I started spreading my wings with divination tools a few months ago, trying things I had never attempted to use before. Primarily, divination using dice, both polyhedral and six sided. Along the way I learned that keeping divination tools on an altar dedicated to a person's ancestors is an excellent way to get long-passed members of the family to serve as a guide in getting and interpreting whatever numerical messages present themselves during a reading. It's also a way to honor those ancestors, by acknowledging their contributions through time to the family as a whole, and the person and practitioner we are. Their accumulated knowledge resides in our DNA, in the way our parents raised us and in the things that call to us as individuals. They're with us all the time. Sometimes they intervene in our lives. Keeping a scared space in the home dedicated only to them makes absolute sense, both personally and spiritually.
As I started learning more about how to build and maintain an ancestor altar, I became excited to create one of my own. Most of my recent ancestors (at least the ones I know of), were christian. That's fine, I still have a couple of beautiful statues of Mother Mary and Catholic rosary beads to add to the altar. I also have pictures, candles, incense, almost everything one would need to add meaning to the altar. But then I hit a couple of snags:
A successful altar includes two things I can't provide; a live plant and a place my cat can't reach. I have left plants gifted to me outside in order to avoid poisoning Angus. Every time I check into adding an indoor plant, research shows it to be toxic to cats. Since I love my cat far more than I love any plant, I've searched for but haven't yet found one that won't harm him and that's a major concern, as he snacks on everything green he can find. My plants, my salad, my steamed veggies, he doesn't care if it's in a pot or on my plate. It's his to snack on. In addition to this, candles are a major part of ancestor veneration and I can not see Angus missing the chance to kitty-slap us into a full-blown inferno. I did try to circumvent this by starting an altar on a bookcase and building it over a couple of weeks. Adding pieces, taking pieces away, attempting to find safe surfaces to burn incense and candles without setting the rest of the bookcase on fire myself...nothing felt right. I spoke with my ancestors for guidance and the primary answer that kept coming through was that they didn't want this. I offered to move the altar to a shelf high up off the floor so that Mr. Kitty can't reach.
Nah, not feeling it, they whispered. Okay, well how about if we leave off the plants? I'll leave extra food, water and coffee. Even beer. I'm about to make another batch and it will be ready by Samhain.
Nah, not feeling it, they whispered. Okay, how about if I put it in another room?
Still not feeling it, they whispered. Okay, well how about you pick your location and what you want me to put on it yourselves?
Child, you are not listening, they whispered.
The whisper was in the back of my mind, in that feeling of nothing being right. They weren't feeling it because they didn't want it at all and they were quite sure about it. It was me that wanted to do this.
You don't need this, they whispered. Put the books back on the shelf and stay your course. We are with you.
So I reluctantly started putting my books and tarot decks back on the shelf and incorporating elements from my half-built ancestor altar into my personal Pagan altar. Little by little that whisper faded and the distinct feeling that I was going in the right direction increased until all the energy in the room was content and balanced.
In this case, not putting up another altar was the correct way to care for my ancestors.
However, for anyone that wants to do this, you will need:
* An altar cloth, preferably white (never black).
* A glass or goblet used ONLY for the ancestors. Fill it to the top with fresh water and clean/refill it once weekly.
* A live plant or fresh flowers.
* Pictures of your ancestors (not recently deceased or tragically taken, for at least a year).
* Personal mementos; things that belonged to one or more of them, or something they liked.
* Candles; to be lit for at least two hours everyday to guide your ancestors to you.
* Incense.
* A bell, rung to get the ancestors' attention.
* An offering bowl or plate to hold food that you've made for them yourself.
* An offering glass or cup for offerings of coffee/tea/alcohol.
* An item to represent each of the four elements.
Other items can include religious statues (taking into account their religious beliefs; at least half of my known ancestors were christian, so relics and other items from their Traditions would be appropriate), bibles, etc. Selections of poetry, wine/whiskey/beer, cigars or cigarettes, feathers, something that represents your ancestral homeland (a picture, stone, textile, etc.), something you've made yourself, anything that has meaning to them and connects you to them.
