My First Permanent Altar

I put up my first permanent altar today.  I know, I know, how can I have been doing this Wicca thing for so long without an altar?  I would make temporary ones for rituals and spells, but none of them ever felt very special, so I would take them down when I was finished.  I've been told over and over again how I needed an altar, but I was never able to build one that felt right.  Ever since joining the coven, I've been encouraged to have an altar, but nothing felt right still.

Today felt like the day to build an altar.  I have no idea why, but it felt right.  I have a little sunroom in my apartment that is referred to as "my nook."  I have a comfy chair in there and keep my crocheting basket in there.  It's my personal space in the apartment.  We moved in here over a year ago, but I hadn't done anything with it up until today.  I unpacked all of my nick nacks and pictures and spread them out on the floor and just left them there.  It's directly across from my front door so I look at it every time I leave and every time I come home.  I knew I needed to do something with it, but I couldn't figure out what.  I wanted to buy shelving and get a table to put in there but I just didn't have the money, so I just left it.  I recently went to the store and bought a large box and I packed all of my nick nacks away, today, and organized my crocheting.  I vacuumed, dusted, and got rid of all the cobwebs.

I used the box as a table top for my altar.  I put a green towel on top and started building it from there.  I went online and found artwork that I would like to represent the god and the goddess.  A friend bought me a set of crystal lotus candle holders, a couple years ago, and they are for my god and goddess candles.  My boyfriend has asthma and smoke irritates him, so I am unable to burn incense while he's home.  Instead I have a gold ostrich feather in a ceramic cup that I made years ago as a representation of air, in the east.  In the south, I have a candle holder with roses on it (roses are associated with fire) to represent fire.  I have a little blue dish with water and a large oyster shell, in the west, as a representation of water.  In the north, I have a small dish of sea salt and a geode, representing earth.  Right now, in the center, I have an affirmation that I pulled years ago that has always resonated with me.  That will probably move at some point, but for now it's there.  My athame will also be added at some point as well, but for now it's not there until I consecrate it.

My altar... not a great picture since I took it with my phone, but still my altar!

Even without it being formally consecrated, it feels right.  As I write this blog, I am sitting in my living room, two rooms away from where my altar sits.  Despite that, I feel it pulling me toward it, calling to me to come sit by it, whispering to light the candles and bask in their light.  It's simple and small, but I love it.