Altars: Lararium

My experience with altars is that they are places of devotion. After reading “The Witch’s Altar” by Jason Mankey and Laura Tempest Zakroff, I find that they are also used for blessings, consecrations, honoring, inspiration, magic, ritual offerings, sacrifices, and spellcraft. Afterwards, I looked at my own altar differently. I did do all those things but regarded them as acts of devotion.

My main altar is for devotion to the Roman Gods. Since I practice the Religio Romana, I have the proscribed Roman altar. The Roman religion is exacting in terms of honoring the Gods. Because the Gods, humans, and the Others rely on reciprocity between each other, proper piety (pietas) is important. (Religio Romana is an orthopraxic religion.)

Called a Lararium, the altar is the home of the Lares and Genius (Note 1) (the household and family spirits). It is usually placed by the door to watch over the comings and goings of the family. (The altar is like the door — a liminal space.) Therefore, it is placed near the entrance.

The Lararium has containers for incense (acerra), salt (salinum), and milk (or wine) (gutus). The offering dish (patera) is for food or milk from the household meals. The incense burner (turibulum) is used for creating scents or to burn incense. Finally, the Sacred Fire (Who is the Goddess Vesta) is represented by the lucerna (sacred lamp) where the fire is symbolically kept.

Like the standard Neo-Pagan altar, the Lararium has representations of the elements. Water is represented by the offering dishes for milk and wine. Fire is the lucerna, while Earth is the salt container, and Air the incense burner. Of course, Spirit is represented by the statues of the Lares and other Gods, as well as the Sacred Fire. Roman altars are used mostly for devotion although magic is done by offerings, petitions, prayers, and requests.

There is a standard Roman ritual for consecrating a Lararium. First is the cleansing of the self and the altar with water (Ablutio). The Praefatio is the incense offering to Janus, the Divine Doorkeeper, God of Liminal Spaces. (Note 2) The Precatio is the formal prayers and offerings. The Redditio is the final offering to Janus. Before closing, one final offering is made – the Piaculum, which is to excuse any mistakes that were inadvertently made during the ritual. Then the rite is over.

Notes:

Note 1. The Lares Familares (Guardians of the Family) and Lares Domestici (Guardians of the House) are depicted as youths holding cups and bowls. The Genius, depicted as a snake, is the Guardian Spirit of the Family Line.

Note 2. The two-faced God, Janus, always receives the first and last offerings of any Roman ritual.

Works Used:

Adkins Lesley and Roy Adkins, “Dictionary of Roman Religion.” New York: Oxford University Press. 1996.
Mankey, Jason and Laura Tempest Zakroff, “The Witch’s Altar.” Woodbury (MN): Llewellyn. 2021.
Triarius, L. Vitellius, “Religio Romana Handbook.” Charleston (SC): Masonic Press. 2014.

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