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Below is a picture of one of my earliest altars in honor of Brighid, Triple Fire Goddess, in my early years in the local pagan community. My altars during the mid-nineties were very simple and became the center of my developing Celtic-oriented pagan spiritualty and way of life.
Carmina Gadelica was a major influence during this time and especially important as I was drawn to the Celtic Reconstructionist path. I loved all of the Highland hymns, prayers and blessings to Goddess Brigid. During the fall of 2000 while I was giving offerings to her to plead for the life of my extremely sick Celeste and to find employment for a friend, an altar similar to the one pictured here, went up in flames destoying only it and that which was on it or under it. This particular altar was festive and lovely complete with my only set of crystal candleholders and one of only two pictures which I have of my Choctaw great-grandmother Sally. I believe that She wanted this altar all for Herself as I never got a chance to take picture of it. Samhain 2003
Shown above are the happy result of my many attempts to create a safe and sacred space. Finally, I have managed to collect into one corner the things which are spiritually important to me. This includes an altar to Goddess Brighid, a special nook to honor my departed loved ones, a storage cabinet for magical and altar supplies, a separate table used for magical work and another for having a place to set incense ingredients and divnation tools. To the left, are two bookcases filled with my small library of Celtic myth, history and language and jars filled with dried bulk herbs. There are also books on The Mississippi Band Choctaw, the other part of my heritage, and others on Native American studies.
Here is a close-up of my Ancestors altar. The larger black and white picture is a copy of my family's only portrait of my Choctaw great grandmother, Sally Ray, who is buried at the Standing Pine Reservation in Mississippi. Other pictures include my mother (bottom center) and my paternal grandfather(next to her). My maternal grandfather and aunt are in the pictures on the upper-left. On the upper-right are pictures of my maternal grandmother and a dear friend who passed from breast cancer several years ago.
The picture above is a top view of my altar to the Goddess Brighid that has been updated from the earlier altar at the top of this page to reflect more my Celtic Reconstructionist Pagan beliefs.
All text and other material, unless otherwise noted, © 2000-06 S. Breen |
