A First-Thing-in-the-Morning Altar

This is a birds-eye view of the centerpiece on our kitchen table. It took me quite a while to realize that I’d created a “reminder” altar to see at the start of every day. Let’s parse it out together …

First, a silver tray — to remind me that everything I experience on the outside is a reflection of what’s inside me. It’s vital to remember this!

Second, bookends in the shape of a crown glued together — to remind me of my own royal status in my own world. Note those last four words. I am indeed the center of my own universe, but I am not the center of the known universe. We all do well to remember this.

Third, a pile of glittery, glistening beads — to remind me that everything I meet is a treasure when I let it be, and when I don’t, it isn’t. Not everything looks “oooh, sparkly,” but that doesn’t matter. What matters is how I am with it, what I do with it, how I have it. Back to the reflection of the inner, no?

Fourth, two pink candles in green satin glass — to remind me that I need to lighten the hearts of everyone I meet, even those I don’t like, for the good of my own heart. The green represents my personal heart; the pink, my impersonal heart, respectively, the 4th and 8th chakras.

Fifth, and this bounty of the symbolic on a shiny black wooden table surface — to remind me that there is so very much I don’t know, so very much of life that I learn as I go, and so very much Mystery at the core of it all.

And this is before I’ve had even a sip of tea! What’s on your first-thing-in-the-morning altar?