Fireplace Altars

Vesta is the Roman cognate of the revered Greek goddess, Hestia, “first of all divinities to be invoked” in classical rituals. In Greece, they had public hearths called prytaneums that came under the domain of the most revered Hestia, protector of “all innermost things,” according to the great philosopher Pythagoras, who also claimed that her altar fire was the center of the earth. The altar of Vesta in classical Rome was tended by the Vestal Virgins and was also believed to be the very center of the earth. The insignia for the goddess Vesta was an altar table with flames at both ends, forming the Greek letter “pi,” which is the numerological symbol for the Pythagorean sect.

The Vestal Virgins were the keepers of Rome’s eternal flame. It was believed that if the fire of Vesta’s altar went out, the Roman Empire would fall. In the fourth century, CE, Christians extinguished the vestal fire and began the process of erasing pagan religions and symbols.

The oldest lore of Hestia and Vesta comes down to us from Cicero’s De Natura Deorum and stems from ancient forms of worship performed by people for whom the hearth and clan fires were under the province of the clan mother. During the ages when people were hunters and gatherers, one dominant woman took care of the clan by keeping the fire burning at all times. She fed her clan and became the presence at the very heart and center of the tribe. She held the tribal wisdom and stories, healed wounded hunters, acted as midwife, and took on the role of key caretaker of the people. These most basic needs of life—food and warmth provided by fire—created the solid center of life for clans and tribes and soon became holy. This sacred center of fire has continued to evolve through the millennia to our modern altars, shrines, and churches with their candles.

Fireplace altars today hearken back to this earliest custom. Home and hearth have primal appeal to the comfort of both body and soul. If you have a fireplace, it can become the very heart of your home. The fireplace is also one of the safest places of the ritual work of fire keeping. Sanctify your fireplace with a sprinkling of salt, and then set it up as an altar to the four seasons. Like the Vestal Virgins of old, you can keep a fire burning in a votive glass holder in the back of your fireplace and have an eternal flame. The fireplace can be your simplest altar and a reflection of the work of nature. If you don’t have a real fire in your fireplace, you can place in it beautiful sacred objects—pretty rocks, feathers, seashells, glistening crystals, beautiful leaves, and anything representing the holiest aspects of the world around you. Let nature be your guide.

In ancient times, altars were blessed by blood. In fact, the word “blessing” is derived from the Old English bletsain, derived from the older form bleodswean, which means “to purify thought the application of blood.” Indeed, altars were blessed in earliest times by the blood of animals or even captives from tribal wars. Now we bless altars by sprinkling them with salt, a magical substitute for blood. 

Tripods: Mobile Altars

Outdoor altars are usually of a temporary nature—the beach is a wonderful place to set up a one-day altar on driftwood with seaweed and shells. There, unless the beach is too crowded, you can commune with the water deities and seek your deepest reaches of spirit. Forest, farm, and meadow offer earth and sky and the sanctity of nature in which to build your altar.

In Athens during the classical period, the lane leading to the temple dedicated to the god Dionysus was called the Avenue of Tripods because it was lined with small tripod altars; this was a holy road indeed. Tripod originates in the Greek word meaning “three footed,” and these altars functioned as the sites of offerings. A three-footed altar is more practical for outdoor use than a regular four-legged table because it is stable on uneven ground. For your outdoor rituals, therefore, it’s best to acquire a tripod that will provide a steady surface for your ritual work performed out in the holy realm of Nature.

At Delphi, the revered oracular center, the Pythoness and her sisters prophesied from the sacred seat of power, a tripod. 

Creating a Personal Altar

 

Before there were temples and churches, the primary place of reverence was the altar. The word altar comes from a Latin word that means “high place.” With a personal altar, you can reach the heights of your spirituality and grow higher in wisdom. You construct an altar when you assemble symbolic items in a meaningful manner and focus both your attention and intention. When you work with the combined energies of these items, you are performing ritual. Your rituals can arise from your needs, imagination, or the seasonal and traditional ceremonies that you find in this book and in others. In her marvelous collection, A Book of Women’s Altars, Nancy Brady Cunningham recommends “bowing” or placing your hands on the ground in front of your altar as you end the ritual. “Grounding symbolizes the end of the ritual and signals the mind to return to an ordinary state of awareness as you re- enter your daily life."

An altar is a physical point of focus for the ritual, containing items considered sacred and essential to ritual work and spirituality. An altar can be anything from a rock in the forest to an exquisite antique table. Even portable of temporary altars can suffice—a board suspended between two chairs, for example, can become sacred space if it’s consecrated. You can also create more than one altar if you have the room or have multiple, specific needs, such as attracting work, creativity, love, or healing. You can also have altars dedicated to various deities, if you desire to go deep into the energies of those gods or goddesses. You can also create shrines to honor a deity. A shrine is a place devoted to a divinity that becomes hallowed by that association. A shrine can be any size that suits your circumstance, such as a corner in a room, an entire building, or even a small shelf or windowsill that receives the light of the moon and sun. You can also use a large space or create a home temple space that accommodates highly complicated and intricate rituals for regular use with a large group.

