Having a shrine as a focus for devotional work is an ancient practice shared by most of the civilisations of antiquity. Let us start by making a distinction between an ‘altar’ and ‘shrine’, as they are often confused with each other. The dictionary says:

Altar - a raised structure or place on which sacrifices are offered or incense is burned in worship. It can also be an enclosed table on which items are consecrated, or which acts as the centre for worship.

Shrine - A place in which devotion is paid to a saint or a Deity; or a niche containing a religious image; or a place / object which is considered holy due to its associations.

In Wiccan ritual, the altar is set for coven or solitary ceremonies. On it all the working tools necessary for the ritual will be kept, such as salt & water, candles, wands, and athames. Tools are placed on the altar in a manner that they can easily be reached during ceremonies.

A shrine is quite different, but may seem to have some things in common. You may have a permanent shrine to a Deity you work with often, or you may create a shrine for a predetermined time period to be the focus for devotional work. Some people also create shrines to represent a particular season, planet or for their ancestors.

Shrines can be huge and complex, or they can be as simple as a small picture of a Deity with some flowers. Shrines can be made by groups or by individuals and are often personal to the people involved as there is no one right or wrong way!

When creating a shrine to a Goddess or God you want to honour you should first start by looking at what the purpose of the shrine will be. Will you be performing daily devotional work there, if not how often will you be using the shrine as a focus for devotion? What form will the devotional work take – examples include quiet meditation, singing, chanting or performing longer structured rituals. It is best that you consider this aspect first as it will help you when you need to decide what to place on the shrine and where to create it.

Next we need to consider the practical aspects of a shrine. How much space can you devote to it? Where should you erect it? Will the space that you create it in be private enough? (If you are for instance going to be performing chanting and dancing - the local park is probably not the best place!) Would an indoor or outdoor location be best for it? Is there a particular direction associated with the Deity that you are creating the shrine for?

Once you have decided on a place for the shrine, you need to decide what you will place your objects of devotion on. This could be a small table, shelf or box if you are working indoors, or you may find a flat rock or tree trunk that is suitable to use outdoors. You may want to cover a table or shelf with a cloth of a suitable colour. The colour will be determined by the Deity you are creating the shrine for, so for instance you might choose green for Demeter, or blue or silver for the Stellar Goddess Nuit.

Next you decide what to place on the shrine.

Whereas altars do not need to have statues of deities on them, shrines to Deities often contain a statue or image of the Deity. If you do not have a statue or picture of the Goddess or God that you are creating the shrine to, you may want to consider finding symbols associated with the Deity for your shrine. So for instance, if you were creating a shrine to Athena you may want to place an image of an owl (one of her symbols) on the altar, or for Aphrodite a seashell. In Wicca, some people choose to use a pine cone or pieces of antler for the Horned God and flowers, a Hagstone or a seashell for the Goddess. Images of the Gods played an important role in antiquity, for instance, the Egyptians believed that the Deity would manifest in the statue when you invoked it.

In Wicca, the altar is usually placed in the North (The place of Mystery) or in some Wiccan traditions in the East (The place of the rising Sun and the place of New Beginnings) and sometimes in the centre (The place of Spirit). However, when you are creating a shrine you may want to consider a direction that is associated with the Deity, for a solar God or Goddess it would be appropriate to have the altar face East, for a Deity associated with water it might be appropriate to have the shrine facing West (direction of the element of Water) or for an Earth Goddess such as Gaia you may have it facing North (direction of the element of Earth).

Next you will want to decide what offerings you are going to make to the Goddess or God. Will this be some flowers? White lilies are often appropriate for Lunar deities, if the shrine is being created for a longer period of time you may even decide to grow some flowers in a pot, this can be an act of devotion in itself as you nurture the plant by watering it and ensuring it gets enough sunlight. A friend of mine grows potted sunflowers for her work with the Irish Solar God, Lugh.

Incense has also long been considered a sacred and appropriate offering. Doing some research on the Deity you are creating the shrine for will help you discover ingredients for incense, or other offerings, that are sacred to the Goddess you are working with. Incense can also enhance work that you are doing at your shrine, such as meditations. If you prefer you can burn essentials oils associated with the Deity on an oil burner.

Burning candles is also highly appropriate, again it will help as a focus for your work and you can use a large candle that you re-light every time you perform a working, or you can use smaller coloured and even scented candles for shorter workings.

Once you have created your shrine, remember that it is a devotional focus for that Deity and that you should treat it as such. This means that you should keep it dust free (after all, you wouldn’t want the Goddess of Love to be standing around in dust and incense ash for weeks would you?) and also remember to keep flowers fresh!

In conclusion, when creating shrines to the Gods and Goddesses you work with, your imagination and creativity are the only limitations. Learn as much as you can about the Deity before creating the shrine as this will help you find appropriate objects to create the shrine with, and also help you to understand the God or Goddess better, which in turn will lead to better devotional workings.

When developing a link with a Goddess or God, remember the old saying – “Enflame yourself with prayer and invoke often”!

