Sól Rituals - Create Your Own Altar
Simple Guidelines - written for Sól & Okra tribe
Welcome to Sól Seeker, this is my altar and my offering to you. Sól Seeker was created for individuals who lead busy lives yet seek a grounding practice to reconnect with themselves. It is also where I rehabilitate myself and my healing journey by offering the tools I’ve gathered along the way.
Your Own Sacred Space
This week, I’m sharing an article I wrote for my dear friend Julie’s Okra tribe and community. Simple guidelines on how you can create your altars at home, at work or anywhere you would like to redirect your focus with great intentions. Before we dive in just a little housekeeping and a reminder that
Sól Women - Awakening starts on Sept 21, and Sól Healing - Sound Bath & Expressive Art workshop will take place on the new moon on Sept 1 (Sun).
Please consider supporting me and my work by joining as a paid subscriber for 11 USD or 77 RMB per month, I post at 8 am on Sundays, 3-4 posts per month. I hope you join us.
Start here with a grounding meditation practice. This meditation will follow us throughout and serve as a foundation for our weekly practices, you can come back to at any time as you need it throughout your week.
Grounding Meditation
A simple grounding meditation you can return to whenever you need to. This practice will follow us throughout and be a foundation we stand on in any of our rituals and practices.
Create Your Own Altar
Here begins the original article and text I wrote for Okra and our Sol community. Slightly modified to suit the substack format. You can read the original article here. Big thank you to Julie and blessings to the Okra team who did the translations & editing on their platform.
Julie’s altar at Okra Studio
Today, I would like to offer my view of altars and how you can create your own.
An altar is a dedicated sacred corner of your home, or on your desk at work. Where you can pour your love for yourself and letting the universe know about your intention. They are also visual affirmations and a point of focus. My altars keep me grounded, a place of rest and calm when I look at them, and sit with them. A space to disconnect from our phones and reconnect with ourselves. An oasis for our mind and body to anchor in when maybe life hits us in ways like a storm in the sea.
I will go through what you need and don’t need, what to think about, and what goes into them. It doesn’t have to be complicated, it also doesn’t have to be grand. Whatever is accessible and resonates with you.
The truth is, you probably have created altars without knowing they were altars, a mood board can be an altar, a vision board can be an altar, your centerpiece for that dinner party or holiday celebration can also have been an altar. Photographs on the wall can be an altar. It may not have been consciously intentional, but when you think back you may find that you have already created many sacred spaces in your life. So you know in your bones how to do one, and I’ll give you some ideas on how to create one intentionally, and as you read you might start remembering from somewhere deep within.
Set your intention – what would you like to think about when you see your altar?
Find a space for it – wherever feels right to you, it can be on your desk, on your wall, on your side table by the door to welcome you home
A ground for your altar – a tray, a plate, a small carpet, a mat, a block of stone. Something to hold your altar, where it has a beginning and ending and concentration of space and energy
Gather your objects - candles, crystals, small figures, stones, meaningful objects, trinkets, jewelry, anything that you would like to place on this altar
Place the objects on your altar - start with a centerpiece, be it a candle or something you hold dear and build it outward. Creating a circle around the center can intensify the intention circle as a symbol that means unity and wholeness. There are no hard rules though, I have built many altars that do not form into a circle, but always something in the center with other objects around it
Tend to your altar - light the candle, change the water if you placed fresh flowers on your altar or change the flowers all together, and keep it tidy and dust-free. Rearrange as you see needed. I have created altars that only lived for one day, some for a month or forty days, and some that have stayed for much longer but have changed throughout time.
Offerings & cleansing - if you use sage and palo santo as part of your altar and offering to cleanse and purify your altar and space, I invite you to be respectful of the culture it came from, to some indigenous tribes these are sacred plants and trees, and remember to thank the plant and tree for the help you’re asking. In no way will I dictate whether you should use it or not, but just to be mindful and respectful as we use them. Other dried plants and herbs that are closer to your culture can definitely be used in their place.
Various altars we created together, and the last image is my altar at home. All photos taken by Julie.
Honor yourself, and the traditions of other cultures, I do believe altars is universal throughout. An altar that will always stay with us is our body. Our body as an altar and temple means to care for it, tend to it, and feed it with nourishing food and offerings.
Adorn your body with cloth and jewelry as offerings to yourself and the love you have for yourself.
Wish you all well, and to stay grounded in your daily life and practices.
Questions for the Road
Do you have an altar or sacred space?
Do you tend to your altars regularly?
What intention would you like to set for your altars?
What prayers are you saying in this moment?
About Okra Jewelry
Launched in 2013, Okra is an independent jewelry and lifestyle brand inspired by island treasures. Founder Julie Pang designs each piece by hand, drawing on her childhood memories on the island of Mauritius.
The collections are crafted using the ancient technique of lost wax casting, using gemstones, precious metals, and other gifts from the Earth. Meant to be worn as personal talismans, Okra creations are sacred adornments that tap into the wearer’s inner knowing.
Follow Okra on
Instagram - @okrajewelry
Website - https://okrajewelry.com/
Redbook - OKRA Jewelry
WeChat Official Account - HiOkra
If you feel called to, please share whatever came up for you in this practice by leaving a comment or DM me for any feedback.
Sól News
Sól Ritual
Sound Bath & Expressive Art session, Sept 1 Sun - Read more here. [ In-person ]
Sól Healing
Reiki Healing August Schedule - Click here to book [ In-person & Distance available ]
Sól Women
Awakening & Envisioning starts September 21. Click here to read more [In-Person & Online]
Sól Objects
Available online (on Weidian, please follow our WeChat official account to know more)
Available at Okra Jewelry Studio on 211 Anfu Road, Shanghai [ Saturdays 2-6pm ]
