What is a Self Love Altar?
A self love altar is a place that represents your devotion to yourself. It is a physical representation of the love you have for yourself through items that symbolize you. It is a place you can practice self care or create magical workings regarding self love. It is a place to build a better relationship with yourself.
Where Do I Set Up My Altar?
The most important thing is to have a sacred place. This can be in your home, outside, a portable travel container, etc.
If you want to use a space in your home: Choose an area that is able to be free of distractions that would bother you. This can be in a favorite room of your house. It can also be as big of a space as you want. Some good options include a small shelf, the top of a dresser, the countertop in your bathroom, etc.
If you want to use an outdoor space: You can use a small space in your backyard. You can decorate this space to make it special to you: fairy lights, planting a garden with corresponding herbs like rose or lavender, sigils carved into a fence or nearby tree. A porch or patio can also work. You can get potted plants and paint sigils on the bottoms of them. If you plan to travel a bit farther, like to a nearby lake or a favorite spot in a forest, read about the travel altar below.
If you want to use a travel altar: You can use any container to pack your items. A basket or a tote bag with pockets for optimal organization are good options to carry a lot at once. A smaller and more discrete option would be a mint container. You could easily throw this into a bag or pocket to take with you on your travels. Bonus: because it is so discrete, it's a great option for those in the broom closet.
What Do I Include On My Altar?
Note that all of the items listed below are optional. Pick and choose what you want to include and what works for you and your practice. Some of these items can be found at your local dollar tree, 99¢ store, 5 below, etc. Others can be found on amazon, at your local metaphysical shop, or an etsy store. Find or diy what you can and want.
A mirror. You can use this to reflect where you are on your journey to self love in this current moment.
A picture of yourself during a happy moment. This serves as a reminder to yourself that good times have happened and are bound to come again.
A personal journal. You can use this journal for shadow work, writing down spells, writing diary entries, keeping a gratitude log, etc. I personally use mine to write letters to my past and future selves. I practice forgiveness and understanding when writing to my past self. I also use it to vent when writing to my future self. It's nice to go back and look at these letters and see how things worked out or unfolded and to remind myself that the universe has my back.
Magical workings. If you have a current spell that you are working on that centers around self love, keep it on your altar. I have a couple of spell jars on my blog, such as this self love one.
Divination items. You can use these to help you cue yourself into what you need most in life.
Candles or incense in a scent that corresponds to a specific intention that you have (i.e., rose for self love). You may wish to light this before beginning any working or journaling.
Crystals that correspond to your intention (i.e., citrine for increased happiness). These can be good to meditate with, use as worry stones, or charge the altar space.
Makeup and/or perfume. This can be good for glamour magic.
Self care items, such as things for facials or mani pedis. These items are good to take care of yourself. You can pamper yourself as a reminder that you deserve to have time to yourself.
An Important Note: Before Setting Up Your Altar
Be sure to cleanse the area of any negative energies. Wipe down any surfaces with a cleansing spray or charged oil. You can also use incense smoke. Charge the space with crystals, rose water, infused moon water, etc.
Feel free to use your altar the way you want to. Below are just some helpful tips that I typically do. Feel free to change anything or to follow them as you please.
Light your candles or incense. If you cannot use fire, opt to use digital candles on apps or youtube.
Write in your journal with whichever purpose you chose to use it for (shadow work, gratitude, letters, diary entries, etc.).
Think about what you wrote. How does it impact your daily life? If it is something negative, how do you want to grow from it? If it is something positive, how do you want to continue to manifest it?
Meditate on these thoughts. Imagine the good in your life and the goals you have manifesting. Imagine the negativity in your life being banished and leaving you for good.
If you practice divination, use any divination items you would like.
Decide on an affirmation or mantra for your day or week, depending on how often you want to change it. I like to use my altar once a week or more if I can. Each time I feel drawn to my altar, I like to manifest self love for the next couple of days with a newly chosen mantra.
All About Shadow Work: a beginner's guide / a small list of prompts
All About Glamour Magic: a brief explanation / a couple example spells
