5 Simple Steps to Create an Altar and why you should try it!

The word altar can have strong connotations. We may think of a church or temple, where religious rites are carried out by members of a clergy. For some, altars may feel new agey or perhaps conjure up images of civilizations past.

What exactly is an altar?

Altars are spaces created for sacred communion. Altars can bridge the span between ourselves and deities, ancestors, or deceased loved ones. Sometimes we give or receive offerings, such as sanctified food, incense, or flowers. Sometimes they can be a focus for contemplation or a place where prayers are proffered.

We can also use altars to forge sacred communion with ourselves.

Creating altars can be a source of mindfulness, focus, and fun—right in our own homes. They become tangible manifestations of our creative powers. It’s an easy and accessible spiritual practice that you can play with to develop intuition, promote healing and connect with yourself.

Let’s get started!

1. What can serve as an altar?

Literally just about everything. You don’t need a fancy table or a lot of space to have a wonderful altar. My first altar was “constructed” (is a loose term here), out of two pretty blue flower pots I turned upside down and a piece of lacquered pine board I discovered in our shed. Viola.

You could use a table, windowsill, bookshelf, box, countertop—whatever works. Get resourceful!

2. Where should it be?

Nowhere in particular—wherever you have space and feels right. In fact, you can have multiple altars.

I have three.

I have a primary one in my bedroom that I may change every few weeks or so. This is my most personal and private altar where I practice insight and healing for myself.

My second altar is in my built-in bookshelves that not only house my books, but a host of carefully curated items, including: family pictures, small sculptures, and pottery among other things. I only change the arrangement of items every now an again (usually when I’m dusting to be honest). By intentionally taking stock of the pictures I have displayed, the books I have read or have yet to read, and taking time to appreciate little treasures I’ve tucked in- between, I have created a form of an altar. It acts to both stabilize the home and my place within it.

Finally, I recently created an altar of sorts on my living room table. I’m an empty nester now so I have the luxury of using this space creatively, as opposed to other people’s feet, drinking glasses, and other assorted ephemera (but I digress...). I have a few candles, art books, the Tao De Ching and other spiritual resources, along with two large shells I recently collected on the beach. Perhaps we can call this my “working” altar because having these resources thoughtfully arranged and out where I sit every day, encourages me to engage with whatever draws my attention.

Put your altar wherever it calls to you. You can always add another!

3. What kinds of things can go on my altar?

The sky’s the limit. Items may include: pictures, statues, stones, crystals, shells, books, tarot card arrangements, jewlery, incense, art, cards, journals,herbs, flowers, plants, feathers, seeds, written prayers, affirmations, cloth, musical instruments, candles, etc.

The very act of gathering things is part of the practice of altar making. Take a walk outside and see if things to collect catch your eye. Take a look inside and see if there are objects you already have which might be added. Your treasury can be as large or small as you’d like. The re-using of items can create further resonance as you select them under different circumstances. The addition of new items can breathe fresh life into your current context. Ultimately, they can be kept, used, or discarded— whatever you choose.

4. How do I arrange my items?

Any which way you decide! The real magic for me is not only picking which items to put out, but the myriad ways in which they can be combined and arranged. My mood, external events, personal interactions, dreams, and all sorts of other stimuli help shape the current configuration of my altar. You can be as free form or structured as you like. My bedroom altar is long and narrow, so the physical space allotted figures into how I place things. It’s sort of like finding creativity within the structure of a haiku.

Sometimes, you will be driven by aesthetic choices —certain colors or textures might prevail. Other times the objects themselves will call to be placed in relation to one another. This is a creative playtime. Relax and enjoy, and you will be pleasantly surprised and rewarded by the embodiment of your inner wisdom that your altar reveals.

5. How do I use it?

There is no end goal—you have already arrived! If you would like to use it as a place of reflection, prayer, meditation, go right ahead. But know that by engaging in the very process of creation, you have already manifested a place and space of beauty, reflection and intention.

You are free to make another, and another and another, whenever it suits you, however it suits you. Go play!