Jack of Many Trades

Secondhand Pagan: Altars on Demand!

Originally posted: 2014-01-22

[caption id="attachment_6480" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Altar for Brigid[/caption]

I stopped by Value Village on Sunday because they were letting members take advantage of the holiday sale a day early. I wasn't looking for anything in particular, but I was seeing one neat piece here and one there and soon I was mentally putting together an entire altar from just what I could find. Here's what I came up with:

Deity figure: She's got a spinning wheel and she looks like a saint, so I might see if Brigid likes her if I was doing a Brigid altar. This is by far going to be the hardest part of any altar search. $2.99 Pentacle: Capiz-shell candle holder. $2.99 Chalice: Red glass. They actually had eight of these. $1.99 Offering dish: Black with an understated abstract pattern. There was another matching one if I'd wanted it. $.49 Candle: Pretty self-explanatory, I think. $2.99 Candle holder: Just so I'm not setting my altar cloth on fire. $.99 Altar cloth: These came from the placemat section. $1.99/2 Wand: Drumstick! Though you could find a stick outside and make your own for free, the altar looked bare without it. $2.99/2 Athame: Bread knife with a neat handle. I actually brought this one home. $.99

Total = $18.41

This was a really fun proof of concept exercise, though I'll note that the odds you'll need to put together an entire altar from scratch in one trip are pretty small. I still like the challenge, though, and I think it's something I'll look at repeating in future trips!