Jason Mankey - The Witch’s Altar: The Craft, Lore & Magick of Sacred Space

Llewellyn Publications

Woodbury, Minnesota

Copyright Information

The Witchs Altar: The Craft, Lore & Magick of Sacred Space 2018 by Jason Mankey and Laura Tempest Zakroff.

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First e-book edition 2018

E-book ISBN: 9780738758336

Cover design by Shira Atakpu

Cover illustration by Mickie Mueller

Interior illustrations by Mickie Mueller and Llewellyn Art Department

Llewellyn Publications is an imprint of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Mankey, Jason, author. | Zakroff, Laura Tempest, author.

Title: The witchs altar : the craft, lore & magick of sacred space /
by Jason Mankey and Laura Tempest Zakroff.

Description: First edition. | Woodbury, Minnesota : Llewellyn Worldwide,
[2018] | Series: The witchs tools series ; # 7 | Includes bibliographical
references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018027545 (print) | LCCN 2018035816 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780738758336 () | ISBN 9780738757964 (alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Witchcraft. | Altars.

Classification: LCC BF1566 (ebook) | LCC BF1566 .M2764 2018 (print) |
DDC 133.4/3dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018027545

Llewellyn Publications does not participate in, endorse, or have any authority or responsibility concerning private business arrangements between our authors and the public.

Any Internet references contained in this work are current at publication time, but the publisher cannot guarantee that a specific reference will continue or be maintained. Please refer to the publishers website for links to current author websites.

Llewellyn Publications

Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

2143 Wooddale Drive

Woodbury, MN 55125

www.llewellyn.com

Manufactured in the United States of America

Contents

One: (Tempest)

Two: ( Jason)

Three: ( Jason)

Four: ( Tempest)

Five: ( Tempest & Jason)

Six: ( Jason)

Seven: ( Tempest)

Eight: (Tempest)

Nine: (Tempest)

Ten: ( Tempest & Jason)

Dedication

Jason Mankey: To all of my roommates over the years and whoever gave me the altar. Also special thanks to the many cats who have been a part of my lifeScarlet, Princess, Evie, and Summerall of whom climbed on at least an altar or two.

Laura Tempest Zakroff: For all of the new Witches out there figuring out how to do the thingmay you find your own way with both confidence and grace. Also to my beloved cat Sam, who managed to smash a statue of Lilith and lived to meow about it. Sacred things go on altars, and clearly that includes him .

Introduction

Two Witches, One Book
(Tempest)

M ost books that are written by two authors in the Witch/Pagan world tend to be by people who are partnered, or by people who work together in the same tradition, coven, or similar group. Well, thats not us, in either case. Jason is a Gardnerian Witch and Im a Modern Traditional Witch, so we usually come at things from very different backgrounds. But we have found that besides both of us having long, curly locks, we often share common ground in vision, practicality, magick, and sarcasm.

Writing a book together started off as a bit of a joke around the time Jason was working on his second book in this series ( The Witchs Book of Shadows , his first being The Witchs Athame ) and me on my first ( The Witchs Cauldron ). We were each writing contributions for the others book, and started trading thoughts about the series in general. In sharing our most and least favorite parts to work on, we realized maybe we could collaborate on a book! We carried the laugh over to our beloved editor, who probably rolled her eyes at the email (with love) and then told us to finish the books we were working on.

We eventually wore down the resolve of won over our editor with the idea for this book. (Im not saying it was cat photos that did it, but it may have been cat photos.) I believe its fair to note that this book may have been inspired by whiskey, shared ritual, and late late nights with Pwords.

We both geek out hugely about altars and share an addiction to statues. The ideas for this book just flowed out of us. The fact that we come from different paths and backgrounds only helps strengthen the breadth of material presented here for you, the reader. Whether you work in a group or by yourself, practice ceremonial magic or fly by the seat of your cauldron, theres advice in here just for you. We think its especially helpful to recognize that there isnt just one way to use, view, or build an altar. When we present different perspectives, its not meant to confuse you, but to illustrate that there are many options and ideas at your disposal. That sense of awareness and freedom truly is the spirit you want to tap into when crafting and working your own Witchs altar.

The Old Trusty Altar ( Jason)

My wife, Ari, and I have seven altars in our house. Some are dedicated strictly to magickal operations and others are representative of the changing seasons and the deities we personally honor. One of those seven altars is in my office, and is stocked mostly with magickal items that are meant to spark creativity and keep me writing. (The fact that this book is in your hands means theyve probably done their job.) But one of our altars means more to us than the others, and its such an important part of our practice that we refer to it as the altar.