Sharing an Altar Good idea, or Bad idea.

[HopefulChild]

I'm thinking of moving my altar.
I love having it in my workshop and it has felt right to me all this time, but in the last 6 months, I hardly ever get to it.
It has become inconvenient to get to in the garage.

I set up an altar space for my wife in my office/spare bedroom and the altar table has 4 drawers and 1 center space with a door.
I remembered today that we were told once that we needed to practice together, and that we should specifically cast spells together and that they would be very powerful.

We haven't done that. We haven't done any casting or ritual work together. Neither one of us wants to take charge of the situation and I guess we are waiting around for it to happen organically on it's own.
I'm not confident it's going to happen on it's own.

So I am curious on opinions about whether or not we can share the same Altar. 2 drawers for her and 2 drawers for me and the middle space for our shared implements that are too big for the drawers.
We have 2 toddlers so it's hard to leave the altar up when they come into the office while I am working and so on.


Have any of you shared an altar with someone? This is a permanent altar but we both put away our altar implements when we aren't using them. In drawers and boxes and so on.

We practice different flavors of Wicca but as far as I can tell they are not incompatible with each other.

So any opinions would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[Firebird]

Ooo dang, I know with wee ones this space could be of issue, but it would seem you have that under controll.
I do not see any reason why you would have to have seperate altars, although I have never shared mine with the spouse...which woukd be reeeealy strange because this isn't his thing.
However, when working in a group that place is shared space, and everyone places something on it.
The two of you might want to have some sort of private space also, like a small shrine or sanctuary outdoors under a tree or by a rock.
You may be surprised at the energy raised between you two.
I would suggest creating a simple ritual to preform together like on a moon or holiday.
tee hee!... May Day is next!..

Bb, Firebird

[Lord_of_Nightmares]

Sharing just the space or the altars all together?

[SirisDerp]

It depends. Doing things together is a great bonding experience and can deepen your relationship. It's not something you HAVE to do yet it's nice to dip into and try.

As for the altars, again it depends. Mostly on what the altars are for, what deities they're dedicated to, etc. In my culture, when a marriage happens we combine our ancestral altar so it's not unheard of. It'd have to be something the two of you discuss and see if the both of you really want to do to make that move or if it's something out of convenience despite personal misgivings.

I'm not going to lie, it'd be convenient to combine altars. With limited space and children to worry about getting into things, it'd be practical. You could also discuss doing outside altars to leave offerings instead or a wall unit to purchase and hang up. There are many alternatives to help lessen the clutter if it's space you're worried about.

[Katrinkah]

My husband and I practice Wicca together and share an altar. Neither of us takes charge we both just act as priestess and priest. We both enjoy it and I do believe that the more people you have the more powerful the work. It's worth a shot, if it doesn't work out then you can try something else That's my opinion anyway.

[WiccanWitch]

I think sharing is a wonderful idea for husband and wife. Spiritual bonding is powerful and I think it may help things if you can get back to it.

[HopefulChild]

Lady_Lilith- We would be sharing an altar. The office space is already shared. I have my art supplies and desk and computer in that room and my wife has a wall mirror and her makeup and hair tools so in the morning she can get ready in that room since we have 3 teenaged boys getting ready in the AM.

But the way this table is set up, we don't have to share it at the same time if we don't want to. Each of our implements can be stored seperately in the drawers when not in use. That way if one of us want to practice and the other is busy, we can still set up individually but when we want to do things together, everything is right there.


I like the idea of a wall hanging to use as ancestor space that we can hang over the altar on the wall to keep out of the girls reach. I really like that. I think I am going to keep an eye open during the spring yardsale/flea market season for just such a hanging shelf to use for that purpose. Thanks for that Sirisderp.

[smogie_michele]

Cody once kicked around the idea of sharing an altar with me. He is agnostic, but spiritual, so he was wanting to get more of a feel of what I believe and how I practice... A week into it, I kicked him out, he was making me nuts and rearranging my tools. So, didn't work for us, lol. He now has a small basket that he keeps things with meaning in and it seems to be working for him.
But, you said that you could keep your implements separate, which is awesome.
I would give it a shot, block off a month period and work from that altar and see how it feels. If it I working for you, awesome. If not, on to the next idea

[smogie_michele]

My only other pagan friend is over at the house and she said that her and her husband have one large altar they work together at, and two small ones by either sides of their beds. She said she wouldn't have it any other way, so give it a shot

[HopefulChild]

I'll give it a shot.

It will probably turn out like so many other aspects of our attempts at being witches and we will still be talking about it this time next year trying to figure out what happened and why we never got around to it LOL.

It's taken 4 years just to "collect" all the implements my wife would need for an altar. It took me more than a year.
I made a joke to her after I decided that this really was the path for me and that was, "Apparently the first thing you have to decide if you want to be a pagan is if you like shopping or not, if yes, then you have a head start, if no, then it's going to be very slow goings".

[smogie_michele]

"Apparently the first thing you have to decide if you want to be a pagan is if you like shopping or not, if yes, then you have a head start, if no, then it's going to be very slow goings".

Oh my, isn't that the truth!

[HopefulChild]

Well I did it.

I put up a wall shelf and moved some of my Ancestor stuff onto the shelf. I took all my implements and dusted them and put them away in the empty drawers of the little table and I told my wife I did all of this stuff so we can have sacred space to share. And then I burned an incense.

We will see what happens.

[Becks]

That's awesome. Thanks for keeping us posted!

[SirisDerp]

Well I did it.

I put up a wall shelf and moved some of my Ancestor stuff onto the shelf. I took all my implements and dusted them and put them away in the empty drawers of the little table and I told my wife I did all of this stuff so we can have sacred space to share. And then I burned an incense.

We will see what happens.

That's wonderful! I hope it works out for you two's benefit. It's nice to see you try. ♡＾▽＾♡ Let us know how it goes!