House Altars
Mar. 29th, 2023 10:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
indi_timberpathFor a journal entry this week, dad asked me to write about the altars in and around our home, Alpenglow Lodge. That totally makes sense. They're an important part of our hose and even our daily life. Altars are important because they help remind us that the gods are with us and spirits are all around. They're a place where we can gather and put things that are important to us and them.
Probably the most "important" altar in the house is the one in the Channel room, where we go for indoor circle gatherings and rituals. That one is set up be what my dad calls "ecumenical". It has icons for the Wanderers of course, but they're spread out and among other representations of other traditions, like carved stone wolves for the Everpack, fiber-woven designs for the Rhythm-callers, and quite a few more that I don't even recognize. Lots of those were added by people who come visit; it's meant to be an open place for them to make their connections too. It also has a lot of candles and places for incense; it gets bright and pretty smoky when it's all lit up for rituals. At the center, of course, is a colorful glazed bowl for offerings. Rvery altar I've ever seen has a bowl almost all of them also have some sort of fire. Those are sort of the point of an altar; the fire to mark the space, and the bowl to offer to whoever you're connecting to.
That bowl gets offerings at rituals and gatherings, but the one that gets most of the house offerings is the hearth altar. It's in the kitchen, and it's much simpler. It doesn't have candles, because it's literally built into a nook in the fireplace there that we sometimes use for cooking. So it's mainly a just a bowl, with some firebricks with Wanderers symbols engraved in them. I remember helping my dad carve them when the house was under construction. Into that bowl goes a little bit of everything we cook in the house, as well as a splash of whatever spirits (the alcohol kind) get opened here. It's also my job to clean it out every few days.
Cleaning it out means going to the outside altar, which is likewise pretty simple; it's at the north end of the stone circle, a small bowl with shiny stones inside and plants set around it. That one honors the spirits of the land, and I guess it's an example of one that doesn't have fire nearby, though when we're doing ritual outside, the firepit itself becomes the altar that gets our offerings.
Me and dad both over personal altars in our rooms too. His is on part of his dresser, and it's neat and clean. There's a cloth, with two engraved glasses for offerings and a big candle between them. Around those are pictures of ancestors, most of whom I never really met, but I'm glad they're there. On his altar he also keeps his bag of runes, and a little plastic puzzle of a wolf, for the Everpack.
Mine is maybe a bit more elaborate, but I like getting fancy. It's on some small stacked tables in the corner of my room. The top has a cloth, framed with shed antlers (represeting the Dancer and Singer) and different rocks and carvings and tools arranged in a triangle representing Spark, Stone, and Smoke. (I could go into a lot more detail about what those all are, but maybe I shouldn't make this too long!) In the center I have a candle too, and in front there's space for my ritual tools (a "talking stick" and my drum beater, mainly) and I also have some special necklaces that I hang there when I'm not using it.
But that's not all! That's just the top layer. After all, I haven't mentioned the offering bowl yet! That's on a lower level, right in front of an incense burner, and there's space on each side for a candle. I change around those candles a bit with the season and other things; there are certain ones that certain spirits like better, so it's good to have the ones there for who I'm focussing on. There's also a little more space to the sides there to hold other things that are special to me, mostly bits of rocks and wood from special places I've been. I just realized I don't have anything for the Everpack there! I should probably fix that, it's been pretty important to me too lately. Finally, below all that, beneath the legs of the table, is my drum (which is also a whole other other topic I guess)
If mine sounds more elaborate than my Dad's, I guess that's partly because it's my style, and partly because it's the only one that's mine; there's a lot of Dad in the other house altars too. I guess it also has to do with my style; I really like patterns and symbolism and reminders, and my Dad tends to focus on simple straightfoward things. I think how someone sets this up is a reflection of themselves and their relationships, so it's only natural that ours are different. I'm really happy that we're in a place and a tradition (well, more than one tradition!) that makes it easy to do that sort of thing.
Probably the most "important" altar in the house is the one in the Channel room, where we go for indoor circle gatherings and rituals. That one is set up be what my dad calls "ecumenical". It has icons for the Wanderers of course, but they're spread out and among other representations of other traditions, like carved stone wolves for the Everpack, fiber-woven designs for the Rhythm-callers, and quite a few more that I don't even recognize. Lots of those were added by people who come visit; it's meant to be an open place for them to make their connections too. It also has a lot of candles and places for incense; it gets bright and pretty smoky when it's all lit up for rituals. At the center, of course, is a colorful glazed bowl for offerings. Rvery altar I've ever seen has a bowl almost all of them also have some sort of fire. Those are sort of the point of an altar; the fire to mark the space, and the bowl to offer to whoever you're connecting to.
That bowl gets offerings at rituals and gatherings, but the one that gets most of the house offerings is the hearth altar. It's in the kitchen, and it's much simpler. It doesn't have candles, because it's literally built into a nook in the fireplace there that we sometimes use for cooking. So it's mainly a just a bowl, with some firebricks with Wanderers symbols engraved in them. I remember helping my dad carve them when the house was under construction. Into that bowl goes a little bit of everything we cook in the house, as well as a splash of whatever spirits (the alcohol kind) get opened here. It's also my job to clean it out every few days.
Cleaning it out means going to the outside altar, which is likewise pretty simple; it's at the north end of the stone circle, a small bowl with shiny stones inside and plants set around it. That one honors the spirits of the land, and I guess it's an example of one that doesn't have fire nearby, though when we're doing ritual outside, the firepit itself becomes the altar that gets our offerings.
Me and dad both over personal altars in our rooms too. His is on part of his dresser, and it's neat and clean. There's a cloth, with two engraved glasses for offerings and a big candle between them. Around those are pictures of ancestors, most of whom I never really met, but I'm glad they're there. On his altar he also keeps his bag of runes, and a little plastic puzzle of a wolf, for the Everpack.
Mine is maybe a bit more elaborate, but I like getting fancy. It's on some small stacked tables in the corner of my room. The top has a cloth, framed with shed antlers (represeting the Dancer and Singer) and different rocks and carvings and tools arranged in a triangle representing Spark, Stone, and Smoke. (I could go into a lot more detail about what those all are, but maybe I shouldn't make this too long!) In the center I have a candle too, and in front there's space for my ritual tools (a "talking stick" and my drum beater, mainly) and I also have some special necklaces that I hang there when I'm not using it.
But that's not all! That's just the top layer. After all, I haven't mentioned the offering bowl yet! That's on a lower level, right in front of an incense burner, and there's space on each side for a candle. I change around those candles a bit with the season and other things; there are certain ones that certain spirits like better, so it's good to have the ones there for who I'm focussing on. There's also a little more space to the sides there to hold other things that are special to me, mostly bits of rocks and wood from special places I've been. I just realized I don't have anything for the Everpack there! I should probably fix that, it's been pretty important to me too lately. Finally, below all that, beneath the legs of the table, is my drum (which is also a whole other other topic I guess)
If mine sounds more elaborate than my Dad's, I guess that's partly because it's my style, and partly because it's the only one that's mine; there's a lot of Dad in the other house altars too. I guess it also has to do with my style; I really like patterns and symbolism and reminders, and my Dad tends to focus on simple straightfoward things. I think how someone sets this up is a reflection of themselves and their relationships, so it's only natural that ours are different. I'm really happy that we're in a place and a tradition (well, more than one tradition!) that makes it easy to do that sort of thing.