Before doing anything, meditate. Ask them what they want. Ask them to guide you in this endeavor and if they want this kind of veneration. If they do, cleanse and bless everything you use a piece at the time and prepare for a lot of experimenting to see if each item feels like it's wanted (for lack of a better term) in the space. You will know. Because they know. It will be their sacred space within your home. Let them guide you as you build it.
As I started learning more about how to build and maintain an ancestor altar, I became excited to create one of my own. Most of my recent ancestors (at least the ones I know of), were christian. That's fine, I still have a couple of beautiful statues of Mother Mary and Catholic rosary beads to add to the altar. I also have pictures, candles, incense, almost everything one would need to add meaning to the altar. But then I hit a couple of snags:
A successful altar includes two things I can't provide; a live plant and a place my cat can't reach. I have left plants gifted to me outside in order to avoid poisoning Angus. Every time I check into adding an indoor plant, research shows it to be toxic to cats. Since I love my cat far more than I love any plant, I've searched for but haven't yet found one that won't harm him and that's a major concern, as he snacks on everything green he can find. My plants, my salad, my steamed veggies, he doesn't care if it's in a pot or on my plate. It's his to snack on. In addition to this, candles are a major part of ancestor veneration and I can not see Angus missing the chance to kitty-slap us into a full-blown inferno. I did try to circumvent this by starting an altar on a bookcase and building it over a couple of weeks. Adding pieces, taking pieces away, attempting to find safe surfaces to burn incense and candles without setting the rest of the bookcase on fire myself...nothing felt right. I spoke with my ancestors for guidance and the primary answer that kept coming through was that they didn't want this. I offered to move the altar to a shelf high up off the floor so that Mr. Kitty can't reach.
Nah, not feeling it, they whispered. Okay, well how about if we leave off the plants? I'll leave extra food, water and coffee. Even beer. I'm about to make another batch and it will be ready by Samhain.
Nah, not feeling it, they whispered. Okay, how about if I put it in another room?
Still not feeling it, they whispered. Okay, well how about you pick your location and what you want me to put on it yourselves?
Child, you are not listening, they whispered.
The whisper was in the back of my mind, in that feeling of nothing being right. They weren't feeling it because they didn't want it at all and they were quite sure about it. It was me that wanted to do this.
You don't need this, they whispered. Put the books back on the shelf and stay your course. We are with you.
So I reluctantly started putting my books and tarot decks back on the shelf and incorporating elements from my half-built ancestor altar into my personal Pagan altar. Little by little that whisper faded and the distinct feeling that I was going in the right direction increased until all the energy in the room was content and balanced.
In this case, not putting up another altar was the correct way to care for my ancestors.
However, for anyone that wants to do this, you will need:
* An altar cloth, preferably white (never black).
* A glass or goblet used ONLY for the ancestors. Fill it to the top with fresh water and clean/refill it once weekly.
* A live plant or fresh flowers.
* Pictures of your ancestors (not recently deceased or tragically taken, for at least a year).
* Personal mementos; things that belonged to one or more of them, or something they liked.
* Candles; to be lit for at least two hours everyday to guide your ancestors to you.
* Incense.
* A bell, rung to get the ancestors' attention.
* An offering bowl or plate to hold food that you've made for them yourself.
* An offering glass or cup for offerings of coffee/tea/alcohol.
* An item to represent each of the four elements.
Other items can include religious statues (taking into account their religious beliefs; at least half of my known ancestors were christian, so relics and other items from their Traditions would be appropriate), bibles, etc. Selections of poetry, wine/whiskey/beer, cigars or cigarettes, feathers, something that represents your ancestral homeland (a picture, stone, textile, etc.), something you've made yourself, anything that has meaning to them and connects you to them.
Before doing anything, meditate. Ask them what they want. Ask them to guide you in this endeavor and if they want this kind of veneration. If they do, cleanse and bless everything you use a piece at the time and prepare for a lot of experimenting to see if each item feels like it's wanted (for lack of a better term) in the space. You will know. Because they know. It will be their sacred space within your home. Let them guide you as you build it.
