Setting up the Ritual Area

So. You've got all your pretty tools and things, and you have some spells you wanna do. Now what? Well, you need somewhere to put all this stuff, right? And what you need to put this stuff on is your altar. Yeah, it sounds like it's supposed to be some grand high jeweled table thing, dosen't it? Altar Diagram Never fear! Because your altar can be anything! A cleared spot on the floor, a shelf, the top of a dresser, a tree stump, a big flat rock, a cardboard box...the possibilities are endless! If you can't have your things out in the open at all times, then put them in a box under the bed, or in a drawer, or in the closet, or whatever. You could be clever and have tools that just look like ordinary things scattered around the place.
Or, you can go whole hog and have an entire room set aside for the purpose, with a nice table for the altar, maybe with smaller ones at the Quarters for the Elements, some attractive candleholders, and a few bookcases for your witchy books and your Grimoires and Books of Shadows. Perhaps a small desk for writing in your BoS, reading, or working on tools, with some candles on either side for light. The perfect ritual space, no? Indeed. And if you're lucky, you can have all this, or at least some of it. I'm among the lucky...my HPs has a room in her basement we use, with pretty much all of the above, except the desk. Not all the altars are great though...on most of them we have very little things...I'm going to describe everything to give you an idea of what you can do with the space available to you.

The Temple of the Coven of the Silver Dragon and Temple of De'eme
So, you come down the stairs from the kitchen, noticing that on your right, sheets separate the room directly to the right of the stairs. You get to the bottom, and pull aside a sheet that acts as a doorway, then step onto the cold cement floor. The air is warm from the dozens of candles that fill the room with a soft glow. Judging from the small altars against the walls, you are in the North-East corner of the room, which just happens to be the place where Initiates are supposed to enter the Circle (this was entirely by coincidence, I might add.). A large pentacle is on the floor, eight feet in diameter, made from silver duct tape and masking tape.
Against the West wall, a blue couch stands underneath The Water altarthe white shelf that serves as the West altar. It has two white votives, and a blue taper illuminating it. A white seashell rests in front of the blue pillar. Right against the wall, a pair of silver chalices lend style. Behind a large bell, a metallic sticker of a rose is stuck on the back ledge, and two bottles of oil catch your eye - 'Silverfire's Moon Oil', and an unlabeled one which turns out to be vanilla. Above this shelf, a plastic dragon skull topping a scythe blade hangs from the ceiling - West is the direction of the afterlife, is it not? Near the altar, on the right side, a small poster with a prayer for peace is tacked to the wall. On the left side is a map of the solar system. Above the altar, a piece of paper with the Elemental symbol of Water hangs.
On the left of the couch, a small table stands, on which sit a few candles (all unlit, they're our 'garbage candles' The multipurpose candle/drinks table.that refuse to light. We keep meaning to melt them down but always forget) and an attractive four-armed candleabra, silver-plated with gold accents. It holds five candles; a violet one in the center for Spirit, and green, yellow, red and blue ones for the appropriate directions. We've also put the altar for Mo Laura here. An armchair in the same motif of the couch is jammed into the space between the table and the wall, and behind it is a non-functioning grandfather clock.
Against the South wall is a large bookshelf serving as Part of the Voodou altar.an altar to the Lwa of Voodou. Simbi, the HPs, is studying to become a manbo eventually. Various things are placed as offerings to Papa Legba, Danbala and Ayido-Wedo, Simbi, and Gédé.
To the left of the bookcase is a small white cupboard, The Fire altarwhose top is festooned with wax drippings and candles. A large pyramidal candle is on the top left corner, a red pillar is in the center. Two white plastic forks are put together with electrical tape to make them resemble a skeletal Chippendale dancer with an enormous phallus - Fire is the Element of lust and sex. A clock held by a small gargoyle is on the bottom-left corner, and a matching box with a pentagram on the lid is in the bottom-right. It holds a red lighter used to start the illiminator candle that is the source of all other flame in the Temple. Inside the cupboard, spare candles, bags of wax drippings, a small voodou doll, a vial of rosemary oil, and a box of Kleenex are stored out of sight. The Elemental symbol of Fire is taped to the edge of the table above the altar.
