PBP - A is for Altar

A is for Altar

I had a kitchen altar for a while when I lived in that other place.   I don’t have one here.  Mainly because I don’t really have a need for one.  I don’t really have the room, either.  Any potential spiritual space is full of clutter and trash and desperately needs to be cleaned and reorganized first.  We’ve been here since the end of August.  Helloooo…Yeah, it ain’t happenin’ any time soon.

Anywho, about the altar:    I had a polymer clay Hestia figure on it and some items that are sacred to Her.  I made the Hestia and two pigs (sacred animals) myself.  I also had a key, some candles, and an amethyst bracelet.    I chose those things because they symbolize and are sacred to Hestia, who is the kitchen deity with whom I am most familiar.

She is a veiled goddess, and I cover my head, so it fit.  

I’d post a picture if only I could find it.  I’m sure there is one on this blog somewhere.   

And yes, I can recognize Hestia as a form of the Divine *and* still consider myself an Agnostic Pagan.

I think altars can play an important part in one’s spirituality because an altar provides tangible representations of the Divine as the individual sees It.   I don’t see altars as necessary, even for rituals if they are performed.  Cooking and kneading dough are as close as I get to ritual these days.

For a kitchen altar, I suggest things such as:

• A figure that represents one’s personal hearth deity
• Other symbols of that deity/sacred items
• Elemental representations (or fire at the very least) (candles are perfect, of course)
• Perhaps some small bits of clay or plastic food, or pictures
• A small plant (aloe, especially)

I may set my altar up again one day.  It might be good for me.  If I do, I will include the clay food items I made last year.  If I can’t find them, I will try to find the space to make some new things.   We’ll see what happens.