Seems like a pretty simple setup until you realize that this wasn’t supposed to happen. Intially, I was going to build an altar kit in a box. Something I could take with me, set up on a tree stump or anywhere I had a flat surface, break it out, do my thang, break it down, tuck it away and keep it pushing.

Oðinn and Frigg were the first two I bought. They were both there, I figured…why not? I picked up Thor later and then Freya and Freyr down the line. Over time, this altar has seen a single shrine, then two, all manner of small objects have been tried and moved around.

It’s the top of a small bookcase I bought at Hobby Lobby awhile back. When you’re limited for space, everything needs to be multipurpose.

The two glasses are actually Sake cups from a bottle of sake I bought. They were perfect for what I needed, so I used them. A dollar-store apothecary candle, incense cones and a small place to burn them safely, my amulets are on there, of course, most of them sitting in that little glass bowl that I have no idea how the hell I acquired but it all sits on a little selenite slab. Plenty of stuff getting a passive cleansing, y’all.

Some of you might be thinking this is re-skinned Wicca but that’s not the case.

I do face east when facing my altar, all four elements are represented, Earth Pentacles (Tetragrammaton and Runic Pentacle amulets, respectively), The Air Dagger is resting on top of a book below the surface but it remains at the altar. The water cups? Yep, two sake glasses. The Fire Wand? That’s kept next to the crystal grid Hexagram. Every object has been consecrated for use and guess what?

Spoiler: It’s not wicca reskinned.

That’s what DJ Conway did with her book Norse Magic and passed it off as historically-accurate practice.

Here’s the kicker, mine isn’t reconstructive. No, mine isn’t historically-accurate because we have some fairly faithful adaptations in our search for reconstruction but that’s all they are, adaptations. It’s our attempt to fill in gaps in history and there’s nothing wrong with that but let’s call it what it is.

I can do that with mine if you have to have a label. My faith is, has been and probably will always be in the Norse gods and even some Greek ones that pop in from time to time.

Hey, I go with what works. That’s the whole point of doing this.

Before I go on, I know you’re thinking “Dude, you have an altar and all four elemental tools…it’s fuckin’ wicca” and no, that is not the case.

What I am practicing is a system that is a hybrid of Hermetic and Heathen approaches. Before anyone jumps onto the keyboard to start pounding keys, need Even folks like Edred Thorsson—who wrote about Norse heritage while also exploring Hermetic magic and working outside Heathen orthodoxy—proved the point. The traditions can talk to each other without losing themselves.

But in the famous last words of some of the guys I used to know…”Hey, y’all, watch this.”

This took time to form. Before, I had a series of practices and small rituals. Nothing that ever needed notation or writing down but I have to admit …results could be a bit spotty.

Over that period of time while I was losing weight, dealing with a mental equivalent of an overstuffed landfill and generally trying to get myself back to where I wanted to be, I began practicing but it was only the past several months where I really dug in my heels and started learning this stuff.

Initially, this was because I was co-founder of a group and if something happened to our Founder…I needed to be able to show up for that. We were a recognized org…kind of a requirement. So whether we were actually completely ready to rock or not, I got on the ball, started getting the hell off the computer, sitting down in the quiet of a library with a pen and notebook and whatever books I could get my hands on.

The entire altar began shifting too. Gods shifted positions because I’m such a fuckin’ Libra, y’all. I wanted to balance out the energies, that’s …like seriously, that’s all I wanted to do was just balance out the energies.

What I did…I didn’t realize until last night when I looked at it and realized what I’d done.

As some of you know and have been following (THANK YOU FOR STICKING WITH ME THROUGH THIS UNCERTAIN TIME!!! I FUCKING LOVE YOU FOR THAT!!!) I’ve been studying The Golden Dawn, Thelema, yes, even Wicca and Saxon Witchcraft, The Kabbalah, The Sephiroth, The Sephira and so much more. All of it, feeding into this practice that I’m establishing for myself which has been working and now, the reveal.

The Kabbalistic Tree of Life (The Sephiroth) is part of the “connective tissue” I’ve been finding across traditions. The Axis Mundi being the moment when I found confirmation as someone else had found that and mapped it long before I had using a universal concept to connect them together. Beautiful!

Specifically, my focus on The Sephiroth is that each of The Sephira and it’s paths between each other formed a cosmological glyph that not only functions from an esoteric bent but it also contains a cosmology as well.

Last night, I realized that I had never moved any of the gods in months. Seemed their final placement on the altar seemed right for some reason. I’d really never considered that before but last night, I was facing my altar, I’d just finished the closing ritual for the day and stood for a moment in front of it looking at it. I don’t know what drew my attention to it. The offering was made, candle was lit, incense was going and the amulets were properly put away so…why was it holding my attention so hard?

