How to Build an Altar for Any Occasion

I led a short workshop on altar creation for one of our UU church’s monthly small group ministry meetings earlier this month and thought I’d share my write-up here for anyone looking for more info on altar building.

Up until leading this workshop, all the altars I had created were Pagan, but I really wanted to look at altar building in a way that wasn’t tied to any specific religion or practice. Which meant I had to expand my own view of what altars can be. But in doing research for this workshop I couldn’t find resources that weren’t tied to a particular practice. So I just created my own.

How to Build an Altar for Any Occasion

Why do humans create altars? 

• As a touchstone, or to honor an important being, idea, time period, or holiday/holy day.
• For offerings to deities, the spirit realm or ancestors
• To create holy/sacred space
• To express gratitude

What do they look like, and where can they be built? 

Altars can be many things. They can be constructed for short-term or long-term use. They can be as simple as necessary (a candle and an image) or as elaborate as you can imagine. Altars can be constructed to not look like an altar if you share a home with someone who doesn’t share your beliefs. 

Altars are most frequently off the ground (although some cultures and practices work with ground altars), often on a flat surface – a low table, the top of a dresser or other furniture, a bookshelf – but can also be on a wall or even spread out to encompass a room or large space. 

What could or should go on an altar? 

• Light
• Balance: the elements, Feng Shui, yin yang
• Sacred items related to the altar’s focus
• Imagery (art, photos, statuary)
• Items that correspond to the altar’s energetic focus, or that resonate with you: gemstones, herbs/plants, colors, natural objects, numbers
• Oracle or tarot cards
• Symbols
• Prayer beads
• Sacred texts
• Altar cloth

Ultimately altars should contain anything that is of “significance to you and brings you feelings of celebration, peace, love or inspiration.” (chopra.com)

Altars should be charged, blessed, cleansed, and/or consecrated in some way once they are created. If the altar is to be part of a ritual that includes cleansing and creating sacred space, then the altar doesn’t necessarily need a separate cleansing or charging.  

If not done in ritual, you can:

• Smudge with incense, or
• Cleanse and consecrate with elemental offerings: saltwater & incense, for example, or
• Ring a singing bowl

To bless, charge or consecrate you can:

• Invoke deities, ancestors, angels, elementals or any other spiritual beings to ask for their blessing
• Write your own charge or blessing

An example of cleansing and dedicating an altar (written by Cynthia to be used in a non-denominational Gratitude ritual)

Mix salt and water together. While sprinkling around and over the altar say: “Earth and Water together shall purify our altar”

Light incense and walk around the altar, ending by wafting incense over the altar and saying: “Fire and Air together shall consecrate our altar”

Altar dedication:“We dedicate this altar to the blessings for which we are grateful. May our gratitude shine forth from us and light our way, even when our world grows dim. So mote it be.”

Two (Pagan) altar examples:

This small altar (above) was the first altar I created for my Patron, Anubis many years ago. It was temporary, used only for one ritual – my self-dedication to Anubis. I had no statuary of him at the time so I printed out a few images and put them in photo stands. Although simple (and low cost!) this was a powerful altar: it was very focused, with everything on it (other than the images) used for offerings.

This is an example of an altar that grows over time. Our family creates a Samhain altar every year, with photos and/or belongings of our beloved dead, imagery of death, and various altar items that we use in ritual (candles, incense burner, magical tools, elemental items). We add more photos each year as loved ones pass, along with updated Samhain decorations and new tools as they come to us.