How to Set Up a Ritual Altar for the Craft

Practicing the craft, or witchcraft, has been going on since before Christianity. Knowing how to set up a ritual altar is one of the most important tasks a witch can learn. The altar is a very important element for witches to use for rituals and spell casting. Setting up an altar with the proper ingredients will help honor the ritual and also ease the spell that is cast.

Things You'll Need

• Flat surface
• 5 or more candles
• Athame
• Moon-charged water
• Pentacle
• Incense
• Goddess statuette or candle representing the goddess
• God statuette or a candle representing the god

Instructions

1. Set up your candles. The five candles are for the points on the pentacle: north, east, south, west and spirit. Light each candle and place it while calling to the corner of the earth it represents.

2. Place your god and goddess representatives on your altar inside the circle of candles. These statuettes or candles honor the god and goddess, which helps invoke them into your ritual and spell. Recognize them during every spell and ritual you perform.

3. Place incense to your upper left corner on your altar. The incense is placed here because the earth element is in this area. You are lighting the incense to give back to the earth. Incense can be a scent associated with the ritual at hand. This can vary by season, or you may simply want to use incense that you like.

4. The athame is symbolic and represents you. Place this ceremonial double-edged blade anywhere on your ritual altar. You may need to point it in a certain direction for different spells and rituals. Earth is west, air is north, fire is east and water is south. Incorporate these elements into your ritual altar in some fashion. This is already halfway done with your candle fire, incense and god statuettes.

5. Place your moon-charged water in a small dish inside the candle setup toward the southern-facing candle. This represents the water element. To charge water, leave it in an clear container under the moon's light for several hours to a full day. Water is best charged under a full moon. You can also add any other spell casting or ritual items you need at this time. Your ritual altar is now complete and ready for you to follow the rest of the ritual or to cast a spell.

Tips & Warnings

• The items used are important and each have their own meanings. You can change up the shape and pattern of items for your personal preference.

• Blow out candles and make sure incense has stopped burning before leaving the altar.