Grimoire of an Atheist: Altars

---

My altar is less aesthetically pleasing than mosts I have seen posted on the Tumblrs and Instagrams of the world. It has a vibe to it that I enjoy.

It is based vaguely on the description in Oberron Zell-Ravenloft’s “Grimoire for the Apprentice Wizard” in that it has a representative of all four elements(earth, water, wind, fire) and it has a higher and lower teir to represent our higher and lower self. The shelf that separates the two is a black box that I have painted with symbols that are important to me. One is the symbol for the demon king Zagan (who’s name I stole to give to my cat Zagan) and the other is a Triquetra a symbol for unity and interconnectedness, something I value in myself and society. I painted them with silver paint which I just thought looks cool and I wear a lot of silver but the symbolism of silver in occultism is a connection to feminine energies and the moon.

Things to include by Element

Earth - rocks (duh). I have Labradorite. It’s my favorite semi-precious gemstone because it’s pretty, but it’s hard to find the parts that are pretty. You need the right light and angle to find the shiny beauty spots. It’s a reminder that beauty is always visible but not always immediately. One must look to find beauty in all things because all things are beautiful.

Water - Water (duh). I have a few vials of water on my altar. One is a jar of river water from my home town that I collected after a flood. The other is water from Lake Superior I collected on vacation there where I met some kindly witches collecting stones on the beach (like I was doing). It is equal parts a reminder of good times and the fluidity of time. Much like the river flows and the lake washes new stones onto the beach, so to does time flow and things change. Not always for the better, but we must carry on to find new beauty.

Air - Bells and Feathers. I have bells from all over that I’ve thrifted over the years. They make all kinds of chimes some deep, some light, some far too pingy and I get annoyed having to move them, but all of them are only making noise for a moment and that moment is long enough to drastically change my mindset. These are often actual tools as opposed to purely symbolic meditations. Much like Pavlov making dogs think of food, I use bells to pull myself out of whatever mundane drudgery I am experiencing and immerse myself in meditation. Although, to be honest, I am mostly using a meditation app with a gong sound more than bells.

The feathers I’ve collected from various places and types of birds (none I killed but many were deceased). Birds are wonderful symbols of freedom and letting go. View it as a symbol for that. Let your mind be free like the bird is free to explore and travel where it pleases. Follow a bird around one day. It’s a wonderful type of meditation.

Fire - Candles and Incense. Candles and incense are such an essential aspect of modern witchcraft and occultism that you can find lists of meanings and uses for certain colors and scents all over. Since I’m an atheist, I know it doesn’t matter and gave myself meaning and uses. Hell, I “summoned a demon” using battery powered tea lights and a essential oil diffuser because my dorm banned candles. So I have three preferred candle colors: red, green, purple. When I am working, I burn a red candle. When I am meditatating, a green candle (placed on the higher shelf of the altar). When I am relaxing, the purple candle.

Why those colors? I really like the color red and the other two were on sale at Hobby Lobby so I bought a bunch. The color symbolism is arbitrary to me. You can follow the traditional standards of chakra candles if you so wish. Or maybe certain colors remind you of certain contexts you wish to evoke. In a way, red does good as a working color because my childhood school’s colors were always red and some others. So I associate red with focus and academic work.

Things to Include by meaning (CW: Dead Animal Mention)

This sorta stuff really gives you and excuse to collect knick-knacks and baubles of all sorts. I enjoy collecting carved semi-precious stone statues, sexual idols, and animal remains.

The stone statues I collect are pretty boring. I was gifted a Blood stone skull by a dear friend and I already had a ceramic skull paper weight my dad had given me as a child from his own days of collecting haunted looking objects (he was a Cathoilic not an occultist, but he liked having props in front of his Dungeons and Dragons screen while Dungeon Mastering). So now I collect well done stone skulls.

The sexual idols kinda started as a bit. I also 3D print a lot and I love printing a penis shaped character called Ding Ding to test out calibrations, colors, and new printers. So my house is covered in little penis guys and some naturally ended up on all my altars. Then years later, my fiance and I were at a rock and gem show where someone was selling female bodies with an uncomfortable spine curvature, fine tits, and a ridiculous ass. So we bought some of those in various stones since we must balance feminine and masculine energies to achieve peak post-gender god like status as it were.

Animal remains was a conflicting call for me. I found a really well cleaned and reconstructed Cyote skull at a different rock and gem show early on in my altar building days. However, I didn’t know if I wanted to include it because it felt like I was evoking animal sacrifice imagry into my altar. And that is a fair read on my altar but not what I personally feel. For me its a Stoic reminder of our own mortality. I will die just as Mr. Bones died. I also have the preserved jarred body of a baby albino snake I bought at a reptile show. That one had similar symbolism too it but with the added allussion to the alchemical symbol of the ouroboros. Maybe the snake means more in that the cycle will end one day with death. Maybe it’s just a cool morbid knick-knack.

You can really include whatever brings you back to a sense of mindful reflections is the point. I have a friend who’s altar is exclusively for her crafted stuff like little statues and fairy homes. And what is a Christmas village or a Model Train table but an altar like zen garden with tiny people and tiny trains?

I may even be convinced of a digital altar like this one where I am simply meditating on my own actions publicly!

What is an Altar to me

My altar is a place for ritual. It’s a grounding space for me that I use to take me out of whatever mindset I’m in and enter into an appropriate one. It’s my portal into my own psyche and my own place of control. It is also we’re I keep reminders of things dear to me. Friends from years past. Memories of old versions of myself. Reminders that life is fluid and that I grow.