Perfect timing, I just finished the Altars class at the Magical Circle School. As part of this class I had to make several altars.
The first assignment for this class was a "permanent altar". As part of my research for this class, I found some good arguments for not leaving the altar up all the time. Not only do ritual tools left out start to acquire all the psychic garbage that builds up from ordinary life, but setting up the altar is part of preparing your mind for ritual. So, I do not have an altar sitting in a corner waiting for me to decide to cast a spell. I do have, I guess you could call it a focal point. On this I have a zen garden, a soapstone jewelry box that contains the spiritual jewelry I wear each day, a red candle, and an incense burner. I also have all of the components to a 7 day spell I am currently in the middle of.
Another assignment we did was a purposeful altar. I haven't decided if this idea does anything for me or not yet. Perhaps I'll do some experimentation, and update this later. I remember dutifully doing the assignment mostly thinking "this is really silly" so, probably, this won't be implemented into my spiritual path.
In the window I have a shrine to the goddess Brigid. On the shrine I have a jar candle with a picture of Brigid on it. A lot of tea lights, and a small pot that will hopefully grow into some flowers. The kitty is a plant murderer, so we shall see. Imbolc is one of my favorite Sabbats, because its a reminder that winter does not last forever. I have some pretty serious seasonal affective disorder, and about this time of year I want to go very dramatically mad.
There were a couple of other things in the class, but these I guess were the most interesting.
