Altars: Private or Visible?

[Katefox]

I'm interested in learning the pros and cons of having a personal, private altar stored away for only the most important purposes; or having a visible, fairly inconspicuous altar set up for daily dedications and other purposes.
I'm certain it all has to do with an individual, that individual's social and physical environment, and one's spirituality.

I myself have a very elaborate altar set up in my bedroom complete with statues, wall candles, and a very convenient bookshelf right next to it. Since I live in a fairly liberal house, and most of my friends are rather indifferent to religion as a whole, I see no problem with it. I also love the feng shui it gives to my bedroom.



In your experience, which if any (private or visible), was more effective?

My shrine space is just about the first thing one sees when they walk in the door. I live in a fairly small bachelor's, so the shrine ended up there mostly because that's where there was space. It's one of those things that I think someone who knew what they were looking at, e.g. another Pagan, would probably recognise as a shrine space, but isn't so obvious to anyone else. The shelf beside it is full of (non-religious) nicknacks, so it blends in. As about the only other people who are ever in my apartment are my boyfriend (who knows I'm Pagan) and my landlord (who has never asked about my religion, but I don't see why it would concern him), so I don't worry about leaving my shrine in plain sight. I did pack it away when my Mum came to visit just because I didn't feel like explaining why I have (apparently) suddenly started to collect stones and crystals. Although I don't do any daily devotions, or anything, I like having my shrine space out in the open, as a reminder, whenever I walk by that shelf and/or look in that direction of, oh, hey, spiritual stuff. As I don't worship any particular Gods, Their preferences are currently not relevant to how I have my shrine set up.

[Michael]

I'm interested in learning the pros and cons of having a personal, private altar stored away for only the most important purposes; or having a visible, fairly inconspicuous altar set up for daily dedications and other purposes.



In your experience, which if any (private or visible), was more effective?

I debated this myself for my altar;I would agree that it depends on the individual and the purpose/frequency of use. Personally I have mine in the open and with an intricately carved slice of a tree stump as a head piece,which actually attracts attention toward it. The reason for that being I sometimes perform small rituals with one or two others present and like to have a bit more "formal" an altar set up.

I don't think that there would be any difference in "effectiveness" between an open one and one tucked away someplace; it's largely a matter of personal preference and sometimes convenience.

[Chatelaine]

I'm interested in learning the pros and cons of having a personal, private altar stored away for only the most important purposes; or having a visible, fairly inconspicuous altar set up for daily dedications and other purposes.
I'm certain it all has to do with an individual, that individual's social and physical environment, and one's spirituality.

Even when I was pagan, I kept a permanent, visible shrine in my room. I have no experience with hidden altars; my shrine has always been private enough for me, but not secret.

The Orthodox tradition makes use of home shrines, positioned somewhere the entire family can have access to them for their daily devotions, though I suspect some sort of privacy, away from strangers, is preferable (like setting it up in the dining room instead of the front room).

[Zeno]

I myself have a very elaborate altar set up in my bedroom complete with statues, wall candles, and a very convenient bookshelf right next to it. Since I live in a fairly liberal house, and most of my friends are rather indifferent to religion as a whole, I see no problem with it. I also love the feng shui it gives to my bedroom.

In your experience, which if any (private or visible), was more effective?

I'm very much in the same situation as you. I live in an apartment with my best friends, and they all know I'm a pagan, but like you're friends they are indifferent to religion. I keep my altar on top of my book case as well.

I'm sure there are benefits to both private and visible altars but seeing as I have yet to completely own my own place I can only say but so much on the subject.

It's nice to live with friends who don't care about religion, isn't it?

[FollowerofOdin]

I'm interested in learning the pros and cons of having a personal, private altar stored away for only the most important purposes; or having a visible, fairly inconspicuous altar set up for daily dedications and other purposes.
I'm certain it all has to do with an individual, that individual's social and physical environment, and one's spirituality.

I myself have a very elaborate altar set up in my bedroom complete with statues, wall candles, and a very convenient bookshelf right next to it. Since I live in a fairly liberal house, and most of my friends are rather indifferent to religion as a whole, I see no problem with it. I also love the feng shui it gives to my bedroom.

In your experience, which if any (private or visible), was more effective?

I have a shrine to Odin, because that's the god that I feel very connected to. It's on a dresser that I managed to get when the next door neighbors moved away (trashing the place so that the landlord was force to clean it up. Rude, much). Since I didn't have any money to buy an Odin statue I drew a picture of him and hung him up on the wall. It's not a very good drawing, as I suck at drawing, but its the thought that counts, I think. This week I'm getting a Odin bust but I'm still keeping the picture that I drew.

I have some stones on my shrine, three candles (black, because I read that he's the god of death), a offering bowl, a cup (I don't have a drinking horn because I can't afford one), and a incense burner. I clean the top once a week and make sure that everything is in order. I change things up every two weeks, as I like doing that.

