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25. ALTAR - place to pray ALTER - reason to pray ALTERNATIVE - a better life ALTER NATIVE - a better person

Many religious traditions choose to pray before an altar. In a Christian church, you may pray before an image of Jesus; or, if Catholic, of the Saints or Virgin. If you are a ‘person of the book’, your altar alter; place to change may be the Torah of the Jew, the Bible of the Christian, the Quran of the Muslim, the Vedas of the Hindu, the Granth Sahib of the Sikhs, or the Tao Te Ching of the Taoist. In a Hindu temple, the sacred image may be that of Shiva, Shakti or Krishna. Or in a Buddhist temple, Shakyamuni or Siddhartha.

Should you have occasion to pray in one of the great cathedrals of Europe, especially those built before the 14th century, there will likely be a secret to the altar before which you pray. Somewhere in the sacristy, bricked over and covered by Christian symbols, will be icons of an older tradition - the ‘Black Madonna’, or Egyptian symbols of Isis and Osiris. Or perhaps small statues of the Roman gods. The Masons Ma-Sons; sons of The Mother who build these temples bridging time constructed altars meant to alter the forms of ancient faiths into the images of new ones. They altered the outer form. But the inner truth remained the same.

The images or icons on an altar may change. They could become a lost parent or lover. A gem or crystal. A picture of a saint. An eagle feather or a shark’s tooth. But the reason for prayer remains constant. To persuade the Source of Life or Power, the God or Buddha, Angel or Totem, to become one with the supplicant – to reinfuse our life with the Divine. Even if we quickly mean to cash in on what we’re given: “Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz!”

The altar is a place of power. A place to alter change our life.

Remember! There is always an alternative.








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Angelynx. A divination deck. John Sacelli. Chris Deschaine.