Why make altars? They’re beautiful incarnations of your heart. They’re physical ways to direct energy and blend it with the spirit world, with your guides, with your God, and to tell the universe what you want your road map to be. Altars are wonderful, beautiful ways to direct your life, much like manifestation boards. They’re also nice ways to give yourself a place to pray, meditate, or commune with the universe.
I guess making an altar is a little like creating your own spiritual space. Yes, you can simply talk to your team anywhere, and you can pray in a forest, in your car, under your breath, wherever. But there is a power to a Cathedral, isn’t there? Making an altar is a little like that. In some strange way, it amplifies the feeling of the Divine. Like making a tiny Cathedral in your home, on your shelf.
Altars also help you when you feel helpless. They give you solace and a place to lick your wounds, sharing how you feel and asking for what your heart wants. They’re very, very healing.
When you make your altar, first you want to find a small place to set it. Honestly, all you need is a tiny ledge somewhere. Then, you gather important items that have significance to you and the reason why you’re making your altar, and add them. This is a physical collage of significance for you, deepening your meaning and connection to the piece.
Then, in quiet moments, you simply visit your altar and talk to your spiritual team about your needs, thoughts, desires, dreams. And you can say thank you, too. Anything you want, really.
I’m hoping that, when and if you’re in a time of need, you can turn to something as visceral as altar making to commune with the divine.
My most recent altar was made after the latest conflict started in the Middle East. I needed a place to pray for those who need it, and to commune with something greater than myself. It helped me as I felt helpless, and gave me a place to tap my spiritual team on the shoulder and talk.
I added a few elements of Burning Man to the altar–the prayer hands were from a chapel at Burning Man that burned down. I sifted through the hot ashes and pulled these praying hands from them. The milagros cross is from Oaxaca Mexico and means miracles. The living plant is important to me because it gives it life and energy, as does the flame from a small candle. And, finally, a little poem on a cloth that I also got from Burning Man last year. It says:
The greatest
gift we give
each other is
that we
become a
mirror of
goodness.
When we see
the goodness
in others, we
call it forward.
If you decide to make an altar, I would love to see it. :)
Big hugs to you,
Paige