Question:
I’m Wiccan and I’m moving into a dorm soon. I have a small altar prepared to take with me, with the exception of a representation of air. The altar is rather nondescript, seeing as (a) I don’t want to shove my religion down my roommate’s throat, and (b) according to friends, there’s apparently a lot of religious intolerance in the town I’ll be moving to. It’s a small, brass tray filled with sand, with a thimble-sized candle for fire, a gemstone for earth, and a shell for water.
However, I’m having trouble coming up with something for air. Incense is a no-go. I would like to use a feather, but they’re difficult to find in the winter time and I’m too poor to go buy them from a craft shop (assuming I could find real ones). A bell was suggested, but I neither own a bell that small, nor have the money to buy one, as I said. I know some people use 4 different colored candles for the elements, but I’d rather not in my practices.
Any ideas? Again, it must be rather small (no bigger than an inch wide or tall).
Thank you all very much for your suggestions! They were all very creative and extremely helpful.
Tags: Altar, Alternative, Pagan, representation
This entry was posted on Friday, January 14th, 2011 at 9:27 am by The Good Witch and is filed under Questions About Wicca. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
A small cone of incense would be a good choice since the incense requires the air to travel on…
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Hey! Just focus on the air in your lungs as U breathe deeply & let that be your focus for air. if you really want or need a symbolic representation of air, U could just use a gemstone that represents Air like sodalite, fluorite or aventurine. U could also focus on Hermes, he’s an Air Deity.
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A clear glass or crystal prism might work. Or if you haven’t given up on finding a bell, you might check the after-Christmas decoration sales; a cheap jingle-bell would probably suit. Failing that, you might try making a very small pinwheel; I’ve linked to instructions below.
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Maybe a fan as it moves the Air elements around pretty quickly..
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Your breath!
Free, invisible and portable.
Peace
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Maybe craft a tiny kite? Or a tiny tree that is blowing in the wind made out of fine wire? That is all I can think of. LIke the sound of your altar.
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Your candle can actually double for air also, since fire needs air to burn…
If you don’t want to that, than a leaf, as suggested, would work. Anything the color of yellow is also fine for air, including a small yellow piece of cloth with the symbol of air (a cloud) on it.
You could also check out thrift stores for something that had feathers on it. That sort of stuff doesn’t cost much. Oh, and a yellow piece of ribbon would also work.
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Yes, you can have a representation of air which is massive but no-one can see it. You just sanctify the air itself. I’m not joking . This is a natural and acceptable way of honouring air on a four elements alter. (ps(when the alter requires a feather one will arrive at your feet)
Best wishes, it’s great to know that young people are walking the Earth with respect as you are.
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can you print off a small picture of something representing air…say clouds or a bird?
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A piece of gossamer (spiderweb). You should find that quite easily.
Honeydew is even more powerful (the aphid secretion, not the melon). Gather it from beneath ash trees next summer.
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how about a leaf? I’m sure you could find one pretty easily
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