A Simple, Solid Start
All Altars, simply put, exist in time, space, energy and matter. Some of them project desperation and fear, yet others are Divinity on Earth. The humans and the spirits that work the altar determine how these four elements manifest, so we thought it important to mention, since you already have an altar or are contemplating raising one.
In Raise an Altar 1 we focused on your authority to approach divinity, on your own, in your own way. Raise an Altar 2 focuses on creating a functional altar. Practical functionality is the difference between superstition and spiritual intelligence.
Four Elements, well in the range of your power, create and sustain the raising of an altar. Simply stated, in the spirit of true religious freedom: the use of Time, Space, Energy and Matter in the proper balance create dynamics, as opposed to creating a pretty altar with no focused energy behind it.
If you’ve come this far you already have some idea of what you’d like your altar to look like and what you want it to do, and that is as it should be. Here we want to help our altar become more than sincere. You have sincerity already. Now let’s grow sincerity into functionality.
TIME
Time, like the other three elements, offers both challenge and opportunity. You have to put time into this, effort, maybe cancel or reschedule something. Preparation time, Maintenance time, Prayer/Ritual time.
How much time, when and why should be well-considered – commit wisely, not under or over. At an altar that hums a minute stretches to eternity, if and when necessary.
SPACE
Space is critical, no doubt. Where can I put this? How much shelving, room, table space do I have available? How much space can I really handle properly, to make this happen?
Your Altar takes the Light into that darkness, to do righteous combat, to find the Light one needs, and Light that speaks to evolution, yours and the world around you. When that level of dynamics happens, it happens in a spiritual/mental space from within the physical space you consecrated.
ENERGY
How much energy are you willing to put into this? Are you willing to commit to a discipline? The energy you contribute here is energy you already use for work family, exercise, play and so forth. How much will you take from those things to work your altar? Will your altar work be worth the effort?
Energy – all things, including us, reduce to energy: this energy obviously counts, counts for you in some way. We each have a finite amount of energy we can play with. If you’re raising an altar you’re already thinking about frugal uses of that precious energy.
MATTER
The altar will require a few objects and the choices are up to you, of course. For much of your work you will use objects or representations of Earth, Water, Air, Fire in one form or another. These, by the way, are the “objects” that spark dynamics.
When we ask something of Divinity, we look for the blessing in the things we around us, which are indeed made of Matter, or, AKA, real. The acts you perform with your space, the time you give it, and the energy behind empower this matter to perpetuate the dynamics at your altar.
One More Thing:
An Altar doesn’t have to take your last penny. Give it the best you have but don’t overdo it, rather let your work, and the combination of these four elements, bring it, make it happen for you.
In Altar 3: Communication with Divinity we’ll speak in detail about the Divinity you and we call upon. And we’ll talk about some of the obstacles in that communication and how to turn that to greater awareness and into that functionality we’ve been talking about.
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