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Author Topic: Altar & Shrine inspiration & pics  (Read 125835 times)

anonymus

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Re: Altar & Shrine inspiration & pics
« Reply #240 on: March 23, 2014, 04:13:21 pm »
Quote from: anonymus;117633


I am updating after having to take my first shrine/alter down after issues with my mom. I am now rebuilding and taking it slower this time and using more generic materials so as [hopefully] not to freak her out so far it has been a week+ and no reaction; here is the current version.

[attach=CONFIG][/attach]

I figure the materials can stand in for a variety of different things. For example the bottle could represent water and the candle fire or bottle = Niflheim and candle =  Muspelheim.
« Last Edit: March 23, 2014, 04:13:50 pm by anonymus »

HarpingHawke

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Re: Altar & Shrine inspiration & pics
« Reply #241 on: March 23, 2014, 07:52:37 pm »
Quote from: anonymus;143424

That's a cool idea. Subtle things are good things. Let's just hope she doesn't freak out again...

Okay, I don't know if this is gonna work, because I am notoriously terrible at tech things, but I'm gonna go for it.
(if it doesn't work I may just edit my post so they're not there and leave the above here)
« Last Edit: March 23, 2014, 07:53:17 pm by HarpingHawke »
"There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self." - Hemingway

HarpingHawke

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Re: Altar & Shrine inspiration & pics
« Reply #242 on: March 23, 2014, 08:05:39 pm »
Quote from: HarpingHawke;143451
That's a cool idea. Subtle things are good things. Let's just hope she doesn't freak out again...

Okay, I don't know if this is gonna work, because I am notoriously terrible at tech things, but I'm gonna go for it.
(if it doesn't work I may just edit my post so they're not there and leave the above here)

 
And, replying to myself, here are links! Whee. :ashamed: I looked at the code section of the forum; I guess I was just not meant for these things...

Here is the link to the unnamed Goddess's altar. She likes the colors white and purple, reminds me of both the stars and the moon, and really seems to like chocolate. I don't know who the heck she is, but she seems nice.

http://harpinghawke.deviantart.com/art/Because-I-Can-t-Use-Code-to-Save-My-Life-442397166

Ares is next. He's actually on the shelf lower to hers. He seems to like it there.

http://harpinghawke.deviantart.com/art/Because-I-Can-t-Use-Code-to-Save-My-Life-Pt-2-442397550

Manannan and Cernunnos both like where they are on a single altar. They have separate sides, though, and so life isn't complete crazy. (Manannan left, Cernunnos right).

http://harpinghawke.deviantart.com/art/Because-I-Can-t-Use-Code-to-Save-My-Life-Pt-3-442397861

...anyway. I need to learn coding. Or something.
"There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self." - Hemingway

Sobekemiti

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Re: Altar & Shrine inspiration & pics
« Reply #243 on: April 02, 2014, 03:33:56 am »
Quote from: caelestisraven;1045
So if anyone would love to share pics or descriptions of their altars it would be lovely.

 
So I can't remember when I last posted in here, but I've just finished painting and putting together a new shrine table for Sobek and Heru-sa-Aset, and I thought I'd share.



This is an overall view of it. It's basically a pine Ikea table that I fell in love with, and decided to use for my new shrine. I'm in the middle of redoing my room, and this'll form part of the new shrine, along with some wall shelves I'm yet to purchase.

I'll post some more photos once the whole room is done, and the whole shrine is set up properly. Right now, most of my shrine things are packed up in boxes, along with most of my other stuff.

I've got more detailed images and descriptions over here at my blog, Per Sebek, if you're interested.
Sobekemiti | Hekatean Witch, Kemetic Orthodox Shemsu, Sobek Devotee | My pronouns are they/she

anonymus

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Re: Altar & Shrine inspiration & pics
« Reply #244 on: April 02, 2014, 07:31:09 am »
Quote from: cymrudraco;144235



 
that's  pretty impressive

Siren

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Re: Altar & Shrine inspiration & pics
« Reply #245 on: April 02, 2014, 08:57:30 am »
Quote from: cymrudraco;144235
So I can't remember when I last posted in here, but I've just finished painting and putting together a new shrine table for Sobek and Heru-sa-Aset, and I thought I'd share.



