As I am taking today to do some writing I am forced to pause and reflect on an old project and my own spiritual practice. As my Spiritual Beliefs can be found in every aspect of my life, it is my belief that as the heart of my home is the kitchen, it is also the heart of most of my daily worship. It might be a girl thing, but growing up with four brothers 'girl time' was a rare thing, my brothers often helped mom in the kitchen, my mom's kitchen was magical no-body was every in the way, and it had an aura that can only be described like laughter, after my brothers started to get married my mom would often sequester herself at the table with a glass of wine and some nail polish, and the hour before dinner became a much more feminine time. I will say, that to this day (I'm 37) my brothers all love to cook, a couple of them cook more often than their wives. And its because of that magick that our mother managed to build up between the counters and the cabinets.
Living a thousand miles and change from my nearest sibling, and not having children, I am essentially alone, with roommates, responsible for recreating that joy in my own kitchen, and as part of that. I keep a Hearth Altar, which I have photographed a few times on Mystic Apothecary already, and will be the center focus for my Full Moon working tomorrow night.
Now altar's are one of my favorite things in practice and I have many, many books on their creation and maintenance as prescribed through several different traditions. For me the Hearth Altar is the place to focus on the energies and aspects that you want to draw into your home, and not just a place of worship. But it is also a place to speak petitions and where I work with Lares that is, the household deities or ancestors (a Hearth Altar is not the same as an Ancestor Altar), I use the Roman name for them because I can't find any other cultural name to reference.
I use my statue of Danu for what she is, the Great Mother. Every kitchen needs a Mom. I keep three stones, regular pebbles, like the Japanese I keep them to honor the gods of Seas, Land, and Sky. The mother and natural forces represent our oldest ancestors. Then because I don't have clay figures for myself and the others who live here yet so the rest stays flexible. My Hearth Candle and my daily candle, then possibly a 7-day candle depending on our needs at any given time. At the moment I have a scallop shell, a crystal cluster (along with a few other crystals) and a pair of succulents. Later I'll be placing some raw Citrine and Rose Quartz, and a small jar full of change (money offerings/spell) and starting some heavy career magick as myself and a roommate were both 'downsized' out of our company. The Altar sits in my Kitchen window, facing the east, its a small shelf otherwise it would also hold a mortar and pestle as well as a cream pitcher and honey-pot. A very simple space, but a dedicated one. Which is all that an altar needs.
Some Kitchen Witches see the entire counter-top as their altar, and while I see it as part of the sacred space, altars should be that little bit of formality.