Abby's Way: Sea Altar

Good morning, or afternoon! Or, if you are like me while I'm writing this, good middle of the night. It happens, sleepless nights, tossing and turning, so why stay in bed and think about the day to come? I got up and started working on my blog!

They say that this is July, the calendar is telling me it's July, but it's feeling more like April or May. Cool, wet and cloudy. I decided to follow the calendar and not the weather and refresh my altar.

Now I don't know if you already have an altar set up or not, or maybe you have a shelf set up that has all your favourite treasures. I'm guessing, if you have been here before there is a good chance you have a lot of treasures and a lot of shelves. I'm going to share mine with you.

My Sea Altar

Working with the rain I felt the urge to go with sea shells and beach vibe. And who doesn't like the beach in the summer?

The very first thing I like to do is take everything off and give the shelf a good wash down. Then I smudge it with sage or Palo Santo . I love the smell of it and it is great for clearing old energies.
Then I like to lay a cloth or runner or even a bunch of small crocheted pieces down as a base.
Honestly, it changes with the seasons. This time I used an old scarf that was purchased at, you guessed it, Value Village many years ago. It's never been worn by me but my shelves wear it all the time. The long fringe feels boho beachy. I also layered a scrap piece of fabric over top of the scarf to give it a bit of a sandy colour and extra texture. It's hard to see the fabric but it does the job.

After the runners are set down, I layer on feathers, pictures and figurines. Some items didn't make it back on the shelf this time so they went into one of my altar storage boxes until next refresh.

It's not beachy without some shells. Some were found on the beach, crazy right?!, but most were bought at VV or Micheals. The shell necklaces were also bought at VV.

I am a bit of a toddler when it comes to nature walks and outdoor excursions, it seems to be a habit I can't shake, collecting and gathering. I can't walk by a feather and not pick it up. Or a pretty little rock, or a twig with a gnarly curl. Needless to say I have a pretty good stash of outdoor elements to work with.

My crystals have been a gradual collection over time as well. When visiting New Age stores I usually purchase a few I feel drawn too. Recently I've realised I should be buying in multiples of four or more for working with crystal grids. For this altar I pick out the crystals that work with my intentions and colour and added in some sea glass.

I always add candles and my incense holder.

This space is used daily, so it does go through changes all the time.

As for the rest of my craft room, I have omitted a number of trinkets and items, just to let the room breath a bit through summer. This is as minimal as I want to go.

The beach theme runs through the rest of this room, actually my whole main floor right now, which I will share soon! It's amazing how light and playful the energy feels.

The string lights are battery operated and they have a few settings. I have them on a steady light for six hours and off for eighteen. When I heard Pier One was leaving Canada I went straight there to purchase these, I'm so glad I did, the seed glass works perfectly with the beach theme.