The Altar

Depending on your spirituality and what path you follow, the altar can be a primary component of your worship and workings.

In Wicca, it is a central focus of religious veneration and worship, as it is a primary component of the religion and almost a requirement (at least to traditionalists). It is the surface on which symbolic representations, offerings, and items to be blessed are placed.

In traditional settings the primary tools of use are placed on the altar for use during the many rituals that take place during the year, both Sabbats and Esbats. There are numerous ways one can set up their altar, and of course it can be based on you preferences, but here are some suggestions if you are fresh to the path and have no idea where to start.

Many people like to associate their altar with the deities they follow (God and Goddess). They'll place their implements according to their associations with each. Others will set up their altars according to the elements. Here are some examples below.

Deity Altar Setup

As you can see, this altar above is set up in regards to the Gods. Tools are often associated with certain deities...so for example the cauldron is associated with the Goddess as it represents her womb, whereas the athame represents the God as it is a phallic symbol. Items that are considered "feminine" would sit on the Goddess side of the altar. Items that are considered "masculine" would sit on the God side of the altar. 

Element Altar Setup

This altar setup is in association with the elements. Tools can also be associated with certain elements. Now...there are some who will associate some tools with different elements than what I have set here...and that's ok...this is just an example (my personal altar isn't set up in either fashion).

So...for the element altar, like I said some tools sit in certain places that are associated with certain elements. The north side of the altar is associated with Earth and will contain "Earth" items, like flowers, stones, green items, etc, whereas in the South, "Fire" items would sit there like a fire lava rock, candles, red items etc. 

As I said though, there are MANY setups for altars...this is but a bare bones basic setup for those who are just starting and don't know how to set up their altar. When I started, mine was set up in the elemental fashion in the second example. I had tried setting it up in the Deity example, but found it terribly one-sided for my tastes. I like things to be somewhat evenly distributed. 

This is my altar that some may have seen before. There have been some subtle changes to it but nothing worth noting. My altar is set up in a way that suits me and my tastes. I'm in no way a traditionalist, so mine is not set up in a traditional fashion. My Goddess sits central on my altar, in front of a black candle, with a battery operated candle atop of it (I cannot light actual candles in my home, as the smoke is bothersome to my husband and aggravates his health condition). To the front of her, is a dark feather, as well as stones associated to my Goddess. To the front right is the box in which my Tarot cards sit (I'm trying to learn the Gilded Tarot). To the front left is my prayer book. Not so much a book that contains prayers I say (though there are some in it), but requests I make at the time of my prayers. To the back left is an abalone shell and a braided ring of sweetgrass, as well as a turtle figurine, all given to me by my mother. They are important aspects to me as they represent ancestral teachings. To the back right of my altar is a bottle of "intuition" oil I made my self. It contains essential oils in a carrier. Normally I just inhale it for the scent, but I can if I so choose anoint myself with the oil (hence the carrier). The gold box in the back holds different things at different times. Right now there's a money spell in progress in it as well as some offering coins to my Goddess, but at the time of this picture, there is seasonal representations. The Tarot card shown is symbolic of...Imbolc, I believe (I can't remember lol). There is also a tall bottle with pink butterflies in it, also meant to be symbolic. 

There are many other ideas for altar setups. Some quite simple, others overly elaborate and complex. 

Source: Unknown

Here is an example of an overly complex altar. In all honesty...I love this setup. If I had the room, I'd love to set up my altar in this way. One's altar need not look like this. It's so chaotic and a lot of mixed energies appear to be here, but if you do it right...the energies should work in harmony with each other. But there's also nothing wrong with going super simple. 

Here is an example of a super simple setup. This would work for someone who is VERY limited on space. All it consists of is a deity representation (or two if you work with two) and some candles (one would even work). It's still an altar and will still serve the purpose of an altar...it's just very simplistic. 

So here are some basic ideas of how you can set up your altars. Feel free to take some of these ideas and tweak them to your preferences. Don't make them exactly as you see here...feel free to add or remove things as needed. I hope this is helpful.