Attune your magick to the pulse of nature by creating magical spaces throughout your home that artfully and intentionally observe seasonal celebrations.
In The Book of Altars and Sacred Spaces, Anjou Kiernan—creator of the Light of Anjou online witchery shop and apothecary and named “One of the Magical Women on Instagram You Should Be Following” by Refinery 29—shows you how to create altars and sacred spaces based on the Wheel of the Year. Explore the origins, meanings, and symbols of each ancient holiday, then nurture your body, feed your mind, and coax energy from your spirit by setting up a sacred space that celebrates the current season.
Illustrated with bewitching photography, this beautiful book gives you the tools to mindfully reflect upon the seasonal Sabbats and holidays with 50 simple rituals and DIY projects, including:
Midwinter – Bring light into the darkest hour with a Return of the Light Jar.Imbolc – Cleanse your home of stagnant, winter energies with an Entryway Cleansing Space.Spring Equinox – Provide a protected place for your intentions to grow with a Decorated Egg Basket.Beltane – Ensure blessings from the fae folk for the future harvests with a Faerie House.Midsummer – Cleanse and charge your magickal tools with the most powerful Sun of the year with a Solar Charging Altar.Lughnasadh – Imbue the feast foods of the First Harvest with magick and intention with a Sacred Baking Space.Autumn Equinox – Divine matters of the heart with the sacred knowledge of apples with an Apple Divination Altar.Samhain – Protect your home against unwanted energies with a Jack-O’-Lantern Ward.
Learn how to honor the sacred doorways of the year and bring magic into your daily life.
From the Publisher
INTRODUCTION
In this world, simple moments of mindfulness can create explosions of magick. Finding space for these moments—sacred space—requires conscious curation of our environment into nooks of ritual and ceremony. Sacred space nurtures our body, feeds our mind, and coaxes energy from our spirit. It dredges up our deepest fears and delves into our darkest desires. It is where we work our magick, unearth our personal truth, and foster our relationship with nature. Sacred space can mean many things to many people, but it is first and foremost a place where we feel safe to connect with ourselves and the world around us.
WINTER SOLSTICE SPIRAL
Set intentions for each month of the new year.
The Winter Solstice marks a warm welcome to the return of the light. As your region of the Earth begins to tilt back toward the Sun after it reaches the solstice, the days will grow longer and the nights shorter. Since prehistoric times, the Winter Solstice has been celebrated as the rebirth of the Sun and a time for transformation. Farming communities relied on the Sun for their crops’ growth, and the solstice brought with it the promise of a renewed harvest season. As we emerge from our long winter slumber, we use the standstill of the solstice as a time of reflection, leaving behind the things that no longer serve us and making room for the growth and new beginnings that the return of the light will bring.
SPIRITED READING NOOK
Share spectral tales ‘round the yule fire.
The tradition of sharing spooky stories ’round the Yule log dates back to the Midwinter celebrations of the Germanic peoples. Before the invention of electricity and central heat, the ancient pagans took comfort in the hearth fire. Storytelling was not only a way to pass the time, but to bond with family—alive and dead—and to bring life to the dark gods and goddesses so that their blessings might be gained. These tales often explored the cycle of death and rebirth by focusing on ghostly visitors, meddling faeries, or the deities’ deliverance of great blessings or curses on mankind. Upon the Christianization of Yule, and later through the beloved works of Charles Dickens, the pagan art of Midwinter ghost stories became an integral tradition of Christmastide.
BRIGID’S SHRINE
Honor Brigid, the hearth goddess of Imbolc.
According to Irish mythology, the hearth goddess Brigid descends from the legendary Tuatha Dé Danann—the supernatural race from which the fae folk and leprechauns of Irish folklore were born. Also known as the “Bright Arrow” or the “Bright One,” Brigid was the keeper of the perpetual, sacred flame and was worshipped as a triple goddess who lit the fire under her aspects of healing, poetry, and smithcraft. In pagan times, her sacred flame was said to be tended for nineteen days at a time by nineteen maidens (after which it was tended by Brigid herself on the twentieth day) in her temple on the hill of Kildare. She was so beloved by her followers that even Christianization in the fifth century could not diminish her hold over the people of Ireland.
SEED BLESSING SHRINE
Create a space for your intentions to take root.
The festival of Imbolc stirs the beginnings of new life. The snow is melting, and spring’s first flowers are beginning to poke through the softening soil. At this time, seeds are not only physically planted but spiritually planted so that intentions may take root. The blessing of seeds harks back to ancient agricultural times when gods and goddesses reigned over the crop fields and offerings were made to ensure a successful growing season. Brigid, Ceres (the Roman goddess of agriculture), and Gaia (the Greek earth mother), amongst other agricultural or fertility gods and goddesses, were prayed to as the seeds were consecrated. Even if deities are not in your practice, nurturing, honoring, and charging your seeds with your energy can encourage a bountiful harvest.
GROWTH GROTTO
Create a nurturing space for your ideas and talents.
With the arrival of spring comes boundless energy for growth. Across the land, new life is sprouting at a rapid rate as the world around us blossoms in the expanding light. Ostara is the perfect time of the year to focus on growing your creativity, expanding your knowledge, increasing your wealth, or even creating new life. This type of work is best performed in a sacred space surrounded by lush growth—evidence of the energy that abounds. A grotto is a small cave, either naturally occurring or manmade, that offers its cavernous silence to those seeking a private retreat for devotional worship. In antiquity, grottoes were a popular feature of Greek and Roman architecture and often housed mythological and sacred waters. Today, artificial grottoes can be used in much the same way.
HEALING ALTAR
Call forth the healing powers of the Sun.
The rays of the Sun are a life-sustaining force that can mend both the body and spirit. In ancient times, solar deities were worshipped for their healing powers. The ancient Celtic god Belenus could melt away sickness, and the Roman Sun god, Apollo, could cure disease. Even in modern times, doctors and healers use the Sun to mend wounds and treat diseases such as rickets, jaundice, and tuberculosis. Yogis, too, prescribe sun-gazing as a potent healing force—the pranayama (or breath of fire) is thought to connect the practitioner with the energy of the Sun and the element of Fire, thereby cleansing the body of toxins and purifying the spirit.
Publisher : Fair Winds Press; Illustrated edition (June 16, 2020)
Language : English
Hardcover : 176 pages
ISBN-10 : 1592339441
ISBN-13 : 978-1592339440
Item Weight : 2.31 pounds
Dimensions : 5.95 x 0.7 x 7.95 inches
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