Tradition usually places the feminine Goddess space on the left-hand side of the altar and the masculine God space on the right. Once you are comfortable and experienced with ritual work, you can begin to customize the altar. 

Ritual Tools That Need Charging

You will need a symbol of each of the four elements—air, earth, fire, and water—such as: a candle for fire, incense for air, a cup of water, a bowl of salt. Also let your instinct guide you to choose as you wish or what you are inspired by.

Take the new ritual tool and pass it through the scented smoke of the incense and say:

Now inspired with the breath of air.

Then pass the tool swiftly through the flame of the candle and say:

Burnished by fire.

Sprinkle the tool with water and say:

Purified by water.

Dip the tool into the bowl of salt and say:

Empowered by the earth.

Hold the tool before you with both hands and imagine an enveloping, warm white light purifying the tool. Now say:

Steeped in spirit and bright with light.

Place the cleansed tool upon your altar and say:

By craft made and by craft charged and changed, this tool [fill in the actual name, bolline, Book of Shadows, etc.] I will use for the purpose of good in this world and in the realm of the gods and goddesses. I hereby consecrate this tool ______.

Other tools you will use in ritual are more intangible. These include your breath, your intuition, your psychic powers, and your ability to focus your mental powers and spiritual intentions. Because they are intangible, only your intention can purify them. From time to time, you will use colors, herbs, oils, crystals, and numbers. Many of these ritual correspondences and associations have been passed down through the centuries, whereas many of them were invented by modern authors.

Crystals can also be charged. But tools that come from nature and are not “manmade,” but are of divine design, such as flowers, feathers, and herbs, already contain an intrinsic magic of their own and can be used as you find them.

Your tools will collect and hold the magic that lives inside you. They will become instilled with your energy and stored at your altar or in your sacred space. They will become your power source and will magnify the strength of your ritual work. Your altar should be a place of peace and meditation where your spirit can soar. Adorned with your treasured objects and the tools of your practice, it is a place of focus where you can enrich your life through ritual. You can create a wellspring of spirit so you can live an enchanted life every single day.

You can also perform rituals and make magic without any tools or implements at all. Your intention alone is extremely powerful. This simple approach could be called “Zen magic.” When you perform ritual in this way, you are one step closer to the methods by which early men and women created ceremonies. 

Consecrating Your Ritual Tools

You should design a personal consecration ritual for your magical tools. Use the following ritual as a simple “temple template” to build on. In essence, in this ritual you are dedicating yourself and your tools for the betterment of all and setting a foundational intention for your good works. Every time you acquire a new tool or treasure, perform this rite. As you grow in experience, you can embellish the ritual. Refer to your Book of Shadows. Is there a certain phase of the moon that brings you more clarity? Should you use corresponding colors, crystals, essential oils, incenses, and herbs for your own astrological sun and moon sign? Is there a specific deity with whom you feel an affinity? Use these correspondences to begin designing the rituals of your dreams. The more associations you learn and use, the more effective your power will grow. Keep good notes of your ritual work in your BOS, and soon you will become a “maestro of magic."

Making Wonderful Wands

Most likely, you will use a wand in many of your daily activities. I recommend making your own wand, though you can find beautiful pre-made wands in metaphysical shops.

To make your own wand, you should find a tree branch that has fallen to the ground on its own (no pruned branches!). Sand and polish the rough edges of the stick. The smoke of burning sage will nicely smudge the wand if you pass the stick through the smoke. You’ll need a variety of crystals to complete your wand. Affix large quartz near the handle. You should then find crystals with properties that will complement your magic to the wand. I recommend using citrine as the pointer for the wand, as it aligns your self-identity with your spirit. Refer to the table for more on stones you can use to harness various powers.

Stones for Your Wand

Amber—Grounding

Amethyst—Balance and Intuition

Aventurine—Creative Visualization

Bloodstone—Abundance and Prosperity

Calcite—Warding Off Negativity

Fluorite—Communicating with Fairies and other Unseen Beings

Garnet—Protection From Gossip

Geode—Getting Through Periods of Extreme Difficulty

Hematite—Strength and Courage

Jade—Wisdom to Interpret or Realize Powerful Dreams

Jasper—Stability

Lodestone—Bringing a Lover Back into Your Life

Mahogany Obsidian—Feeling Sexy and Emanating Sensuality

Moss Agate—Powers of Persuasion and Healing

Quartz Crystal—Divining Your Dreams

Rhodochrosite—Staying On Course With Your Life’s True Purpose

Rose Quartz—Love 

Turquoise—Safety When Traveling

Watermelon Tourmaline—Help with Planning Your Best Possible Future 

Making the Tools of the Magical Trade Part III

 

Scrying Tools

Scrying, the art of divining by looking into a reflective surface and receiving visions, has been used by witches, magicians, and others since pre-biblical times. The word “scry” forms the root for the English word “descry,” which means reveal or discover.

The ancients had special prophets and priestesses who engaged in foretelling the future, and it is certain they used scrying tools from various crystals. Perhaps a chunk of black obsidian was the first scrying mirror used by a Stone Age shaman. All these centuries later, we still use crystal balls made from quartz and obsidian.

