Getting Witchy With It: No-Cost Backyard Altar

A lot of people want an altar but can’t find a place to put one, or have to keep their practice hidden from view. Never fear, there is always a way! The wonderful thing about witchcraft is you only need two things: Your mind and your energy. However, having an altar to perform rituals and spells at can be a lot of fun! Let’s get started talking about this super fun and creative topic.

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Public or Private Backyard Altar?

The first thing you should decide if your altar (and practice) can be public or if it needs to stay private. That is an individual choice and only one you can decide for yourself. If you need a private space, maybe just call it your Meditation Corner. I have heard of some people making their own “travel” altars in shoeboxes or even an altar hidden inside of their closets!

Location, Location, Location

The second thing you need to think about is the location. Although I live with other people, I do have a backyard. Most of it is used for Shawn’s vegetable garden and compost pile, but there are a few corners that I could use. The mistake I made when I first created my altar was that it didn’t feel “right” positioned the way it was. I moved it a few times and rotated it until I felt like it was right. For me, I always have to face north.

You don’t want to put a lot of work into an altar only to discover that it doesn’t feel right energetically. So, try sitting down in a space and see if it feels right first.

Foraging Fun!

Once you have the location and are certain that it is where you want it, now comes the fun part. You know those weird ladies who go around picking up sticks, rocks, feathers, and other random things they find in nature? Yeah, that’s totally me, as you can tell in the image above! Whenever I walk around, I’m usually staring down so I can pick up cool things. I have a jar of feathers, several rocks and stones (some painted, some not), dried flowers and herbs I harvested myself, and all kinds of bottles and twine.

I’m certainly not rich, but I always seem to have exactly what I need. I really don’t spend much money on witchcraft as I love to use what’s already in nature. Use what you have! I live in the desert, but I’m also in the mountain valley. Very hot summers and extremely cold nights because of the multiple terrains in my area. There are a ton of rocks and stones. If my yard doesn’t have some cool ones, then the river is a 10-minute walk from here.

I tend to also collect things on my nature adventures. We come home with all kinds of neat things, especially quartz. There is so much quartz literally lying around in Cochise County!

I even have sticks that are propped up between some bricks.

Speaking of bricks, there were some broken pieces of brick in the yard when we moved in. Instead of throwing them away, I use the bricks as a “work table” in front of my altar. Then, I used bricks and rocks to create a physical circle around my altar. That’s to tell everyone else to keep out.  As you can see, I need to do some landscaping desperately! However, it’s been so cold that I haven’t done much at my altar for a while.

About The Wax

As for all the wax on the big boulder at my altar, that’s my unofficial “wax plate.” I often will put candles on there to burn. Once they burn out, I then read the wax that’s on the boulder. The next morning, I try to get the big pieces of wax off because I collect those to make my own candles.

Just get creative when coming up with ideas for a no-cost backyard altar. I would love to hear your ideas in the comment section, so sparkle away!