Spring/Summer Altar Refresh

I like to change my altar according to the seasons, changing it every 6 months (at minimum!). It's spiritually refreshing to change the way it looks to align better with the seasons, and on a practical level, it's good to clean off the dust and remove anything that's gone off. To start with, here's a photo of my Autumn/Winter altar ... the 'before' photo:

(Apologies for the poor photography -- I don't seem to have a photo of the full altar!)

And here is the 'after' photo:

I removed the fuzzy winter cloth and replaced it with a placemat that I bought at an Op Shop. Even though it's a darker colour, the florals remind me of Spring. Unfortunately it wasn't quite wide enough to cover the entire shelf, but it's not too bad. I swapped some of the crystals, stones and natural things for ones that felt more 'right' for the season.

I recently found some things that I'd had/made since I was a teenager, and I decided to add them. There's a painted stone with a happy face, and some candles I made. Yes, I made my own hand-dipped candles when I was 15! I chose a group of three. Unfortunately I couldn't get the two taller ones to light no matter what I tried, but I don't mind too much.

And here are a couple of shots with the fairy lights on:

I think it looks lovely!

I've started creating altars in other parts of my house too, for specific purposes. I'll share them in a future post soon.