How did you get your favourite ritual items?

[Tess]

This is a kind of follow up from the altar pics thread - all the altars were laid out with such care, and obviously each item placed there is done so for a reason and has personal meaning. I was wondering if anyone would care to share the origins and story behind some of their favourite ritual and spiritual items?

My absolute favourites are my statues of the Lord and Lady, made by a phenomenal craftsman, and gifted to me by my closest and dearest friend six Yules ago. I'm also really attached to my athame, which is hand crafted from 10,000 year old bog oak - it just gives me the most amazing feeling to have a connection with something so very old. The wee cauldron is great too, there's a date embossed on the bottom which reads 14?8, we've debated whether it could possibly really be the date of making and I guess it doesn't matter, but I like to think that it is :)

My chalice was a gift from a very sweet old Austrian gentleman I see every year at the paganfed conference. He barely speaks a word of English and I don't speak any Austrian, but even so we get on like a house on fire. He hand made it and gave it to me the year before last.
My water chalice is made of fragile glass and was sent to me by a complete stranger when a mutual friend told him how my chalice had been stolen when I went to stonehenge for summer solstice. I treasure it as a symbol of the goodness in humanity. At the same solstice celebration we had gone to "our" spot to sit and settled there for the night. When we packed up the following morning I found that I had been sitting on a perfectly wand-sized branch all night... thinking back the only place it could have come from was the Goddess effigy, but how that one perfect piece got under my blankie I'll never know - the effigy was put up *after* I'd sat down.

I could go on forever, each item I have on my altar and shrines have some personal significance to me. I'd love to hear some other people's stories...

Tess

[DixieWitch]

I no longer have my altar items...they, along with my BOS and entire library of craft books were lost when we moved. I have not been able to afford to bring my altar up to where it used to be, but will share with you what it used to be:

I had a wonderful statue of Bast. I actually purchased online somewhere. My cauldron--I frequent flea markets and found it under a pile of old dishes and pots. I just happened to glance over in the corner and decided to start digging around. I took it as a sign and purchased it. My athame I made myself--I carved the handle from an oak tree. I can't remember where I got the blade from. I never had a chalice, but it was a "in the future" purchase. My wand came from the same oak branch--this I also carved myself.

As for now, until I can get the time to do some carving, find a cauldron at a flea market, this is my altar. It's not much, but it's better than nothing: I have a framed picture of Bast that I printed of the Internet (see pic below) I have some candles and a small pentacle(it's actually a necklace charm, but I don't wear it) For now, it serves it purpose until I can save enough money to get all that I need.

~~Rowan

[lefty]

Tess[/QUOTE]

I found great stuff at antique stores , found a bronze bust of Diana in one its two feet tall she has a crescent moon on her crown with her name on the base , found a chalice silver with a cameo of Mercury on it .
resale shops and antique stares are gems

[Drisel]

I got my cerimonial sword from my boyfriend. It is a samuri style with a dragon wrapped into the leather of the hilt, black leather. The blade is not live but it has a wicked point at the end. I love the energy I get when I'm weilding it in circle.

[Joshua]

My representation of God and Goddess are pictures my wife and I made at the state fair using one of those spinning paint machines. The one she did is Goddess and the one I did is God. I have four small talismans that I made out of sculpey clay, with symbols filled with embossing powder(very easy to make). I use night lights instead of candles for safety reasons.

[Desert_Yaqui]

My representation of God and Goddess are pictures my wife and I made at the state fair using one of those spinning paint machines. The one she did is Goddess and the one I did is God. I have four small talismans that I made out of sculpey clay, with symbols filled with embossing powder(very easy to make). I use night lights instead of candles for safety reasons.


Wow! Booleanicus, that is a beautiful idea--I love it! I do not currently have an alter, but this wonderful idea may inspire me to create one... Thank so much!

[Joshua]

:)

Glad to have been so helpful. I know by the warm fuzzy I got from casting my first circle that God and Goddess liked my altar. Blessings in building your own sacred space.

[Aidron]

I won't list every item I posess, but some of the more unique or perhaps more personal ones:

I have a set of scales just like those used to represent libra (incidently I am a libran) at a junk store, sanded them, painted the base grey, one scale white, and one black. I use them often as a divination tool or to create harmony and balance.

Another would be my chalice. It does not hold much and I forget what it is made of honestly (steel, I believe). It is of a faerie holding the actual cup portion of the chalice above her head and has to be one of the most beautiful items I have ever seen. It really speaks to me, due to my very sincere love of all things fae.

My new wand, which is in the making. Crafted from oak, but the very limb itself so far has given me great energy.

A card from a deck named something along the lines of medicine cards. It is of the raven and framed, sitting upon my altar, and is very dear to me. I use it a lot as a representation for connecting with my totem/power animal.

[Tess]

This is great, I love hearing about the diverse and original items people have created, found and been given that have become sacred to them.

