[UA] occult paraphernalia

[Doug Stalker]

Here's a message from another mailing list - if you ever need to descibe a
house full of modern occult paraphernalia, this is a perfect description.

 - Doug

-----Original Message-----
From: Valerie L Walker [mailto:wholebody at sfo.com]
Sent: Wednesday, 27 February 2002 12:49 PM
To: zee-list at chaosmatrix.com
Subject: Re: [zee-list]: altars


 Nenad Ristic <nenad at intrepidsoftware.co.za>
asked:
> How many of you use an altar in their workings? I have made a small one
for
> myself, but I do not actually use it very often, except for holding the
> incense during a working (Then again, it is very small
> and low).
*clears throat* hark ye to the confession of a hardwarian witch:

i have altars all over the house, on every available horizontal surface.
some are directional altars for thr ritual space (aka the living room), some
are specialized, like the ancestor altar in the northeast corner of the
dining room, northeasternmost part of the house...yeh yeh i know the mighty
dead belong in the west, but they just felt right where i put them--in my
old flat they were in the south, and i never had any complaints from them. i
feed them weekly, or as close to weekly as i can manage: a little incense, a
candle, some fresh water, and some brandy (we don't have rum around) or
other liqueur (they seemed to enjoy grand marnier and amaretto equally
well).

 in the east i have a krishna candelabra from archie mcphee (GREAT source of
magickal supplies) and a plastic or rubber (i don't know which, but the
texture is sorta jelly-like, very strange) figure of an asian man with all
the acupuncture points marked out on his entire body. he's about, oh 18 in.
tall, and is fastened to  a wooden base by a metal rod. his arms are
inserted into sockets and have a tendency to fall off, but otherwise he
looks pretty blissful. i have no idea who he's supposed to be, but i just
figured he could stand in for the Mysterious East.  south is the fireplace,
and on the mantel i have a collection of wands in a jar, a little horned
goddess with a cloth body and clay head and hands, given to me by someone
who moved to fiji, assorted stones and fossils, a mask of my face decorated
with flames on the outside and nerve connections on the inside, and lots
more magickal tchotchkes. my western altar is on top of a chest of drawers
which is in the west window in the bedroom, and i have been working on this
one a lot recently. plenty of blue glass (old skyy vodka bottles), shells,
seeing stones, plants, good stuph, but the only image is a card of yemaya.

the main north altar, which is actually in the center of the house, has an
african doll goddess which is hung with many many necklaces, earrings, and
other gewgaws, and bags of chocolate gold "coins" are hung over her arms.
there is also a white wooden blank-faced very abstract-looking half-figure
of a woman, which was once a display window piece at the emporium store, and
which i bought when they went out of business. lots of necklaces on that one
too...i think she's the unknown goddess.

plus, lots of candles, offering bowls, wards, magickal tools, pictures of
people i'm doing magick for, cards, oils, incenses, and all the other
accoutrements necessary for ritual, spellcraft, and hanging out in the
half-astral. (martha stewart would be sooooo proud)

i actually use all these altars in ritual. when i'm doing a quick-and-dirty
bit of solitary magick, i don't bother with invoking or any of the other
preliminaries, because i figure that the gods have been living with me for
at least 25 years, so all i have to do is express a wish and they'll hear
it. but it is nice to do the full-boogie casting of a circle and invoking
everyone, especially when working with a group.

i have gotten more fancy with my altars in the last few years since working
with the circle of the winged toads, because i really enjoyed the way others
dressed up their altars, and they gave me some good ideas.  but i've always
made altars, everything from great big permanent ones to little tiny
portable ones you could fit into an altoids box. i have a tin kali lunchbox
(from archie mcphee, again) that serves as my field kit, and it's fun to
take to outdoor rituals. i have a set of wards that i've been working on for
several months, deciding what to include. currently  i have a bell for
east/air, a scarab for south/fire, a piece of smooth glass for west/water, a
holystone/hagstone for north/earth, a piece of rutilated quartz and a black
stone for above and below (they change places periodically), a tiny sword
for the horned god, a metal triskele for the goddess, and a piece of rainbow
fluorite for me at the center of it all. they're the necessities in my field
kit, even if i don't have any other tools.

i guess i should be writing for better homes and covens....

bb

veedub
--------
10. The Earth quakes and the heavens rattle; the beasts of nature flock
together and the nations of men flock apart; volcanoes usher up heat while
elsewhere water becomes ice and melts; and then on other days it just rains.

11. Indeed do many things come to pass.

--The Book of Predictions, Chap. 19







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