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The type of altar that we will be talking about here is one that will be used for meditation and devotion alone. It does
not necessarily need to be set up in a particular way for a grand Sabbat ritual, it needs only reflect an atmosphere
of quiet contemplation and worship. While one altar can serve both purposes, this first assignment is only asking
that the aspirant take a small (but important) step towards an inner practice. At this point in time, how many candles
that represent Who, and are to be placed in what Quarter of the altar, along with which ritual tools, is unimportant. What
IS important is that what you create is something meaningful and beautiful to you.
One of the first steps towards creating a meditation and devotional altar, is deciding where you are going
to put it, and whether it will need to be portable. Some may be practicing where alternative spirituality
is not understood, nor tolerated, and in that case the altar will need to be able to be unpacked and then packed up again
in short order. This would seriously effect one's design plan overall. If, however, you live alone, or in a supportive enviornment,
then choosing an area of an appropriate size, somewhere that is relatively quiet, and out of the way of heavy indoor traffic,
is ideal.
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Portable altars can be extremely simple, and useful even for those whose home environments allow them to have a permenant
altar space. This mini-altar, consisting only of a small Ganesha murti and a sandalwood wrist mala, is kept by the computer
of my workstation.
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Whenever I feel stressed, I can pick up the wrist mala, look upon Ganesha's Divine form, and chant a
few repetitions of His mantra, and I instantly feel more relaxed and at peace. This is a great idea for those who spend a
great deal of time in the workplace.
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The next consideration is a creative one: how elaborate are you going to want it?
Some people are minimalist in nature, and do not want and even are distracted by overly busy spaces. A person of that temperment,
will want to opt for a clean space, with the bare minimum of accoutrements. A Divine image, a candle, an offering bowl, and
an incense burner on a clean solid colored altar cloth would do nicely and is perfectly acceptable. However, others are inspired
by a cacophany of colors and symbols, and an altar for a person like that would be another matter all together! This person's
altar to Ganesh might end up having several statues of Him, along with a couple of His printed icons, sitting next to
small toy elephants, with candy strewn all around in offering. It might also include photos of loved ones, perhaps that have
passed, and maybe of inspiring spiritual leaders and saints. There is no real right or wrong, just what feels right to you!
Another factor in designing your altar is what items are traditionally associated with the Deity/ies that
will be represented on your altar? This may take a bit of research on your part, but think of it as a chance
to get to know Devi Mata, Ganesh, and any other Deities more intimately. For instance, Kali likes red and Her iconography
often includes skulls and blood. Perhaps a red altar cloth and a plastic skull would suit your altar to Her. Ganesha likes
candy, coconuts, mangos and other sweets, and He is also the personification of OM. Perhaps you wish to include that brass
bowl with the OMs printed on the side that you saw at the market, and fill it with candies to be kept in front of Him. You
may be surpised by what jumps out at you while you're out shopping once you are on the hunt for altar items! The God/desses
let you know unequivically what They would like put before Them. But feel free to be creative and intuitive in how you incorporate
the Deities' traditional correspondances into your altar, and your practice overall.
One important thing to remember is ALWAYS DESIGN WITHIN YOUR MEANS. If you don't have a great deal of expendable cash,
then be resonable with yourself about how much you can spend on this endevour.
You don't have to spend tons of money (or any at all for that matter) to create a beautiful meditation
altar.
What could possibly be more pleasing to a God/dess, than if a devotee who lacks the means the obtain a "real" image of
them, draws the best picture of Them that they can, to be placed in the seat of honor on an altar? Or, since you are reading
this and presumably have a computer, you could always simply print your favourite image off of the internet!
Don't have a fancy brass OM offering bowl? What about one of your saucers from the cupboard? While in University, I often
had to resort to using the Dixie Cups out of the dorm's bathrooms when offering water and rice! Get creative! Work within
your means! Have fun! Get chanting!
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| A basic, eclectic Ganesha meditation & devotional altar. |
Included below are some links to outside sources that give pretty decent basic overviews of many of the elements involved
in designing and building an altar. There are also links that get into slightly more intermediate-novice skills, but which
are also of importance...such as ritually cleansing self, space and altar items (which can be easily accomplished by smudging),
as well as eclectic methods of Circle Casting. While elaborate ritual preparation, such as that outlined in the "How To Prepare
for Ritual" article, is not necessary for daily meditation and devotional sessions, it is useful to know for when you want
to get into more complex ritual work. I have also provided a link to Sacred Source's pictoral archive of Pagan altars, so
that those still feeling unsure can get some ideas of what other altars look like.
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| Devi's bedside altar to Ganesh and Lakshmi, as well as her gurus, Shree Maa and Swami Satyananda. |
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