How to set up a Caves Altar & Ceremony Space

What is a ceremony space? Considering whether you’re a Caves, Markets, Kitchens, Mountains, Valleys, or Shores Environment, can help you dedicate a space with playful intention, and conscious awareness.

Having a spot in your home that allows you to gather your spirits and focus your energy is often called an altar, but these spaces for your private rituals can be called anything your heart desires.

Maybe your ceremony space is your bedside table. Maybe it’s the study. Maybe it’s your yoga room, or the closet you tuck your ritual tools away in.

Try these things to connect with your Caves Environment, and build a vibey ceremony site that resonates with you.

calculate your Environment here

Consider keeping everything in a little bag or pouch

Having your basic ritual items together in a box or a bag will help you prioritize protecting your back, and bringing your ritual items into a safe space. Grab your bag, sit somewhere safe — like with your back against a tree at the park, or against the wall in your home gym — and unpack your tools to gather your spirits for your rituals.

Gather priority items

Depending on what kind of ceremonies you like to participate in, give some thought to the items you must include. A ritual can be a Thursday night show with someone special, a morning stretch and tea practice, or an oracle card spread when you need to tune in. Bring more awareness to all the kinds of rituals around you, and what priority items you require for those rituals.

Consider a mobile or modular altar

I don’t mean to hang something from the ceiling, but have ritual tools that can be portable, traveling with you to safe spaces; like the park, like the garden, like the closet. Caves are concerned with what’s available to them in a space, and having a bag or box with your material inside makes for easy grabbing. Keep the basics in a safe space.

Lock the door

Whatever space is available to you, consider closing — and locking — the door to the site. If you’re tucking into a private closet, close the door. If you’re moving into a quiet room, close the door. Build in extreme privacy and uninterrupted time for your ritual. Locking the door to your ceremony site may bring more ease into your ritual.

Find a nook

Is there a space available where you can tuck in a tiny ritual site? Small nooks, cute corners, or hidden spaces are all great ceremony sites to build into your space. In the Cave we can’t always renovate the stone walls, so finding extra space and making use of every nook and cranny can amplify the Cavey energy around you.

Ritual idea: safety check

Before you tuck in for sleep at night, close up the Cave by securing windows and doors, ensuring the spaces you want locked or fastened tight at night are safe and secure. Help your body rest and feel at ease when it turns off for the day, as sleeping puts the body in its most vulnerable state.

Build the classic Cave altar

To connect deeply to your primitive and ancient environment, set out a traditional altar by finding a small table top in a private corner and place important items on it. Seek inspiration from the literal cave, and place crystals, rocks or gemstones, a fire element like a candle, tools for storytelling - like journaling or writing stories in cave walls - and any other items that are inspired by The Cave — like a salvaged slab stone to perform your rituals atop. Keep a divination tool ready for use on the altar, such as oracle or tarot cards, lithomancy kits, tea leaves, or a crystal ball. Consider laying everything out on a dark cloth, like the dark stone floor of the Cave. Enjoy your ceremony.