This is my current altar:
We have a gas can, ant spray, sevin dust, a Halloween decoration, and one pissed-off dragon. The shelves below contain antlers, a box of bones, dried herbs, lots of cobwebs, and I don't know what. This altar is in my storage room. When I first set everything up, it was cool because the storage room was more like a potting shed, thus it was part of my garden. I'd tend my plants, wander in to light a candle, then spend time on my porch. If someone came over, I could just shut the door. Now the storage room is a junk room. I used to leave the door open so I could freely wander in, but I can't do that anymore because I have this:
Queen just looks sweet and innocent. Right before I took this photo she was chewing on a page of Kurt's resume. No more open door policy.
You might be wondering why exactly a witch needs an altar. Good question. I have wondered this many times myself. At first, I thought I was 'supposed to.' All witches have altars, right? Just like all witches have brooms, cauldrons, and cats. I read a lot of Wicca 101 books which insisted I should have an altar with a candle on each end, a candle for the Goddess, another for the God, a candle for the moon, a candle for the season, and ever how many candles I needed for whatever spell I did, so Quarter candles, petition candles, and don't forget the incense. I also needed salt, water, stones, herbs, and my, this little table is getting rather crowded.
Next I tried doing a shrine type of deal with items to represent my beliefs. My shrines always get dusty. I set them up then forget them. Then I tried a seasonal altar. I tried keeping a set of two candles to represent multiple things, like if it was autumn I'd have a black candle for the Goddess and an orange candle for the God. The problem was finding the correct candle colors. Sometimes I couldn't find a black candle so I'd go with orange and yellow, then argue with myself if yellow was really a Goddess color. By the time I got my head around which color was for what, the season would change. Do I go with red and green or gold and silver? Sometimes I'd use white. All white candles look alike. Is this my moon candle or my petition candle?
I decided the problem was too much stuff. I started setting up altars just when I did a spell, but what happens if I work on more than one spell? Do I set up two altars? Set the second beside the first, which is still going? Wait? Do I really need a full altar? If I don't, why did I set one up in the first place?
I had no altar for a long time. I saved money on candles, but I felt disjointed. It's cool to have a place of power. My day goes better when I do daily altar work. If I see the altar, I am reminded of what I am working for; it helps me stay focused. I have used a closet shelf, a bench, a shoe box, tables, the floor, bare ground, my stove, and my bookcase. None of them looked like the Wicca 101 books.
Obviously, my altar should reflect how I practice. It's sort of like when you are just starting on the Pagan path and you want all the cool tools. The wand, the staff, the sword, the broom, the pentacle, the cup, the cauldron...but do you really need all those things? Do you actually use them? I used to have swords. I never used them. They were just too big. I needed to be outside to cast a circle with a sword and I rarely did a ritual outdoors because I had Xian family members and nosy neighbors. And since I'd rather cast a circle with my hand, I don't use my wand much. I have no staff. I use my cauldrons and my broom, but the cup got repurposed into a candy dish.
Stay tuned- what works for me is coming up.
Reference: lilith-dark-moon.blogspot.com