Build Your Own Altar

P.S. Fill your new space with some of the recommended reads below

First, find a space for an altar/tribute that feels right and accessible to you. It could be a shelf, bedside table, window ledge, nook, or any other space. You can set the base with a cloth, fabric, scarf or continue without one.  

Next, gather items that bring you a sense of calm, connectedness, and safety. This can be anything from pictures, flowers, plants, books, poems, affirmation cards, drawings, crystals, sand, candles, written prayers/spells/rituals, statues, journal. The possibilities are endless.

 

Whatever you choose should feel authentic and intentional to you. It can take time to build an altar space. You will likely add or replace items as you become more connected to yourself and your healing journey. Remember to tend to it by cleaning, dusting, loving, and speaking life into it. May your altar reflect your dreams, wonder, healing, and evolve alongside you.

 

Even when the  world is cruel and unrelenting, remember as Toni Morrison says:

“You Are Your Best Thing”

 

Recommended Reading

The Altar Within by Juliet Diaz

Where Silence Ends: A Memoir by Mexican-American Mother-Daughter duo Angela Ruiz & Mary Ruiz

Sabrina & Corina by Kali Fajardo-Anstine

Know My Name by Chanel Miller

Written on the Body: Letters from Trans and Non-Binary Survivors of Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Edited by Lexie Bean

Furia by Yamile Saied Mendez

All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson

Ordinary Girls by Jacquira Diaz

Somebody’s Daughter by Ashley C. Ford

Pleasure Activism by Adrienne Maree Brown

Miss America by Day: Lessons Learned from Ultimate Betrayals and Unconditional Love by Marilyn Van Derbur (recommended by Maria Ortiz)

Beyond Survival by  Leah Lakshmi Piepzna Samarasinha

Prisons Make Us Safe and 20 Other Myths About Mass Incarceration by Victoria Law

Captive Genders by Eric Stanley

Pet by Akwaeke Emezi

The Politics of Healing by Staci Haines

Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley

Of Women and Salt by Gabriela Garcia

Playing the Whore by Melissa Gira Grant

We Do This til We Free Us by Mariame Kaba

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Arrested Justice by Beth E Richie

Buttons’ Journey by LaResse Harvey

Color of Violence by The INCITE Women of Color

Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg

The Body is Not An Apology by Sonya Renee Taylor

Love With Accountability by Aishah Shahidah Simmons

If They Come For Us: Poems by Fatimah Asghar

Not Here by Hieu Minh Nguyen

Chronicle the Body by M. Mick Powell