Wicca Altar and Tools: A Beginner’s Guide to Wiccan Altars, Tools for Spellwork, and Casting the Circle: Volume 2 (Wicca for Beginners Series)

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Pentacle – this is a common one within the Wiccan community. If you don’t identify with it that’s totally ok too! Like I said in the last section, a lot of what will go into your altar is a mix of personal preference and practical considerations. So, this section is not so much a guide for constructing the “ideal” altar–rather, it’s more about making you aware of the basic altar set up and why certain witches design their altars in certain ways. If you are an Eclectic practitioner and feel connected to Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism or any other spiritual traditions, you can add images or figures that symbolize your beliefs and remind you of who you are. If you are devoted to a specific deity, you could add a statue or drawing of them on your altar. For example, statues of the Wiccan Deities.

But I will say this– think about the primary purpose of your altar and then make space for those objects and tools that help you to accomplish that purpose. An altar is a personal thing for a Wiccan, and its purpose can vary from witch to witch. But that being said, there are some broad, common themes that tend to crop up when you ask a witch about the importance her altar. One of the most beneficial and simple things you can do is to put a little gratitude out there into your space, every day. An altar for that purpose can remind you to give thanks, and it can also be a visual reminder of all the goodness that your are blessed with. Here are a couple of ideas that can accelerate your practice: If you already have a journal that you use to record what you are grateful for, you can create an altar, as simple or elaborate as you like, as a place to frame your journal. maybe it leans visibly against a wall, surrounded by colorful stones, shells or feathers. Perhaps you have a candle there that you light while you write. You can imagine the energies of those gratitudes floating up with the heat of the flames to imbue your surroundings, your life, with that positive energy. When it comes to creating a witch altar for yourself, there really are no rules! Altars are personal and should be an authentic reflection of who you are and where you wish to grow. Different types of witches will place importance on different objects and aesthetics. Wiccans who have the space sometimes choose to dedicate an entire room of their home to their craft, with the altar being the central focus of the space.

Creating a Wiccan Altar

Initiation: The rites that put a budding witch on the path to making things official, by joining a coven after studying its practice, traditionally for a year and a day. The initiations that follow eventually allow the initiate the opportunity to become a high priest or high priestess; those with enough knowledge, experience, and dedication can become the leader of a Wiccan coven. Spells, particularly ones around manifestation, work best when done for yourself rather than others. We struggle enough to figure out what we truly want, let alone what others truly want.

Throughout these four stages, you must remain open to the possibility of what you desire and visualize your life as though it has already materialized. Unless you believe it can happen, it won’t. Trust that you will receive what you need. It’s equally important to be grateful for everything you already have, even when seeking more. North (earth): A crystal, some soil from the ground, a flower or plant, stone, or bone. Candle colors and their meaning If you need to keep your witch’s altar secret, plan where you will set it up and how it will be stored when not in use. What to include on your witch’s altar The feminine element of earth. Represent it with stones, plants, leaves, flowers, salt, soil, bones, a pentagram, or any green or brown-colored object.This is typically not the first thing that comes to mind in regards to the benefits of an altar, but there’s no denying that having one is an organizational godsend.

On a practical level, a Wiccan altar is a centralized place where all your most important tools for spellcasting reside. There’s a lot less hunting for missing objects when they have a designated space. The next step is gathering items that help you feel how you want to and embody this vibe. Anything that feels right to you. Anything you’re instantly drawn to.

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Ceremonial: The by-the-book practice of placing the highest value in—not to mention expertly executing—ceremonies and rituals. If you feel particularly drawn to the power and beauty of nature, there’s nothing wrong with creating an outdoor altar. It actually sounds pretty cool. But there are some things to keep in mind about this. Halloween is right around the corner, but that’s not the only reason witches seem to be everywhere as of late. Increasingly, they’ve been popping up all over the place, from pop culture—see: Luca Guadagnino’s remake of the horror film Suspiria, Netflix’s remake of Sabrina the Teenage Witch—to the runways of Fashion Week (Celine and Burberry were just two of the seemingly dozens of brands that served up witchy vibes this past season alone). There are, of course, deeper things at play: Witchcraft and covens have also proven to be a source of solace and solidarity for some in the #MeToo era, following an increasing association between witches and feminism.

This post explains a bit about the many ways you can create a powerful magical witch’s altar that is perfect for you and your practice. If you are in a hurry – jump to the seven-step process below. On the other hand, if your altar serves a very specific purpose–like honoring a deity or performing a specific kind of spell–you might be better served by paring down the objects on your altar. This will allow you to really focus on those elements that are amplifying your purpose to its fullest potential. Personal Items + Offerings: Using your altar space to hold artwork, pictures, old photos, really anything that is especially significant and personal to you is a great way to keep memories, pets, or people close to us. Other personal items like bones, shed skin, feathers, antlers, and more can be added to altars for various reasons; as element representations (ex: feathers are Air, antlers are Earth), to invoke that particular creatures energy or spirit in your ritual work, or even as offerings to deities. Please note that we do not in any way encourage folks to seek out animal or human remains through harmful and unethical means, as these living beings are meant to be treated with respect and kindness, always. Simply put, an altar is a physical object or set of objects placed in a purposeful way, and in a purposeful place, that have spiritual significance to you, or that represent an element, archetype or energy whose influence you would like to have present in your spiritual practice. Altars are sacred spiritual spaces, however small or large. Witchcraft isn’t just fun and games; perks like hexes and love spells can come with a price. The infamous Salem witch trials may seem far in the past, but the persecution of witches (or those suspected of witchcraft) continues today. Despite the mainstream’s growing fascination, the past few years have also seen, for example, a whopping 900 percent rise in (at times lethal) child-abuse cases linked to suspicion of witchcraft and demonic possession in the U.K. There are, of course, methods of protection, like carrying an evil eye. The easiest one, however, is to simply not go around shouting about your newfound identity. Choose your path.Set an object representing the Goddess on the left side of your altar. In Pagan and Wiccan beliefs, the Goddess represents the divine feminine and symbolizes objects like the moon, the right brain (or the left half of the body), the unconscious, and the night. Just choose an item that symbolizes the Goddess and place it to the left of your altar. Some common representations for the Goddess are: [7] X Research source