Altar

Any place that we declare and design and serve as sacred, becomes an altar. A bedroom dresser top, a bathroom or kitchen counter-top, a living room coffee table, a built-in nook in a hallway or stairway, inside a closet – all are suitable locations for a household altar. It can be the dramatic focal point of a formal prayer and meditation space. It can be a small fountain surrounded by flowers in a garden corner.Below are some common things that people place on their home altars.

--Fruit, fresh herbs or flowers picked each day from your garden.
--Spiritual icons, statues and framed pictures connected to your particular path or faith.
--Sacred items like holy ash, oil or incense from ashrams, temples and churches.
--Personal items with special meaning or emotional value for you, which may include photographs, paintings, drawings, found objects, mementos acquired during your travels.
--Sensual items like incense and essential oil infused candles (mint for awakening, lavender to calm, etc).
--A Wish Box or God Box. This can be a wooden box, a ceramic container, or even leather or silk pouch. A Wish Box/God Box is a place to put pieces of paper on which we’ve written our wishes, hopes and dreams, our problems and concerns, our prayers for others and even their photos. By placing them in the box with a prayer or meditation, we symbolically surrender them into “God’s hands”. Reviewing these notes later, you will often find that problems have been resolved, wishes have been fulfilled, and goals have been, or are on their way to being achieved, and individuals prayed for have in fact been helped or healed.
--Beads and jewelry such as malas, rosaries, crystals, or more personal jewelry items.
--Advertisements, pictures and images of things you want to work towards whether material, emotional, spiritual or physical. These images can involve anything that anchors a focus on your particular activity, goal or dream.
--Pictures of a friend or family member who you want pray for because of illness, physical or mental.
--Anything else that you feel moved to place on your altar.