My Altar and Sacred Room

When I first began studying Wicca, I did my rituals in my family room, at the coffee table. In time, I decided I wanted to create more of a permanent sacred space. Of course, my house only has a limited amount of room. So I decided to turn my computer room into my sacred space (after all, most of the time I spend on-line or on the computer is somehow related to Wicca).

The room is small, so it's a bit difficult to get good pictures of it. Two walls of the room are outside walls made almost entirely of windows (the room itself was built as a "sunroom"). Along these walls, I have my L-shaped computer desk, bookshelves, etc. Along the two interior walls I have my "sacred stuff."



My Altar







This is my "permanent" altar. I use it for most of my rituals and workings (when I work with others, we still rely on the coffee table since it has more room).

The top of it is mirror tiles, and the "legs" are winged lion statues. The unidentifiable "smudge" at the lower right of the photos is a screen. My cats are really curious, and since my altar tile is made of cinnamon, I prefer to keep them off the altar. When I'm not using it, the screen goes around the altar and keeps all the items safe.

I have cobalt blue candle holders for the four directional candles, and a triple candle holder for the god/goddess candles (triple because I usually include both a Horus candle and an Osiris candle for the gods, while the Isis or Goddess candle goes in the center). It's hard to see in the picture, but the triple candle holder has a pentacle made of metallic beads in the circle part of it. I've also got my birch working wand and selenite wand at the east, my salt and cinnamon pentacle tile to the north, three goblets to the west (one crystal, one cobalt, and one silver), and my Isis athame and censer to the south. I also have a black and white candle (to represent the balance of all the universe) and a crystal libation bowl.



In the Corner by the altar







This is the corner where my altar is. In the top photo, you can see the edge of the flions that are along one wall of my sacred space. This is where my other staffs/staves and wands go. The short "sticks" in pictures one and two are:
top: my extra-special wand. I use this one only for special events since it was hand-made for me by a very special friend.
middle: my ten-year-old daughter's staff. It's a work in progress (she lost it in the woods once-- in a high-traffic area-- and it came back to her). I felt she's old enough to make her own, so she's working on it.
bottom: my youngest daughter's staff. This one was purchased, but oddly! I didn't think she was old enough to make one of her own, so I decided to wait until our next trip to out-of-town (to the nearest pagan store, 80 miles away) before I would look for one for her. One day, while walking through our local farm-implement store, this popped out at me. It had no price tag, and seemed to be a non-stock item. When I picked it up to look at it, I noticed the single bead on it: a lion! I thought that was completely weird-- usually, when making something for children, you put a bunny bead on it, or a horse, or something like that . . . but a lion? So I brought it home for my youngest daughter.
The third picture shows my two staffs. The top one is one that I've been working on for about a year. It's pattern is supposed to resemble a snake, and it has totem animals painted on to each band. The bottom one is a gorgeous staff made by my friend (who made my special wand).



The Flions along the wall









I've organized most of my flions along the wall in my sacred space, so that they can watch over me.
The first picture also shows my prayer feather (I make these myself) and my big flion necklace (or as I call it, the "hood ornament" necklace).
The second and third pictures focus a bit more on the flion statues. The blue circle is a pairpoint flion suncatcher. You can also see my "privacy" curtains in these pictures. The room had open doorways, and it would be difficult to find doors for them because they are odd-sized (plus, I think doors would detract from the openness of the room, and make it seem smaller) . So I bought some curtains and dowels, and hung them up. Now I can close it off when I want privacy, or leave them open when I want light and space. I'm making black lace tie-backs for them, but in the meantime, I'm trying to keep the kitten from playing with them by putting them up out of the way on top of the magick cabinet.



The Magickal Cabinet



I also have my magickal cabinet in my sacred space. I purchased it at our local building center, and store all my extra ritual items in it, my BOS, etc.On top of it I have my crystal ball, a concrete flion, and a candle lamp.



Now why all this effort for sacred space? A permanent sacred space like this isn't required to be Wiccan. But I prefer to have something permanent to keep spirituality at the forefront of my mind every day. Plus, since items pick up the vibrations around them (which is the reason we cleanse and purify items-- to remove any negative energies), I prefer to have my items in one sacred area. There, I feel, they can sort of "absorb" energy from each other and gather strength. And I now have an indoor "spiritual sanctuary".

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