Sharona22 wrote:Please give me some info on a basic yet correct altar setup, and what are the reasons for these items
Bri and ELKnapp already answered you very well, but i would like to chime in here with more of the same, Sahrona:
In hoodoo, we do not have a standard "set-up." Our
altars are working spaces, where we perform our jobs of spellcrafting. We often have candles going, often have statuary or pictures in place, a pot for incense, tools for carving and fixing candles, etc. A Bible is quite often placed on the altar, open to a passage relevant to the work at hand. We may use an altar cloth of a colour or design appropriate to the work we are performing. We may have saucers for herbs and roots and minerals. Some folks keep their favourite conjure oils on the altar, others store them out of sight. In fact, storage beneath or to the side of the altar is often important for us and will be used to hold extra candle stands, snuffers, and candles; blank paper and pens for writing petitions; extra oils, incense, and powders; extra herbs, roots, and minerals; and even extra altar cloths for use in various types of work.
Here, courtesy of Miss Bri of
The Association of Independent Readers and Rootworkers (AIRR), is an altar with the Bible front and center, a balance-beam scale (for justice), a crucifix candle, some other candles, Hindu deity statuary, and other items of interest:
Also, for the record -- and because i am having to correct the spelling of the word "altar" in more posts than i would like:
The word altar is spelled with two As. AltAr. Look at the title of this thread. Think of the root word -- ALTA -- high. It is an elevated place, as in Alta California (the old Mexican name for northern California) or Alta Vista ("high view", a town in Alta California), or Alta Bates Hospital, a hospital in Berkeley California named after a nurse, Alta Bates ,-- and the ONLY hospital in the United States named after a nurse, not a (male) doctor, which raised her to an elevated position.
To alter something (with an E) is to change it. A tailor altErs clothes to fit a patron. A superhero has an altEr-ego or changed-self in which he hides his true nature. Someone who takes drugs enters into an altEred state of consciousness. (Yes, there is a possible pun in there. Ha ha ha.) But think of the word AltErnative or of the AltErnator in an old car engine, which changes the mechanical energy of motion into dirEct currEnt ElEctricity: (Because a currAnt is a type of small fruit.)
Hoodoo is a form of folk magic practice not particularly known for having
altars. This is because the core practitioners are mostly Protestant Christians who do not venerate entities with statuary, and thus their magical working areas may be temporary, or they may be located in a space that would not be easily identified by an outsider as an altar. Conjure can be practiced on a kitchen table -- and often is -- or it can be worked on the top of a vanity, the soles of one's shoes, a doorknob, or the perimeter of one's property, for instance.
Spell-checkers do not read for context or meaning, so alter is never going to be underlined in red for you in this forum's spell-checker program. It is up to YOU to memorize the difference between alter and altar and to choose the word you mean accordingly. If you erect permanent
altars in what you believe to be a hoodoo context, and wish to write about your
altars, please spell the word ALTAR correctly. Thanks.