How To Make a Taoist Shrine or a Taoist Altar

Dearest friends,

Happy Lunar New Year 2018, Chinese New Year Celebration!  The 2018 Chinese New Year begins on Friday, February 16.  2018 will be the first Year of the Earth Dog since 1958. 

MEANING OF THE YEAR OF THE DOG: You come more into your power, are respected, and can emerge a leader. Main energies; honesty, stability, practicality, balance, gentleness, idealistic & unselfish.  2018 signifies a huge shift toward the earth element, and away from the chaotic and often stressful fire element of the 2016 Monkey and the 2017 Rooster. Those born in Dog, Dragon, Sheep/Ram, Rooster, and Ox years are advised to tread carefully and pay attention to to their health in the 2018 Dog year.  The Earth Element - The Year Of The Dog is about making peace with yourself and creating peace, being IN peace and peace-full.

Questions to Katherine: What is the purpose of having a Taoist Altar at home and how to make one.
Answer: Now that we are beginning The Year Of The Dog, the year of The Earth Element - (it is all about nurturing and nourishment) to give but also to nurture oneself. This is a good time too to build your own Taoist Altar at home. I have written down some ideas for you;

A Taoist Altar represents some of the core beliefs of TAO spiritual cultivations to nurture the foundations of a life in balance. Turning our attention within mindfully, we become aware of the actual conjoin of light beings, of the subtle universal divine order and we develop and see with our inner sense how all diverse universal light form energies are interplaying constantly and ever evolving, never in “danger” and always become more as a result of co-creation in contrast, meaning with elements or light forms that are diverse and at times different. Harmony, Appreciation, Divine Flow Of Well-Being are some of the natural ways of life of a disciple of the TAO. For me, to live mindfully the ways of the TAO is to freely and IN love adopt a self-discipline to harmonize with universal laws while in physical focused form and to transcend our Divine Essence into being. :)

I have created this Taoist Altar at home for prayer, cultivation and it is a corner to nurture, to evoke peace and harmony. I have also incorporated light forms that represent the five elements or five steps and foundations; Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water. When I come before the Taoist Altar I come here to emptied my mind, to open my heart and to listen... to tune in to the divine visible and invisible forces of the Universe. The TAOist Altar is also a place for renewal and contemplation and most importantly, of appreciation for All There Is.

The Three Pure Ones: Formless Divine Intentional Energies
The Jade Pure One (Shen), - The Supreme Pure One (Jing), - The Grand Pure One - Qi

Divine and Perfect Order is also represented with the integration of the Five Elements, of Yin and Yang Essences and with the presence of Life Force Energy “Qi.”

The WOOD element is represented by the Altar Table made of wood, an oak wood carved yin and yang symbol, a bamboo screen that represents idealism and the status of Buddha.

The FIRE element is represented by white and gold candles, sandalwood incense for purification and transformation. Fire has great power for forging will and determination, inner light and passion for life.

The EARTH element is represented by feathers, a bonsai to honor our elders and a crystal grid depending on the healing intentional energy I am crafting into being. Earth is too about nurturing. 

The METAL element is represented by a bell, a statue of Francis of Assisi patron of animals and nature and an inspiration for peaceful ways, a white box containing a list of heartfelt dreams I am currently manifesting into being and a 15 piece geometry set used for technical drawing supplies. I have included this curious set of utensils because the Metal element is about structure and methods and building up characteristics and these supplies remind me of drafting something that is visually created by the imagination, it is like giving birth to a formless idea into functional visual language.

The WATER element is represented by a water fountain, an Earth-Heart shape water glass and a water statue of Archangel Metatron the guardian of the Tree Of Life. Water also represents constitution, an agile mind, flow and emotions.

It is important not to lose the message in the symbol, to choose symbols that could evoke the essence of All There Is, the TAO, the formless energy of infinite possibilities.

I wish you joy, harmony and prosperity in your divine journey and in the process of designing your own TAOist Altar.

I LOVE YOU, I DO!

Katherine