By building a stone shrine, altar, or power center in your home, you can create a place for daily conjuring, rituals, and thinking. This will set the stage for you to focus your ideas and make them grow. Having a shrine in your home allows you to rid yourself of personal obstacles and invite friendly spirits. Your shrine will spark your inner flame and bring daily renewal. The more use an altar gets, the more energy it builds, making your spells even more effective.

Create your shrine on a low table covered in a white scarf. Set rainbow candles in an arc and then add black and white candles. Place a heatproof bowl containing amber incense (good for creativity and healing), and place it in the center of the rainbow, surrounded by quartz. You should also keep a stick of sage or a seashell on your altar for cleansing the space every day.

Prosperity stones should be placed to the far left on the altar, in the money corner. Romance crystals should sit to the far right on the altar.

The rest of your altar should consist of meaningful, personal symbols. They should reflect your spiritual aspirations. I keep fresh wildflowers in a vase, a statue of a goddess, abalone shells, a magnetite obelisk, and a rock-crystal ball on my altar. An obelisk or pyramid on your altar can be used for writing out desires and wishes. You can use just about anything—photos of loved ones, religious images, and so forth.

With your altar, you can create a bridge between your outer and inner worlds. It can even be a place where you commune with the deepest and most hidden parts of yourself. An altar is where you can honor the rhythms of the season and the rhythms of your own life. An altar is a touchstone, a place to see the sacred and incorporate it into your life each and every day. It can be your special corner of the world where you can rest and connect with your spiritual center. Creating and augmenting your altar every day is one of the most soul-nourishing acts you can do.

Following is a comprehensive overview of different crystals and what their presence on your altar will mean:

Altar Crystal: amazonite, aventurine, carnelian, chrysolite, chrysoprase, citrine, green tourmaline, malachite, yellow fluorite

What They Mean: Creativity

Altar Crystal: amethyst, azurite, celestite, lapis lazuli, moonstone, selenite, smoky quartz, sodalite, star sapphire, yellow calcite

What They Mean: Intuition

Altar Crystal: amethyst, magnetite, rhodochrosite, rose quartz, twinned rock crystals

What They Mean: Love

Altar Crystal: bloodstone, carnelian, citrine, dendritic agate, diamond, garnet, hawk’s-eye, moss agate, peridot, ruby, tiger’s-eye, topaz, yellow sapphire

What They Mean: Prosperity

Altar Crystal: amber, apache tear, chalcedony, citrine, green calcite, jade, jet, smoky quartz

What They Mean: Protection

Altar Crystal: azurite, chalcedony, chrysocolla, green tourmaline, hematite, rutilated quartz, tiger’s-eye

What They Mean: Self-Assurance

Altar Crystal: amber, aventurine, blue jade, dioptase, Herkimer diamond, jasper, kunzite, moonstone, onyx, peridot, quartz, rhodonite

What They Mean: Serenity

Altar Crystal: carnelian, obsidian, quartz, selenite, sodalite, topaz

What They Mean: Success

Altar Crystal: agate, aventurine, bloodstone, calcite, chalcedony, citrine, dioptase, emerald, garnet, orange calcite, ruby, topaz

What They Mean: Vigor

Altar Crystal: emerald, fluorite, Herkimer diamond, moldavite, serpentine, yellow calcite

What They Mean: Wisdom