© 2004 Sorita

Sorita will be appearing, with her partner David Rankine, at various Witchfests around the UK during the coming months. To visit Sorita's own website, Avalonia.co.uk, please access the links page.

PanGaia Magazine followed up its 'Classics of Wicca' bookshelf in the winter issue with 'Modern Classics of Wicca' in its spring issue. As well as my own book, 'Deepening Witchcraft; Advancing Skills and Knowledge' at #6, ECW author Judy Harrow came in with the #5 book, 'Spiritual Mentoring' (and the #10 book, 'Wicca Covens' from Citadel Press) and at #11 is Amber Laine Fisher's 'Philosophy of Wicca'. In addition, another ECW author, M. Macha Nightmare ('Witchcraft and the Web') is co-author with Starhawk of 'The Pagan Book of Living and Dying' the book in the #1 slot. Since I have been meaning to review these books for some time, it seemed appropriate to do it this issue of Psychic Tymes.

How did ECW Press manage to produce all these great books on their first foray into the wonderful world of Pagan publishing? I'd say a good bit of luck and an editor named Emma McKay had a lot to do with it.

Spiritual Mentoring: A Pagan Guide
Judy Harrow
ECW Press; Toronto, 2002

Judy has a Masters degree in counselling and has been a Wiccan High Priestess for more than 20 years. She's a warm, friendly person with a gentle touch at leadership. This is a very practical handbook for individuals finding themselves leaders in a religion. She first invites you to carefully examine yourself to make sure that you are ready to take on this task with suggestions for ways of dealing with your perceived shortcomings. From there she gives you guidance to figure out if you and your prospective student may be able to communicate successfully. This section has the potential of being extremely valuable to the mentor as it is very discouraging when you fail with a student.

Judy is a very well organized thinker, and her book moves from subject to subject in a useful and logical fashion. She discusses conversion (as Wicca and the other modern Pagan faiths are overwhelmingly made up of individuals who were not born into them) and some of the ways to analyse where they are coming from and where they may be going.

I suspect in the end the most important chapter is 'Seeking Closeness', which is concerned with the link between humans and deity. The other information in this book can be found, if perhaps in less focused or easily digested form, in many places but because this mystical relationship is very much at the heart of the Wiccan religion, fostering this connection in the student is a very important part of the mentor's work. Wiccan clergy do not either create or provide the connection between individuals and deity but work to help the individual find their own connections. She also gives appropriate warnings for those occasions when an intense spiritual experience leaves an individual unbalanced and insecurely returned to the ordinary world.

I consider Judy's book a must-have for any active leader or teacher in the Craft. From the straightforward advice and descriptions of the good and the difficult to references to consult if you need more information, it's going to get used over and over.

Philosophy of Wicca
by Amber Laine Fisher
ECW Press; Toronto, 2002

Amber has written the first book to concentrate on the philosophy and cosmology basic to Wicca. While tending to stress the sunlit side of Wicca, as have most authors in recent years, she by no means ignores the moonlight and devotes a chapter on the reasons for and benefits of exploring the shadows both within oneself and present in our universe.

The philosophical background of Wicca is very complex and wide-ranging, and explaining it would tax any writer. Amber seems to have a particularly good knack for explaining philosophical points clearly and accessibly. Her strong points include her clear vision of the mysteries and her ability to come closer to explaining what is meant by that then most writers can.

I do not, of course, agree with everything Amber says in this book but I believe that it can be of enormous help for the intermediate student of Wicca, giving them the outlines of Wiccan philosophy so that they can more easily find their way to their own personal understanding of their religion and the nature of the universe.

While in some ways, Amber tends to err just slightly on the side of "Wicca Lite", and if an old witch like me tends to feel that the author has only a shallow appreciation of the Shadow, she's a young woman and doubtless has many dark as well as light days before her.

Witchcraft and the Web: Weaving Pagan Traditions Online
M. Macha Nightmare
ECW Press, Toronto, 2001

Perhaps nothing could have brought Paganism out of the closet so quickly as the Internet has. In fact, because of the dispersed nature of Paganism and the fact that it still isn't entirely desirable to be openly a member of one of the modern Pagan religions, I suspect it can be difficult to BE a Pagan without at least a convenient library with internet facilities.

Macha did not attempt to write this book strictly from her own experience with the Internet but assembled a panel of Pagans, many of whom had many years of experience with computers and communications using computers. I felt very honoured to be asked to be one of that panel.

Macha is a very thorough writer and her book is an excellent guide to the Internet for anyone with a great many definitions of important words sitting right in the margin of the paragraph in which the word first occurs. She also provides a compact introduction to much of Wiccan (or to use her word, Witchen) practice and belief so that the book will make sense to non-Pagan Internet users as well as non-technical Pagans. She follows the development of the on-line Pagan community such as the Pagan forums on CompuServe in which I was a participant to the development of e-mail lists and on-line rituals.

Anyone who is new to the web and having trouble feeling at home there, 'Witchcraft and the Web' is your welcome wagon!

