How to Create an Altar
for Every Room or Space
Dr. Alexandra Chauran
Altars are often an essential part of a Wiccan’s practice. I’d like to share with you some tips and lore surrounding altars and provide some inspiration to create permanent or semi-permanent altars in your living space, your workplace, your garden, or even your car. I find that having a touchstone close at hand can help visually remind me of my commitments to my deities and my ability to find peace in my connections with them.
Why keep altars in the first place? Aside from being a place to hold all the necessary components for rituals and magic, altars are prayers made manifest with tangible mementos as well as spiritually useful and esthetically pleasing objects. Think of an altar as a curio cabinet that is working hard to change your inner and outer lives. It can be a place for you to sit and meditate, pray out loud, or simply place your mortgage bill in the hope that the bill will be paid.
Some people gravitate naturally to altars. There are social media communities full of people showing off their own beautiful altars with pride, or even posting photos of interesting altars that have seemingly been found in the wild. At significant locations around the world, backpackers, climbers, and other tourists leave small tokens to signify their respect for the space, essentially turning a statue or a beautiful view into an altar. When I first walked into one therapist’s home office, I noticed that she had beautiful little altars everywhere. A selection of crystals lined a banister. A bowl of water with some seashells accenting it sat on an end table. A pile of smooth stones drew attention toward art on the wall. Such did they appeal to the elements of water and earth that I asked her if she was Pagan. It turned out that she was not Pagan at all, but that just goes to show how altars can bring peace and a sense of meaning to any home.
Types of Altars
An altar can be set up just about anywhere. A round or rectangular table in a spare room works just as well as a card table set up outdoors or a flat rock in the woods. Various magical tools and decorations can be placed upon the altar table. Many altars can be easily broken down for transport or storage until the next occasion for ritual.
You can create an altar for any room or space. Here are some ideas.
Family Altar
Aside from the altar in the temple room in my home, in which I perform rituals with my coven, the most visible altar I own is our family’s altar. The family altar is the first thing that one sees when walking in through the front door. I placed deity statues on the altar, dividing it up roughly into the four elements. North is for objects representing earth, such as stones, while south is for things representing fire and is where I typically burn a candle. East is for things that represent air and can be a good place for incense. West is for water and can be a good location for a bowl of water or even a snow globe.
Your family can join in on the fun. I allow my kids to place their favorite rocks, flowers, acorns, abandoned snail shells, art, and more on the altar. The family altar can be a place to pause and pray. We redecorate it for the seasons. At Yule, the family altar becomes a place to set a small Yule tree and other holiday decorations. When Ostara rolls around, the family altar is replete with pysanky eggs. During the spring, the altar is festooned with flowers. The living and changing nature of the altar makes it a wonderful way to bring worship into your life.
Workplace Altar
An altar in the workplace must usually be more discreet than one at home. You can carve out space for an altar on a shelf, in a corner of a cubicle, or even in a drawer. Try the elemental organization that I just described, or simply add relaxing things to your altar space that can act as touchstones when you’re feeling stressed and need to reconnect with your spiritual strength. A small Japanese sand garden can act as a workplace altar, and is indeed seen commonly in the workplace. If you have the opportunity and space to use a plug-in fountain, the running water can add a little bit of peace to an otherwise stressful day. Covert or abstract images of deities can be welcomed even in a secular workplace. Who’s to say whether a beautiful print of Aphrodite rising out of the sea is merely art or is a focus for worship? I know one reader of mine who created a beautiful fairy garden at work. If you have enough light in your workspace, a garden full of tiny plants and statues of fairies can bring a bit of the magic of the outdoors to even the most dismal work environment.
An altar in the workplace must usually be more discreet than one at home. You can carve out space for an altar on a shelf, in a corner of a cubicle, or even in a drawer.
Car Altar
I do have a small altar in my car that is not distracting. I placed it there after a terrible accident that my children and I survived. I had a necklace of rowanberries hanging from the windshield for protection, and the crumple zone stopped exactly there.
