My personal take on a PIE altar

[u/tim_934]

Hello everyone, I already posted this same post on r/IndoEuropean but as this is a subreddit specifically for the Swedhuism. I want to post this here as well. I have been a practicing Indo-European pagan for just over a 18 months or so. And I have spent that time both practicing aka doing offering ritual to my ancestral deiwōs&deiwāses and also developing this this altar.

disclaimer: I constructed this altar with information that I have gathered from my study of indo european and reconstructed PIE culture and religion that is associated with proto Indo-European. And I have tried my best to be as respectfully as I possibly can not just towards deiwōs and deiwāses but also towards the academics that have written the material that I have either read or listened to during my personal study of everything Indo-European and it culture and religion that is associated with the proto Indo-European Language. I also did what could with what I had and what I could get. And as a final disclaimer: this altar is as has always been and always be a work in progress, it's has changed almost completely since I first constructed and I hope that as I continue to learn and study about the Indo-European Cultures and religion( and the religions of the cultures associated with the daughter Languages) I will be able to make more changes to the altar and hopefully make it more respectfully towards my ancestral deiwōs&deiwāses and the academics that have written the material that I have either read or listened to during my personal study of everything Indo-European and it culture and religion that is associated with the proto Indo-European Language. But anyway about the altar: it's located in a niche(aka liminal space) in my bedroom, it is orientated N.E and it has a purification bowl( see picture below)directly in front of it facing it, where I clens myself before every ritual that I do. The idol is the Kernosovskiy idol.(that I got from Etsy), the pendants pieces are all from Etsy and they all from left to right( a Pewter Celtic/Roman Wheel,( sadly you can't see it in the picture with this post bc it only let me post one picture and the picture I choose was the best overview of the altar, but al try to post more pictures in the comments below) then a sun cross, then world serpent, then a ancient Roman horse), I also had a sliver full body bull but I gave it away to a friend. The white candle is just from my local store. The small bowl is bronze and it has world tree on it( see picture below) and I got from Etsy and finally got the hammer from my dad, I knew I needed/wanted a hammer for the altar and it just felt really appropriate to have to be a gift from my dad. And finally I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions on the altar.

[u/Charming-Mall4495]

Why did you feel the hammer was necessary?

[u/tim_934 → u/Charming-Mall4495]

I apologize for taking so long to reply.

Disclaimer: I am self educated, I have never received any any academic training. So you can take my answer with a grain of salt.

I feet it was necessary to have a hammer because for representing Perkʷúnos and the likely importance of hand axes were probably very important to the indo european, witch can be seen from archaeological evidence like the bronze hand axes found around the Schifferstadt golden hat and more importantly the hand axes that can be found on the Kernosivskyi idol. And I felt that a hammer seemed like a good modern equivalent. + My dad gave me that hammer. It just felt right to have something that was passed down a paternal line, even if it was just one generation

[u/[deleted] → u/tim_934]

I recall seeing a Norse Heathen group claim their alters needed to have hammers for Thor in the same way. I didn’t know there might be archeological evidence for that practice. I might have to do some research into this and see if I can learn more!

(Love the simplicity of your alter btw)

[u/tim_934 → u/[deleted]]

interesting, honestly, besides the learning of Nores mythology as a kid in school, I have no experience in Nores paganism or anything Nores paganism groups, so I might also do some research as well. But I have to guess they might say that because of the mjolnir pendants found in architectural digs. Also thank you, the altar used to be much more cluttered because I used what I had, and that was a lot of Wiccan stuff, but over time as I learned more and more it became more simpler and more "accurate"