Rowan, I am terribly sorry to hear about the loss of your altar items and books. Your chosen picture is gorgeous though, I have one somewhere of my two cats, before they died, kissing Bastet on her nose in my room. Gotta love the kitties :)

Booleanicus, would you tell some more about how to make and use this embossing powder? I'm intrigued!

Tess

[Joshua]

Booleanicus, would you tell some more about how to make and use this embossing powder? I'm intrigued!

Tess

Oh Sure! It's a piece of cake. You can buy embossing powder at any craft store, and it's available in all colors. You can use it for stamps or filling carvings, pretty much anything. I used a stamp to make the indentations in the sculpey clay I was using to make the talismans. Once they were done I put gold embossing powder into the stamped areas and then used a heat gun (essentially a blowdryer set on low) to melt the powder. It only takes about 15 seconds and it cools very quickly. Once I was done I had shiny gold symbols embedded in my talisman. Any decent craft store carries embossing kits and I'm sure there are tons of websites with more helpful tips than I've provided.

Try this: Get yourself some adhesive stamp ink, a stamp, and an embossing kit (my wife did this and it turned out great). Use the ink to make an image then pour embossing powder on it. The powder will be held in place by the ink. Next gently blow or shake off the excess powder (try to recycle the unused powder) and then apply the heat gun. Voila! A raised stamp. You could make greeting cards, business cards, all kinds of things. Hope this helps.

[DixieWitch]

Once they were done I put gold embossing powder into the stamped areas and then used a heat gun (essentially a blowdryer set on low) to melt the powder. It only takes about 15 seconds and it cools very quickly. Once I was done I had shiny gold symbols embedded in my talisman. Any decent craft store carries embossing kits and I'm sure there are tons of websites with more helpful tips than I've provided.

You don't need to do anymore than that...if you have a hair dryer, it works perfectly. I do alot of crafting of the arts kind and I've done this quite often. I know that Wal-Mart carries only one color in embossing powder and it's gold. It's at the bottom of the shelf with all their stamps. They also carry a $20 "embossing tool", which is essentially a small hairdryer. I don't know about any other book store, but we have a Hastnings that has a magical stamp kit. I can't remember all the symbols, but it has the God and Goddess symbols, an ankh, a circle and a star (put together for a pentacle) a wand and some other things. Here it is on their website: http://www.gohastings.com/catalog/item/item.asp?prodid=131144948

It comes with the stamps and an inkpad, but it's not an embossing kit. But it could be used for one!!!

~~Rowan

[Tess]

That sounds great, both for greeting cards and magickal purposes, I'd love to make stuff like that. We don't have Walmart over here, but there are a lot of art & craft shops so I'll definately have a look around. I haven't got a hairdryer, but I'm sure I could pick one up quite cheaply.

Also - yay! I found a british company stocking the powders online, hurrah for low low shipping costs!
http://www.rubberstampsuk.co.uk/merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=1&Category_Code=pergastamps

Thank you for my new winter project :D

Tess

[Joshua]

I don't know about any other book store, but we have a Hastnings that has a magical stamp kit. I can't remember all the symbols, but it has the God and Goddess symbols, an ankh, a circle and a star (put together for a pentacle) a wand and some other things.

I think you have the same magical stamp kit I do. Purple and silver? It's what I used to make the symbols on the talisman. It has a sword, a snake, a chalice, crescent moon etc.

You're right about the hairdryer. Keep it on low and don't hold it too close and it will work fine.

[lefty]

antique stores

[Elfa Wylde]

My own altar is very simple. Most of the items were gifted to me or made from items gifted.
I think the only thing i bought is the little brass chalice we use for water.

I made goddess and god plaques from unfinished wooden plaques that i painted with multi-coloured washes, then made the traditional tri-moon and horned god symbols of fima, painted them and glued them to the plaques. the altar tile is made from a tile that my husband gave me.
My wand is made from an old Oak root that he also got for me.
The chalice is borrowed...a prized posession of our HP.
The Athame again.... a gift from my Darling. hmmm....everything IS a gift!

Even my Grandmother contributed (thought she'll never know) when she gave me several boxes of fabric scraps and i managed to glean several different altar clothes and the like from it.

gee....now that i think about it.... even the Candles and insence...and the incense burner!!!! were gifts.....
Its my fave way too.... I often give gifts to my pagan friends and students. not always something huge... but things i touch and think "so-and-so should have this" sometimes it's even things i've had floating about the house for years....

[9-2-2]

I used a woodburner to make my pentacle, which was destroyed in a magickal incident gone awry. I used to have a lovely staff I found out in the wild, but my bible-thumping old man snapped it in twain. He also destroyed my first BOS.

I got a bell from college, I made my robe, bought a sword from a Ren Faire, and I bought a chalice from JC Penny's A mish-mash of products, but now I'm leaning more towards make-my-own junk. I LOVE working with neat projects, and in the distant future, I plan on diving into sword and knife making.