Book of Shadows

Your Altar and Tools

To create a basic altar, you should have these things:

At least one candle (white, or color for purpose)
An athame or wand, representing fire and the South
Incense and a burner, representing air and the East
A pentacle, representing earth and the North (if you are Wiccan)
A chalice (cup, goblet, etc.) representing water and the West

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(This is not mine, but the original site no longer exists, so I am posting it here:)

"Altars can be as simple or as elaborate as the Witch sees fit. The cloth in which you use should not be too expensive. We Witches must be practical and realize that we will be dripping candle wax on the cloth as well as spilling incense and even wine onto the cloth. Most Witches tend to use a plain black cloth or something celestial. Pagans who perform Sabbat rituals will change the altar cloth according to the Sabbat theme. However, since I am more Witch than pagan and tend to put more emphasis on Moon rituals, I use black clothes.

Some Witches set their altar up in the North, as they feel it is the direction of the divine knowledge and wisdom. However, must Witches send their altar in the East, as everything starts from there and ends in the West. They reserve the North for honoring and respecting of the unknown and which represents the mystery.

Besides having a candle representing the Goddess (and a God if so wishing), many Witches also have a triple candle holder wherein they place a white, red and black candle representing the Maiden, Mother and Crone and lighting those candles before invoking the Goddess. An evocation such as "I call upon the Maiden for inspiration and new beginnings (light the white candle); the Mother for compassion and nurturing (light the red candle), and the Crone for Her mysteries, wisdom and magick (light the black candle).

Also, on your altar, you, at the very least, should have the following: Chalice, Salt in holder, incense, incense holder (censer), water in bowl, charcoals, wand, oil for the occasion, magickal knife for inscribing and/or cutting and athame as well as a wooden pentacle/pentagram...

Your magical tools do not need to be elaborate and can be quite practical. After all, during the Burning Times, they used what they had around the house but most probably tried to keep these away from their everyday wear. I also tend to use my wand more so than my athame, as wands have the power to open doorways into other magickal dimensions. Wands draw energy (as well as direct energy) from these other worlds that affect what is going on in this world. When doing magick, the primary connection is between this world and the world of the Divine.

I have a white candle which is considered my "need fire" which means if any of the 45 or more candles in my temple go out, I re-light them from this candle, as the white candle is the first candle I light on my altar at the beginning of my ritual. I say a few magickal words before lighting the candle and all candles are lit from that candle. I was taught this, as was my High Priestess (HPS) before me, as her HPS taught her and so on.

I also have a crystal ball, a dragon and other magical objects to help set the mood. On my altar I have objects representing the four Quarters. In the east side of my altar, I have a feather; on the south side, a red candle; on the west I have my consecrated water; and on the north side, my blessed salt is placed. During ritual, I have music playing to help set the mood. My temple, as well as my altar, is very sacred to me, and I do not let just anyone come into my temple and/or see my altar for that matter. And remember, tools do not make a Witch; the Witch makes the tools and her main altar and temple is in Her heart."

(http://hecatescauldron.org/Sacred%20Altar.htm)

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Witchcraft is a way of life and not what stuff you have or what you look like, but why not have a few mystical items (statues of animals or deities, little boxes, crystal orbs, potion bottles etc.)? The other thing you MUST have is a Book of Shadows, like this one.  You can use your Book of Shadows to record any rituals or spells you do, or any other information you may learn. It is important to write down your spells, because they tend not to work until you forget about them.

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Altars are fun. They're fun to build and they look super cool. I love to create table displays with all of my resin statuary, crystal balls, mystical-looking boxes, collection of wands, collection of glass potion bottles, resin raven skull with occult symbols on it that I just got and it looks SO COOL and...

Other witchy items to have:

An Athame: A special ritual dagger. It is not a weapon. Mostly it is used to direct energy. You may handle the one displayed. It's blunt and won't cut you. If your parents won't let you have a knife, you can use a sword-shaped letter opener.

Crystals: Crystals radiate energy and are excellent to have. See Ivy's list of crystal symbolism to figure out what types are good for what. Keeping crystals by your bed will keep away nightmares, guaranteed

A Talisman Pot: A talisman is a special charm used for a specific spell (note that an amulet and a talisman are NOT the same thing! A talisman is used to preform magic, an amulet guards against evil). A talisman could be an object made of wood or metal inscribed with symbols, a natural object like a feather or a shell, etc. To keep the energy of the talisman pure, you should keep it in a bowl or pot (a circular box would also work). It is best to make the pot out of something natural, such as clay. You can inscribe it with symbols and fill it with crystals.

A Witch-Spoon: Some witches like to keep a special spoon just for stirring potions.

A Besom (BEH-sum) : A besom is a witch's broom, but unfortunately, you do not fly on it. Sorry! It is used to sweep an area of negative energy.

Statues or Images of Deities: Statues are good to have because it's always easier to concentrate energy on a physical thing. They also look cool. My favorite statues are my statue of Dionysus (to the left of the gold candle), and my Dark Goddess statue (to the left of the unicorn chalice), both of which are currently in my college dorm. Statues aren't that hard to get, but they can be expensive, so you can also print out images of gods from the internet, or represent them with little models of animals.

Salt: A cleansing tool!

A Cauldron: Some spells might require the use of a cauldron to put things or burn things in. For a cauldron, I use a ceramic Harry Potter cauldron-shaped mug from Universal. I also found a larger ceramic cauldron at Michaels (the craft store) around Halloween. Anything metal or ceramic is good, because you can burn stuff in them. When I really need to burn things, though, I use a tiny charcoal grill. It looks just like a cauldron. We used to use it for Harry Potter birthday parties.

A Familiar: See Familiars page.

(For more info: http://hecatescauldron.org/Tools%20of%20the%20Craft.htm)

Sometimes, you can't exactly have the kind of altar you'd like to. The altar in the image has unfortunately been partially dismantled because half of it is in my college dorm, and I can't use candles or incense in a college dorm. Some of you may also find that your parents don't let you burn stuff in your room. You can still build an altar! Substitute the elemental tools with the following:

A stone or nut for EarthA feather for AirA volcanic rock or shark's tooth for FireA shell for Water. Something star-shaped for Spirit, or if you want a pentacle and don't have one.

Other Items:

Altar cloths
Amulets
Baskets
Bell
Bowls
Candles
Candles
MORE candles!
Capes, cloaks, robes
Cauldron
Compass
Crystal ball
Feathers
Felt
Herbs
Incense
Ink
Lighters or matches
Mirror
Mortar and Pestle
Oils
Parchment
Pendulum
Pens
Pitcher
Platters
Pots
Pouches
Quills
Rope or twine
Runes
Salt
Scales
Spoons
Statues
String
Talismans
Tarot cards
Wands
Water
Wooden boxes

At this point, I've accumulated so much mystical stuff that I've put all the overflow into my own Cabinet of Curiosities: https://i.quotev.com/u/19/1/10/t/hlp5zflln5.jpg