Four Ways to Use Altars to Strengthen Your Spiritual Powers and Intuition
Altars have been used since the beginning of civilization for many reasons. Some of the most basic ways we use altars today are for worshiping and making offerings to spirits, deities, or ancestors. We use altars to connect to the spirit world and develop a relationship with beings in other dimensions. Usually, after some genuine effort to build a relationship through offerings of flowers, food, blood, incense, or sacrifice, this spirit or entity might start favoring you. The spirit might offer you help, favors, or guidance throughout your life. What’s amazing about using altars to connect with the Otherworld is that it also helps us to build a stronger connection with spirit and our deep inner wisdom, also known as, our intuition.
In this article, I’m going to break down four different ways you can use altars to not only strengthen your connection to the spirit world but also your spiritual powers. If you’re struggling to develop more spiritual awareness and intuition within yourself but don’t know where to start, perhaps start with an altar. Altars can be as simple or complex as you want, can be anywhere you need them to be, and can be an extremely easy way to add more spiritual rituals into your life. Who wouldn’t want to tap into the divine every single day?
Before we explore different ways to use altars, let’s talk about setup.
Pick Your Altar Location
When choosing a spot for your altar, you want a peaceful place that can be left undisturbed for very long periods of time. Here are some location ideas:
Small corner tables that don’t get used often
Recessed shelves
Your dresser
Nightstand
A sunroom table
A stone or table outdoors that is covered
A table in a greenhouse
Buffet table
Window sill
A closet
Remember, the most important thing is that you create a space for you to strengthen your connection with spirit (internal and external). This will be the location you visit as often as possible to say hello, meditate, set intentions, and maybe make an offering.
Now, it’s time to pick what relationships you want to develop. Do you wish to connect with your ancestors? Maybe you want to learn who your spirit guides are. Do you want a sacred space to set intentions and perform rituals? No matter what you want to use your altar for, it needs to inspire and excite you. Let’s build an altar.
Ancestral Worship
If you feel drawn to build genuine relationships with your ancestors, this might be the altar for you. Remember, it can be as simple and small as you like. It doesn’t need to take up a ton of space. As you start setting this intention, making offerings, and meditating in this space, you will begin to feel their presence. You might even get lucky enough to start seeing what they look like or seeing parts of their stories in your mind's eye. Here’s a simple way to start an altar for your loved ones who have passed over.
Start Simple
Pick one to three family members you know that have passed over in the past few years. They could be an aunt, grandfather, or great-grandmother. Get a picture of them if you can and find out what they used to like when they were living. Did they love a certain kind of candy or snack? Was there a perfume they always smelled of? Maybe they had a favorite animal or flower. Or, maybe they loved a certain kind of cigar or beer. Decorate this altar with things that carry their essence. Make it welcoming to them. Before you place anything on the altar, clean the space and the items first. You can do this with salt, sage, or incense.
The Ritual
Light a small candle or incense in their honor as often as possible. Daily is best, but if you can only do it a few times a week or once a week, that’s okay. Consistent effort is key. Welcome them into your space, thank them for coming in, and let them know this is a safe space for them to hang out and connect with you. Say out loud what your intentions are with them. Let them know that you wish to talk with them and learn from them. Keep an open heart and mind. Most of all, be genuine and be patient.
Clean and Cleanse Often
Don’t let your altar get nasty. This means you don’t have rotting food or flowers, and there’s not a massive build-up of dust. It’s gross and disrespectful. Keep it clean physically and energetically. That means burning cleansing altar incense often. When you start opening the door to the spirit world, there is always a chance something on the other side will be drawn to this spiritual light you’re shining. So, cleanse often.
Deity or Angel Worship
Is there a specific god, goddess, or angel you are intrigued by? If so, maybe building an altar for them can welcome them into your life. You can pick a deity from your cultural background or not. Whatever resonates with you is what you’re meant to connect with. Don’t overthink it, and let your intuition guide you.
Pick Your Deity or Angel
Choose one spirit that you want to build a relationship with and research what sorts of things they are attracted to or resonate with. There is most likely a day of the week, color, scent, stone, flower, or animal that they are known to always be portrayed with. Start there. Once again, keep it simple.
The Ritual
As often as you can, light your candle and/or incense, welcome them into the space, and voice your intentions with them. Let them know why you wish to speak with them and why you want them to have more of a presence in your life. Speak through your heart and be genuine. Maybe you hold a palm stone as you meditate by the altar. You create your ritual. It can be as long or short as you like. Consistent effort is key.
Spirit Guide Connection
Maybe you’ve been on your spiritual journey for a while, and you would like to learn more about your spirit guides. We all have them, but sadly, most do not choose to connect with them throughout their lives. They can help guide you to where you want to be in life, and believe me, they want to see you reach your highest potential.
Where to Start
If you are just starting out and you don’t know much about your spirit guides, start simple. Burn sweetgrass, cedar, sage, pine, or palo santo. Maybe have some water or flowers at the altar. Choose a few high-vibration crystals to place here. Some really beautiful ones are clear quartz, blue calcite, and purple amethyst.
The Ritual
Light a candle and just sit in silence for as long as you can. Say what you hope to accomplish and how you’d like to meet them. Let them know you want them to be known and wish to learn from them. If you can’t sit and meditate for long periods of time every day on this, just put aside five minutes each day to go to this altar, say a prayer of gratitude and thanks, and make a gentle offering of incense, water or flowers.
Self-Love and Power Altar
These altars can be the most powerful in helping you develop your spiritual capabilities. With this setup, you are connecting with yourself and your inner wisdom. This is where the magick happens.
The Altar
They altars can be anywhere as long as it’s a sacred space. I personally find these altars can be beneficial in the bedroom. You can use a shell or beautiful bowl and fill it with flower petals or crystals. Some good flowers to work with for this are roses or lavender. Have some flowers, a candle, and/or some incense. You can also keep a tarot oracle deck you love at this altar.
The Ritual
Every morning when you wake up or every night before you go to bed, light your candle and/or incense, touch the flower petals and crystals, place your hand on your heart, and calm your mind. Focus on your breath. Ask the universe and your spirit guides or angels to help you with whatever you’re trying to achieve. If you’re trying to strengthen your intuition and connection to spirit, voice that out loud. At the end of your meditation, pull a tarot or oracle card and see what guidance they have for you. You might be surprised.
Closing Thoughts
Always be sure to give thanks for the guidance your spirits have provided. Give thanks to yourself for making this time to connect with your inner wisdom. One of the most lovely and powerful things you can do for yourself is simply be with yourself. Be grateful you made time to be silent with your mind and heart. It’s hard to do but absolutely necessary if you want to develop your spirituality.