To call yesterday “unproductive” would be an understatement. I know, it was Saturday, and being productive isn’t a valid goal in and of itself, but there are degrees of unproductivity. There’s “I was playing and enjoying myself” and there’s “I so needed to rest and do nothing today” and there’s “I didn’t accomplish anything but something about it felt right.”
And then there’s sitting at the computer all afternoon, looking at a blank Word document, bouncing back and forth between e-mail and Facebook and news sites, surfing the Pagan internet looking for something inspirational, surfing the Patheos Catholic and Evangelical channels looking for something to rebut, and coming up with zilch.
I was about to give up on a post for today when I looked at my altar, hoping for some inspiration from one of the deities or through one of the talismans and relics.
And I saw my altar.
Now, I look at my altar several times each day. My final daily prayers are said in front of it most nights. I see Danu and Cernunnos. I see other objects on the altar when I have reason to look at them. But it’s been months since I saw the altar as a whole, living thing.
Everything on that altar was put there for a reason. Tools and jewelry, candles from workings, mementos from gatherings. I hear some of you screaming “that’s not an altar, that’s a shrine!” It’s both. Or at least, it’s both when I’m tending it properly.
But it was cluttered – just like my mind… and if I’m honest, just like my life right now. Not badly, and not to the point of dysfunction, but badly enough to keep me from being focused on what I need to do.
I know all of the small objects came from various Pagan gatherings, but I can’t remember which ones came from which. I haven’t used the elemental candles in several years. The purple meditation candle has tunneled down to the point where it’s almost unusable. The wooden platform had wax buildup on some parts and dust on others.
So I took everything off the platform, scraped the excess wax off of it, cleaned the dust off, and went over it with a coat of furniture polish. I gave the statues a bath. And I gave some serious thought as to what really needed to be on the altar.
The statues of Danu and Cernunnos went back first. The red candle represents Morrigan – I used to have a statue of Her, but I was told to give it to someone who needed it more than me. That candle was used to represent Her in the initiation of Her priestess. I thought it might be time to relocate it, but given that She’s called me back to Her service (helping to publicize The Book of the Great Queen – look for an interview with Morpheus Ravenna on Tuesday), I decided it needed to stay.
The wands represent a connection to my personal power and the stone represents my connection to Druidry. The white candle has been sitting in my closet – time to put it to use in meditation.
The only thing I threw away was the purple candle. Everything else was relocated to a bookshelf where it can be used, or if not, repurposed.
I finished by lighting some incense and candles and making an offering of wine, which, after an appropriate amount of time was reverted.
It tasted good. It tasted clean.
It tasted right.
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