To assuage my anxiety after the accident, I added to the spiritual protection of my car. I bought a pentacle window cling to symbolize the protection of the elements and spirits. I found a small pendant online that spoke to me that pictured both the Goddess and the God. I snapped off the loop made for hanging and used some solidifying putty on the back to create a statue out of the pendant. I then glued the pendant and a small bud vase made for cars off to the side of my dashboard, so it would be out of the way. As luck would have it, there is a tiny drawer there (possibly originally intended for loose change) that is now a place to put trinkets, stones, and other small offerings to my gods.
When creating a car altar, be careful not to obscure your vision or inhibit your ability to move your arms and hands. Always pay homage to your car altar before or after your drive, not during. Even at a stoplight you should remain aware of the traffic around you.
Ancestral Altar
You don’t have to build an altar to the elements or to deities. An ancestral altar can be a way to keep in touch with those who have passed away. Typically, ancestral shrines are decorated with photos of the deceased. Be careful to use photos only of those who are already dead. If there is also a living person in the photo, crop that living person out so that you can give proper and sole honor to those mighty dead who are in a position to offer you aid.
The focus of ancestral altars is often on offerings. Dedicate a cup to your ancestral altar and use it only for that purpose to keep your intentions pure. A tiny bit of your ancestors’ favorite foods can be placed on a plate on the altar and left for a day or more, depending on how quickly it might get rancid. Don’t worry if a pet takes off with some of the food, as they are acting as a proxy for your ancestors. Make sure you don’t put out offerings that are dangerous to any pets or small children who may be wandering around in your house. Try to put out a little bit of food that you know your deceased loved one would enjoy. If you have no idea what your loved ones might have enjoyed, try a food from their nation of origin or the location in which they grew up. Typical liquid offerings to ancestors include alcohol, milk, or simply water.
Dorm Room Altar
I wanted to include some special tips for altars in places where things like flames, incense, and pointy items (such as athames) are not allowed. Someday you might find yourself in a space such as a dorm room or hospital room in which your ability to stock your altars is limited. Incense can be replaced with feathers in a lovely vase or even with a bubble solution. Amber incense or essential oils smell lovely even when they are not being burned, and can be put on display. As for candles, there are lovely LED light options that sometimes even flicker like real candles. I’ve even used glow sticks in outdoor rituals in a pinch. You can use sketches and drawings to create deity imagery. Use your imagination, because if all else fails, your mind is the only tool you need to create an altar on the astral plane. Simply close your eyes and imagine all of the tools and calming images that you would put on your altar.
Altars in Any and Every Room or Space
Every room can have an altar. Imagine an Aphrodite shrine in your bathroom. A bowl, some beautiful rocks and shells, and perhaps a statue are all you need for a lovely shrine. As you look around your home, think about the elementals associated with each space that could hold an altar. For example, if you have a nice shelf on a south wall, you could find a wonderful candle sconce to honor the element of fire, and add a picture of a fiery piece of art that reminds you of the divine. If you have space on the top of an appliance or a piece of electronic equipment to the north, try putting a potted plant and a selection of beautiful stones that speak to your spirit there.
Each room could have four or more elemental altars, if you desire, but you don’t have to go overboard. Look at each room with a critical eye and think about where you spend your time. It would be nice to have an altar that you can pass by every day or glance at when you’re in between tasks, rather than too many altars that will end up gathering dust.
How to Use Your Altars
You can use your altars as little or as much as you like. You can spend just a moment touching an altar as you enter your home to ground yourself and welcome yourself to your happy space, or you can seat yourself in front of your altar for hours to pray and meditate. You can perform rituals around your altars alone or with loved ones. The benefits of altars are numerous, and the more the merrier.
Dr. Alexandra Chauran (Issaquah, WA) is a second-generation fortuneteller, a High Priestess of British Traditional Wicca, and the Queen of a coven. As a professional psychic intuitive for over a decade, she serves psychic apprentices and thousands of clients. She received a master’s in teaching from Seattle University and a doctorate from Valdosta State University, and is certified in tarot. In her spare time, when she’s not teaching students of Wicca, she enjoys ham radio with the call sign WI7CH. She can be found online at SeePsychic.com.
Illustrator: Jennifer Hewitson