Hello there! Yes, YOU! the little hellenist reading this post! Have you been wanting to start taking your worship of Hermes a little bit more seriously? Because I have, and I have just the thing for you! Hermes is a trickster, but also a very fun, very intelligent god who loves his followers, and is more than willing to grant his protection and deliverance unto them! Wether you’re a lawless little anarchist like me who seeks his protection from the not always fair side of the law, a traveller or wanderer who is looking for some shielding and luck on the road against the backdrop of a big, scary world, or simply a mail carrier who sees the king of mail himself as an idol to be followed, allow me to offer some ideas on how we can craft a little altar space for the hectic and honorable Hermes!
• STEP ONE: colors and cloth:
When it comes to the domain of color, there’s actually a lot of mixed opinions when it comes to Hermes, as he’s one of the only Olympians whose sacred colors are not really divulged explicitly. Some say that red and green are the colors traditionally associated with him, but I feel like most devotees I know or follow seem to associate him with blue, yellow, and orange. Therefore, any cloth, a base fabric or cloth, the first thing you’ll add to your altar as the base everything else sits upon, would probably be best suited in this color scheme! You also may want your cloth to have more character, and it never hurts to have some symbolism on your fabric, which I’ll get to shorty! You can usually find cheap fabric at craft and thrift stores such as Johanns, Value village, or other local shops!
• STEP TWO: dishes and vessels:
The next thing you’ll want to add to your altar are some of the larger, more utilitarian pieces you wish to decorate with, these can include things like tarot decks, teacups or plates to hold offerings, offering bowls, candles, or books. It is also a good idea to select bowls, dishes, and teacups that line up with the iconography and sacred symbolism of the god the altar is dedicated to. For example, in my altar to Freyja, I have a small teacup with strawberries on it to honor her favorite fruit in Norse mythology! For Hermes, there are a couple different common icons you can look for, these include ironically, strawberries as well, as well as hawks, feathers, coins, gold trimmed and detailed, or gold painted pottery, String instruments, and the Greek key pattern!
• STEP THREE: Idols and tributes:
Another important way to respect your altar and it’s god is to decorate it with Idols of them, like statues, sketches, or other artworks depicting them! You can also donate tributary items to the altar, such as little figurines or charms of things associated with them, for example, my Artemis altar has a small porcelain cat figurine, and my Freya altar has a guilloche heart trinket. In an altar for Hermes, perhaps a statuette of a cherub with a lyre or harp, or a figurine of a mail carrier, or of one of Hermes sacred animals like a cow or ram, would make an appropriate idol for your altar space?
• STEP FOUR: traditional offerings:
Some traditional offerings like food, drink, crystals, herbs, flowers, etc. are an important, and very easy offer to make to your altars, and can easily be placed in the vessels and dishes you keep on the altar space. These offers vary drastically and personally on the god associated with them, but I’ll list some examples that I think would be good fits for Hermes below!
🌸 Crocus, Hydrangea, baby’s breath
🫚 olive oil, myrtle, sandalwood, Saffron
💎 citrine, blue lace agate, blue topaz, Aquamarine, Pyrite.
🍗 strawberries, olives, honey.
• STEP FIVE: ICONOGRAPHY:
The final step to creating your altar is the use of divine iconography. These symbols, emblems, and motifs celebrate your gods lore, history, and sacred things. You can honor this by finding things donning the iconography associated with your god! For example, almost all of my altars utilize antique painted porcelain or ceramics in some way, I have a porcelain sugar dish painted with strawberries for Aphrodite, a tea plate with wheat sheathes for Demeter, and an antique English teacup with Lilacs painted on it for Pan! Some of the sacred symbols and depictions of Hermes included, but are not limited to: strawberries, olives, lyres, sandals, mail and postage insignia, crocuses, rams, hawks, and coins! Depictions of all of these things on porcelain, pottery, fabric, or otherwise or on their own, are great ways to make clear your altar is dedicated to Hermes!
Now that you have your very own space to worship and to commune with the hectic, humorous, and helpful Hermes, use it! Talk to him about your travels, bid on him to protect you from your hijinks, legal or otherwise, pray to him to guide your packages safely to you, and to guide you safely on your journeys! Enjoy your new altar space, and may lord Hermes bless you with riches, protection, and travels!
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