Finding New Goddesses; Reclaiming Playfulness in Our Spiritual Lives
Barbara Ardinger
ECW Press, Toronto, 2003

Let us all make some time in our busy and stressful days for these goddesses of wit and wisdom, for Naustalgica who remembers the beginning of all things ("no one said 'let there be light'. What it was was "lighten up") and the titan Roadesia, Goddess of Freeways, Country Roads, and City Streets.

I can't help but feel that Barbara actually IS the Goddess Semicolonic, Goddess of Gooder English since her other day job is editing manuscripts for publishers and for authors self-publishing. Hear her voice arising from the typoed pages of some inadequately edited paperback; "We shall return, for remember, they also serve who only sit and edit."

From Acme, Goddess of High Tech to Zambonie, Goddess of Taxes, Barbara leads you down the primrose path to everlasting giggles and the finding of an appropriate goddess to complete your dreadful day with a belly laugh. And after all this serious reading, you really need some laughs!

Reviews and article © 2004 by Grey Cat.

Grey Cat is the author of Deepening Witchcraft; Advancing Skills and Knowledge - listed as one of the Modern Classics in PanGaia Magazine's Pagan bookshelf -- and co-author of American Indian Ceremonies: Walking the Good Red Road as well as chapters in the first two volumes of Witchcraft Today. She is the founder of NorthWind Tradition of American Wicca and lives and teaches in Tennessee "under the supervision of her feline associates". To visit her own website, and the web sites of the writers review in this issue, please access the Links page.

Beltane is the second principal Celtic festival. It falls approximately halfway between the Vernal equinox and midsummer’s day (Summer Solstice). Beltane traditionally marked the arrival of summer. Although by the time you read this piece the big Pagan Pride walk in London will have taken place. I suspect a fantastic time was had by all who turned up for the event. The last weekend on May will see a few pagan and wiccan related events taking place to celebrate.

30th and Bank Holiday Monday 31th May 2004
Two days celebration!
Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, Holborn, WC1
2 noon to 8pm- Tickets £11, two day ticket £20

Sunday starts with a fun Pagan Pride Parade, not march, as this is just for the fun of it. Now we have the freedom to express our religion without fear of prosecution. The parade is accompanied by giants, carried by only one person. These impressive figures originated from Celtic times. They were carried in all festivals, all over the country throughout the Medieval period. They were finally banned by the Puritans, because they were too much fun!

The Jack in the Green leads the parade; he is a dancing bush topped by a face and deer antlers, and his retinue are the Green Bogies and The Green Lady who carries the Stang. Tie a coloured ribbon onto the Jack for your wish to come true this Summer - pink for love, blue for healing. We will transfer them to the wishing tree in Ravens Wood.

He is followed by The Morrigan, a Celtic war Goddess who is 15 feet tall. The Morrigan will be dressed in green and flowers to welcome Summer, truly a Goddess for all seasons. We then have guest giants from all round England - possibly War and Peace from Sheffield, Old Dame Holda and Old Man Thunder and perhaps a Dragon or two from Buckinghamshire, and Herne and Selene from the South Coast. Please come dressed in green, if possible. Bring drums or a musical instrument to play if you have them, or an old tin can if you have no musical talent, for all are welcome to join in.

Then to the festival, there are folk bands, a rock band, and more Morris dancers than you can shake a stick at! The entertainment goes on both days, for those of a quieter disposition there are free first class talks and workshops on all Pagan traditions and related topics. All traditions are welcome to the parade and to the festival, newcomers are especially welcome, there are beginners’ talks and a corner where you can meet if you choose.

Then to the festival, there will be folk bands, a rock band, and more Morris dancers than you can shake a stick at! The entertainment goes on both days. For those of a quieter disposition there are free first class talks and workshops on all Pagan traditions and related topics. All traditions are welcome to the parade and to the festival, newcomers are especially welcome, there are beginners’ talks and a corner where you can meet if you choose.

All profits to Ravens Wood conservation.
Beltane Bash and its sister The Halloween Festival are organised to raise money for Ravens Wood this is a beautiful piece of woodland in Buckinghamshire, near Tring. The first third is Beech, flowing into Oak, Ash and Holly, finally finishing in Hazel and Rowan. In spring it is covered in Bluebells, in summer wild Honeysuckle climb the trees, in autumn mushrooms abound, Roe and Munt Jac deer, squirrels and bats take shelter in its shade. By coming and having fun at The Beltane Bash you will be helping a forest to stay forever Pagan and forever green.

Sunday June 20th at 7.30pm
Domnu's Festival of Water at Summer Solstice 2004

The Glastonbury Goddess Conference
28th July - 1 August 2004

The Goddess Temple
2-4 High Street
Glastonbury
Somerset, BA6 9DU, UK

info@goddesstemple.co.uk

Witchfest Wales
12th June 2004, Cardiff 10:00am - Midnight
Cardiff International Arena, Cardiff.

Click image to visit web site.

Witchfest Ireland
26th June 2004, 10:00am - Midnight
Gresham Royal Marine Hotel,
Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin

Click image to visit website

Witchfest Scotland
Langside Halls, Glasgow, Scotland 3th July 2004
In association with The Hearth pub moot, Glasgow
(10:00am - Midnight)

Click image to visit web site.