Your Satanic Ritual Space – How to Make and Keep an Altar

Welcome to Your Ritual Site!

Ritual spaces are used in many magical and religious traditions, all over the world. Ritual and magical space allows us to structure our lives in a magical way.

Satanic Ritual Altars are personalized according to your needs. Your ritual space is your private area where you perform rituals, cast spells, bless or curse objects, make talismans, summon demons and just about anything else magical that you want to accomplish. It is your sacred space that you can call your own. It is also where you will store your magical tools and your books.

Examples of Satanic Ritual Altars

We have footage from LaVey’s early rituals in the film called The Occult Experience, that showed us how he felt that Satanic Ritual Altars should be set up and performed.

Those early ritual spaces that were provided by LaVey showed us inverted crosses, naked women and beast-headed participants.

LaVey dressed in ritual garb that nowadays could be considered to be comical or theatrical. The purpose was to separate the participants from the outside world. Wearing a black devil suit, complete with a cape and horns, his bald head and goatee reminded us of the fiendish imagery of the devil in the flesh.

LaVey’s mockery of Christianity used in his ritual setup and decoration was similar to the decorations of the ritual chambers of the defrocked priests that supposedly performed black masses centuries before.

This kind of imagery was popular with authors and artists who were propagating the myth of the underground Satanist.

LaVey’s Black Mass ritual was written in Latin, similar to the Latin Catholic mass. Elements of these things can be found in Satanism today, through those who are inspired by LaVey’s portrayal of Satanism as a dramatic, psychological and earthly ritualistic philosophy.

For LaVeyan Satanists, the tools of ritual are called ‘trappings’, and they deny an occult connection to their use and meaning, yet they use these things to symbolize results from their magical experiments.

 

Satanic Ritual Altars of Flesh

Anton LaVey was also inspired by the rituals of Aleister Crowley and the Golden Dawn. LaVey chose Crowley’s Book of Abramelin to create his ritual associations through his choosing of Crowley’s arrangement of demonic hierarchies.

With a woman as the focus of the altar, she served as the Whore, goddess or feminine element that is so often sexualized in Satanism. She lays on the altar as the priest recites his verses, imitating the scene from mythical black masses where priests and nuns performed these same rites. The woman of the ritual represents the image and promise of lust upon the altar.

Woman’s role as a sexual being in Satanism, as the (virgin) maiden instead of the mother-goddess or the dark crone, was in opposition to Wiccan and Neo-pagan rituals where woman and man are celebrated together.

Since LaVeyan Satanism is filled with mostly men, just like the Golden Dawn and other fraternal organizations, it is mostly patriarchal, and the priest would perform the ritual while the woman is only symbolically present.

Another Ritual Room Example from a Satanic Witch

In another film from the exploratory series called ‘The Secret Life of Women’, an episode featured the life of Witches. This clip featured Heather Sonez, Satanic Witch, practicing Satanic magic for years, her affiliation unknown. Her Satanic altar is shown, with dark symbolic elements of Satanism and magic set out on the table, neatly placed in strategic places.

In another shot we see the image of the Levi Baphomet statue, representing magic and spirituality for Satanists, and black cloths draped behind the altar. In the video, she performs a spell to silence others about her business.

Heather’s Satanic Ritual Altar room is a quiet, secluded place where she can perform her Satanic magic. She has everything neatly laid out in her ritual room, ready for her silencing spell.

Heather recites a verse from the Satanic Bible, a destruction spell. But, she also includes uses elements from other styles of magic to perform her spell.

Writing down her intent with quill pen, ink on parchment, helps her to put her will into physical form. Using her sword, she pierces the ritual paper to symbolize destruction. Then the paper gets burned in the flame of her black altar candle.

Her ritual room is personalized with dark and devilish themes, enabling her to escape from the normal everyday into her own world of Satanism and magic.

After a while the ritual room becomes a sacred space, a retreat and a place of power. Each spell and ritual charges the energy of that room.

My Satanic Ritual Altars

My own ritual space has changed many times over the years. What kind of altar that I could keep was usually dictated by the living

arrangement that I was in. Depending on what was available to me, I have had altars that were so small that they were portable.

My portable altar that I kept when I was a teenager was utilitarian and so compact that it fit into a metal box that had a handle. I would take this box altar with me on a two mile walk to the beach, every month on the night of the full moon for a ritual.

My magical box was a lock box with a key, and inside I kept a spiral notebook, my athame which was a simple knife, my handmade robe, my books that I was working with, and other useful items.

When I finally reached my destination, I was ready to set up, light my candles if the wind wasn’t too strong, and set them on top of my box as an altar top, and do my ritual that I had practiced. It was a great experience to have a portable altar.

My other altar, located inside my apartment, served as a great focus because it was set up along the entire length of my north wall in my bedroom. It was the first thing that I saw when I fell asleep at night, and it was also the first thing that I saw when I awoke. It really immersed me in the world of magic and occultism.

My living area gave me plenty of space to decorate it and set it up just the way that I liked it. The only drawback was that my ritual space wasn’t as private as I wished it could be. It never felt good that my landlord could come into my home and see it without me knowing about it.

Your Own Personal Ritual Space

Whatever your ritual space will be, it will be beneficial to you to take the time to read through this guide on how to choose a ritual space, and how to start building it from the ground up. After you have done this, then choose carefully where you will set up your ritual space.

