seldom stop our busy minds long enough to listen to the
collective unconscious and learn from it.
The wall of beer cans is a type of informal altar to the
gods Dionysus or Bacchus, both deities of the vine, wine,
and good times. Model cars may well be a subconscious
tribute to the fleet-footed Mercury or to Helios and his
sun chariot. Thimbles are symbols of weaving goddesses
such as Spider Woman, Ixchel, the Fates, and Athena.
Collections of dragons, wizards, and the like are
subconscious attempts to tap ancient magick and
mystical knowledge. Groupings of family photos can be
remembrances of the dead in the hope they will aid us,
or sympathetic magick to link the dead with the living.
A collection of frog figures may be a subconscious plea
to ancient fertility goddesses.
This penchant for informal altars cuts across social
and cultural lines. In fact, preparing an altar is a
multicultural experience. Unknowingly, humans are
constantly building altars around them. Perhaps we
should give more thought to the process, thus learning
how to enhance our daily lives and spiritual growth.
Early Altars
Archeologists have discovered the very earliest
permanent sacred altars to be deep inside caves, with
narrow, treacherous paths leading to them. Their
difficult access made the journey a determined,
conscious effort. The caves were highly spiritual places,
not to be entered lightly, for they symbolized the
eternal, everflowing womb of the Goddess and the
cauldrons of primordial energy. Within them, people
used magick for hunting and performed rites of passage
including initiation. People and their tribal shaman