shui, you might try re-arranging the furniature in your room to suit you purposes.

The Mental Altar

One solution, which I think deserves more credit them it gets, is to simply do this all in your mind. You can hold a ritual mentally, because ideally you want to grow spiritually, not just expand how much equiptment you own.

You may, especially if you have no access to any tools or even the simplest of materials, chose to cast a circle, meditate, and cast a ritual or prayer mentally, conjuring energy with only your will and visualizing the use of your tools. However, as this (to my experience) either hails spectacular results or non at all, you should try it at least a few times to get into the beat of things. Worst case scinario is that you decide this is not the right method for you, but in the process you have advanced your visualizing and meditating skills.

The Garden Altar

And thus, I bring you to my final; example, the garden alter.

This can be a tree stump. A heap of dirt. An abandoned dsandelion feild. The place on your garden where your favorite flowers grow. Near a river. Near a stream. Near a puddle. A little corner shaded by several trees. Even up in a tree, if you so choose. The possibilities are endless.

This is also ideal for working with plants, because you can use the herbs and plant life at your disposal without actually "using" them up. Fior example, should a working you choose call for, say, a rose, why not meditate in your garden next to a line of roses you planted a while back? I like this method because it teaches us that everything in nature is connected, and if you look at it a certain way, plant life is almost a cousin of ours. It is also a good skill to be able to harness the energy of plant life, and be able to use it's properties to our advantage without using them up once. You don't throw away your crystals once you've used them once, do you? This teaches you the same respect with plant life.

The only 'con' I see to this alternative, is that you may have difficulties with the weather, so I would suggest you also keep your magickal tools in a safe place elsewhere. Prehaps, if your primary space is outside, a portable altar would also suit you well.

To End With...

However, keep in mind that the idea of a sacred space is all about you. Divinity, be it the God & Goddess, or in any other form do not favor one place over the other. You are never in a place devoid of spirit, no matter where you are. Therefor, the point of a sacred space is so that you associate it with spiritual workings, and thus it is easier for you to get into a calm & open state of mind.

So, given this, it is also very possible that you can take any space available to you and make it sacred, simply with your own intent.

Your altar is essentially a place of personal expression. The more it draws your own personality and happieness, magic and Divinity will follow, so do not feel any pressure to do things 'THE' way.

This article has now been published here:

http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=uswa&c=teen&id=13488