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| ALTAR AND TOOLS |
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| An Altar is any flat surface designed to hold ritual tools and symbole; in many magical traditions, it is placed in the east. You can use a coffee table, top of a dresser, a board resting on top of two blocks, or you can go out and buy a special table to use. I use a dresser with a large mirrow in my bedroom. Your altar is your own personal space. What you put on it is of your own personal taste, but I have found that most altar's are pretty close to the same. Noone should touch or remove anything from your altar for if they do it will bring negativity around the altar and it will have to be purified before doing the next ritual. The following is a list of basic tools for the altar. Atham - A black-handled, double-edged, knifelike toll used to channel energy, as in casting the circle, but not used to cut anything material. You can mark it with your name in runes and other symbols, like the pentagram, and may symbolize either fire or air. Bell - A bell or gong can be used early in the ritual to "alert the quarters," that is to prepare Younger Self to operate in the moder of earth, air, fire, and water. Bollin - A white-handled knife for cutting, carving or inscribing things in the course of a ritual -- candles, talismans, cords, ect. BOS - A magical journal kept by each Wiccan initiate, in which spells, invocations, ritual notes, herbal recipes, dreams, divination results and other material is recorded. Candles - These are used frequently by some magicians in spells. The oils they are anointed with and their colors, as well as the shapes and inscriptions carved on them. All have a symbolic purpose. Chalice - A goblet or cup usually holding wine, which is shared during a ritual. It is both a female - and a water - symbol, and can be used for scrying or crystal-gazing. Charcoal - Often incense is burned on a charcoal briquet, placed in a thurible or on a stone. Incenses - These come in sticks, cones, powders, resinous chunks and herbal or floral mixtures, and can be purchased or made. The incense burned depends on the purpose of the ritual and on the energies being invoked, but Frankincense and sandalwood ar two all-purpose favorites which can be used for almost any ritual. |
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