It is known that Queen Elizabeth I employed Dr. John Dee, a mathematician and metaphysician, in all matters of the heavens and unseen. Dee’s assistants used a mirror of polished black obsidian, which led the next generation of magicians and psychics to prefer black mirrors. Dee and his assistants used scrying to call upon certain angels and reported hearing knocking, and even voices that sounded like an owl screeching, during sessions. The legacy of alchemist and metaphysician John Dee lives on, and modern seers such as Edgar Cayce have built on his foundation.

In addition to divining the past, present, and future, you can use scrying to contact spirit guides or to improve your skills of creative visualization. Some practitioners of scrying even use it as a gateway to the astral plane.

Although scrying tools usually have shiny surfaces, you can scry with nearly anything. Water, a mirror on the wall, a crystal sphere, a slab of rock, flames of fire, ink in a bowl, or the bottom of a teacup all serve as scrying tools. You may find that smooth, neutral surfaces are less distracting and images will come through to you with less distortion. The ritual you follow when cleansing your scrying tools can be as elaborate or as simple as you like. My ritual involves cleansing my scrying tools before and after each use with rainwater that has sat through at least one day of sun and one night of moonlight. Just like with crystal balls and other sacred tools, you should polish any scrying mirrors or surfaces with a clean cotton cloth and store them in a special protective bag.

Crystal Balls

For thousands of years, highly polished, glasslike spheres of beryl and quartz crystals have been in use by healers, shamans, witch doctors, and medicine men for divination. Beryl, long reputed as a stone of power, was favored by the Druids. Crystals were used to see the future throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The mythical wizard Merlin kept his crystal ball with him at all times. At the height of the Renaissance, Paracelsus, a great philosopher and physician, claimed that conjuring crystals should be used in “observing everything rightly, earning and understanding what was.” They still appear in fairy tales and Disney movies, too. This proves how ingrained the notion of a crystal ball is to our culture. From these examples, we can see that crystal balls have been an integral part of our folklore, myth, magic, and metaphysics for a long time. When even mainstream people are familiar with the power of crystal balls, you can be sure their popularity has not declined in the slightest! The reputation and the power of crystal balls have not dampened, either. We still use them today for the same purposes they were used ages ago.

When selecting a crystal ball, your choice should not be taken lightly. This is a very personal tool that will become instilled with your energy. Crystal balls have their own authority and they can strongly influence the development of our psychic abilities. You should think of the crystal as a container that houses your energy and make sure it feels right for you. The crystal should feel comfortable to hold—not too heavy and not too light. You should not allow anyone else to touch your crystal ball. If someone does touch it, place the ball in a bowl of sea salt overnight to cleanse it of outside energy and influence. Because quartz crystal balls have an inherent power, you have to practice working with them first. Pure quartz crystal balls can be quite expensive, but the price is worthwhile if you are serious about harnessing your intuition and using it for good. Don’t expect your experiences to be like the movies. Most of the people I know who use crystal balls, including many healers and teachers, see cloudy and smoky images.

Work with a partner to sharpen your psychic skills. Sit directly across from your partner with the crystal ball between you. Close your eyes halfway and look at the ball and into the ball while harnessing your entire mind. Empty out all other thoughts and focus as hard as you can. You will sense your third eye, the traditional seat of psychic awareness, begin to open and project into the crystal ball. By practicing this way, you will train your mind. The patterns you see will become clearer and your impressions more definite. You should trust that what you are seeing is real and find a place of knowing, as I do with my stomach. Verbalize to your partner what you see, and then listen to your partner as she reveals her visions to you. After at least three rounds of individual reading and revealing, share visions at the same time to learn whether you are seeing the same things!

You should also do crystal ball meditations on your own. In a darkened room, sit and hold your crystal ball in the palms of both hands. Touch it to your heart and then gently touch it to the center of your forehead, where your third eye is located. Then hold the ball in front of your physical eyes and, sitting very still, gaze into it for at least three minutes. Envision pure white light in the ball and hold on to that image. Practice the white-light visualization for up to a half hour and then rest your mind, your eyes, and your crystal ball. If you do this every day, within a month you should start to become an adept at crystal ball gazing.

When we gaze into a crystal ball, it is possible to see into the fabric of time, both the past and the future. At first you may be able to see a flickering, wispy, suggestive image. Some of you may be able to see clearly defined visions on your first try. Most of us have to practice and hone our attunement with the energy of the ball. You must establish clearly your interpretation of what you see. Many psychics use a crystal ball in their readings, and some report seeing images of clients’ auras in the ball. Projecting information about people’s lives is a huge responsibility, so you need to feel sure about what you are reading. Learn to trust your body’s center of intuition. For me and for many other people, it’s a gut feeling—literally in my stomach. If I don’t get a feeling of confidence, of knowing in my gut, I simply explain that I don’t know what I’m reading or I’m not really “getting anything.” Be wary: It is far better to say you don’t know than to fake it.