Home Shrine update

Not a whole lot has changed on my Altar yet.  I've added a small cup of salt to use as sacrifice in addition to the water I normally use for my daily devotional.  I looked for something to corral larger offerings last weekend, but didn't see anything that seemed right.  I'll keep looking.  I also need to find a drinking cup to use.

I also think I'm going to hang a small shelf above my altar.  i don't have much surface space to add things to it right now and there are definitely things i want to add.

Luna has at least decided that maybe jumping onto my altar while i'm standing in front of it may not be the best plan.  Since that's at least 90% of the time when I have a candle burning or something similar, we're making progress.  Having utterly failed to teach her manners when it comes to food, tables, and counter tops, I'll settle for her not setting herself on fire.

Travel set up.
I kinda feel like i want to create a travel altar that I can just toss into a backpack or purse to take with me when I go home to visit my folks or whatever.  This shouldn't be too hard.

• tea or prayer candle
• small tree figurine (jewelry?)  Uncommon Adornments always has a tree pendant
• something??? for a well.  Possibly the container i end up using? or a film canister (do they still make those?)?
• salt in a small baggie?  or would this look too much like meth (meth is the one that looks like crystals right? not coke or crack?)?
• lighter (which i actually carry with me in my purse anyway)
• leave room for bigger offerings if necessary.

I wonder what i can find in terms of small boxes at various craft stores.  I don't think i have anything suitable in the house.  Sometimes I really really hate that the local "random cool stuff" store closed so the owner could retire or some such.

Anyway, yes.  shelf, drinking vessel, travel altar.  needs to happen.

Week 7: Creating the Home Shrine

Related to Requirement: #4 – Home Shrine
Required Reading:

• Our Own Druidry: p. 91 - 96 (Personal Work) 86-100

Optional Reading:

• "Placement of the Home Shrine" by Rev. Michael J Dangler 
• "Creating the Desire for Worship" by Rev. Michael J Dangler 
• "Takin' It All Home" by Kami Landy
• Sacred Fire, Holy Well by Ian Corrigan, p. 69-70; 
• The Solitary Druid by Rev. Skip Ellison, p. 38-40  

Personal Reading:

• "Creating a Home Shrine" by Julian Greene

I've had a home shrine for several years now, but I've never really been happy with it.  I like being able to have space to actually create charms and whatnot on my altar and, particularly once my now ex and I combined altars, there was no room for much of anything, let alone oils and beads and cording and mortar/ pestle and all the other necessary supplies.  Accordingly, I'm pretty much starting over on altar organization.  

I have a wooden bowl to use as a Well.  A stone oil lamp for the Fire (not the company I got mine from, but same style).  Several incense burners and oil diffusers.  The only thing I really need is something to act as the Tree.  I've been using a cedar branch (trimmed, de-barked, and sanded), but I have that branch for a reason and will need to find a different option.  I'm hoping now that spring is coming, I'll be able to find a house plant that is both non-toxic to cats and can withstand benign neglect.  I also want to find something else to use as offering bowls instead of either a) my mortar or b) a stacking coffee cup.  

I'll be moving my altar upstairs to my bedroom later today and will thus be able to get decent light and photos.  I might keep a mini-altar downstairs in the library using some of the duplicates that I have, but I'm not sure off hand.  Something about open flame on a bookshelf seems... bad. I like the idea of having a smaller brazier and whatnot in the kitchen while I'm cooking dinner, but counter-space is at a premium right now.  So even something as small as that could be problematic (also, see cat and curious).  

Part of me really wants to go back to using the top of my dresser as an altar instead of the tv stand that I'm currently using.  However, my dresser is rather tall, making sitting in front of it a problem and I also tend to just deposit stuff on it- socks missing mates, pocket junk, my jewelry box, borrowed books... That's not really a good habit to have for your altar.  At least the tv stand has built in storage and is small enough that the normal altar clutter is more than enough to make adding mundane junk require thought.  Yes, there is the option of just becoming a better housekeeper, but lets keep things reasonable.

Existing Altar

I got the altar moved upstairs.

Currently: stone oil lamp, cedar branch held upright in a mason jar with some sand, turned walnut bowl; basic incense burner with... some sort... of incense in it; strand of amethyst chip beads surrounding a polished piece of citron.

Inside the cabinet is incense, candles, oils, altar cloths (i try to change them out with the seasons), assorted other supplies.  I have a basket containing polished stones to use as offerings and a second (smaller) bowl containing larger stones.  It's rather a disaster, so I'm not going to post a photo of it.