Your altar is a personal place... a sacred space and a dedication to your religion. You can have a working altar, where rituals and magickal workings are performed, and/or you can have a permanent altar that is on display. A working altar can be packed away when you are done with it and than easily set up again when you need it. A permanent altar usually isn't used for magickal workings and more as a dedication to the Elements and God and Goddess. My working altar is my permanent one too. I have my tools, statues and candles on disply all the time. In the end it is your choice.
When I first started, my altar consisted of a cloth on the floor of my bedroom. Many people I know use their kitchen tables, coffee tables or, like me, used the floor. An altar doesn't have to be a table either. You can have a wall altar too. Most of the ones I have see consist of a set of shelves with items on them that represented the Elements and the God and Goddess. The important part is to use whatever works best for you. Experimenting is the only way to really discover what type of altar is the best for you.
So what do I put on my altar you ask? The first thing you should start with is an altar cloth. If money is a little tight, a bedsheet or table cloth will do just fine. If it is a cloth that you are fond of you might want to put a place mat on top of it. Magickal workings can get a bit messy.
Candles are probably the next thing you will need. Since most people do rituals at night and in the dark, you will need at least one or two candles for light. Using Silver RavenWolf's advice and I have one black candle and one white candle on my altar. These are used to represent the universal law of balance.
I try to have something that represents the Elements and the God and Goddess on my altar. I use colour pillar candles for the Elements, (red, blue, green and yellow) and I have two statues for the God and Goddess. You can use whatever you want of course... whatever feels right to you.
Finally we have your tools. The most commonly used are the pentacle, chalice, incense burner, water and salt. Many people also have athames, wands and cauldrons (All the definitions for these items can be found on the altar page... there is a link below).
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