The Faerie Altar
The reason for having a faerie altar in your daily environment, is so that you have a physical focus of the unseen realms in your home. It is a faithful reminder of your spiritual pathway; it can also be a constant comfort to be reminded of faeries everyday. Your own personal window on Faerie Land if you like. A fey altar can take the guise of being in your home, garden or your favourite wild place. Your faerie altar can be as small and inconspicuous or as large and ornate as your personal tastes require.
The reason you are beginning your faeriecraft pathway with the creation of a faerie altar, is that you need to build a bridge of intent, from this world to the Land of Faerie. You begin with your everyday life, in the mundane, for with the fey, everything that you do on a physical level with a faerie purpose, has an influence on the Otherworldly level; Faerie Land.
The possibilities for the way you decorate your altar are endless and are also very personal to you, and there are numerous themes which can be explored. For example, you may be attracted to the otherworldliness of faeries and you may wish to decorate it in all things sparkly. You could use Christmas tree lights, ornaments of faeries, crystals, feathers and beautiful magical tools, such as a wand. Be creative and go mad, sprinkle glitter on the altar cloth and hang some faerie wings above the display!
On the other hand, you may be an earthy type and the faeries may speak to you through moss, drift wood and the secrecy of the roots of a tree. You could decorate it with a small branch, sea shells, snail shells, bark and anything that speaks to you of the magic of nature. A few words of caution on what not to place on your altar. It is inadvisable to have anything that is made from metal, particularly lead on your altar, as all faeries have a strong aversion to it. Many pagans and witches use athames (ritual knives), which are of course made mostly from metal and these are often on their altars. A faerie priest or priestess would not use an athame and a wand, preferably homemade would be a suitable alternative.
The faeries deeply appreciate an altar being made in their honour and this will be a first significant step for reaching out to them. By making an altar, you are also welcoming the faeries into your home and allowing them to see that you wish to form a friendship with them.