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Discussion
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Just wanted to share a photo of my altar!
updated 2 years, 6 months ago
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Im new to witchcraft so whats the difference between the 7 point star you have and the traditional pentagram and pentacles that I see used more often, and why did you choose to use it?
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beautiful! so neat and functional and lots of room to work. blessed samhain!
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Wonderful set up!
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Scary how organized you are.
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Mark me envious!
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Looks amazing!
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The unique aesthetic of every altar is a [genius loci](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genius_loci). It is like how every building and church has a unique spirit. The spirit emerges from how the place influences the experience of the people in that place. When you are in that space, there is a way your altar makes you feel. That creates a particular spirit. Since that spirit emerged from your experience of that space based on how the aesthetic made you feel, you and that spirit are connected.
Since magic works by personifying an entity, binding it to a symbol, and exerting authority over it, a picture of an altar can act as a sigil. In short, posting pictures of your altar is a bad idea because a person who wishes you harm can use it to control the intelligence of your space. Since you and that space are connected, they can exert authority over you.
Recently, there was a witch around my community doing temple work. On a walk, my fiance and I passed their building. The magical circle they cast created a clairvoyant shadow on their apartment building. I got in touch with the witch to let them know their banishments and invocations were casting a shadow as blatant as a bright light. My fiance is clairvoyant and saw it as the entire building was not there, but he could see that it was there with his physical eyes. Since the building is there, we could infer that someone was doing magic there. It let me know there is a witch in the neighborhood. I did not intend to harm them, which is why I informed that witch that they were literally sending out a beacon through their banishments and warding spells. But my intent could have been harmful.
While your altar is pretty, posting pictures might not be that safe. Think of it like we are in the same body of water. When you do magic, you create waves in the water. Any other being can detect a disturbance in the surrounding water. All magical acts send out a disturbance in the astral fabric that connects all beings. It is a propagation of a change that changes an area as things flux. Imagine it as a field of rings that get bigger and smaller. Your magic makes one ring get bigger as the previous adjacent one gets smaller. Then the adjacent ring gets bigger, and the previous one gets smaller. If a person is on a ring next to your magic, they will experience that flux. We experience it like how we experience sound or sight. If a person can see or hear your magic, they can probably feel it. Even if you ward it, a psychic standing out of your building will see a shadow as they walk or jog. It is a giant sign saying “Witch this way!”. Just like a neighbor might get annoyed at the sound of your chants, they might get annoyed at magical vibrations. Based on how they feel, they might decide to act in ways that could affect you adversely.
Images point to things, so you are pointing people to the genius loci of your magical space. I see a ton of people posting altar pics on Reddit. I normally do not post magical constructs unless I expect the energies to interact. If your intent is to keep the energy of your altar pure, you should not post it on Reddit, because when people look at it and think about it, their attention subtly interacts with it. I only post things if I intend to draw from the energy of the people looking at it. Since I am aware of how art creates an inter-subjective interaction between an artist’s intentions and the audience, I treat magical arts and crafts like live guns. I treat monetizing magic like taking a gift from the fae. If you make a living off of your craft, you are beholden to the whims of your client, so your autonomy is compromised.
I treat magic like sex. I determine if I share or do not share based on whether I would feel comfortable with those people seeing me naked. If the answer is no, I do not want these people to see me naked; I do not share that particular magical act. Magic is not intrinsically private. It is only private if you make it private. Exhibiting it negates privacy, which makes the entities in that space accessible.
As a teenager, I decided to be a solitary practitioner. Two decades later, I do not regret that decision because I have been able to avoid cultural forces and maintain control of my magic. Most people’s practices are extensions of the normative prescriptions of communities, cultures, organizations, groups, or orders. Exhibiting art within curated venues extends expectations of an organized community structure where that structure influences your art. I have storage spaces that art has magic studios. I control what goes in there and who goes in there. I am repulsed by the idea of submissions and applications.
In short, most witches have no control over their magic since the pressure of their social spaces has a heavy influence on their craft. Magic takes the form of art, and we predicate art on intentions and a medium. Limited mediums impact the artistic intentions of a person. If a person only has black and white mediums, it would be hard for them to make a fully colored picture, affecting the piece they intend to make. The standards of where they can exhibit that art can affect artists. If publishers have x standards, an art gallery has y standards, or a Reddit sub as z standards, and a person wants to exhibit their art, they have to consider that. By keeping your magic private and free, you maintain control over it. Seeing how bad and radicalized magical societies have become, I do not regret my choice early on to always remain solitary. I think it is more problematic than beneficial to be part of a magical community whether a coven, an order, a subscriber, a patron, or a member of a sub Reddit.
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Omg those little vials on the side! What are in them? They look so cute! The vibes of this altar are just so peaceful, I can’t wait to have the space to give love to my own one day ❤️
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I am now deeply envious
