Cards & An Altar!

I'm very excited to report that I received my new tarot deck this afternoon and I created my altar!

We were successful this weekend in executing that big spring cleaning I mentioned previously. We worked our BUTTS off this weekend sorting, decluttering, scrubbing, sweeping, mopping, washing, and more. We have a whole bunch of clothing, books, and other goods set aside to be donated, and we have so much more space and organization now! I'm not really a neat-freak, but my boyfriend and I live in a rather small 3-bedroom apartment with two other roommates and two cats, so things can get a bit out of hand if they aren't kept clean and tidy regularly. It feels so good to have everything fresh, clean, and sorted. 

We also are part of a community garden in our area, and today was our first work day in the garden. It was actually a bit chilly, only in the high 30's, but it was sunny and the mood was very hopeful and positive and excited. We do have an individual plot in the garden, but everything comes together for a few hours each month to spend time working on the shared parts of the garden, which include perennial patches of herbs, rhubarb, berry bushes, flowers, shrubs, and other plants. We rake, we weed, we repair. We all did such a great job and my boyfriend did a great job helping remove this massive stump that was such an eyesore. We also found out exactly which plot will be ours, which is very exciting!

With all of that great energy I moved on to cleaning and setting up my altar space. First, I removed everything that was previously there, found a new home for some things, and determined which items were going to stay on or be added to the altar. I wiped down the whole area and placed a beautiful knitted shawl over the surface. I cleaned everything that was going to be placed on the alter, including all of my sooty candle holders. Then, everything that was going to go on the altar was washed with chamomile tea. Once things dried, I set up the altar.

I used a rock for the element of earth, shells for water, candles and incense for fire, and a rather beautiful illustration of a bird for air. I didn't find anything more concrete I liked for air, so the illustration will do for now. I also added flowers and various figurines and statues that have meaning for me. 

In terms of my "portable" altar for my bed, I washed the tray using the same methods and I will use it while sitting on my bed and playing with the cards. I probably won't put anything else on it but I will light my candles and incense on my main altar. In this way, the tray feels like an extension of the altar for me to lay my cards on. 

I'll update the post with pictures soon, and I'll be back with some photos and first impressions on my lovely deck!