I just got a tarot deck! Don't worry, I had someone else get it for me. I am very excited!
Here's a picture of the ocean that I took on a vacation to Destin, Florida.
Explanation: I am still working on my altar, but this is what it looks like when I am home for the summer. I will add another picture of what it looks like during the school year (changes each year depending on space). I try to use glass as my vessels, as it comes from sand. I have a variety of shells arranged on the altar for my main two intentions. I do not worship any gods, so I have no statues of deities. I do have a picture I took of an octopus to represent the sea life. That kind of takes the place of a deity statue for me. I will explain why I chose an octopus later. I also have various crystals. Most of them are connected to the sea, element of water, or the moon. I do have other crystals on it though.
Salt Water: I do not live super close to the sea, and the sea I live most near is not very clear, so I mix my own with sea salt and water.
Plants: I use a lot of plants that are commonly used in witchcraft (lavender, rosemary, chamomile, etc.) (Just to be clear, I NEVER use white sage; it is our responsiblity as witches to respect closed practices.) I also use a variety of seaweeds and algeas.
Sea Salt: I always use sea salt in place of regular salt in my practice.
Seashells: I use seashells that I have collected over the years (I am a big shell fanatic) in my practice. Obviously, only take empty shells and try to limit how many shells you take. I use different shells for different intentions. One unique thing about one of the ways I use shells is by using a mixture of shells with feminine, masculine, and androgenous associations. I love slipper snails for their associations with androgeny. I also use shells for beauty, protection, etc.
Crystals: I don't have a ton of crystals, but I do tend to use them in spell jars and such. I particularly like to work with crystals that are connected to the sea or moon. Two of my favorite crystals are larimar and moonstone. While not a crystal, I also love to use sea glass.
Octopedes (and cephlapods in general) survive via their intelligence, not a shell like other mollusks (although the nautalius has a shell too). So, they evolved higher intelligence. Without going too much into my personal story, I relate a lot to this. Survival strategies can cross species barriers I suppose.
Octopedes are my favorite cephlapods. To me, they represent intelligence, curiousty, wit, thinking outside of the box, finding alternate solutions, etc.
This is why they are the animal that I use as a symbol/sigil most often. I use the image of an octopus when I want to invoke these traits.
Once again, respecting closed practices is very important to me. I do not beleive that octopedes are a spirit animal or animal guide for me, as I am not a part of those closed practices. They are simply important to me. I use them more like a deity or symbol of the ocean than anything else.
Until recently, I did not feel connected to any deity. Recently however, I have been looking back on my life and seen signs of several deities. I am not entirely sure if I beleive in literal deities, but I do feel connected to and am drawn to worship a few.
Weirdly enough, most of them are Hellenic, although I don't beleive that I have a particularly strong ancestory there. Could this be beacuse the first gods I learned about were Greek (well, techincally Roman, but I've always preferred their Greek names)? I wonder if there was a reason that I was drawn to those little books about different Roman gods. For context, my elementary school library had a set of nonfiction books, each about a diferent Roman/Greek god.
I feel most connected to Hestia and Athena, but I feel a little bit of a connection to Aphrodite. There is also a little bit of a feeling of Freya, but that could be because she has some simalir domains to Athena. I plan to take this slowly, as I want to ensure that these are genuine connections and not just academic instrests.