u/akhenraetawy

I want to share what I find the pros and cons of having an altar vs not having an altar. Many who start on their path to paganism assume they need one and panic if they have circumstances that aren't best to have one. I see this most when people start with being a hellenic polytheist.

Having an Altar:

A pro to having an altar is so that you have a space to remind you of its purpose. Having an altar in my experience helped me remember the spirits I was working with. Another pro is that if you give offerings in the form of objects and not food or drink then you have somewhere to place it and don't have to think about where a suitable place is otherwise. This also helps if you're doing a ritual for a spirit as you don't have to set up any area unless that is something you want to do. Although that leads to a negative. If the altar isn't in a suitable spot then you're gonna have to rearrange your stuff for that (temporary or permanently). Altars also tend to take up space also. Then there's also the possibility of being in an household where you have other members who aren't as carefree on other religions. When this happens please don't make an altar. You put yourself in danger and the items depending on how reactive that person is.

Without a Altar:

I personally don't go with an altar for spirits that I'm very close to. If I'm not that close then I have a altar. When you don't have an altar and want to do ritual I set up a temporary space for that. To me it helps because I get in the mindset that this is a special occasion. I don't recommend offerings that are objects. Instead I recommend devotional acts and food/drink offerings (if you consume them).

Either way it doesn't matter if you have an altar or not. If you want one then have one! Make sure your altar is safe though. If for some reason you don't want to do that then don't.

So... Since becoming a pagan how do you feel about videos that go to popular "haunted" locations?

I'm curious because I used to be a big fan of Sam & Colby, since becoming a pagan and learning my path though I now dislike this type of content. I used to watch it as it gave me a sense of thrill. Now I just feel like someone who is educated in a subject watching misinformation being spread. I'm not talking about specifically Sam & Colby but just the whole thing itself. I'm not saying that all are people who fake this just for views but I find it quite disappointing for the ones who do this.

Hey, I just wanted to share a shocking experience I had because I think it would be good to share with others. Tarot is very popular as a divination method. I never understood it myself but I have tried Cartomancy before. I wanted to do Tarot when I started my pagan journey but I didn't want to waste money when I have playing cards that do the same thing practically. Though in the past when I've tried it attempts always left me dissapointed. It lead me to think of Tarot and/or Cartomancy as something that just didn't work, I guess? I didn't know what I was doing and so I think that ruined the experience. However, recently I've come to a different conclusion to Cartomancy. Recently I've been trying out different divination methods to test to see what works with me. I decided to give Cartomancy another chance even if it had a bad reputation to me from past attempts. This time... the attempt was surprisingly successful. The Cartomancy was really accurate. I think that the issue at hand was is that since I've kind of been in the pagan space longer I know how to do things rather than when I was newer. This experience taught me to not give up on something just because it may have failed you before and that to not judge others methods because it didn't work for you. That's all and thank you for reading🕯.

Short version: Hey, to sum this up this is just me being upset over the fact that I can't remember significant stuff as it affects my ability to judge whether or not I should trust certain people or not.

Long version: To start off there's a situation that's been putting my mental health in a not so great place. It's weird to me considering I find this common sense but don't truly feel it. I've sort of have cut off communication with my parents as I have trauma involving them and they aren't the best people to trust. I don't speak to my father at all as he is an emotional abuser who explodes every time I have a conversation with him. My mother on the other hand I occasionally do talk to. It's not very often as she asks me not the other way around. I feel as if lately that I've been too open and honest to her. I distrust her because I vaguely remember why I totally cut her off some while ago. All that I remember that she did was neglect me for the majority of my childhood and other than that she's been a negative influence towards one of my family members. I don't know what I should do as I can't remember anything else. I feel that there is other info but it's locked behind a wall. It's frustrating as I don't know what I should do with this relationship that could cost us in the long run. She's a known manipulator so that adds onto my skepticism.

Any advice? I don't want to make any decisions that would seem impulsive here so I wanted a different perspective.