This is an overall view of it. It's basically a pine Ikea table that I fell in love with, and decided to use for my new shrine. I'm in the middle of redoing my room, and this'll form part of the new shrine, along with some wall shelves I'm yet to purchase.

I'll post some more photos once the whole room is done, and the whole shrine is set up properly. Right now, most of my shrine things are packed up in boxes, along with most of my other stuff.

I've got more detailed images and descriptions over here at my blog, Per Sebek, if you're interested.

 
That's beautiful! I love the way you've embellished it.

Scales

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Re: Altar & Shrine inspiration & pics
« Reply #246 on: April 17, 2014, 02:47:12 pm »
Quote from: Siren;144242


I thought I had posted mine, but I hadn't.

I may have posted this at some point- my makeshift workspace in front of the TV, that lasted several months:


Now I have a 'normal' altar:

Many times, the bowl just has stones. It could really use some flowers or something.

And this is my mouse shrine:


And while I was looking these photos up I found my altar at Ostara so I thought I'd share it too.
« Last Edit: April 17, 2014, 02:48:45 pm by Scales »

Chatelaine

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Re: Altar & Shrine inspiration & pics
« Reply #247 on: April 19, 2014, 12:17:15 pm »
Quote from: Scales;145441
Now I have a 'normal' altar:


That apple is awesome!
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Scales

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Re: Altar & Shrine inspiration & pics
« Reply #248 on: April 19, 2014, 09:26:09 pm »
Quote from: Chatelaine;145675
That apple is awesome!

 
Thanks! I found it at an antique store the same day I saw an altar with real apples, so it clicked in my head, haha. It's nice and heavy agate and the stem's copper.

Redfaery

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Re: Altar & Shrine inspiration & pics
« Reply #249 on: May 12, 2014, 11:19:13 am »
Quote from: cymrudraco;144235
So I can't remember when I last posted in here, but I've just finished painting and putting together a new shrine table for Sobek and Heru-sa-Aset, and I thought I'd share.

 
WANT

Sorry.

I posted Sarasvati's shrine here before, but I've redone it since, and now I have a shrine to Loki, too, and am putting one together for Bast (still a Work in Progress, verymuchso)

This is my shrine to Sarasvati:
Sarasvati by Redfaery1987, on Flickr

The altar cloth colors are drawn from Heian kasane combinations - the colors aristocratic ladies chose for their clothes from month to month. It works very nicely, because they're always very pleasing and seasonally appropriate combinations. FYI, the "wheel of the year" in central Japan matches much more closely to Piedmont North Carolina than UK-Based Wicca.;)

The thing I like most about this shrine is that anyone who sees it would probably just think it's a collection of knicknacks, unless they look really carefully and see the more definitely religious items. I do have a pentacle on there, although the pentagram isn't a sacred symbol to me. This particular specimen was just too beautiful to pass up. It has very strong linework, and there's a little crescent moon at each point of the star. Overall, it really reminded me of ancient Persian or Indian art. So it came home.

Other important things include the semi-open statue of Sarasvati herself, which is a statue taken from Ingres's painting La Source. Not traditional at all, I know, but it actually works well for me, as the truly traditional imagery was just too fussy and overadorned for me, and Sarasvati always looked very...matronly. La Source is a very special image to me, as the female figure always evoked in me a strange longing and deep awe. But....that's probably more than you ever wanted to know.:eek:

The plastic LED cherry tree just seemed like an appropriate centerpiece. Flowering trees are important in Hindu and Buddhist religious lore, and in the folklore of India, China, and Japan. The chimes in front of it kind of reminded me of the ancient bronze bells from Bronze-Age China. They're meant to symbolize Sarasvati's role as a goddess of eloquence, and the sacredness of the spoken word. In particular, I associate sound with life itself, as everything alive makes sound - blood rushing through veins, leaves rustling in the wind, etc.

