Creating Your Own Personal Altar

In previous blogs, I have described creating an altar specifically for your ancestors, so this is not the focus of today's blog.

Yes, I have more than one altar!

Today I want to chat a bit about creating an altar as a focus point for you to connect with your own angels, guides and mystical helpers.

There is no right and wrong way to create an altar honoring those who do not inhabit a human body but assist you in your spiritual practice. In this blog, I want to take a little time to describe my altar and make suggestions for creating your own.

Because of my affection for the practice of Shamanism, the center point of my focus on my altar is a candle representing the four directions, with a center candle representing my higher self, or the energy of spirit. All of the other items on my altar are representations of specific benevolent spirits which assist me in my spiritual practice. I like to try to place the representations of them in or near the direction that they most closely align with. I do have a small water fountain, which is as close to the direction of west as I can get it, since the direction of west is associated with water. I try to have representations of each of the elements in their own designated direction. I have noticed that different traditions sometimes assign an element to a different direction, and that is fine! You can assign an element to the direction that speaks to you. Any of my allies associated with a particular direction also find a talisman of them there. It is the same with each of my spirit allies. If I don't have a statue or visual representation of them, then I honor them with the talisman of their choice. As you can see, I have a paper with a symbol on it in the East. I acquired this symbol in my study of Reiki, which is Japaneze, so it sits in the east, along with some other eastern allies that I have acquired along the way. North seems to be my busiest direction. Most of my ancestors are from the north, so I do have a couple of items which represent the ones I specificially invite in to my spiritual practice. I have three spirit helpers that seem to come from some place in the north of our universe, so I have a crystal representing them. The ornament of the angel sits in the middle, since I have angels in each of the directions.

Your own personal altar can be as elaborate or as simple as you like! Some people like to take their altar with them when they travel, so they keep it a lot simpler than mine and represent their allies with unique stones or small items portable enough to fit in a small bag or box. You could simply light a candle and invite your spirit helpers in. Sometimes when I am in a hurry, I will light the candle in the middle and forgo inviting them all in individually.

I try to go to my altar frequently and acknowledge my spirit helpers. Whether or not I invite them in individually, facing each direction and creating an energetic circle, which is my best case scenario, I try to at least connect with them in some way every day and thank them for their presence in my life. An altar can be a place to focus your attention and create a place of reverence and gratitude.

Life gets busy! Some days I jump up and say a quick hello to them on my way to whatever the activity of the day entails. I frequently chat with them in the car as I bless the drivers around me and ask for protection on the highways. This is important because I have a tendency to get annoyed with people's driving skills. If I bless them and wish them well I have less of a tendency to get agitated. I like to bless my destination and the road that gets me there, as well as my GPS, without which I would spend a good portion of my life lost.

I cannot say that I spend time in front of my altar every single day, although it is probably easier for me than those with outside jobs since I see clients, both Zoom, phone and in person most days in the room where my altar resides.

I do notice spirit activity is more active around the altars I have in my home, both my ancestor altar and my benevolent helper altar. My husband also has his own altar in a different location in the house, which I can't say I notice as much activity, just due to the infrequency of my visits to that end of the house. Frequently I will hear sounds at or around the altars, so I do believe the spirits spend time near the altars. When you have an area that is specifically dedicated to them, their energy is stronger there, especially if you spend time there chatting with them.

Whether or not you incorporate an altar in your spiritual practice, try to carve out a little time each day to connect with your benevolent spirit helpers and thank them for their presence in your life and for their continual protection and assistance. If you acknowledge and bless them, you may find your ability to sense their presence increases. You may or may not know their individual identities. This is more important to us than it is to them!

Some people create individual altars for all of their specific spirit helpers. I do notice some of the spirits prefer their own space rather than a community altar. You can tune in to your individual spirit helpers and see what they prefer.

I always put the Creator of All That Is in charge over all of the other benevolent helpers. The Creator is the one who gives life to us all and from whom we all originated. Either before I say my prayers to the specific helpers or after, I always say that the Creator of All That Is presides over all spiritual activities. I do not have a specific representation of the Creator since everything that is created technically comes from that energy. This detail seems to bring it all together and bring unity and peace and love to all spiritual practice. When I added this to my practice I found my frequency really shifted and the information I was given intuitively became more accurate and specific.

You can choose to use any or all of these suggestions or none at all in your own spiritual practice! I do not believe there are rules for connecting with spirit, other than the rule of love. If your intent is to connect with the Divine, and your intent is for your own spiritual evolvement or to be in the service of others, your spiritual practice is fine. Don't get caught up in rules and complicated practices. Do whatever works for you and always do everything you do with love.

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