Tarot Shadow Work--Whats on your altar?

cyan

My alter is a square board I liberatered from SO's vast collection in the garage and then set on a smaller plastic box that holds some craft stuff I'm not currently using. Now it gets better because my cloth is a piece of cotton I found at the local quilting store and bought just because. It is black with dark purple cloudy splotches and covered with irridessent spiders and their webs.

On the alter there is a picture of a sinister looking witch, with cats, under a sliver of a moon. Then there is a black candle, a pair of elaberate silver and onyx earrings, a little pewter statue of a woman with a snaky sort of dragon wrapped around her, a big hemitite and pewter pendent, and a ebony wood antique hand mirror.
When I lay the picture and candle down I can slide the whole thing under my love seat.

I was explaining to SO what I am doing and showed him the new alter so if he saw it he wouldn't think I was going round the bend. HE said it isn't sinister looking at all compared to the ones he saw as he grew up in the Phillippines. Well, shoot and darn. But I like it.
 

Yogi Cat

For my altar I have now got a purple cloth and a black/purple candle which goes well together - I have added some more crystals and another butterfly - a photo of a wolf. I guess I will change more as time goes on.
 

Tor

I have placed my altar practically on my table by the sofa, using half of the table.

I have two golden candles there, an oil-burner, an incense-burner, an amethyst, a ruby, two quartz and a small winnie the pooh for protection, my inner child and a symbol of pure love ;)

I also have lots of silver stars spread over the table.

I just took what I had, knowing that's good enough :)
 

Ladyhawke

Running late....yup, that's me.... ;)

My altar is a small end table that I have in the corner of my bedroom next to my bed. The table was made by my (great?) grandfather, and it's got an inlaid surface. In the center is a large sunflower and around the edges are stars and....*gasp* pentagrams. Probably not recognized as such, but once I spotted those, I claimed that table really quick! :D

On top of the table, I have a black cloth that has silver-gray crescent moons and stars (with a little bit of glittery material as part of the fabric to give it a little sparkle). In the back corners, I have white taper candles in plain lucite holders, and a black votive in a plain glass holder in the center of the back. Between the left candle and the center votive, I have a smooth black/dark gray stone. Between the right candle and the votive, I have a black clay turtle and a tumbled piece of fluorite. Immediately in front of the candles, I have a plain wooden incense burner, and in front of that I have the majors I'm going to use (Fantastical Tarot) fanned across the table. At the right of the cards is a poppet I made a couple years ago for some shadow work I was doing then.

Ladyhawke
 

darwinia

Gee, I feel completely out of it. I never connected at all with this chapter in Christine Jette's book on making an altar. My 3 Siamese cats would have it obliterated in 30 minutes, and what they didn't wreck would fall on the floor for the dog to chew.

I also don't like the feeling of being anchored to a set of symbols to prepare my mind for this work. It's like I could never reflect or do the work without the trigger of an altar. It would be meaningless to me as I prefer to use my mind only to calm itself and prepare. I equate it with training a dog : some people use treats during training and others train with voice and will alone. I feel foolish admitting this but I've never understood crystals and rituals for purification etc. I find it fascinating that other people do though--kind of like different tastes in food--the delights of every country are interesting!

I do like the idea of a decorated box or something portable to house the cards and book. I finally purchased a Universal Waite deck and that's what I'm using for this rather than a more specialized deck. I have a general tarot binder/journal that I'm using for writing in, but maybe instead of an altar, a specially decorated box would be nice?

Judy
 

SherryZoned

Whatever works for you! In the end i have not done my first spread yet..I think i need to just dive in..and I wont be setting up an altar..it is very hard to do with kids and my mom would freak..so do what works best for you!
 

autumnsdaughter

Reviving this thread... I started working on my altar tonight... I have a small black table that I am using. Over the top, I laid a large silk scarf, that is black, red, and white for the triple goddess. Over that, I draped a black velvet stole that I use as a spread cloth. On the table, I have a Rhiannon statuette that is red and black, numerous quartz crystals, including a sphere and wand, some tiger eye, obsidian, hematite, lapis, and rose quartz. That's all that I have on there right now, but that will probably change... I want to get a couple candles, and maybe make a black mirror. Oh, and I have some water that I infused in the recent lunar eclipse... that will be perfect to work with the shadow.

So, what's on your shadow altar?
 

Jewel

Jewel said:
My statue of the Millenia Gaia, incence my tiger eye and amethyst. Keeping an altar is not very practical for me as I am between homes at the moment. Once I move, I think for the most part it will reside on the canopy of my computer and I will move the items down to the surface when in use. Not original but very practical. As for the deck, I plan to use The Healing Tarot. I am currently using it with the book Tarot for Self-Discovery and I think it will be perfect.
Well this no sooooooo no longer applies to me 6 years later *LOL*. I am married, and though my hubby has no issues with my tarot stuff, my cats would certainly knock off any cards I left on any surface I chose to call an altar. I am just not an altar kind of person. So when I re-read the chapter on this I will have to see what I will do. I do still have my lovely Millenia Gaia that I equate with Goddess/Mother Earth, and have a real spiritual attachment to her, but the canopy of my computer hosts my Pena Dragon collection and some crystals, and I am not moving them *LOL*.

I am thinking that my shadow altar will be dining room or kitchen table during the time I do shadow work. Nothing permanent, and I will probably not be adorning it with anything special. Like I said, I am just not an altar kind of gal.

As for the deck I plan to use ... the Silver Bohemian Gothic.
 

inanna_tarot

well i've had read this chapter a few times and I have put the spreads on my old altar, where I have candles and all my tools and pretty things on. But the way I use altars has changed as I work now more with a peruvian mesa style altar and I haven't quite worked how to incorperate the two and if I need to do that for my the process.

What I would like to do is have a stone or some sort of as a symbol of my shadow working, something to hold as part of the process.
 

Jewel

inanna_tarot said:
What I would like to do is have a stone or some sort of as a symbol of my shadow working, something to hold as part of the process.
I love this idea, as I am not an altar person. Having a crystal that represents the work I will do would be an excellent way to represent the work, it could be portable, and something I pull out and put on my work space each time I sit down to work on the Shadow Work. Thank you for this fabulous idea Inanna! I have a wonderful green crystal I got from A. Nonny Mouse, that feels so healing, I think it would be perfect!