Then I have my favorite candlestick, the ceramic waterlily. It's gotten a little banged up and chipped. Lotuses are prominent in Sarasvati's iconography, though she has nothing on them compared to Lakshmi. In my experience, though, Sarasvati does indeed have a fondness for lotuses, and other flowers with similar cultural associations, such as waterlilies and certain colors of rose (white or pink). I was really pleased to be able to bring home a second ceramic flower candlestick yesterday; this one is a pale pink rose. This one also has the manufacturer's sticker on it, so I am planning to look up the maker...

I've also got a fancy artist-made mirror with plum-blossom decoration. It's sort of a holdover from my Shinto days, in that it symbolizes clarity, purity, and wisdom of the soul connected with the divine. One other thing is a Chinese ceramic saucer with Chinese coins on it. Two are from the Qianlong reign (late 18th century, likely) one is from the late 19th century. They symbolize good luck and material prosperity, which Sarasvati has brought me in her aspect as Benzaiten.

Then I have a few working tools: my censer, cruet, and athame. The censer and cruet are both antique brass, almost certainly from a Catholic Church. They were sold as a set with a ewer, which I gave to my dad. All I know is that they were from India. The style looks right, but I have no other information to go on. The censer is for incense, obviously. I cense with cedar to purify space and objects, and light lotus to "connect" with Sarasvati. I use other scents to generally set a mood, or as offerings. The cruet is rarely used, but I make libations of milk with it, or use it to bathe Sarasvati's statue. The secret here is that you can't put liquid in brass for any length of time without making it absolutely reek of metal.

And of course, my athame is my most immediate working tool. I use it to channel Sarasvati's energy into myself when I invoke Her, and then ground that energy when I am done. I also use it to focus and direct energy more directly.

Wow...this was a long post. I don't think I've got the space to talk about Loki's shrine.
KARMA: You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Sobekemiti

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Re: Altar & Shrine inspiration & pics
« Reply #250 on: May 12, 2014, 11:33:25 am »
Quote from: cymrudraco;144235

I'll post some more photos once the whole room is done, and the whole shrine is set up properly. Right now, most of my shrine things are packed up in boxes, along with most of my other stuff.


And that day is now, since I have finally finished my room, and got my shrines set up. There's far too many photos to post here, but I've got all of them posted over here at my blog, in case anyone's interested to see how it all turned out.  

Here's a photo of the main shrine area:


From the top down, the ancestor shrine takes up the top shelf. The next shelf down is for the Theoi, and Isis. I have sections there for Hermes-Mercurius, Artemis, Isis, Hekate, and Hestia. Then there's the main shrine for Sobek and Heru-sa-Aset, and underneath that, my set-up for the Mysteries of Wesir I just celebrated (in my head)(because I wasn't organised enough to do any rituals for it this year because I was putting my room back together). The bottom space there is going to be for festival shrines.

There are other shrines dotted around the room, photos of which you can see in the blog post I linked above. But that gives you the general idea of how it's all turned out. I'm really pleased with it, even if I still do tinker with it. I'm still figuring out how best to use the space, which will change over time as I do rituals there and work out what I need, and what can go elsewhere.
Sobekemiti | Hekatean Witch, Kemetic Orthodox Shemsu, Sobek Devotee | My pronouns are they/she

Redfaery

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Re: Altar & Shrine inspiration & pics
« Reply #251 on: May 12, 2014, 11:47:47 am »
Quote from: Scales;145441
I thought I had posted mine, but I hadn't.

And this is my mouse shrine:

Posting again, because my last post went tooooo looong

Scales, I love your mouse shrine. Is that for your pet mice? I am doing something like that with my Bast Shrine.

But here is my Loki Shrine:

Loki by Redfaery1987, on Flickr

There's not as much symbolism in the objects here, since I don't worship or even really honor Loki. Saying we have a "working" relationship would be too dismissive. He's more like a wise (but...often snarky) counselor. I'm definitely not allowed to do runes without specifically asking for his input. Since he gets me such good results, I've kind of gone ahead to extending this to include my efforts at tarot, as well.

However, even though the objects are mostly a mishmash of stuff, there is some meaning to them, and they all have a reason for being there, even if it's just "I though you'd like it, Loki." That's what the wire-wrapped emerald is for, by the way. He just seemed to like it.

