Altars allow us a moment of meditation in an usually mundane world. The ability to take a moment and then a breath, allowing ourselves to step out of ourselves and touch if only a moment of spirituality each day, sometimes can make the difference in an ordinary day and an extraordinary day.

I have found in my personal life that lighting a candle, closing my eyes and thanking my deity, burning some incense and standing back and taking in this simple act of spirituality is making me more aware of the world around me. The beauty in the light that the candles offer, the scents of whatever incense I am burning remind me that each day is sacred in every way imaginable.

I grow daily by accepting the fact that I am human and that there is some omnipotent being that allows me to choose my path and that I can go to in my hour of need. I also acknowledge that being in thanks and offerings helping me to be a more humane person.

Although the space that you choose should be of some special meaning to you, your altar can be anywhere, indoors or out, in a closet or a room dedicated for your spirituality. Only your imagination stops the fertile ground upon which your mind may shape your altar.

***The meanings for altar objects change from culture to culture. They also vary person to person. The most valid meaning is the one that intuitively feels right to you. Below is a partial list of different objects you may want to use on your altar with their associated meanings. This is by no means a definitive guide, for the realm of symbolism is vast and diverse, but it does give a brief overview of numerous items you can put on your home shrine.***
Please use this list to begin your journey with your altar and let it become your own with the symbols that you choose and the meanings you place with those items. I ask that once you begin to build your altar, realize that this space is becoming sacred space and will lose its meaning if not maintained (i.e. dusting, periodic cleaning of your sacred space and removal of used candles and incense). I do mean to speak bluntly about this matter, but experience has taught me that we all can become lazy in our housework and this includes our spiritual housecleaning.
The visualization of an altar can be very reaffirming in our daily lives, but don’t be afraid to take down your altar and remember that even though those symbols are put away for a time the sacred space you have built is still alive if only in your heart. It does not disappear with the disappearance of those things that have special meaning to you.