A large niche to the left of the Fire altar is filled by a ugly table covered with junk. But we've covered it with a sheet, which makes the room lots smaller.The altar to Bast and Dionysus.
The East wall has a door that leads to a cold room. The door is covered by a poster of a map of the Universe. Near the door we have a small table for an altar to the deities we have asked to be the partons of the Coven, Bast and Dionysus, for they are joyous deities and after the Mist and Moon business we needed a dose of happiness. It seems to have worked. br> The main altar is a blaze of candlelight. It's a small, short The main Altartable on top of a large, long coffeetable. The ends of the coffeetable stick out, and on them we put scripts, the ashtray (for incense ash. No smoking in the Temple!), and other bits and pieces. The altar has four Elemental candles in glass holders, which have threads of color for the appropriate direction, God and Goddess candles in silver and gold, on black iron holders shaped like stars. The Goddess holder is wrapped with silver pipe-cleaner, and has a metallic moon sticker on it. The God holder has a pincone and oak leaf at the base. The Spirit candle is on a tall glass holder, in the back center. An oil diffuser, metallic blue with cutout moon and stars, sits on the bottom-right corner. A wooden pentacle, carved with a tree under an pentagram, sits in the center. A glass chalice, with stars on it, is filled with water and sits in the West, with a small bell near it A wand is in the South, and a white-handled kitchen knife serves as an athame in the East. Between the Spirit candle and Air candle, a glass bowl is filled with jasmine bath salts and a small mirror compact. This is for Mama Masa, the guardian of the Temple. A mask representing her hangs above the altar, and above it, her vévé is drawn on the wall. A beautiful statue of Bast, Egyptian cat-Goddess, is near the Goddess candle. It was intended as a bookend, but it is truly a beautiful altar-piece. For the God, a wooden figurine of a wolf-like animal that has a vaguely Southwestern feel to it. Inside the coffeetable, we store the herbs and incense (lots of incense). To the left of the altar, on the wall, is a small poster of the Buddha.
To the left of the main altar is a table that honors The Air altarthe East. Above it is a drawing of the sigil of Air, and a bundle of lavender. On the table is a yellow pillar candle and a yellow taper, as well as the incense burner and the bottle of lavender oil.
Passing the gateway you came in from, you come at last to the North. Two white bookcases hold National Geographic magazines, as well as the Library of Witchcraft books. The Coven Book of Shadows, the HPs' Books of Shadows, and the Temple Record Book also call this place home. The Earth altarOn the top of the bookcases is a small wooden box that is the North altar. On its right side is a tiny statue of a wizard. He is the Temple mascot, and his name is Albert. He also represents the Sage. Beside him is a small box with Egyptian heiroglyphs on it, which holds the stones and crystals. The altar itself is covered with a deep blue atlar cloth, embroidered with sigils in silver thread - my handiwork. The cloth falls over the front of the box, concealing the space within that holds the Temple divination devices - runes, Tarot, dice, and so on. On the altar is a green votive, and a green pillar with the most delightful scent. They border a tiny ivory-look icon of Ganesh, elephant-God of good luck, fortune, and happiness. He is dwarfed by the offering place, a beautiful affair painted with roses on the inside rim, and a gold pentacle twined with green leaves. It holds a stick of cinnamon, crushed basil, and some change - offerings to Ganesh since he graced us with good fortune for the Temple Jar - the place to put your donations of change. We had over sixty dollars a short time ago. The altar also has a few dried leaves on it. A green stone reminds us that this is for Earth.

