Spring rededication

It occurs to me that I have never spoken about my annual rededication of my central altar (Actually, it happens more than once a year, but I always have one in the Spring) which I call, or used to call, my Altar of the Virgin Goddesses.

This altar is dedicated to Hestia, and upon it are images of Athena and Artemis as well, but this year I decided to make a change. While the altar remains dedicated to Hestia, I have added an image of the Minoan Snake Goddess (I know that the image itself is controversial as far as scholarship is concerned, but the imagery and symbolism of it do not go amiss in Hellenism) which, for me at least, are representations of the divine Mother Earth, who we call Gaea.

Many cults of goddesses, and some of Gods as well, have imagery that uses serpents as representations of the Earth and its regenerative power, but also of its chthonic and divinatory nature. The Pythia's title itself is related to the divinatory nature of her office, and the serpent, an aspect of the Earth, which once ruled Delphi.

So I bought this image of the snake goddess, which to me represents the chthonic, or Earthly, aspects of the divine Goddesses we worship, and especially of Gaea herself, the Great Mother. This morning I received the statuette and went about dismantling my altar, removing all decoration and dedications, cleaning them, and then rebuilding it with the addition of the new Snake Goddess.

Below are images of what I did in a lovely little slideshow.

After cleaning the objects and statuettes and replacing them in the fireplace, I relit the candle and lit some incense, offering a prayer to the gods, and especially to Hestia, that the altar may be accepted and pleasing to her.