Family altars are a great way to bring families together for worship and spiritual growth. An altar in a common area of the home can include children in daily practice. Lighting candles, telling stories, singing, reciting a poem or blessing are all great ways to worship.

The family altar represents each person in the family as well as the whole. Let every family member choose an item that is important to them.

Altars represent a sacred space in the home where the family celebrates, performs rituals, or prays. Meditation, blessings, music, spells, are all things that can be done at the altar.

Where to Place a Family Altar

Place a family altar in a room that everyone has access to and a place where all family members can gather around. Living Rooms are a great place because they are filled with family energy. Additional spots may be a hallway, enclosed porch, kitchen, or playroom.

New pagans or those with some over baring family may choose to not advertise their altar. You may choose to call the altar seasonal decorations or have an alter that is stored when not in use.

Some ideas of where to place an altar:

On top of the entertainment system
On a coffee or end table placed along a wall in any community room
Kitchen or dining table
In a kitchen cupboard
On a shelf

Direction

This may depend very much on the layout of your room where you place the altar. However, traditionally pagans often face their altars north or northeast. This is because rituals often start with the person facing north.

Christian churches traditionally faced east for the rising son and Jesus rise to heaven.

Some pagans choose to place an altar in the direction of their element. So, if you are a water user your altar would face west.

What Objects to Place on the Family Altar?

You can change the altar as the family moves through life and/or the holiday seasons. Maybe you took a family vacation. You may place special memorabilia or objects from the trip on your altar.

We went to the Grand Canyon two years ago. Afterward, we placed special rocks and feathers we had gotten as well as some Native American art we had purchased from the local tribes. At the altar, we honored nature through our objects and offered them up to Grandfather Rock.

Does a family member have a birthday? Use the altar to display objects that are meaningful to them and things that are chosen for the birthday person by other family members.

Flowers are a great focal point for an altar. They remind us to nurture and honor life and nature. The different colors have meanings and different varieties have special meanings that you can use as a focus for intentions.

Has a loved one (human or animal) passed over? Use the alter to place some favorite pictures or mementos of them. Share stories and memories about their life.

The Four Directions

Many pagans altars have objects to honor the four directions. Some examples:

North/Earth – a bowl of soil
East/Air – a candle (monitored of course!)
South/Fire – orange and yellow streamer paper
West/Water – a bottle of water

How Often Do You Worship at the Family Altar?

This will vary with each family. Some families have a weekly family worship time where they gather in front of the altar. Some have a daily practice often before a meal or bedtime.

Some families like to be sporadic. Others like to make a special time of the day or week so that its planned and anticipated.

For my family, a designated time works best. With a specified time, we felt it easily merged into the routine of our day.

We have done a Sunday morning time before we get going with our day. This is nice because we don’t feel rushed. It helps us to focus on our day as a family and to celebrate time together.

We have also done a short worship time before meals. This got a tad hectic with trying to prepare and serve the meal around the same time. We ended up having a small altar in the middle of the table. We would then lite the candles and say a blessing and express something we were thankful for before the meal.

During altar time each person may light their candle and say what they are thankful for and what they wish for. Blessings and poems may be read, or a story told about a deity.

Looking for fun ways to celebrate pagan holidays with your family? Check out our Pagan Celebrations Calendar!

Child’s Altar

Children are truly magical and due to their innocence are willing to interact with their altar in an unencumbered manner. Their imaginations help them to connect with the spiritual world in a very real way.

My children have always had an alter in their rooms. Children can use these places for devotions or prayers or simply some quiet time. This is a place for their most special objects.

Typically, the altar is a low table or coffee table that is easy for them to sit in front of with a small chair. At our house, a bean bag is often the chair.

Remember to allow the child to choose the objects. It does not matter if they choose toys or things you may not feel are fitting. Toys are how children make connections.

I have always encouraged my children to use their altars for what is important to them.

My oldest son’s alter was typically full of Lego people and buildings. However, if you asked him to tell you about them, he would say how the Lego people were often Gods and Goddesses that we had read about. They were protecting the people in the village.

Infants and Altars (ages 0 – 1)

Young pagan parents often wonder if they should have altars in their rooms with infants. The answer is a resounding YES!

The alter can be set up to offer protection for the new baby, to offer spiritual growth for the new life, and a place for the parents to express their thankfulness and ask for blessings and strength for the task at hand.

Read our article on Pagan Baby Celebrations.

What Should You Place on A Young Child’s Altar (age 2 – 7)?

For younger children, a battery or LED candle is best.
A family picture
A favorite stuffed animal
Things they gather on family hikes such as stones, shells, leaves
Have available drawing and writing materials
Young children often seek protection and safety. It is very appropriate for them to want to place superheroes or guardian angels on their altar. This age group loves animals and wants to learn more about animal spirit guides.

Older Children age 8 - 12

An older child will soon determine what they want to place on their table. As they get older, they will want to use their altar more. Children of this age are very interested in magic, the traditional lives of cultures, and how they worshipped.

Maybe they observe you at family worship and want to participate more. Encourage them to express themselves at the alter verbally or to the journal. Allow them to have their own tools of the craft.

A wand
Their own tarot deck that they choose
A toy or non-sharp kitchen knife for an athame
Encourage them to journal and give them guidance on starting a Book of Shadows

Altars for Teens

Teens will definitely have ideas of what they want at their altar. Allow them to explore the many cultures in paganism.

Teens may also have pressure from other teens about their faith. Help your teen to practice articulating their faith in a positive manner without insulting another’s faith. Allow them to participate in various religious activities of their choosing so that they may understand the way others worship.

Some teens may not wish to discuss their faith with others so help them be able to frame answers to questions without being rude. Let them know its ok to tell others that their spiritual path is personal and that they don’t wish to discuss it at this time.

No Altar

Sometimes teens or any age child may not want to have a bedroom altar. Don’t force the issue. Respect their decision.

Take Away

Let the family altar grow naturally as an outreach of your worship together.

You may also like our article on Altars: A Beginners Guide

Author, Katherine Fox is our editor and principal writer. She is currently raising a pagan husband and three children. They love getting outside and exploring the natural world. Katherine’s heritage is Native American (Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho) and Irish and she writes about family fun pagan activities, Native American and Celtic traditions.