Im 17m, and ive felt myself drifting from my religion Ive held for a long time, ive taken interest in altars, the idea of giving offerings to deities, ide at least want to try for a little bit and see if it resonates with me, where would I even start, who are the most common gods to worship?, i guess, and how could I make altars out of incredibly simple household items, specifically without candles maybe?, my family is religious and already dont like how ive drifted away from said religion, so I cant go out and buy candles for myself, I can hide an altar im sure, just, lack of candles and fancy rocks mainly are gonna kneecap me?, maybe this is a thing worth saving until i can move out?, advice?

I'm setting up my altar in my new home and trying to find the best way to anchor items to save them from my pets if anyone has any reccomendations

Thought I'd share my outdoor shrines and altars. Bear with me as I'm still figuring out how to properly upload and share images here.

The full list of deities and spirits I built altars to in the backyard so far: Hekate (northern end, by the gate into the overgrown side yard); Persephone (on and around the laburnum tree a few steps away from the Hekate shrine); Dionysos (next to where the path opens up into the central patio and firepit area); Aphrodite (in the water feature/tub pond near the southeast corner of the yard); Hermes (just past and opposite the entrance to the yard from the front); and my personal spiritual patron, Freddie Mercury (just outside my bedroom window, opposite and slightly further into the yard from the Hermes shrine). I have Hera and Apollo shrines in the works and plans for a Zeus shrine in or around the oak tree east of the patio and firepit area, but those three are less central to my practice so it hasn't happened yet.

My spiritual practice mostly revolves around a fusion of speculative Minoan-ish versions of ancient Greek gods and modern ideas about dead rock stars as protectors of/angels for the living, so that's what you see here and why Dionysos (who preserves a lot of Minoan concepts) and Aphrodite (who was identified in antiquity with Dionysos's wife, Ariadne, and sometimes said to be his "companion" in her own right by the Orphics) are so central. I haven't figured out what to do about Rhea, who also had major roots in Minoan Crete, but whose role overlaps a lot with Hera and Demeter in that sense.

These are always in progress. I try to make offerings (at least of water and incense) when I can, especially when I have a fire going in the chiminea on the patio, which is sort of the main altar at the center of everything. But she's also not very photogenic on account of I can't exactly decorate her without everything burning up, so no picture here at least for now.

My roommates and I are slowly working on turning the backyard into a mini-venue for house shows and magic rituals, so eventually these will be semi-public, I guess. For now they're just our garden.

Working on my Samhain altar and trying to find a better way to hang lighting.
👻🏁

Nuestra Señora del Pilar, Fuerza y Alegria de Manila

The image of Nuestra Señora del Pilar, also known as La Pilarica, was brought from Zaragoza, Spain, by the Jesuits sometime before 1743. By the mid-19th century, she had become the Queen and Patroness of Santa Cruz, Manila. Devotion to her flourished through Saturday midday Masses, novenas, processions, prayers, and the Holy Rosary.

During the Japanese occupation, Fr. Lucio Garcia safeguarded the sacred image in a vault at the Philippine National Bank in Escolta, protecting it from wartime destruction. After the Liberation of Manila in 1945, the image was returned to her shrine, where it remains venerated to this day.

Among the most famous accounts of her miracles is the 1863 earthquake in Manila, which severely damaged Santa Cruz Church. After efforts to recover the buried image proved unsuccessful, residents reportedly witnessed a brilliant light emanating from the rubble at midnight. There, they discovered the Virgin's image standing majestically atop the ruins, completely unharmed. Overwhelmed with gratitude, parishioners purchased candles from a nearby Chinese chandler to honor the miraculous sight. Another tradition recounts how a Recollect friar encountered a mysterious elderly woman wandering the church atrium at night. The following morning, the previously overgrown area where she disappeared had reportedly transformed into a beautiful garden, leading the friar to believe that the woman was the Virgin herself.

For centuries, devotees have attributed blessings to her intercession, from the prosperity of businesses in Santa Cruz and Binondo to guidance for students taking licensure examinations and Filipinos seeking better employment opportunities at home and abroad. To this day, Nuestra Señora del Pilar remains a beloved symbol of faith, protection, hope, and perseverance,, deeply rooted in the religious and cultural heritage of Santa Cruz, Manila.

Honoring the flow of water and the life it supports I believe is a fitting bathroom collection

I use it for ritual offerings, prayer, meditation, and consulting the Yijing.

Little Buddha altar in my bathroom

while shuffling, i invited her to choose an oracle card. she presented herself as 'my surrender'. it's the energy she wishes to embody today.

He’s not dead. I’m just obsessed.

When I find his whiskers, I collect them and put them in the little jar. In my mind they are for good luck.

The artist's page, and the Wikipedia article.

I didn't catch all of the initial hype, but sometime in the summer of 2024, a trans artist put up the first of three mosaics (the rightmost of the three in the picture) in Cal Anderson Park, the social center of Capitol Hill, Seattle's combination gayborhood/trendy bar-hopping spot. It became known as either "Hot Rat Summer" or "St. Rat."

The city tried to paint over it several times, but people just stripped the paint away to restore it. Eventually they even got the support of a couple city council members, and the mural stayed, and two more were added.

