Queen of Swords

My household altar is on the upper shelf of a two-level bookcase that, by necessity, also serves as my tv stand. (I'd prefer not to mix those functions, but my space and furniture are limited.) The bottom shelf contains my favorite of my oversize books -- or it did until about twenty minutes ago.

During my morning altar time my eyes kept going to those books, which are lovely, but never get looked at where they are. Then I thought about my need to move my spiritual/esoteric books from the corner bookshelf and put them somewhere more accessible. (Another space/furniture issue: when I put my books up after this last move, I put them, by habit, into the far left bookshelf. Which turned out to be sitting next to the only place I could store my treadmill, so they aren't easy to get to.)

The books which are most important to my path are now on the shelf under my household altar, where I can see them on a regular basis. Just looking at the titles is a good reminder.

Later I'll make a post about which books are there, and why, but for now I'm going to do a quick LJ skim, then shower and get dressed and retreat into my temple space to finally finish my submission to Lee Harrington's Spirit of Desire anthology. I've finally realized that working on that type of writing at my desk is counterproductive.

The day I moved into the new apartment I was a Bad Priestess and didn't start by setting up my household altar. That night, however, I found it was impossible to actually go to bed without re-establishing my three primary altars: household altar, Ereshkigal altar, marriage altar.

Because most of stuff was in boxes, the initial household altar consisted of my Tiwaz figure and the libation bowl of vodka. As my boxes were unpacked, I added the carved wooden bear (family totem) and a ceramic figure of a woman wearing a skirt of stars with her arms upraised. But they were all crowded on the end of my fireplace mantle, obviously not something that should continue.

Today, during a several hour unpacking session, I realized that the perfect location for the new household altar was on the shelf of the tv stand. (Trust me, it works better than it sounds.) I placed everything where it was supposed to go, but was frustrated to find that the big wolf statue wouldn't fit the new space.

I called Wolfling and asked her input and opinion, since it's her household too. She said, "It needs a wolf figure." I agreed, but neither of us could find something small. I did, however, find a sweet little stuffed wolf that usually sits on my dresser. Grinning mischievously, I set it on the altar next to Tiwaz.

The response I got wasn't a growl, per se -- just an implacable NO from LM.

Really? I poked, teasing.

NO.

Okay, okay. . . I'll take it off.

The little stuffed wolf went back to my dresser, but so far Wolfling and I have not been able to find something appropriate. A shopping trip may be in order. I'm sure he'll let me know when I find something he approves of.

It probably doesn't translate all that well here, but I found it very amusing. . . .

Every Tuesday evening I do simple blot for Tiwaz, making a drink offering to him at my household altar, affirming our bonds of fellowship, and thanking him for his protection of my household and his patronage of LM.

This evening I noticed that the surface of the altar had started to get dusty, so I moved everything off the shelf, dusted it, and put each piece back slowly and mindfully, being alert to whether or not it still should be there.

Most of it went back: my sword, LM's kukri (which he had left on the mantle in my old house as a protection before his death), the figurine representing my daughter, the statue of Tiwaz, the cup.

What didn't go back was the standing bear candle holder which for months had represented my house spirit. But my house spirit, who had come with us from The Old Place, departed a couple of months ago. I'm not sure if this location didn't suit him, or I wasn't paying him enough attention, or he missed the energy of my partners. . . but he's gone. The candle holder didn't fit anymore.

So I set it aside and asked myself and the spirits what should be there. The answer: a wolf. Bear is my personal totem, and is a family totem on my mother's side, but my daughter and LM both have strong Wolf associations, and I have been kind of absorbed into the pack. When we invoke protection, it's likely that wolf allies are the first on the scene. Daughter received a wolf's head figurine from her father for her birthday, so she has contributed it to the altar until I can find a new guardian figure.

Because Bear energy continues to be important to me, I also placed a carved wooden bear on the altar. This piece was a gift to my mother from her father, and so carries strong family/ancestral energy. My father's people were Norse and Swedish, so even though he's not Pagan, the Tiwaz figure also resonates with my heritage on his side.

Hmmm. . . . I just realized that I need a candle holder too. I'll have to wait and see what presents itself, what the spirits want.