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.
Seasonal Altars
There are many reasons to create personal altars, and four of those reasons are the seasons of the year. You altar helps you to maintain balance in your life and deepens your spiritual connection to the world around you. A seasonal altar is your tool for ceremonies to honor Mother Nature and connect with the deeper wisdom of the earth. A seasonal altar enshrines the natural world and blends the energies of flowers, stones, shells, leaves, and any and all gifts of the season. I think of my seasonal altar as the middle ground between earth and sky, the meeting point of the four elements: earth, air, fire, and water. Creating a seasonal altar is a life-affirming act. It is my way of honoring our ecology and our planet.
Spring
You can create a wonderful outdoor altar for spring by planning two seasons ahead and planting tulip or hyacinth bulbs in a circle. When the flowers begin to bud, place an image or statue in the center. It could be a bust of the Greek youth, Hyacinth, immortalized in myth and in the gorgeous flower itself. Throughout the spring, you can stand inside your circle and pray or chant for the rebirth of the world all around you.
Summer
During this season of sun and heat, th fullness of life and growth can be celebrated with colors of yellow, green, and red. As you travel on vacation, bring back shells and stones and create an altar devoted to this season of joy.
Fall
The leaves are now falling and the harvest is here, calling for a gratitude altar that reflects the bounty and continuance of live. An arrangement of pumpkins, acorns, multicolored branches, and a handsome bouquet of leaves will honor the natural changes that characterize autumn.
Winter
White and blue represent snow and sky. Star-shaped candles and a bare branch on your altar symbolize this time to go within, explore the inner reaches of self, and draw forth the deepest wisdom for the coming spring. In The Blessed Bee, a Pagan family magazine, Selene Silverwind writes on the subject of setting up a candle-free children’s altar. She emphasizes the importance of changing the altar for every season and holy day, specifically for Samhain, our modern-day Halloween, and Yule, the precursor to our Christmas. In so doing, Silverwind points out that you are “teaching children to connect with faith at a deep level,” helping them participate in their religion in a physical way instead of trying to stand quietly at a ritual. You are also teaching them the meaning of the seasons and how they affect us.
Healing Altar: Crafting Well-Being
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.
rBenzoin can be used for purification, prosperity, work success, mental acuity, and memory.
rCamphor can be used for healing, divining the future, curbing excess, especially romantic obsessions, and a surfeit of sexuality.
rCinnamon 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.
rClove is good for bringing money to you, for protection, for your love life, and for helping evade and deter negative energies.
rCopal should be used for love and purification.
rFrankincense is another spiritual essence that purifies and protects.
rLavender is a plant for happiness, peace, true love, long life, chastity, and is an excellent purifier that aids with sleep.
rMyrrh 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.
rNutmeg is a lucky herb that promotes good health and prosperity and encourages fidelity.
rPatchouli stimulates and grounds while engendering both sensuality and fertility. It also supports personal wealth and security.
rPeppermint is an herb of purification, healing, and love. It supports relaxation and sleep as it helps to increase psychic powers.
rRosemary