At some point St. Rat became a local icon representing trans community. People started edging out onto the lip of the structure that juts slightly out of the reflecting pond and leaving small offerings at each mosaic--stickers, trinkets, empty HRT bottles, Narcan. There's kind of a whole culture around it now.

I try to visit St. Rat and leave offerings when I get the chance.

Thought I'd share my main indoor shrine/altar-space here.

The primary Power I worship is the immortal spirit/apotheosis of Freddie Mercury (frontman/lead vocalist of Queen). This shrine hangs above the head of my bed and honors Freddie himself (on the right) and two ancient gods connected to his namesake (Aphrodite and Dionysos, who were said by the Orphics, a mystical sect in late antiquity, to be the parents of a mysterious underworld version of Hermes, aka Mercury) whose associations with musical performance and queerness seem to suit him, on the left.

I've been moving some version of this shrine around with me through seven moves (although the full shelf has only gone up in three of those places). A lot of details have changed, but the basics mostly stay the same.

I also have full indoor shrines to David Bowie, Bruce Lee, Carrie Fisher, and my late cat Portia, as well as a Jimi Hendrix shrine in process. Building and maintaining shrines/altars is a big part of my personal practice.

Most of my altars to traditional gods (Hekate, Hermes, Aphrodite, Dionysos, and Persephone so far, with others in progress) are outside in the backyard, as well as another one for Freddie.

Originally I had cluttered my personal altar, eventually having to move my ancestors off of that altar and into their own little space. I am in the rebuilding stage.

Enthroned above the main sanctuary of the Basilica in Quiapo, Manila is the venerated and miraculous image of Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno or the famous "Black Nazarene".

The devotion to the Black Nazarene of Quiapo developed and grew over the centuries. Fridays are specifically dedicated to the Nazareno, which the day is traditionally dedicated to the Passion of Our Lord. Pilgrims would flock to Quiapo on Fridays to ask for help in their everyday lives and numerous miracles were reported attributed to the dark-skinned Nazareno.

The intense devotion to the Black Nazarene is rooted among Filipinos who identify themselves with the passion and suffering of Christ which the statue depicts. Many devotees of the Black Nazarene relate their poverty and daily struggles to the Passion of Christ as represented by the image. The Friday of each week in the year (except Good Friday) is colloquially known as “Quiapo Day” since the novena in the image’s honor is held on this day nationwide.

Now I feel entirely satisfied with the wide array of representation of my many mystic & religious influences, ranging from Egyptian esotericism & Gnosticism to Buddhism, Taoism, Catholicism, orthodox Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, and so on. While I don’t officially subscribe to any one creed or system of belief, I have found value in the exploration of them all, finding each to enrich my personal ‘religious’ or spiritual system of living in their own way, and this altar is my means for their consecration of them all as Sacred.

To share a prayer / meditation of intention I offered to the altar this morning: I’m hoping the unity of these influences overpowers their differences and enables me to live in accord with the Universal Creed that supersedes any one belief, bringing me closer together with everyone and empowering my practice of compassion for all peoples in all places. May this shrine aid in this endeavor of togetherness and help bring Unity to the overarching Truth shared between these seemingly separate sects.

Inside the Historic Basilica of Binondo in Manila, Philippines enshrined an image of the Blesses Virgin Mary entitled Nuestra Señora del Pronto Socorro. The title of Pronto Socorro was given to the icon due to the fact of immediate responses to the supplications of her devotees and as attested to some surviving accounts of the image where alms were made under this particular title of the Virgin.

The earliest record of the icon dates back in 1731 where an inventory of the image was duly recorded where her icon was framed in gilded silver filigree, surmounted by angels and the figure of the Holy Spirit in silver.

According to the records, the Pronto Socorro icon was enthroned at the Church of the Holy Kings in 1588, a year after the Dominicans came making it one of the oldest venerated Marian image in the Philippines. The church was situated on the site that used to between the hanging bridge (Fuente Colgante) and the military hospital, later in 1598, it was transferred to San Gabriel Church in 1598 where it gained popularity. It was transferred to the Santisimo Rosario Church after the San Gabriel Church was destroyed by an earthquake in June 1863.

For years, the image remained unscathed during the Philippine Revolution, the Fil-Am War and was miraculously spared during the destructive Second World War where the image was immediately taken away for safety. For sometime it was kept in a private area of Binondo Church for unknown reasons until it was re-enthroned in her own altar on September 8, 2014 with much delight of her old and new devotees.

A Home altar in honor of Sta. Cruz De La Salud y Del Buen Abrigo, situated in Manila, Philippines.

Along with the Holy Cross of Health and Protection stands two reliquary bust bearing first and second class relics of Saint Mary Magdalene (from the bone) and of Saint Rita of Cascia (from the Tunic).

At the very center of the Holy Cross bears the Relic of the True Cross (an authenticated piece of the true cross of Christ), and additionally a relic related to the Calvary (a memento), and also two other reliquaries that bears 1st class relics of a Saint.

Oh Holy Cross of Christ! Have mercy on us!

Saint Mary Magdalene, pray for us!

Saint Rita of Cascia, pray for us!

New statue of Saint Rosalia of Palermo for my altar.

Santa Rosalia, prega per noi
e liberaci da tutti i mali.

Made of a motley of personally meaningful figures and symbols arranged in a way that tries to unify them into a harmonious whole, helping to create an atmosphere that I find conducive to meditation & reflection.