Altar locations? Creative ideas? Space issues or not - show photos please!

FinoAllaFine said:

Where I live I have a little shelf where my crystals are currently lying unorganised. Maybe it's time to put them into a grid and include some kind of intention in there. What function do the candles serve in an altar? The shelf is in a wooden wardrobe so I wouldn't want to burn candles in there if avoidable. Would it be enough to set an intention for the grid, decorate the immediate surrounding area and let it do its thing?

I've never made one before

Click to expand...

Candles aren't necessary - they're just "traditional" and set the mood.
As stated previously - I hardly use candles because my partner's afraid I'll burn the house down.
LEDs are good.
You can have an alter and do your ritual in whatever way you like really.
On some Altars - the candles would represent the God and Goddess (say, a large black and white one), or the element of fire, or the WILL of the magickal practitioner... etc.

Ayram said:

Crap! I'm really sorry I write so much! Ugh I feel like a total narcissist!

Click to expand...

Bwahahahaha!
The challenge is finding people who are as interested as you in such subjects! - so you can all be narcissistic together!
Welcome to the club!

Just realised - I have to stick to Altars with actual Crystals in them...as this is a Crystal thread.

Lol.

Here are the rest of my in-door Altars... Can't get into the room to make a fresh one of Upasht because someone's sleeping in there right now.
The garden I'll photograph later...

1) The Lady Andraste (Opalite rabbit, technically, it should be a Hare for Andraste) - in the guest bathroom.
2) The Lord (no crystal - but you had to see her counterpart).
3) Buddha (Carnelian, and Herkimer diamond in his hands). On the floor between 2 plugs lol.
4) Angels... glass, no crystal (you could argue that it's a type of crystal solid - man-made.). Hanging from the ceiling in my Therapy room.
5) Anubis and Duamutef his son. Lapis jewellery box, round clear Quartz and a stone with Pyrite in it from Rio Caliente, Canada (a present from a friend)...

Then...

6) Dark Altar. This is a "working Altar" i.e. I change some of the display and put things on it
whilst doing spellwork etc. (The large ball is Selenite called BiancaNeive/SnowWhite, Obsidian mirror, Spelerite and Rainbow Obsidian eggs, Tiger Iron palmstone and mini ball, Onyx wolf, Large Smokey Quartz point, Black Tourmaline tumble stone, Smokey Quartz and Obsidian skulls, Blue Goldstone heart).
7) Crystals and Peyote Skull. Himalayan salt candle holder, Orange Calcite ball, Amethyst tray, Magnetized Hematite ball pair, Rose Quartz, petrified wood, Desert Rose. Lights in a jar at the back.

One Altar in the garden has Crystals on it... will photograph that later... when it stops raining.
(It's my "working Altar" in the garden).

Moderator Reminder

Tanga said:

Just realised - I have to stick to Altars with actual Crystals in them...as this is a Crystal thread
..

Click to expand...

I was just about to say this


This area is for Crystals and Herbs.
Other aspects of altars can be discussed in Spirituality.

Lovely pictures btw!

Here's my working garden Altar:
...It actually has a sleeping Angel above it on the second tier... but I didn't include her in the shot.
White Marble ball and Clear Quartz left. Rose Quartz, Citrine (irradiated Amethyst - I had a natural one double that size and I gave it away... hmn.), an Agate heart (?) - Right.
And I don't know what that green and black skull is made of...
On the Altar itself - Rutile Quartz, Unakite, banded Agate (black and white), and a blue piece of ceramic

I'm short of space too, but I've managed to set up a nice little alter in the corner or my bedroom, I've attached a pic.

I have two shelves on the wall and hang things from the shelves, also got a healing crystal grid on the chest of drawers which I keep most of my decks in if I don't have them on the top of the alter.

I wouldn't call them altars but mini-shrines or spiritual corners or focal points... and I have some of them.

Next to my bed, I keep a mini-shrine I made from a compass and things associated with the four directions.

http://i983.photobucket.com/albums/...lbstgemachtes/P4010011800x600_zps37c41114.jpg

I always keep it "tuned" to the North, and sometimes I put it next to me when I read the cards in the bedroom.

And I made an Altoid shrine that I always take with me when I travel.

http://i983.photobucket.com/albums/...lbstgemachtes/P4010006600x800_zpsc2b966c9.jpg

That's the front.

http://i983.photobucket.com/albums/...lbstgemachtes/P4010009800x600_zps7e529663.jpg

The inside: my inner child is represented by this picture I loved very much as a girl. My childhood world was lost in a horrible divorce war that my parents pulled out over many years, so this picture is my personal connection back to the time before that.

And of course another compass with symbols. The black stone in the Northern corner is a piece of coal from the mine where my great-grandfather worked.

http://i983.photobucket.com/albums/...lbstgemachtes/P4010010800x600_zps994f91f9.jpg

And the three Matrons on the back were cut from a picture I took some years ago when I went to visit the Matron temples in the Eifel area in Germany, very close to where I come from. They are for me strong spiritual symbols.

I have no pictures of the other corners, with crystals ands statues... maybe I should take pictures.

I've collected the things I want to put into my lararium but I didn't put it together yet. A lararium, an ancestor shrine, is something I want very much. I keep everything that belongs to it in one place and wait for inspiration how and where to put it together.

For me, the house is a sanctuary and I try to keep it that way without making the rest of the family uncomfortable.

Ayram said:

The problem is I have kids and gave one of our rooms up (has been a hobby room/sewing room, guest room and peaceful "zen" type room) to one of them - and that would have been a PERFECT room for this type of thing! So now I'm stuck putting together something in my bedroom...but there just doesn't seem to be a great space!

Click to expand...

I live with my family so my altar on the top a small bookshelf in my bedroom, in front of my bed, and my crystals are either on it or inside a basket I keep nearby. You don't need big spaces to have a nice altar, as long as the space is a reflection of you. I will try to take some photos of it when I get home.

I use window ledges, well actually 3 at the moment
I do worry that the sunlight through my clear quartz will set fire to something...reassure me please someone...

Ps Tanga- the SciFi altar is genius Reminds me I need more humour in my life.

earthair said:

I use window ledges, well actually 3 at the moment
I do worry that the sunlight through my clear quartz will set fire to something...reassure me please someone...

Ps Tanga- the SciFi altar is genius Reminds me I need more humour in my life.

Click to expand...

You could put something pretty on the window to screen down the light that's running through the Quartz?
My window ledge and the edge of the glass don't meet up so most of the crystals are screened by the window frame anyway.


Love the compass Altar Nemia

I've a new one with Isis on the floor... 'cause there's nowhere else for her presently.
She was just going to come out for group meetings... but she's too nice right now to hide away in a drawer...