Home shrines

[Andal]

Namaskar Everyone,

I thought it would be fun to start a thread about home altars or shrines. Do you have one? What are your thoughts on them? What do you use yours for? What's on your altar?

Lots of questions, I know, but if you keep a home altar, or shrine, or icon corner, prayer room, or any other sacred space please jump in here. Maybe we could post pictures or videos of our home altars.

I thought this would be a neat topic especially because of the religious diversity here.

 

[enchanted_one1975]

I don't spend much time at home and I have so far done all of my rituals outside so I haven't made my altar yet. I did make a portable to take on the road with me though. I do also have several statues and other things to symbolize my Deities that I can set anywhere.

 

[Riverwolf]

Well, I have a small alter in my room, but it's still incomplete. At the moment, it's got two tall candles at the far edges, a statuette of the Celtic Cross, two incense burners (one for sticks and the other for cones), and a picture of Lord Siva above it.

I'm not home right now, but I'll certainly post a picture of it when I get the chance.

EDIT: Oh. And I have a picture of Lord Ganesha in my entryway. ^_^

 

[Andal]

I don't spend much time at home and I have so far done all of my rituals outside so I haven't made my altar yet. I did make a portable to take on the road with me though. I do also have several statues and other things to symbolize my Deities that I can set anywhere.

Very cool. When you do rituals outside is there a direction or focal point you use? What's in your portable altar? If it's personal don't worry about answering

 

[Andal]

Well, I have a small alter in my room, but it's still incomplete. At the moment, it's got two tall candles at the far edges, a statuette of the Celtic Cross, two incense burners (one for sticks and the other for cones), and a picture of Lord Siva above it.

I'm not home right now, but I'll certainly post a picture of it when I get the chance.

EDIT: Oh. And I have a picture of Lord Ganesha in my entryway. ^_^

A picture would be fantastic! I'll post mine probably in a few days as I'm not home either

What does the Celtic Cross represent? It's interesting to see it paired with Lords Ganesh and Sivaji.

 

[enchanted_one1975]

Very cool. When you do rituals outside is there a direction or focal point you use?

I face my house which contains my family.

What's in your portable altar?

It is very simple. It is a scrap of wood that was leftover from a project I completed earlier this week. I drew a pentacle on it with a sharpie. I then drilled two holes in it just big enough to hold a smaller God and Goddess candle. I carry other items (statues, gemstones, metals) that can be placed on the altar when in use.

 

[Riverwolf]

A picture would be fantastic! I'll post mine probably in a few days as I'm not home either

What does the Celtic Cross represent? It's interesting to see it paired with Lords Ganesh and Sivaji.

The Celtic Cross is really for my heritage; I'm mostly Irish.

 

[MoonWater]

Well I was able to start my altar just a couple days ago. I used some of my Christmas money to by some candles of various colors, each representing a different element or spiritual aspect, it also holds an incense burner that riverwolf bought at the same place, a metal dragon statue holding a blue crystal ball in it's tail, a small wolf statue howling at the moon and a sea shell which I hope to at some point replace with a small dolphin statue. Also riverwolf says that the next time we stop by his place he'll give me a black cloth with a golden pentagram on it that I can use to help me align my candles in that shape. The biggest things I'm missing right now are the candle holders and statues and/or pictures of the gods and goddesses in my pantheon. Oh and I also have a crystal bowl filled with water that has two flowers sitting in it that I got when riverwolf and I last went to the Hindu temple(one for him and one for me, and the bowl is surrounded by a silver ribbon with a small pine cone ornament on it, and some lavender hand lotion off to the side.

I'm thinking of adding one of my tarot decks and will also likely add another incense burner for cones, an oil burner, and a butterfly statue.

 

[Isabella Lecour]

I've had different altar setups over the year. The impulse started as an artful arrangement of rocks that evolved to finding and placing meaningful objects (more rocks) in pleasing arrangements. I feel altars are a visual reminder of ideas through the symbolic objects placed on it. Everything on it is meaningful to me or has a specific ritual purpose.

On my altar I have a small garden statue of a Chinese Buddha that's flanked by candles and shells. I have a statue of two figures intertwined that's called "The Lovers" on the left. I have a blessing bowl set in the back right corner. There is a crochet bowl in the left corner that holds my stones. I have a pair of sun shaped glass containers behind Buddha. One contains sea salt and the other is used for Holy Water and is kept empty until needed. Directly in front of Buddha is my little cast iron cauldron. Normally it's not kept on the altar but it's being used in a working.

Eventually I hope to have icons of my personal Deity's to display. I'm working on drawing a few of them. They're just not quite right yet.