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The picture above is the current arrangement of my main altar that I use for my daily magical practice and for my monthly Mansion invocation. The first general question to deal with is, "What is an altar?" For a mage or magical practitioner there is a basic answer which is that the altar is your magical workspace. This is where you do your ritual work, your invocation and evocation and communication with spirits.
Your altar is constrained by practical considerations. For example, if you live in a small apartment, you can use a corner or the the top of a bookshelf as the base of the altar and the wall behind the bookshelf for images, sigils and seals.
Your altar should appeal to you and be a personal expression of your practice. Many traditional hoodoo altars, for example, are full of various items and wax from candles is left where it melts. I tend to like a cleaner, sparer look and I like a more airy, clearer, white and light space, so my altar reflects that. One should keep in mind that the altar is essentially a door or window through which you come into the sphere of the spirits you contact and through which the spirits come to you. Maintaining an atmosphere of respect and devotion is necessary, though there are manifold ways to do this. I have been privileged to work with the very talented mage Nigel Jackson and many of the images are his, thanks so much Nigel!
My altar has an orderly arrangement to it, but one that evolved organically over time. All of the parts are meaningful to me and all of the parts relate, more or less to each other in their arrangement. Let's start at the top with the image of Hermes Trismegistus. Since I am a Hermeticist, has central placement. To the left is the image of Eros and a man and woman chained by love, to the right, labeled "Wealth" is an image of a spirit pouring gold to an astrologer/mage. On the exoteric level these represent love and prosperity magic, but esoterically the pouring of gold signifies wisdom, "Wisdom is better than silver and gold" and Eros signifies that love is the key factor in all magic, "Love is the bond of bonds".
The center images are the images of the 7 planets. They are arranged from left to right in the order of the days of the week, alternating from the top to bottom row. Thus Sun, Moon, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn. Note that the top row contains the masculine planets, Sun, Mars, Jupiter & Saturn and the lower row, the feminine planets, Moon & Venus and the hemaphroditic Mercury.
My daily practice consists of lighting a candle before the planet ruling the day and doing a short invocation of the planet. Temperature permitting I wear the color of the planet of the day during that day.
Below the planet images are three large mirrors. In the middle the wealth image is repeated, here as a mirror of the spirit of Picatrix. To the left is the Venus dream mirror. Here is a picture with the Dream Mirror in the center so you can see it more clearly.
Dream Mirror |
To the right is the mirror of the 3rd Mansion of the Moon. These mirrors are very striking and beautiful on an altar, but also function as windows or doorways into the spheres for which they were consecrated. I am finding mirror talismans to be very potent for invocation.
To left is a statue of the Buddha and a large solid silver Moon talisman with the image of a hare, mounted on a wooden base. This was one of Wade's special custom talisman creations! Next to the Moon talisman is a small black cabinet with a wrathful Buddhist spirit. Balancing the wrathful spirit on the right is a white cabinent with the Green Tara, a benefic Buddhist spirit. The picture labeled "Genus Loci" is the former owner of the house.
Around the label, "3rd Mansion" are a number of talismans. First a very large, gold plated, solid silver talisman, again cast by Wade, from Nigel's 3rd Mansion image. There is a color Nigel 3rd Mansion image and the mirror on the right is a 3rd Mansion mirror. As you can see I am very devoted to the 3rd Mansion!
Having moved from a small apartment in Washington, DC to a small house in Iowa City, Iowa, we now have a good deal more space. We have put this to good use and now have an entire room devoted to ritual and teaching which you can see below.
Ritual Room |
You might also be interested in my Renaissance Astrology CD Library Series, with over 120 rare astrology and magic books as well as my Facsimile Editions of unique Astrology and Magic Books and my discussion group Spiritus Mundi.
If you wish to delve even deeper into this fascinating area I offer my Planetary Magic Mini-Course and Mansions of the Moon Mini-Course, which allow students to immediately start making talismans and elections and are a great introduction to my longer Electional Astrology Course, Horary Astrology Course and Astrological Magic Course.
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Specializing in Horary Astrology, Electional Astrology Astrological Magic and Astrological Talismans.
Copyright 2007, Christopher Warnock, All Rights Reserved.