hey there my names isa and I recently started my path as a magician. So I’m new in this world and I’m really concerned about building my altar. So one of my questions would be if you HAVE to put your altar together out of things in nature or you could just use a small table out of wood. my next question would be if I don’t HAVE to put this things together out of things in nature, does it have any effects on my rituals and spells ?
I appreciate every help and I wish all of you a nice day
Yes, an author of Magick didn’t cover the altar in his books… He promotes a scientific magick; in this view the altar, if present, may be of glass/crystal (although there would be a risk of breaking it), metal or even plastic.
Still, when talking of the table for seances and automatic writing, he recommended (indeed) wood because it’s conductive. So the same would probably applies to an altar.
The coolest part and confusing part about magick is it is a very personal for each practitioner. I am new here too but yet if someone posts a ritual they did or spell that they “made up” I have not heard one person say that is wrong. The information in the books is vital don’t get me wrong, but you can find your own way of doing things. The books and information show you the effects each component like, mantra, meditation, sigil, runes, elements like stones or metals have. You may utilize them as you see fit. Of course trial and error can end in bad error. So these grimoires and this community serves as a great data base of what does not work well together through others error.
I make shift an altar every time, it is simply a surface to perform. Welcome and take a deep breath there is a lot of info. But do not think you need to go online and buy a surplus of stuff. Sure you can it is convenient and you may want to make say a book of shadows ornate or have a nice pendulum etc. Many rituals can be done empty handed the biggest thing is your vindictiveness.
That’s up to you. Your altar can be as simple or as ornate as you want. It can be a table you already have, or a shelf, or made from stone, or oak or pine. It can be consecrated to a specific current or left free.
If you are going to work a specific system, then use the requirements of that system for your altar. For example, in EA’s book Works of Darkness, you consecrate an altar to the Powers of Darkness. In the Golden Dawn system, you consecrate an elemental altar.