Did you make a Tarot Solstice Altar?

[hunter]

Did you make a Tarot Solstice Altar?

I used orange and green tea lights from Yankee Candle. I used the DruidCraft deck. And some crystals from my "Crystal Wisdom Kit" on the cards to give them some more punch.

Of course my Venus of Willendorf replica plays center stage.

I printed out a copy of the Hidden Path oracle card for Winter Solstice and stuck it on the wall with some adhesive putty.

I have no plants :-(

 

[Morwenna]

I never got around to making an altar at all. And, the season being busy as it is, I haven't even done a reading since before Thanksgiving. I ought to rectify that soon... But there won't be an altar this year, I'm afraid. For one thing, at the moment no space!

 

[Briar Rose]

I have an alter I keep up and take care of all year. I didn't get around to making another one. I wanted to make an outside one. Everything is just so frozen out there. It's always 20F or worst 7F outside. I have a feeling this is going to be an extra cold winter.

 

[Carla]

I have an altar that I use for meditation, but I never thought of decorating it for Yule. I keep it covered over when not in use, it is not for display. So maybe my altar is different from other people's. It is a low table that I sit in front of during meditation. I have statues of Buddha, Kwan Yin, Ganesh and Jesus on it, a Tibetan singing bowl and a white candle. Despite feng shui guidelines not to put an altar at the foot of a bed, mine is in the corner by the foot of my bed. It's the only place it would fit. I considered storing my tarot cards there but decided to keep them in separate bags in a basket, with a silk cloth draped over it on my bedside table.

 

[Sulis]

The term 'altar' suggests some sort of religious connection and I don't see any religious connection with tarot at all.
A Solstice Altar seems more pagan but I'm not sure I get the link at all between the two concepts of tarot and an altar.
Could you explain or do you just mean what tarot deck do you have on your altar since it's Solstice time?

 

[hunter]

I thought people made altars with tarot cards on them all the time, after reading "Tarot for all Seasons" and chatting with certain people online.

I have informal altars on the top of a couple of my bookcases. Each have a goddess figurine or a goddess picture stuck to the wall above.

My purple altar has my "purple KISS IDS" stuff on it, some candles, an amethyst and Kwan Yin looking down on it.

I described my current Solstice altar above. The cards I picked from the Druidcraft were what spoke to me, not always the suggestions in "Tarot For All Seasons". In this order, I laid out, Queen of cups (dreamy, sad, full moon, dark), Ace of Pentacles (hibernating bear, dark), The Sun (typical happy child on horse), Ace of Pentacles (big sun and a stag), 9 of cups (solitary man in a dim room, alone at a table with 9 cups and smiling and content).

The cards form a progression for me of moving on from where I am before the solstice to where I want to get. More sunshine and more positive mood.

I use the crystals from "The Crystal Wisdom Kit" on my cards alot, because they came with divination meanings like manifestation, integration, expansion, transformation, clarification, protection, etc. I feel like they give certain cards more energy. I also recently bought a cheap, used copy of "Crystal Decoder" from Amazon to expand my crystal collection.

The cards on my altar are often a non verbal prayer. A request, sometimes a thank you. Sometimes just a decoration.

There are always cards laid out on my altars/bookcase tops. I no longer can imagine NOT having a tarot altar.

 

[Wendywu]

I have one altar in my house. It's a wooden pine box that I varnished and polished. Inside it is a bucketful of soil from Bodmin Moor in Cornwall (my home country and my favourite place in the world). On top are some feathers - two of which I found at the base of the altar stone at the Hurlers Stone Circle on Bodmin Moor last time I visited to give thanks. There are a couple of feathers that Mi-Shell sent me, some crystals that have come from all sorts of places and/or given to me. I have one large black pillar candle and one large white pillar candle. There is a gorgeous quartz Venus of Willendorf (2" tall and primeval). And there is an amethyst chunk that's about the same size as an orange.

My rattle is there too, when I am not learning to use it. My drum rests up against it, and my home made copy of the Ironwing is also on the altar.

It is the heart of my home.

 

[Morgane_49]

I have a permanent altar, and occasionally a deck will wind up sitting on it, or cards and candles for a tarot spell will wind up there, but it isn't dedicated to tarot.

I've got so much stuff sitting on it that I don't even have space to do a reading there unless it's a simple 3 card (or less) spread!

 

[hunter]

I've got so much stuff sitting on it that I don't even have space to do a reading there unless it's a simple 3 card (or less) spread!

Oh I've never done a reading ON the altar. I've placed cards from a reading on it though. If it was a large one and all the cards were important I would not spread them out, but put them in a pile.

Tarot is just such a part of each day...that I cannot imagine not having at least one card on an altar. It's just not finished.

 

[Starshower]

I keep a 'Nature-Table', like they used to do in Infant & Primary schools - honouring Nature with seasonal treasures like acorns, conkers, holly & intertwined ivy, dried flower heads, seashells, stones & crystals, etc.
Does that count?
I sometimes put Tarot cards on there as aids to focus on what I want to manifest or attract into my life; for meditation, celebration & sheer pleasure & joy.
Like you, Hunter, I use & love the Zerner-Farber deck, the Tarot of Transformation, & the Druidcraft.
I too have candles: a white & a black - like Boaz & Jachin of the HP in the Masonic 'Solomon's Temple' of the soul. Sometimes a bowl of water too, & feathers / a flute or bell, perfume, crystals etc to represent all 4 elements.

Happy 3 days of Solstice, everyone! The Light is reborn in darkness.