One of the questions I see asked most commonly on Slavic Reddit threads is what to include in a Slavic Pagan Altar. Claiming Your roots might be hard, especially if You’re back to a certain faith after 1000 years;) So here are my thoughts collected after reading and studying all things Slavic for years, while living in a wooden hut in a most spiritual of Polish places – Podlasie.
What would our ancestors put at a Slavic altar?
If we went back in time 1000 years in Poland... Or 1500 years in Belarus…but we can’t.
So all we can do is be inspired by what Native People of Eastern Slavic countries actually do till this day. You probably saw family photos tucked behind the glass at Your Grandma’s – revering Ród or Family line was and still is in every Slavic country. A couple of other interesting ideas:
- if by any chance You know Your Family Coat of Arms (perhaps with a certain tree or bird You can work with?), You can include it’s elements in Your Slavic Pagan Altar certainly
- Many Polish and Slavic surnames actually have it’s meaning; like Dąbrowski is derived from Oak Tree and Niedźwiedzki – from a Bear. Check if there is any symbolism in Your Slavic surname, or name perhaps. Maybe these elements are worth including in Your Slavic Pagan Altar?
- Similarly, check the town, area or village where Your ancestors are from. You can be surprised because there are ethnographical sources and chronicles about local deities, folk magic etc. that survived till as late as 19th or 20th century! Then You don’t have to look for the answers on the internet because You will know for a fact what to include.
- Nature and wood and herbs in particular were very important to Slavs, so a Slavic incense or a wooden deity would be a good addition.
- Each herb and tree has it’s meaning and use in magic, also there were deities named after certain flowers or flowers after deities like Dziewanna or Perunowe Ziele; there is also a Herbal Mother Mary holiday in Poland… As You can see, You can go many layers deep with herbal magic if You want to:)
- Protective ornaments – maybe something Your ancestors did themselves, or some other handembroided Vintage Slavic items like some of these? The traditional protective colour was red, but of course You can experiment with Your own „family colours”.
- A fire element could be useful too; think natural wax candles, a special herbal candle or a candle in a certain colour.
- Good offerings are always things like grains, coins and sweets, no matter the religion:) And Grains and sweets are actually used in Dziady ritual, as well as similar Hindu Ritual.
- Precious stones are part of altars in sost of religions and again: study the meaning or get inspired by traditional Baltic Amber.
Where to find inspiration for a Slavic Altar?
There are various Rodnovery groups in Russia and Rodzimowiercy in Poland – You can check them out for example here or here. Proceed with caution as these are just people who are learning along the way, too, but certainly there are interesting things to learn from them, because they are the only ones who actually have a pagan Slavic altar:)
What to NOT include in the Slavic Pagan Altar?
There are two types of things advise NOT to include in Your Slavic Roots Inspired Pagan Altar and here is why:
- 1. Demons, unknown deities, internet spells – generally black magic is wrong to use and dangerous as I explained here:
but also contrary to what people on the Internet advise, I would advise to not put on Your altar negative symbols, demons, devils or deities that You don’t know well, like Marzanna or Morana. Why would You put a potential Death Demon anywhere in Your house? There is enough supportive, positive Slavic symbols and deities to choose from.
- Generic Slavic Stuff
When people ask what to include on their Slavic Pagan Altar, they hope there is one „good” formula that they can copy. There is not as no Slavic Pagan Altar actually survived intact, and even if we can put some puzzles together from different archeological findings, these are often places thousands miles and/or years apart.
So my take on this is: make Your Slavic Pagan Altar Yours! In the end Slavic faith was always about ones own family, tribe, home spirit, land spirit etc. So You don’t have to feel guilty for „not doing it right” – it is Your version and interpretation, although maybe don’t include AI version of Gods because it is a fantasy world, not rooted in anything in particular, and then it looses it’s meaning.
Good luck 🙂
