TW/Content Warning: This post mentions depression and anxiety. I wonāt be discussing anything too in-depth, but I just wanted to give yāall a headās up so that you can skip over this post if the subject will cause discomfort.
I apologize for the length of this post ā Iāll condense it down a little bit by āhidingā my responses to the quesitons I was pondering 
This weekās challenge didnāt go super well for me. I was hit pretty hard with my depression and anxiety symptoms, so I havenāt been able to do too much of anything. I was planning on finally getting a more permanent altar set up so that I could have a dedicated place to practice my spirituality that wasnāt the desk I use for work. Needless to say, things didnāt really go as planned, and I wasnāt able to do much in the way of setting up the altar.
On the other hand, all the extra time Iāve spent in bed keeping to myself has given me lots of time to reflect on what I want my altar to be like, and what purposes I want it to serve. I reflected on my journey on my path so far, and on what I want to achieve moving forward on my path. I brainstormed quite heavily, some of which Iāll share below. To me, my personal altar will be a very special, private place, so I havenāt yet figured out how what and how much I want to share of it.
I also wanted to thank all of you for sharing all the pictures of your beautiful altars! Theyāve given me tons of inspiration and ideas for things to reflect on for my altar. 
Below are some of the questions I asked myself and ideas that I considered while brainstorming.
How fancy do I want my altar to be? Do I want it heavily-decorated? Or, do I want to keep it minimal?
My responses to these quesitons
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I decided that I want my altar to be minimal. The past few years, Iāve been attempting ā unsuccessfully ā to work on minimizing the amount of āstuffā I have. I want to focus on the few objects that truly bring me enjoyment, both in my mundane and Magickal life.
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Iām someone who sometimes gets caught up in focusing on āstuffā rather than the intent behind the item. Having fewer items on my altar will allow me to resonate more deeply with fewer items as opposed to having a larger quantity of less-meaningful items. For me, personally, I feel like the law of supply and demand applies here: the less of something there is, the more valuable it becomes. This isnāt to criticize having lots of beautiful crystals and statues and candles, but rather to say that at this point in my life and path, simplicity works better for me.
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Simplicity works best for me because my mind perceives it as being more ātidy.ā Sometimes, when Iām surrounded by lots of āstuffā I become a bit overwhelmed and my anxiety starts acting up. Keeping things simple will hopefully keep my anxiety levels lower, and when my symptoms do act up, it will be easier for me to maintain and keep clean because Iāll be less likely to be as overwhelmed as if there were tons of stuff that I had to dust and keep cleansed and arranged.
What items/beliefs/deities/energies/tools/aspects of my spirituality are most important to me at this time?
My responses
- Bast
- Hekate
- Nature
- Aphrodite
- Ancestor work
- Positivity
- Herbs
- Shadow work (using tarot as a tool for analysis)
What altar items will be useful in working with the energies/etc. listed above?
My responses
- Candles
- Tarot cards
- Incense/oils for invoking/evoking deities/ancestors
- Offering bowl/plate
- Items dedicated for offerings (non-perishable, of course)
- Book of Shadows/grimoire/Book of Mirrors (Omnibook)
- Items that make me think of the deities/ancestors I want to work with
This post is already pretty long, so Iāll go ahead and stop here, but I just wanted to share what Iāve been working on for this challenge, even if itās not exactly what I was originally planning on doing!
While I do have some witchy things spread out throughout the apartment, a lot of my spellwork tends to be Kitchen Witchery done on the kitchen counter 
This challenge will close TOMORROW 
your Altar is beautiful 
I lose all productivity when my anxiety peaks as well and it can make us feel guilty but its ok not to get stuff done sometimes until we centre and find ourselves again 
I love seeing a little bit of each personās uniqueness in each one 