Creating a healing altar will safeguard
your physical health and that of your loved ones. Your altar is your sacred
workspace. It is charged with your personal power. Set up your healing altar
facing north, the direction associated with the energy of manifestation. North
is also the direction of the hour of midnight, the “witching hour,” and an
altar set up facing north at midnight promises potent magic.
To ensure healthful beginnings, find a
pure white square of fabric to drape over your altar to make a tabula rasa, or
altar equivalent to a blank slate. Take two green candles and place them in
green glass holders or votive glasses and position them in the two farthest
corners of the altar. Place your incense burner in the center between the two
candles and light the incense. Sandalwood, cinnamon, camphor, and frankincense
are all powerful purification incenses that are perfect for the creation of a
healing altar. Burn one or all of these purification essences to consecrate the
space. Adorn your altar with objects that symbolize healing energy to you. You
may perhaps choose a candleholder carved from a chunk of amethyst crystal,
which contains healing properties; an abalone shell with the iridescent magic
of the oceans; a sweet-smelling bundle of sage; a small citrus plant bursting
with the restorative power of vitamins; or a bowl of curative salts from the
sea.
These symbolic items, and any others
that you select, will energize your altar with the magic that lives inside you.
It is also important that the altar be pleasing to your eye and makes you feel
good when you look at it so that you want to spend time there each and every
day. After you have been performing rituals there for a while, a positive
healing energy field will radiate from your altar.
Altar Herbs
Refer to this list whenever you are
setting up your altar and setting your intention for ritual work. It is a
concise guide to the enchanted realm of herbs, essences, plants and plant
properties.
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Benzoin can be used for purification,
prosperity, work success, mental acuity, and memory.
•
Camphor can be used for healing, divining the
future, curbing excess, especially romantic obsessions, and a surfeit of
sexuality.
•
Cinnamon refreshes and directs spirituality. It
is also a protection herb and handy for healing, money, love, lust, personal
power, and success with work and creative projects.
•
Clove is good for bringing money to you, for
protection, for your love life, and for helping evade and deter negative
energies.
•
Copal should be used for love and purification.
•
Frankincense is another spiritual essence that
purifies and protects.
•
Lavender is a plant for happiness, peace, true
love, long life, chastity, and is an excellent purifier that aids with sleep.
•
Myrrh has been considered since ancient times to
be deeply sacred. It aids personal spirituality, heals and protects, and can
help ward off negative spirits and energies.
•
Nutmeg is a lucky herb that promotes good health
and prosperity and encourages fidelity.
•
Patchouli stimulates and grounds while
engendering both sensuality and fertility. It also supports personal wealth and
security.
•
Peppermint is an herb of purification, healing,
and love. It supports relaxation and sleep as it helps to increase psychic
powers.
•
Rosemary is good for purification, protection,
healing, relaxation, and intelligence. It attracts love and sensuality, helps
with memory, and can keep you youthful.
•
Sage brings wisdom, purification, protection,
health, and a long life. It can help make your wishes come true.
•
Sandalwood is a mystical, healing, protecting
essence that helps attract the objects of your hopes and desires and dispenses
negative energies and spirits.
•
Star Anise is a lucky herb that aids divination
and psychism.
•
Tonka Bean brings courage and draws love and
money.
•
Vanilla brings love and enriches your mental
capacity.
•
Wood Aloe is good for dressing or anointing
talismans and amulets you want to use for protection.
