Altar-ed States (Yeah, I know, bad pun)

As promised, for those who were curious, here's a picture of my main altar all dressed up for the waning half of the year.  It's located in my bedroom; I see it first thing every morning when I tumble bleary-eyed out of bed.

I'm a terrible photographer, so most of the finer details are probably lost.  The framed photo is of pomegranates, and it's captioned, "All that we behold is full of blessings."

I have quite a collection of wee goddesses (it's damn near impossible to find wee gods, although I do have two tiny Buddhas in there somewhere).  The altar itself was once my grandmother's piano bench, refinished by hand with the help of my spirit-sister S1ren, and lowered to a comfortable sitting height.  The cloth helps conceal the jolly chaos of incense sticks, candle holders, and assorted magical paraphernalia. 

If the Lord seems a bit under-represented here, that's because He has His own altar in the living room, as shown in the picture below.  I didn't set out to have separate altars for the two of Them, it just sort of evolved that way; I do most of my meditative and magical work in the bedroom, and rituals involving movement (or big whomping Circles) in the living room. 

Having the God altar on top of the entertainment center means I won't knock over candles while I'm dancing.  The ivy is probably the only plant I've managed to keep alive in my entire adult life, and it's been there for at least five years--I credit the God with its continued health, as I have a black thumb.

My challenge for you bloggers out there, on this rainy and dark Thursday night, is this:  if you have a permanent altar and you're willing to share, post a picture of it.  On LiveJournal there's actually a whole community for photos of sacred spaces (It's the pimp_my_altar community, which just tickles me); I've always had a fascination with the shrines, altars, and circles of my fellows.  (Anyone else remember that book Circles, Groves, and Sanctuaries by the Campanellis?  If you find it in a used book store, I recommend it.)  If you do post a pic on your blog, and you're feeling frisky, post a link to it here in comments.

Meanwhile, this weary menstrual Scorpio will be curled up in her private red tent, listening to the drumming of warm tropical rain, sipping spiked chai and making sketches for a new tattoo.

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Now playing on iTunes: Loreena McKennitt - The Mystic's Dream
via FoxyTunes    

Comments

[Tirya]

I also like seeing the altars of others - your Waning Half altar has a very nice "feel" to it, if that make sense...

This is my permanent altar, in its Spring configuration. I will re-decorate it in a couple of weeks for Fall.

http://tirya2.livejournal.com/632.html

[Autumn]

I don't keep a permanant altar because my cats think everything in the house belongs to them and they should lay upon it. I would be interested in seeing the photos of the ones from live journal though. Can you post the url.

[Sara]

Um - I'm going to have to insist that you share where you acquired that stunning Stag statue on your altar to the Lord.

Thank you for sharing these! I LOVE to see photos of folks' altars. As I'm technologically impaired, I don't know that I'll be able to do the same, but I'm thinkin' I'm gonna make my best effort.

-S

[Sylvan]

Sara - I got the stag in Mexico about eight years ago. It's resin, and when I found it it was shoved to the back of a shelf and had GOOGLY EYES glued on it. Needless to say I pried them out and cleaned it. The best part is, it being Mexico, it cost me five dollars. I've never seen one like it since.

Autumn - the URL for the LiveJournal "Pimp My Altar" community is http://community.livejournal.com/pimp_my_altar/

[Deanna Martin]

I no longer have a permanent altar thanks to having a very "active/spirited" 2 year old, but here it was when she was a little baby:

(posts #9 & 10)

http://www.mysticwicks.com/showthread.php?p=2277181#post2277181

[Nettle]

Your altar is beautiful. I posted mine in response to this post at nettle.wordpress.com

[Cynthia]

Thanks so much for this post and for turning me on to pimp_my_altar. As soon as I get some pics this week, will post mine.

[Eelsalad]

I have a bunch of altar photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/eelsalad

Thanks so much for sharing your beautiful altars, Sylvan!

[Cynthia]

My altar pictures are up. What a lot of fun.
http://beweaver.livejournal.com/

[vajra]

Diane,

Hey! Thanks for plugging pimp_my_altar! My godsister Marisa and I created it (as well as mod it!) It's really taken on a life of it's own. I love seeing everyone's pictures!

Thanks again,

Vajra