So, it’s been a minute since I posted on here. A long minute. And while it’s certainly not for lack of want (I really miss writing blog posts), or for lack of ideas (there’s almost too many of those)–I’ve just been so busy that I haven’t been able to take the time to really create the kind of content that I want.

Between starting another round of grad school in September, a heavy teaching assistant workload, getting grant applications in, moving to a new apartment, and still working part time, I’ve been tapped. Completely and utterly exhausted.

Unfortunately, that’s meant that my creative ventures have suffered, along with my spiritual practice. And while I am trying to move towards settling into a more balanced routine, where I will hopefully be able to dedicate more time to some of the things that I love most, for now, I thought for now I could ease back into the blogging with a fun, simple post.

Samhain is often considered to be “the witch’s new year,” as it marks the Wheel of the Year coming full-circle. It’s a time of release, of letting go of that which no longer serves us so that we can prepare for renewal and rebirth later on. It’s a celebration of death and destruction, which is both opposed to, and inextricably intertwined with life and creativity.

This process of simultaneous destruction and creation, the expression of life, death, and rebirth, is one that we Pagans and witches engage in every time we redecorate our altars or sacred spaces. It is an artistic process, and a sacred process, and can be a kind of physical embodiment of the turning of the Wheel.

So, with this in mind, I thought I would share with you a little photo-timeline of how my altar has changed over the course of this past year, from Samhain 2018 to this witch’s new year. While some key items have remained, my altar has gone through a fairly significant transformation over the past 12 months, as my spiritual practice, beliefs, and symbolic preferences and interests have evolved.

Also, I think it’s interesting to see how the objects I included on my altar have changed as I’ve become more practiced in the craft, and more immersed in this form of spirituality. As I mentioned in my post on altar tips and ideas, though we often have the inclination to go out and buy a whole bunch of crystals, statues and other bits and bobs for our sacred spaces (especially with so many gorgeous altar pictures to be found on social media), sometimes it’s best to start out simple, and let your altar develop organically along with your practice. Last Samhain, when I was really just beginning my witchcraft journey, most of my altar items came from either thrift shops or the dollar store–many of which I still use today.

But no matter how simple or low-budget my altar has been, I’ve loved every single version of it. Because regardless of where they came from, each object has always been meaningful to me in some way, either due to the sentiment attached to it, or because of what it represents to me. And this, I think, is really the most important thing when it comes to altar creation and design–while aesthetics can certainly be important, it’s really about what it means to you.

So, here is my altar and its many changes over the course of 12 months, three moves, and eight-ish sabbats!

Last year’s Samhain altar (2018). Complete with some dollar store finds, family knick-knacks, and a printed image of Hekate. I also had an ancestor altar in another part of the room, but for some reason I never took a picture of it.
My first Yule altar, at my apartment in Scotland. Most of the items on the altar came from either a thrift shop or the dollar store.
Second Yule altar, December 2018, after moving back home to Ontario. My altar table at this point is actually just a couple stacked cardboard boxes with a scarf from a thrift-store overtop… The budget altar at its finest!
Imbolc 2019 altar, still on top of boxes, and featuring some of my mum’s old dollar store Christmas decorations.
My Ostara altar–finally with a real table, and more thrift-store items!
A post-Ostara, pre-Beltane altar. Featuring a decent amount of Green Man imagery, and my glitter-sigil candle 😉
The Beltane altar–my favourite one yet! My friend gave me the Green Man plaque in the back, which I absolutely love.
My Midsummer and Lughnasad altar–not overly different from the Beltane altar (though starting to move away from the summer themes), but I really liked the setup.
Went for a dual-layered approach with this one, including some great fake sunflowers in a thrift-shop vase that I love!

… Sadly, I didn’t really have a Mabon altar this year, as I was in the process of moving and September was an absolutely hectic month!

This year’s Samhain altar, at my new apartment! I’m especially enjoying this candle arrangement.
Still deciding what kind of images to include on the wall space…

As always, thanks for reading, and if you’re interested, check out my top 11 ideas for altar creation here!

Blessed Samhain! xxx