Paganocity

Welcome to part two of “Homemade Altars”! You made it through my bungled attempt at speaking about something I haven’t really devoted a lot of time to - yet. But, altars outdoors, I can tell you about. I have built several, from the simple pile of rocks to an elaborate stone circle with altar, to spirit houses, and everything in between.

Keep in mind that the conditions around the place you want to build your altar are important. Are you on high ground? Because if you’re not, your altar’s surrounding area may become wet, flood, or in the very least, remain muddy long after the majority of other places in the woods.

What about property rights? I have to my name, no wooded area. The places I build my altars are usually public, state, county, or sometimes, private property. If its yours, secrecy isn’t a big thing. But, if it isn’t your property, you may find one day that you enter the area and suddenly, you find it destroyed. You want to be able to safely access the altar you’ve built, but at the same, you have to care for it - if its on the side of a well worn track, chances are that some other, less respectful members of the human race, will do something to the energy that you are trying to create.

Altars are not hard to make. They can be small, or large, or any size in between. They can have one object, or fifty. I could literally set up an altar, here in my bedroom, in probably less than five minutes. But, what makes an altar, well, an altar? Here are a few things I’ve found:

• The energy surrounding an altar must be sacred.
  • Therefore, the area must be kept clean
  • There should be no clutter around the altar

• There must be a way to ensure that the area is respected
• There must be, if possible, a way to cast circle around your altar, that it may come to use to you (Wiccan, specifically)
• There must be some sort of offering to the Gods made, even if occasionally

Some people prefer altars to be related to one specific thing - be it a spell or a goal they’re working on, a specific deity, or a specific time of year. Some things to consider:

It is a physical manifestation of your oath.  The actual initation text reads:

Take measure: height (tie knot); around head (tie knot); around heart (tie knot); around hips (tie knot). Prick postulant’s thumb; catch blood on measure. Place measure on altar.

Gardner doesn’t specify what material the scourge used in his rituals should be made of.  But heavy nylon rope means no cuts - bruises, perhaps, but no blood.  As the scourge is not necessarily meant to be painful - just, noticeable - I think that the nylon cord choice is appropriate.

Traditionally, the Gardnerian scourge has 8 tails with five knots, each.  Knots take up a whole lot more room than you think!  So, before you start, figure out ho long you want your tails to be - tie the knots, and then, adjust the length according.  Also figure out just how long you want the handle to be, and whether or not you want to reinforce it internall or externally.

Nylon rope frays easily, and so I’d suggest immediately tying a knot wherever you cut, even if the knot is only temporary.