#altar tips

I like to leave a food item as well as a drink— because to me, leaving an offering feels similar to inviting someone to my dining table— but the food can be as simple as a pinch of whatever you’re eating, and the drink can be as simple as a cup of water or a splash of tea.

These are my initial thoughts about how to make an altar with a goblincore theme/how the goblins would make altars in the fictional goblin culture I've been creating. 

These tips are definitely a little biased and based on what I have on my own witchcraft altar at home, but I haven’t seen anyone else creating a Goblin Witch Path so I guess I’m creating it all myself! Feel free to take some of these ideas or even comment some other suggestions/questions. I am slowly building this path and the goblin culture around it so I will probably add or change some things as I go. 

1. The Surface; traditionally goblins used to collect items on top of tree stumps or smooth boulders to create an altar. In more recent times goblins favour a chest of drawers which they can store collections or tools under the altar to share the power. 

2. Imagery; images of goblins is essential, either deities, family members, or a mirror to see the self in the magical space. 

3. Jars; goblins will collect their most precious treasures or ingredients in glass jars and will display these on the altar. 

4. Boxes/Plates/Bowls/Tins; goblins use vessels in a lot of their magick, some of these inherited, others created by the goblin themselves.

5. Divination Tools; goblin divining often involves charms, unique handmade runes, bones, or other objects from nature. 

6. Light; goblins view an altar is ‘working’ or ‘on’ when it is lit up by something. They may use candles, small lights, even glow-in-the-dark objects to achieve this effect. 

7. Noise makers; there will often be something on a goblins altar that makes a noise, whether that be bells, rattles, shakers, drums, singing bowls, or breathing instruments like harmonicas or ocarinas. 

8. Nature Treasures; goblins value what they find in nature, and showing parts of their collections on the altar is important. These might include mushrooms, crystals, shells, bones, leaves, flowers, sea glass, pebbles, water they’ve collected, even sticks if they have space! 

That’s all I have for now, but I thought this was a good starter kit without getting too specific yet. Thank you for reading! 

If you love aesthetic altars on Pinterest and Tumblr, then you might want to make one of your own. But how do you erect pia pretty altar that’s still functional? This blog post should help.

Here are some tips:

Determine your altar’s function. What will you do at this altar? Will you be writing, lighting candles, or giving offerings? Knowing the function will encourage you to include must-have items first.

Sort through what you already have before going out and buying new items. You might be surprised by what works with the altar’s purpose.

Divide your stuff into three piles: “must-haves” for essentials, “maybes” for items that are optional, and “no’s” for items that are not appropriate for this particular altar.

Establish symmetry. On each side of the altar, place two items of similar heights (such as statues). It’ll look put-together that way.

Arrange the largest items first, such as books, statues, mirrors, and large candles. Remember to focus on the “must haves!”

Include items of varying heights. If you need more height, stack items on top of books or boxes.

Fill in the gaps with smaller items.

✨TRUTH SPELL✨

It’s been a minute since I did any sort of candle work, but yesterday I brushed off the cobwebs and tried something new for me—a truth spell.

This spell was super easy and pretty fun to do—and gave me results in less than a day.

Let’s break it down…. These are just the basics, since everyone practices differently and should feel free to add their own flare to this:

🧿 etch what you want to know into the wax of a blue candle

🧿 dress the candle with oil, cinnamon, and coffee grounds

🧿 on a piece of paper, write the person’s name or the situation nine times

🧿 turn paper 90 degrees and write your name nine times, making a # pattern

🧿 put the paper underneath the candle, then light the candle, saying out loud what truth you want to come to light

🧿 just before the candle burns out, take the paper and light it on fire, letting it burn up in a cauldron or bowl

🧿 once the candle and the paper burn out, toss the paper remains into the wind

Considering making an altar but don’t know where to start? This long-ass post should cover all the bases of altar building for those of you who are interested but stuck. This post is pretty vague on purpose, altars are an interesting grey area of this practice. When you build an altar you can’t really go wrong, it’s something for you to take control of and decide for yourself.

📖This is all taken from my grimoire so feel free to add any info of your own in a rb or in the comments.📖

🌻What is an altar?🌻

Altars are a magical work space for any witch/pagan/wiccan/other. 

Historically altars and shrines were built all over the world in different cultures to house offerings and worship the gods/spirits/ancestors.

The difference between an altar and shrine can depend on the culture you’re looking at but generally an altar is both a work space and a place of worship and a shrine is solely a place of worship (the Theatron of Athens was an altar as it served as a place to house offerings and a communal performance space).

Modern day altars however are more private and unique to the practitioner/s. Altars and shrines can now be created using anything and include many different types.

There are many ways to think outside the box with altar building but don’t think you have to make one just because every other witch does.

🌻Types of altars🌻 (not an inclusive list)

- Home/family altar🏠: This serves as the energy centre of the home that is shared by the entire family. It can be simplistic, change with the seasons, and feature something representing each family member. (this is one that my dad built that lives in our kitchen). 

- Personal altar: This altar is usually only connected to 1 or 2 people and kept separate from the rest of the family in a bedroom/box/draw. It can be put anywhere and be of any size (mine used to be on a shelf in my wardrobe and now it sits on the window) This altar is very personal to the practitioner often representing their passions and/or their patron. (this is my own to Dionysus and Apollo but it also includes my desk and bookshelf next to it since the window is so small).

