A Grove of Ashes and Aspens

Now Playing: Not My Final Song by Elvenking

Many pagans will have some form of home altar, and that can be anything from a small area on their desk where they keep ritual equipment to a full dedicated table, or even an entire dedicated room, if you’re feeling ambitious. The specifics on size, location, and what deities and/or ancestors will vary from person to person, as each individual has different circumstances, practices, and desires.

While individual desires and practices will absolutely have some impact on what someone’s personal altar will look like, their circumstances are just as important to consider. Some don’t have the money for a large altar with a lot of intricate decorations. Some live with an unaccepting family.

To work around not having enough money for a large and intricate altar, making things yourself is always a good practice. Even if you do have the money for more expensive altar pieces, making things yourself can be a fun way to make an altar that is very personal, while just paying for the materials involved and not having to pay for any of the extra charges that are built into the price of items bought online or in a store. And if you can (legally) find some of the materials without having to pay for them (wood for carvings, small branches or flowers for seasonal additions, etc.), even better.

When living with an unaccepting family, having any type of altar can get very tricky. Many younger pagans who may be just starting out and living with an unaccepting family may struggle with wanting an altar but not knowing how to go about it, as they risk not having familial support if found out. This has the potential to be even more of an issue in more heavily Christian areas, since Christianity has a notorious history of being less accepting of pagan religious beliefs (which, incidentally, is where the umbrella term “pagan” comes from and where the term specific Norse paganism, “Heathenry”, comes from, but that’s another topic entirely).

This is where the magic of temporary altars comes into play.

Instead of having a fully dedicated area in the house or room that is specifically designated for the altar and has all of a person’s ritual/prayer tools, temporary altars are what they say on the tin; they’re altars that don’t have a fixed place. What this means exactly will vary from person to person, but the most common theme is that a temporary altar will have all the items a person may want to use during a ritual or prayer session, usually gathered together in a place or bundle that’s easy to set up and dismantle, and is often easy to move all at once, or in as little time as possible. While you can, in theory, have a large and elaborate temporary altar, I would generally recommend against this, as more elaborate set ups can be a lot harder and take a lot longer to dismantle, which may entirely defeat the point of it being a temporary altar.

Now, temporary altars are great for people who may need to move their altar a lot, but what about people who are able to have a more permanent altar, but have to move it or otherwise disturb it as a result of outside circumstances, like moving or some sort of damage that forces a relocation of the altar?

This can get tricky, since permanent altars are, as the name implies, intended to be where they are until further notice. The best practice in this situation is to, when it’s safe to do so, pray and tell the deity (or deities or ancestor(s)) your altar is dedicated to and explain the situation, then set up your altar again when you can. Generally, the gods are very chill and understanding, so the main concern should be on physical safety and the circumstances that are requiring the dismantling of the altar.

Anyway, this is the best advice I have from my own experience and what others have said in online forums, so I hope this helps.