The only object with any real symbolism is the metal tree, which represents Yggdrasil. It's technically a necklace display, but it sucked at this, so I took everything off. It serves as a very nice Yggdrasil.

The red box is Loki's treasure chest. The drawers contain a couple of other rune sets, a tarot deck that really suited him but scared me too much, as well as some pieces of jet, garnet, non-gem quality ruby, and black feathers.

The red candles are red because Loki likes red (and red happens also to be a personal power color for me, so I happened to have a lot of red objects around), and the vase I stuck the taper in is a piece of Chinoiseirie that I picked up from antique store. It's a mimic of a Daoist bottle-gourd, and it's made to look like cinnabar. Fake bit of Chinese Daoist symbolism, made to please tourists, apparently. But it's REALLY RED, and it works perfectly to hold a candle. Besides, the lore of the Daoist immortals and XiWangMu with her peaches kind of reminds me of Idunn and her apples.

You can also see a black pillar candle and a pentacle, which were part of an extended practical joke for His sake that never came to fruition. I was planning to design his shrine to look deliberately scary to someone with no acquaintance with paganism, Wicca, or the occult - all black candles, black cloth, inverted pentacles, I was looking for some kind of skull. He seemed to appreciate it, but I just never went through with it.

The little tanto (dagger) is a letter opener that I mean to use to direct and raise energy. However, I've had little need for it when I'm divining, and I'm not sure I'd want to open myself up like that around Loki, so it's just stayed there. At the very least, it looks nice.

The little oil lamp has been repurposed into an incense burner. I simply took out the wick; the hole is just the right size for a stick to fit into. It's from the same antique store that I got a lot of Sarasvati's stuff from. But this just said "LOKI"

Aaaaand...there's the offerings, too. The glass is my special glass that I only ever used for special occasions, because it's not dishwasher safe (it's hand-painted, and I don't want the cute little bird, that you can't see in this picture, to wash off). I made a habit of using it for my offerings, and yesterday I gave Loki some soda in it. Now he seems to think that should be a regular practice, so it looks like it's going to be there for a while. The tin of bonbons is also an offering. I know he likes sweets, so they are his sweets.

Phew....I hope nobody minds that I'm writing these "essays"
« Last Edit: May 12, 2014, 11:48:20 am by Redfaery »
KARMA: You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Emma Eldritch

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Re: Altar & Shrine inspiration & pics
« Reply #252 on: May 14, 2014, 12:30:08 am »
Quote from: Redfaery;147352

The red box is Loki's treasure chest. The drawers contain a couple of other rune sets, a tarot deck that really suited him but scared me too much, as well as some pieces of jet, garnet, non-gem quality ruby, and black feathers.

 
How did it scare you?

Redfaery

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Re: Altar & Shrine inspiration & pics
« Reply #253 on: May 14, 2014, 06:54:39 pm »
Quote from: Mama Fortuna;147501
How did it scare you?


It's the "Dragon Tarot." It has really beautiful artwork, but it's so eerie-looking, and this particular deck just has an...unsettling...vibe. "Overwhelming" would be the way to describe it. It seems like "too much" for me. I love it, but I'd never do a reading with it!

I prefer the Hanson-Roberts deck my parents bought me one Christmas as a surprise. Not only do I have a sentimental attachment to it, but the deck just feels so friendly in my hands. Even though the artwork is honestly inferior to the Dragon Tarot, it feels more in tune with me.
KARMA: You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Emma Eldritch

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Re: Altar & Shrine inspiration & pics
« Reply #254 on: May 15, 2014, 02:12:01 am »
Quote from: Redfaery;147566
It's the "Dragon Tarot." It has really beautiful artwork, but it's so eerie-looking, and this particular deck just has an...unsettling...vibe. "Overwhelming" would be the way to describe it. It seems like "too much" for me. I love it, but I'd never do a reading with it!

I prefer the Hanson-Roberts deck my parents bought me one Christmas as a surprise. Not only do I have a sentimental attachment to it, but the deck just feels so friendly in my hands. Even though the artwork is honestly inferior to the Dragon Tarot, it feels more in tune with me.

 
I think my mom might have that one.

You use what works! :)

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