[Cág]

I'm interested in learning the pros and cons of having a personal, private altar stored away for only the most important purposes; or having a visible, fairly inconspicuous altar set up for daily dedications and other purposes.
I'm certain it all has to do with an individual, that individual's social and physical environment, and one's spirituality.

I myself have a very elaborate altar set up in my bedroom complete with statues, wall candles, and a very convenient bookshelf right next to it. Since I live in a fairly liberal house, and most of my friends are rather indifferent to religion as a whole, I see no problem with it. I also love the feng shui it gives to my bedroom.

In your experience, which if any (private or visible), was more effective?

I live in student accommodation which allows me a certain level of freedom such as having my altar more or less permanently set up.
In my flat I have my own private bedroom so I currently have mine set up on my desk and have a small work-in-progress shrine to the Morrigan set up next to it.
I originally had it on my windowsill but had problems with condensation soaking my altar cloth so I had to move it

I have it set-up on top of a large wooden box I use to store it when needed It's just a nice size for it so I'm quite happy at the moment to use that.
I can't use incense because of the fire alarms so I use an oil burner instead

Last year I had it set up on a bookshelf and would take it down to the floor when needed
My flatmates know about my paganism and they're fine with it The only times I take it down is when I go home for summer, when my family visit (I keep my practice quiet) and when I know I will have people around who may not have respect for it, intentionally or otherwise. I have one friend who has slight boundary issues and I think would just pick up my tools (like my athame for example who I let only a select few touch because it's so personal to me) without thinking and start moving bits and pieces around. She's kinda prone to the 'ooh shiny *picks up and waves about excitedly*' sort of thing so I put it away if I know she'll be around just in case.

Personally I don't feel right not having it set up. It's an important part of my daily life and I feel happier knowing I can just go over and do a quiet devotion when I'd like

[PhantomQueen]

I'm interested in learning the pros and cons of having a personal, private altar stored away for only the most important purposes; or having a visible, fairly inconspicuous altar set up for daily dedications and other purposes.
In your experience, which if any (private or visible), was more effective?

My ancestor shrine is out in the open in my living room along with a smaller one for my first two cats that have passed away. There's a battery operated candle on the ancestor one that I have on frequently along with a few crystals. I find that the few people I invite in don't think anything of either of them. I did have my Brighid altar out in there too and a couple friends were a bit taken abafck when they came over. I've known them a good 9 or 10 years before they came over, so they knew me as a person before they knew me as a religion, which helps, I think. There weren't any preconceived ideas about me. But I did get 'the Look'... I do have other bits and pieces out and about but you'd have to know what you're looking at to know it's pagan.

My personal one to the Morrigan is in my bedroom, not in sight when people pass by the door. In my mind, my relationship with Her is just that-between Her and I. I don't want just anybody to come waltzing/prancing in and messing about with my shrine.

I think both private and public shrines have their purposes. You just need to take into account who'll be passing through your home and if you'll need to set boundaries or not when guests do come in. I also like mine to be maintained (ie dusted) too.

[FollowerofOdin]

My ancestor shrine is out in the open in my living room along with a smaller one for my first two cats that have passed away. There's a battery operated candle on the ancestor one that I have on frequently along with a few crystals. I find that the few people I invite in don't think anything of either of them. I did have my Brighid altar out in there too and a couple friends were a bit taken abafck when they came over. I've known them a good 9 or 10 years before they came over, so they knew me as a person before they knew me as a religion, which helps, I think. There weren't any preconceived ideas about me. But I did get 'the Look'... I do have other bits and pieces out and about but you'd have to know what you're looking at to know it's pagan.

My personal one to the Morrigan is in my bedroom, not in sight when people pass by the door. In my mind, my relationship with Her is just that-between Her and I. I don't want just anybody to come waltzing/prancing in and messing about with my shrine.

I think both private and public shrines have their purposes. You just need to take into account who'll be passing through your home and if you'll need to set boundaries or not when guests do come in. I also like mine to be maintained (ie dusted) too.

I think that battery powered candles are the best because you don't have to worry about a fire starting.

[Ma'atemhat]

In your experience, which if any (private or visible), was more effective?

When I first learned that Egyptian shrines were kept in a naos (a box-like structure with doors, where the statues were kept) I put my shrine in a cabinet that was built into one of my shelves. Bast, who was the only Egyptian deity that I worked with at the time, seemed to like it, but there was the problem of "out of sight, out of mind." My active practice actually declined, because having it tucked away didn't remind or inspire me to do ritual. In the end, I removed the shrine from the cabinet, which was just fine with Bast, because she got more attention from me that way.

[Briar Rose]

In your experience, which if any (private or visible), was more effective?

My shrine to Morrigan is very small. It's on a dresser surrounded by my jewelry and various (non-religious) statues. It's visible to me (and can clearly be seen by anyone who enters my room) but it doesn't stand out as a shrine unless you know what to look for.

I like it that way; it's a reminder that I have a connection with Her, but it doesn't bring up questions I'm not ready to answer from other people.