Many Norse Heathens construct and maintain household altars or shrines as part of their practice. The purpose of altars vary with the practitioner, but they are commonly used as a sacred space and a place to make offerings. Sometimes people will use their altar for magic or ritual work.
An altar does not need to be big or fancy, nor does it need to be built all in one go. Some are dedicated to gods, some are dedicated to ancestors, and some are just for general use.
Below are examples of Norse Heathen altars from all over the world!
United Kingdom
Cubby altars. The first is for deities and the second is for tools.
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From the Practitioner
- United Kingdom
My altars are on a shelving unit made up of 35 x 35cm shelves, of which I have 6. Four of these are dedicated to specific pantheons of gods, usually focusing on one or two I specifically work with, while the bottom two are made up of a book shelf and my ‘tool’ shelf. Pictured are both my Norse shelf and ‘tool’ shelf.
As I consider myself as working with the whole pantheon, my Norse shelf features physical items I have offered the gods, of which there are few as I most often offer perishables. It features a spider-shaped candle holder for Loke, a hand-made Mjølner for Tor, my hand-made runes for Odin, a vial of fur for Fenre, a jar filled with miscellaneous small objects (most visible is a large bone for Fenre, and a bottle cap for Loke), and a pin/necklace for Fenre. My other shelves for different pantheons are quite the same.
My ‘tool’ shelf is where I conduct my work when offering/rune casting and generally practicing, it includes a bone wand, an incense holder, a censer, a Fenre box containing an osteomancy kit, a jar of bones, my tarot cards, and altar cloth for working on. I use this shelf to initially do offerings before it gets moved to the relevant shelf for the gods’ enjoyment, whether it’s a keepsake or perishable.
I do not have an ancestral altar as I am not interested, at this time and for personal reasons, in working with those related to me. Instead, I keep a family tree and yearly I take out a subscription to do a large amount of work on it and consider this my ‘offering’ to my ancestors in a way that is at arms length for the rest of the year, but pleasant enough when I do go back to working on it. I do hope, eventually, to gather all the pictures I’ve found and print them for use on an ancestral altar, but as I said I’m not ready to engage with this work yet.
United Kingdom
United States
An altar that is kept in an old leather chest.
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From the Practitioner
- United States
The holding box itself is an older leather and wood chest that I found several years back and took an instant liking to for some reason, grabbing it but as I hadn’t yet fully delved into heathenry it remained empty. Slowly but surely I started gathering things; a bone here, a crystal there, that I felt drawn to for whatever reason until I ultimately realized why that was there once I did more research into the practice. The bones are what I feel the most connection to, those and the Fenrir necklace I received as a gift from a friend of mine ironically enough before I started my practice. The fox jaws I put the runes on myself as the finishing touch so to speak, though I change out the context of my quant little stow away altar depending on what new trinkets I find as time goes on. The wolf snow globe is a newer addition as is the mink skull, both of which were an immediate “you need this right now” sort of feel when I stumbled on them. All in all I’m happy with how my altar works and I feel proud that I am able to have this little space specifically dedicated to my Heathenry, though in the future I do plan to expand out to a shelf or small table of some sort, allowing it to always be out presenting rather than stashed away in a box. As of now though, my little trunk of wonders serves all that I need it to and is more than enough.
United States
United States
An altar dedicated primarily to Thor, and an example of a bindrune on the wall.
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From the Practitioner
- United States
A little eclectic altar dedicated to Thor, primarily. I also pay tribute and worship Odin and Freyja. On the wall is a binding sigil between me and one of my partners.
United States
United States
A wall dedicated to Loki artwork, and a shelf for important items.
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From the Practitioner
- United States
It’s really just the one shelf. On it, a snake necklace that I bought, and a broken wristwatch with amber. The watch was given to me by a man who… well I wasn’t afraid of him. I gave him a handknitted bag to hold his stuff. Um I’m new to all this. Just trying to do my best.
United States
United States
Poland
A cross-cultural display of spiritually significant items, featuring original artwork.
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From the Practitioner
- Poland
here it is, I don’t really think of it as altar, more like “display of some cool things” so it’s always in progress, since there are so many cool things out there. flags are from various pride events, photo is of my grandma (needs a proper frame), the vial with volcanic sand was a gift from friend, buddha amitabha with a small mjolnir is a nod to cross-cultural exchange and to my spiritual exploits (tibetan buddhism was the very first spiritual path that made sense to me and I still practice some buddhist techniques in meditation), there are some random bones, pebbles, and minerals (and yea I have more. I like shiny rocks), I had this stuffed horse toy for… forever and it’s just there now, idk. some of these things are usually in the large box. dark candle is my scent mix for Angrboda. Artwork is by me and also waits for a frame, because frames aren’t free unfortunately.
Poland
United Kingdom
A mini-altar dedicated to both ancestors and deities.
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From the Practitioner
- United Kingdom
This is my mini alter bc most of my proper stuff is still in storage. I offer mostly found things. The bones are for Thor and Loki. The fern and the little ghost are for the Town I live in and the City that I used to live in, but also for my ancestors, who used to live in that area.
United Kingdom
[Unspecified]
An altar for Loki, with a focus on historical language and poetry.
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From the Practitioner
- [Unspecified]
this is my altar as of late! i’m in linguistics (focusing on secondlang acquisition) but did a lot of historical language, and because of that i always associate loki with the birch rune and the old rune poem 🙂 also he hates every candle except for the walmart one in the back.
p.s. no the minion is not his lol
[Unspecified]
United States
One altar for land-work, and one for ancestor veneration.
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From the Practitioner
- United States
From Washington, USA. It’s more land / season focused than deity focused. Dried roses from my valentine’s bouquet, scented candles from my other valentine, bunnies for fertility and the joy of fucking, a tarot card gifted to me in a local ritual, beehive book’s herbalist tarot deck, a lace blindfold from a former lover, a ribbon and bells from a pagan poly mudfest in the woods of Indiana almost a decade ago, a stone from the yard for grounding (and a reminder of hubris). Below the tray is a twig for making into wand-shape one day, incense, and an incense burner. And sundry other items I won’t describe the importance of, but don’t mind depicting.
I use my altar as a place to go if I want to address or be with the gods. In the last five years I’ve been mostly drawn to the Morrigan, and Freyja. Occasionally I have devotional items to them, but mainly it’s an altar for me to work with or for the land.
United States
United States
A small, decorative altar dedicated to Odin, Frigg, and Freyja.
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From the Practitioner
- United States
Since I’m a closet witch my altar is a ‘decorative shelf’ >.> <.< But it’s for Odin, Frigg, and Freyja. The plush raven is only bound by a string of finger knit yarn to the pole so it doesn’t fall off the desk as I move about. My computer monitor is directly to the right, this is on my desk. There are Bpal scents, one of called ‘The Raven’ as well as a hag stone. The crystal and wire tree was a gift from my family when they went on a trip, its like my own mini Yggdrasil. The carving is of a mermaid.
United States