That’s when it hit me. My entire altar had been arranged in accordance with The Tree of Life.

The breakdown goes something like this…

Right Pillar — Severity (Geburah/Binah): Thor. The enforcer. The hammer. "This far and no further." Geburah is force, judgment, boundary. Thor doesn't negotiate. He protects the perimeter by making the cost of crossing unacceptable. Alone, Thor is just destruction. He needs a governor.

Freya. The battle-goddess who takes half the slain. Seiðr-worker who traverses worlds. She is the active face of Severity—not cruelty but discernment. She chooses. She separates what lives from what dies. Paired with Thor, she gives his force purpose. He swings; she decides what gets swung at. She also represents the Seiðr current—the willingness to cross boundaries, to enter the unknown—which is itself a form of severity because crossing boundaries means leaving comfort behind.

Left Pillar — Mercy (Chesed/Chokhmah): Frigg. The Queen who knows every fate and speaks none of them. She holds the silence of mercy. Chesed is expansion, benevolence, the ruler who governs through wisdom rather than force. Frigg alone is contemplative power—she sees, she holds, she doesn't intervene. That's mercy in its purest form: restraint from the top.

Freyr. Peace, fertility, prosperity. The god who gives without being asked. Pure Chesed in motion—generosity as an active principle. Paired with Frigg, he transforms her contemplative mercy into active giving. She holds the wisdom; he distributes the bounty. Together they balance Thor and Freya's severity with abundance.

Middle Pillar — Equilibrium (Kether/Tiphareth/Malkuth): Óðinn. The Allfather. The one who hung on the tree for nine nights. The one who sacrificed an eye for wisdom. The one who descends into Hel and ascends to Asgard. Óðinn spans all three stations because Óðinn is the traverser. Kether—the Crown, the source point, the first emanation. Tiphareth—the Heart, beauty through sacrifice, the wounded healer. Malkuth—the Kingdom, the material world where it all lands. He occupies the central axis because he is the axis. He connects the two pillars and keeps them in dialogue rather than at war.

You can call that a Wiccan Re-skin if you want, however, I’m still calling it backing into the parking space. Hadn’t meant to…it just happened and, as Jim Carrey said in the Ace Ventura films, “Huuuuuuuuuulike a glove…”

Let’s call this what it is, synthesis. Whether you happen upon it by accident or not means precious deep breath…fuck all. This is what happens when your elements harmonize. That’s the result.

I dunno about you but I don’t argue with results.

The next part really blew my brain into pieces. I’ve modified some Golden Dawn rituals and some will think “You’re Insane!” …nope. The Golden Dawn’s Kabbalistic Cross, Lesser Banishing Ritual of The Pentagram, The Middle Pillar and The Hexagram Ritual are the basis for all modern Western Esoteric Practices. Nearly every Western Esoteric Lodge has adapted those practices and formed a system from them and slotted it into their own dogma for the last century. With so many gaps in the record and being that it’s just me…since when do I need anyone’s fuckin’ permission? Bitch, let’s get some Pentagram and Yod Heh Vav Heh Action going on.

Listen, yes, I’m using a lot of Hebrew names for God…because it works! Thorsson had his opinions on the idea but then he goes and creates The All-Gods Hammer Signing…that I use in Lieu of The Kabbalistic Cross and essentially re-worked The LBRP into A sphere populated by Hammers and encircled by runes.

Okay, look, I’m like just gonna go back to basics here. That’s why I went back to some familiar territory to look around. Right now, the practice is what it is and it’s informed by two sources however, the point of all of this is, if you’re in the same boat and you don’t know where to start, well I’m showing you I kinda bumbled my way through it picking up things here and there but this was the arrival point and, view’s pretty good from here is what I’m tellin’ ya.

The practice itself evolved into it’s current form, same as the altar, the library, The Night Watch Ritual that I do weekly.

So if you're standing where I stood all those years ago, staring at books you don't know how to use, wondering if you're doing it wrong, thinking maybe you need some fancy robes and a title from somewhere…you don't. Start with the shrine or altar you set up yourself. Start with what you have. Let the arrangement happen. The rest is notation and evolution into the harmony you feel happening when this gets personal.

One day you’re standing at your shrine, doing your thing, looking at it and it hits you…this is right. It feels right. You feel at home when you’re standing here.

I'm Raven Wulfgar. This is my altar. This is what worked for me. Welcome to the practice.

What’s yours look like?