- Working Altar: This altar is very practical. It’s only taken out when it’s needed for spells/rituals and is unique to the spell and it’s intention. If you want this type of altar then when you build it think carefully of what corresponds to the outcome you wish for.

- Shrine: (a form of altar to some, completely separate to other but I’m including it just in case). Created to honour a specific deity/creature/spirit. This is used to house offerings and pray.

-Travel/mini altar: Often stored away in a box/tin. Travel/mini altars can consist of small trinkets to carry around when you’re away from your larger altar or have to conceal your magic (it’s great for witches in the broom closet but depending on the size it could go missing).

- Image altar📷: Less traditional but very creative. An image altar could be a collection of images on Photoshop (for techies), a collage of pictures on a wall or board, or even a drawing of an altar (It’s personal, inconspicuous and it doesn’t matter if you can draw or not). I made this one in my sketchbook using pencil, ink and watercolour.

- Love/self care altar❤: This altar is fully dedicated to self care, loving yourself, or introspection. It includes things that have a lot of meaning to you and make you happy when you’re down (I have one by my bedside and use it when I feel shitty, I also use this space to contact my spirit guide).

🌻Supplies🌻 (again not an inclusive list)

These are some general supplies to have for an altar but this doesn't mean that anything is 100% necessary.

- A flat surface: This can be anywhere with enough space to display everything.

- A cloth: Not just to protect the surface or fragile objects, it can be a sign of respect to your patron.

- Incense/oil diffuser: To smell nice and can be used to cleanse the space.

- Candles: Decoration, to represent fire or your patron, for candle magic, and meditation.

- Bowl/dish: To hold any offerings.

- Cup/chalice/bottles: For drink offerings, to represent water, to hold water for a spell.

- Matches/lighters: If you include candles.

- Crystals/stones: Decoration, could also be elemental/seasonal/represent the chakra.

- Wand/athame: Can be used to direct energy in a spell.

- Bell: To represent air, to call spirits/your patron.

- Mortar & Pestle: To grind up any ingredients in a spell.

🌻Building an Altar🌻

This is part is going to be a simple guide to building a personal altar (I will be using my own preference for deities as an example but you don’t have to).

1- Find a space: Think about where you want to work and consider the energy you get from different spaces (also consider any pets and fragile objects).

2- Find a surface: This can be as big as you like. I’ll be using my art desk as an example, I took everything off it and cleaned it before I did anything else.

3- Get a cloth: Fabric from a craft shop or an old scarf/veil are perfect and come in any available colour and size. In terms of colour you can chose one of your favourites, something seasonal or something to represent your patron. 

4- Set your intention: Now this is the time to decide what your altar is going to be used for. You can pick a centre piece that reflects this. 

I wanted to connect with the gods so I made the centre of the altar about myself and my deities go on either side. The centre piece I chose is a picture of a fairy scene I’ve had for a very long time.

5- Candles: The next thing to put down are candles (or any source of light). The light acts as the switch to turn on your altar and give light to any patron for when you want to communicate.

6- Tools: If you want to include any tools from the previous list then now is the time to chose where you want to put them (I included a cup of water, an incense holder, a bell, and a wand).

7- Decoration: Next is to add any personal decoration that can go wherever you like. I put mine in the centre piece.

8- (OPTIONAL) Representing patrons: This step is optional because it isn’t necessary to have a patron in your practice.

Because of the intention I decided on in step 4, I places the decoration representing my patrons on either side of my altar (btw these photos were before I switched from Aphrodite to Apollo so I apologies for the inconsistency).

I left a large space empty to use for when i’m writing in my grimoire, performing a spell or doing a tarot reading. I didn’t include this in my real altar because it’s a decorative section.

🌻Tips🌻 

- There are templates that you can follow if you really want to. They’re usually for a large traditional elemental altar though (I personally don’t recommend them because it’s boring and not very creative).

- An altar can be as big or as small as you like and you have no rules or expectations and it doesn’t have to be just one surface.

- If you want an altar for a spirit/deity/fae as well as their respective candle, you could include a candle for yourself to represent your own spirit to stay connected with them.

- An altar is a very subjective thing, if it’s personal it should change with your interests (like from light and fire the first year to sea and sand the next year).

-There are hundreds of videos on altars here’s a few I recommend you look at: 

The Witch Of Wonderlust- All About Altars:  https://youtu.be/p3ysPbvQa7c

Molly Roberts- Sacred Spaces and Kick Ass Altar Crafts: https://youtu.be/_kcki25BY6o

Harmony Nice- My Wiccan Altar II And how to set up yours: https://youtu.be/tGWkNeoE6RY

You get a Treat!

Here is a witch tip for you!

Let’s talk about altars.

Here is my altar tour.

If you have an altar, or want to have one in your practice, a great way to do it is on the wall. Especially if you don’t have much space.

In my general or main altar I have 4 main sections for the gods and ungods, glorious dead, and any spirits that I am honoring. One section is for my ancestors, one is for my house/apartment spirit, one is for my animal spirit guides (the crow and raven), and one is for a deity I want to honor but it’s not their main season or feast day. This one is for Mannanan Mac Lir.

Then I have my storage shelves, one with a Book of Kitchen Wisdom and a musical box’s to remember my grandpa by, one is for magical artifacts, enchanted jewelry, wands or crystals, and small spell bottles/jars. The last is for my chime candles, and other small crystals on top. That way they are still in a magical location and oraganized!

I also have a blessing for my magical workspace on here.

I hope these ideas inspire you to add to your own altar space or help you set up your new space!

Happy Halloween