Be A Goddess: Lesson Four

Merry Meet and Welcome to you magickal souls!!!!

This week, I'd like to share my experience of Lesson Four from "Be A Goddess" by Francesca de Grandis. This particular lesson/chapter was titled "An Altar is a Place of Power", and I think it's helped me to understand and consider what an Altar is.

First, there was a look at what altars were likely to be in the past, which is a "high place" as that is the Latin meaning of the origin of altar. This makes sense to me, as the Mayans would typically have placed their altars on top of pyramids or elevated platforms.

This may have been due to the Mayan (and many "pagan") beliefs that the higher you can get, the closer you are to the Gods and Goddesses as well as Nature. It isn't supposed to symbolise that humans or specific individuals are "above all that" but is a way for us all to be closer to the elements.

This was intriguing to me because I love that I live near the top of a hill as I get quite the night-time view when the skies are clear (stars galore as well as the Moon in all her glory). I prefer living on top of a hill to in a valley as I feel free and open rather than enclosed and almost underground - in my opinion anyway.

In some cultures, altars were the opposite so built into the ground in a cave-like space. This was interesting because the altar could have symbolised the sacredness of depths - and Hekate, as She is one of two Goddesses I know of who can be found in caves of some sort. Persephone is the other in her role as Queen of the Underworld. This is particularly feminine to me because of the association with wombs being a woman's natural cave where life is created.

Following on from non-specific altars, there was also an extra element that as a human, I am also an altar, which compounds the idea that I myself am sacred (from a previous lesson). This is all because I am not distinct from what is around me. I am as sacred as the animals, birds and plants that also live in my area, but I am not above them or "more important" just because I can communicate and think.

I should be living my life more in harmony with my environment, so doing more recycling and not leaving rubbish all over the place. I will admit that it took me a little while to get used to separating the recycling from normal rubbish but I am now in a bit of a routine with it. I don't like to litter and would prefer to carry it all the way home than drop it anywhere.

Having an altar in my home shouldn't be artificial or superficial, doing it to appear more like a Witch and fit the aesthetic rather than actually using it. An altar should be a naturally built place that has, over time, gained the energy it has, and while I say a "naturally built place", I don't necessarily mean a natural space but somewhere that has that kind of energy within the space I live in.

I will admit to having an altar in every room in my home but that's because each one provides a different energy. The one in my bathroom is for self-love and self-care because I associate baths with that and use them as part of my practice. My kitchen one is for good health and food habits and it has become the place where I plan my meals each day. My desk is a kind of altar and I have items for focus and creativity on/in it. The ones in my living room are a little smaller than I would like but I am working with what I have available as I have an ancestral altar for the people and pets I would like to honour, and the Goddess altar I have has items to represent the God on it too.

My Kitchen Altar

My Deity Altar

My Ancestral A

I probably don't utilise my deity altar in the way that Francesca advised because I don't sit with it and pray to the God and Goddess. I don't always do spells and rituals there either so it's not the main "energy hub" of my Craft. However, I use it in my on way that currently feels right to me but I do know that should I feel the need to, I can adapt my practice. Francesca did write that an altar should be a place where I can get in touch with my spirituality and spiritual needs, which I would like to think is the case because I have my own deity altar.

Because of the aspect of living more in harmony with my environment, there's an element of needing to be ethical when acquiring my tools and altarware. Here in the UK, false advertisement is illegal so what a company advertises must be what they actually sell and deliver to their customer. This means that whenever I order from a UK-based company, I can trust that what they say is the truth - a couple of examples of this are Witch Casket who are completely etical about sourcing their products, and the Witchcraft Shop from whom I purchased my proper set of Ogham staves with each stave on its corresponding tree/plant.

I won't go out of my way to acquire something for my Craft unless I feel I absolutely need it and even then, I will try to make do without it if I can. I love that Witch Casket have provided me with lots of items that have become integral to my Craft without me actually knowing I wanted or needed it, like my manifestation boxes that hold a few spells for me.

I do know that anything can go on an altar but it helps if the items on those altars are meaningful to the purpose of the altar and to myself. Examples include representations of the God and Goddess, spiritual or religious symbols, goals and priorities, anything to career/health/finances, and/or an offering plate. I don't currently have an offering plate because I don't leave offerings and I have two cats, at least one of whom would eat the food I leave out anyway.

I will say that an altar can be anywhere in or outside of my home but because I have space in each room, I can have as many as I do. I don't necessarily need to have the number of altars but it feels right to me to have them for the purposes I use them for.

Something that I like the most is that I am an altar too and so I need to take care of myself to also take care of the Goddess (and the God) in the simplest way possible. This means looking after my physical health, something that I am working towards, my spiritual and my mental health too because I am a whole being as I am and I am also a sacred place.

All in all, this compounded what I had already learned and helped me to consider where I could "do better" in my spirituality. I'm definitely enjoying the process of moving through this book as a course.

Peace and love to all!!!!