Well? It sounds very elaborate, I know, but it was really easy to do! Admittedly, we have spent a sum of money on furnishings (the candleabra and Bast statue especially) but we think that it was worth it. Almost everything in there was in Simbi's house to begin with. She took the shelf and cupboard from her bedroom to be the Water and Fire altars, and the room itself had the tables, chair, couch, bookcases, and so on. A lot of the ritual tools were gifts - I gave her the wand, and the wolf, pentacle, and other things were for Yule or birthdays. It's amazing what you can come up with if you scrounge around the house! Although, as with all things, the first time we did ritual in our new space, things didn't exactly go as we'd planned (even though they hardly ever do). Two troublesome coveners were rather disruptive and it was the last time they attended our meetings, but this isn't the place for this topic. Needless to say, all teen covens won't have all this stuff, but I'm going to tell you how to go about getting this sort of place.
The first step to having a real Temple is to be out of the broom closet. I know, however, that lots of us can't be. But, we might have a covener who is, right? I myself am in the BC, My personal altarbut most of the group isn't and Simbi never had a closet to begin with. Her dad is rather lenient, and the room we use for the Temple was pretty much her own living room (rather messy, though. We spent hours cleaning it up, me, Simbi, and Absinthe). Yeah, it's in the basement, and there's a large messy table we can't get rid of, but still, it's ours and we love it. Anyway. I suggest that your covenstead or Temple or whatever be in the home of your HP/s, or, failing that, the home of an open member whose parents can keep their mouths shut and will let large groups of people over with some regularity. It's preferable to have an entire room set aside for the purpose, but you can just as easily have the altar in a room that does get used for other things (just make sure people don't mess with the stuff on the altar). The best bet for this is the bedroom, because it's usually private and you can just say you're 'hanging out'. The altar could be a shelf, a small table, on top of a dresser...anywhere! Just don't make too much noise.
Altar furnishings can be tricky. As before, scrounge around. Almost every house has a candleholder or two, and if not, you can get cheap ones at a dollar store (most of our candleholders came from one, as well as the candles). Stores that sell incense often sell incense burners as well, for cones and sticks. For statues, try making something yourself or use something inconspicuous. Perhaps the Goddess could be dressed as the Virgin Mary. A picture will do, or you could use things from nature - seashells, round stones, or a bowl of water for the Goddess, and pinecones, oak leaves, or phallic rocks for the God. At one point, our Temple used a paper-towel holder for a God symbol, because it was long and phallic. I use a small keychain shaped like Bast that I got at the ROM for the My altar in GreenspondGoddess, and an attractive statue of Anubis for the God. Before that, I used a small, silver-plated dragon figurine.
Pretty candleholders give your Temple class. But heavy, jewelled ones tend to be a bit pricey. So, go shopping at the dollar or party store. The one near my school sells iron holders standing on stars, moons, leaves, and there are even a few candleabrae, all for a dollar each. I found a blue glass holder that's home to my West candle, and I Witched it up by painting the Water symbol on the base. The holder has six sides, the number of Venus (which is a Water-element planet). My South candleholder I got at a store called San Fransisco for around six dollars. It's a dragon clinging to a pillar, and it looks great covered in red wax drippings. You could also be more abstract in your representations of the Elements. A feather for Air, a candle or dish of ash for Fire, a rock for Earth, and a shell or bowl of water for Water (duh!)
My altar in Newfoundland wasn't very elaborate, but I only used it to do tow Moon rituals and a tiny Lammas ritual. The natural altar in GreenspondEven so, I thought it looked quite good. Also, I found the most amazing place in the high hills at Greenspond; a natural altar! My attention was grabbed by a large design in the lichen on a rock...a deosil spiral, the symbol for Spirit! I put a fist-sized chunk of natural quartz above the spiral so I would be able to find it next year, and I did. The quartz had been bleached to a pure, glowing white over the past year, and this year I got some colored stones and put them at what I *think* are the cardinal directions. You can't really see the spiral that well in the picture, but it's there! Coolness plus, eh?
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Email: seraphsephiroth@icestorm.net