The Path of Paganism by John Beckett

Author:John Beckett
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: path of paganism, pagan, paganism, modern paganism, what is paganism, paganism for beginners
Publisher: Llewellyn Worldwide, LTD.
Published: 2017-03-17T04:00:00+00:00

[contents]

8

Altars

For the ancient Greeks, the Omphalos (a large stone at Delphi) was the center of the world. For the Norse, it was Yggdrasil, the World Tree. They knew these things weren’t the literal center of the material world; they were mystical centers of the spiritual world.

An altar is a mystical center: Perhaps it’s a living thing, but if not, then it’s at least a connection to other living things: the gods, the ancestors, and the spirits of nature. The longer you maintain it and the more you use it, the stronger those connections get. Spiritual practice is a storehouse—if you fill it during ordinary times, you can draw from it in times of need. If you ignore it during ordinary times, there won’t be much there when trouble comes.

Purists will say that an altar is a place of sacrifice—it’s working space. A place filled with mementos and objects of veneration is more properly called a shrine. The purists are right, but in practice the altars of most contemporary Pagans do both. They’re a place of honor and they’re also where we meet the gods. What you call your altar or shrine isn’t as important as what you do with it.

My altar is an altar to the gods I follow. But this is not the only type of altar in Pagan practices.

A nature-centered altar might honor and revere a place of great beauty and meaning. It can contain stones, leaves, or other mementos from the site. Some Pagans have altars to endangered species, particularly those they work with in order to remind them to never give up. They may simply focus their altar on natural representations of the four elements rather than the tools of Paganism (chalice, athame, etc.) or representations of deities. Nature-centered altars are often changed with the seasons.

Communities have altars. They are often found at metaphysical stores and may be dedicated to ancestors or members of the community that passed on. Families and tribes often have mementos, framed photos, and such of their loved ones who have left this world. Communities also have temporary altars at festivals and conferences, which are ephemeral but no less powerful, because they are community-based.

Self-centered Pagans tend to have working altars. They may use them for doing magic. They may use them as basis for focusing on a particular habit or affirmation they want to seed in their life, or to channel energy to their goals with crystals and symbolic representations (tarot cards, sigils, etc.), or they may contain the signs and symbols of their rank within a tradition, or their tradition’s working tools (athame, cup, salt, cauldron, etc.).

An altar is a place for offerings. These can be offerings of food and drink, given in hospitality or in devotion. They can be offerings of incense or candles. They can be offerings of music and poetry. In ancient Greece, the altar was where an animal that had been sacrificed (“made sacred”) would be cooked prior to being distributed to the community to eat. There is value in pouring libations on the ground and leaving offerings for animals.

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