If you want to build a ritual space there are a few things to take into account. You have to plan for the kind of ritual space that you want, the placement of the altar, the ritual tools, decorations and more. Building a ritual site is a task that takes time and effort. You don’t have to spend a lot of cash to set up a nice ritual space, either.

First you need to consider where you want to build your ritual space. This is the most important thing to consider as it will determine how your ritual space will be used.

Do you want to create your ritual space indoors as a permanent or temporary setup? Would you like to perform ritual outside, and create a sacred space outdoors? Finding the right situation depends on your living arrangement.

If you live alone or if you live with a partner who approves of your Satanism, then you are fortunate enough to be able to set aside space where you live, preferably in a spare bedroom where you can use the whole room to set up your altar and your library.

In a ritual space you may have to burn incense or candles for magic or ritual. Not everyone appreciates that, and you will want to have a space where you can have your privacy.

Indoor Ritual Space

If you have indoor ritual space that is private, then you are fortunate. You can keep your altar set up permanently and use it whenever you need it. The focus of the ritual room should be the altar. There are no rules when it comes to what should serve as

an appropriate altar, but there are a few things to consider when it comes to making an altar into an altar.

A proper altar should provide a level, even surface for you to place your ritual items on. It should be on a sturdy surface, and positioned at the right height so that you are comfortable working with it. Your altar can be as small or as large as you want it to be and made out of whatever material is useful to you. Most of my altars that have served me well were made of simple wood tables that I covered with an altar cloth.

Positioning Your Altar

Positioning of Satanic Ritual Altars are also another important consideration. It could face any of the four cardinal directions, or any point in between. You may choose to align your altar to a specific direction because direction sometimes correlates and corresponds with certain deities. For instance, Lucifer is known for the Eastern Morning Star, so an East facing altar would be a great focus for work with Lucifer.

You should make sure that your altar isn’t too large for the space that you are setting up in. You should leave some room on either side and start building everything around it and on top of it by decorating it and making a place to store your ritual items.

I store extra ritual items underneath my altar. Its a great place to hide away oils and other items that should be kept in a cool, dark place. Also it’s nice to know that my ritual items are ‘energized’ from being right underneath the altar that is above. I like to keep them in a very large box that I keep organized, so I know exactly where to find what I am looking for.

You can also find specialty-made cabinets for storing oils and incenses and other ritual tools. The affordable alternative is to find something that will suit your needs at a thrift store or discount store or even at a yard sale or garage sale. Some of the nicest ritual items can be found at places like this.

Obtain or Make an Altar

If you do get an altar table decide if you want something new or used. I do not have an issue using furniture that is used as long as it has been incorporated into my magical environment in the right way. You can find a small end table to use as an altar, and purchase it new or find one that is gently used. There are specialty altars that are made for the Wiccan and pagan market, but most Satanists including myself, would rather just find a good sturdy table to cover with an altar cloth.

Altar tables do not have to be large. One altar that I kept was 2 feet square, and very short, but it was difficult to arrange my tools the way that I wanted to.

My favorite altar setup (shown, left) was oblong, an irregular shaped table, over 6 ft. long but only about a foot wide. This provides space lengthwise but it did not allow me to layer my altar the way that I would like to. It does provide plenty of storage space and surface space for it’s size, and I liked that.

The altar is the magical table, representing the earth for the magician, upon which the ritual tools are laid, statues are placed along with their offerings, and magic is performed. If you decide to use an altar table consider what you would like to cover it with. I use a velvet cloth, or a satin black cloth. The color is your choice but I like to use black as a basic color, associating with Saturn and the Earth element. On top of this I like to use a mirrored surface for burning candles.

The advantage of having an altar table is that you can use the underside for storage of your magical equipment. Or, you may consider finding a magical cabinet to keep your candles and oils and other items in. You may also want to consider setting up a library, which means that you will have to find a sturdy bookcase so you can fill it with your important books that you will reference for magical work.

Outdoor Ritual Space

Unfortunately, not all of us are able to have this kind of indoor ritual space that is dedicated to Satanic ritual, magic and worship. An outdoor altar can easily serve as a temporary place of magic and worship.

When you choose a ritual space outdoors, find a nice private clearing away from public places so that you can be alone and undisturbed. If you do keep an outdoor ritual space, make sure that it stays litter free and relativity undisturbed, so it stays hidden. I suggest that you find a box to store your items in for easy transport.

Outdoor rituals can be energizing. There are times when doing an outdoor ritual is preferable. Outdoors, you can (safely) build a bonfire if you having a gathering. Moon spells are best done under the light (or dark) of the moon. You will be connecting to the spirit of nature, and what is more Satanic than that?

Making Your Space Sacred

Then, once you have your ritual space planned and prepared for, you can perform a ritual to energize your ritual space. This is an invocation of elemental and Satanic Energies. You will be calling the Demonic energies from the four corners of the earth into the center of your ritual space. The best time to perform this ritual is during the height of full moon, so that lunar energies can add to your ritual.

A place becomes sacred after you use it for a while because you put your time and energy into making it a sacred space. The more you use it and build it, the better experiences you will have. While your surroundings can aid you with concentration and focus, it’s not the place that makes your magic work. Your site becomes sacred when you bring forth your will and combine the physical, (your ritual site), with the magical, (your magical will).

 

You may be interested in:

Ritual Charging for your Black Candle – How to charge your altar candle, the centerpiece of your altar.

Ritual Charging of Your Altar Space – How to consecrate your altar space for worship, ritual or magic.

Creating Your Own Satanic Rituals – A simple formula that works for creating your own personalized Satanic Rituals.

 

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