Altars and Gods,
Goddesses and Waking up in the Silence
I have an altar in my house. It sits
upon a small oak bookcase on a hand-made white crochet doily that drapes
partially down the front obscuring books that were read years and years
ago. I have a hand-made doll which is the center
piece. It was created by a local artist. She made the doll when I approached her one
day telling her of the creature that I wanted for my altar. She asked for a description of what I
wanted. My reply was that it was in my
mind and that she would simply have to pull it out and when the time came she
would know what my doll for the altar would look like. She did not think that I was mad.
I saw my friend several times before
the doll came home, often she would tell me what a difficult time she was
having because the doll had a mind of her very own and was not giving up very
much at one time. I told her that I was not worried for I knew that she would
be coming home to me at the right time. My faith was rewarded by a glorious
creation coming home to me several months later. She became a gift from my artist friend from
the openness of her heart to my heart.
After tears and hugs, I held the doll in my arms then carefully replaced
her in her lavender and white tissue papers for the journey home.
I gaze at her daily at each of my
mealtimes. She is a bold reminder of my
faith, my heart’s love and my mind’s belief.
She is surrounded by a wooden angel on one side (another gift from a dear
friend) and with a small bronze statue of a woman on the other side. I bought
the small statue one day when I was stuck by her charm. The wooden angel sits and plays her harp
while the bronze statue of a woman in a dress stands with her arms up gathering
her long hair together.
Lest you think that all I have on my
altar is images of women, I do have six Buddha statues ranging from being made
of bronze, wooden, stone and some form of plastic made in China. One little bronze statue of Ganesha (I find
the Elephant God charming) and it is in honor of one of my friends who loves
elephants. The rest of my altar pieces
are small metal pieces with inscribed with various words, for example, “Bless
this House, Guardian Angel, Patience, Inspire and Wealth”.
Each of the pieces serve as
reminders as I go through my day, “Bless this House”, brings to mind that my
body is my house for my divinity. The Guardian Angel helps me to remember to
help those who are in need and to allow myself to be cared for. Patience is for
the knowledge to know that I cannot do it all, though I might want to and that
everything comes in its own time to everyone. Inspire is to allow what I see in
the world to fill my heart with joy because everything can inspire us if our
eyes and hearts are open. Wealth, for
heaven’s sake, we have been given a whole world to play, to learn and be
in.
The rest of my altar has various
stones and crystals that have spoken to me.
They hang out among the Buddha Statues with the metal bits for
company. Two tapered red candles, one on
either side of the doll. I have an
unglazed piece of pottery shaped like a heart with the word magic on its
surface sitting in the crystal glass candlestick holder it touches the candle
for company. Another pottery piece
shaped like angel glazed in white rests leaning against the other red candle.
I have a new addition to my small
place of worship. A small wooden picture
of an angel with tiny wings with the inscription “To every corner of the world:
Peace & Joy.” She rests against the
doll. Just another reminder of how
things change as we add things to our world.
I will admit that most of the time,
I just sit and gazed at the altar without any thoughts of improving my mind,
heart or soul. I just enjoy looking. I have
a painting on the wall that my husband had framed for me one Christmas. He had handed the brightly wrapped package to
me amidst the sounds of tearing of paper around us from our son as he tore open
his presents. I tore my paper off to
find a framed painting.
Me: “You gave me, a painting.”
Him: “Yes, I know”. This statement was said with a pleased air.
Me: “You gave me, a framed painting.”
Him: “Yes, it is my favorite.” Once again this was said with a pleased,
happy air in his tone.
Me: “You gave me, my painting framed.”
My husband
remained smiling. Needless to say, he
could not have pleased me more than his simple act of getting one of my
paintings framed so we could hang it on the wall instead of stacking it with
others in the closet. I am pleased with
this particular painting as it symbolizes a great deal of my beliefs and philosophies. I could share with you those ideas but
instead I will let you gaze at the painting and allow you to find your own
understanding.
Finding our own understanding is where
we all are on any given day finding altars, Gods and Goddesses and waking up in
the silence. We don’t need a special
place or unique things to gather around us to worship, to gain real meaning, we
just need that silence of the moment.
