Idolatry and the Wiccan Altar

For those of you that aren't aware, April and May of 2013 were horrible months for me. I went through some of the darkest times in my life, was homeless for a few days after being released from the hospital, and forced to move across the country with only what I could fit inside of my suitcase. It's a great thing to tell newbies to the Craft that all they really need to practice is themselves. It's a lot more difficult to get us seasoned practitioners accustomed to the idea, especially when it means turning our backs on our favorite incense holder, cauldron, altar cloth, or deity statues. True, these are just things. Their real value lies in their use and what they mean to us; that doesn't mean we don't miss them when they're gone.

Lugh

I really miss my statuary. I had so little time to appreciate my Lugh and Danu statues and now, out of all of my possessions, they are the two things I most want to hold in my hands. After thinking upon this further I was led to wonder if my focus on the statues is somehow doing me a disservice. After all, my connection to Danu and Lugh isn't dependent upon having statues to put atop my altar during ritual. I don't need statues to invite them to my circle or to commune with them. The act of praying in front of an altar with statuary is based purely on my assumption that it is what a Wiccan does. The truth is that I can have just as a profound experience by going outside, sitting under a large tree, and simply talking to them. Probably a better one, in fact.

Danu

I know the purpose of our tools. I know they help us focus our energies during ritual work and spellcraft. Most of the tools we witches collect are useful items in one way or another, or because they hold some sort of significance to us, otherwise we wouldn't have them around. I think this experience has taught me a lesson about the material things versus the spiritual aspects of life. I still want my statues but now I appreciate what they are. They aren't deity incarnate; the statues are physical representations of the deities that I already feel as though I am in the presence of. I may have left the statues but Lugh and Danu have not left me. I may have moved two-thousand miles away but my faith is as strong as ever, as is the embrace I feel after having learned this lesson the hard way.