It may be best to envision heathenry as a series of cults. The lowest, foundational cult would in such a model be the hearth cult, the home. This is where the family comes together and worships, and where we live out our ideals day to day. Recognizing that many heathens are solitary, this will be written from the perspective of the individual, for the individual, though it should be easily adapted for the family, and uses germanic, roman, and gallo-roman inspirations for practice.

The Ancestors

The Veneration of ancestors is one of the foundational practices of modern heathens. This, more than any other hearth practice, should be personal and regionalized. You know best what would please your family.

I suggest paying respect to the religion of your ancestors; as I come from a Catholic family, my altar includes a bible, a rosary, and saint medallions, and I sometimes say a hail mary over the altar. Also recommended is leaving offerings that would be appreciated by the recently deceased, those you knew in life. I like to leave my grandmother offerings of coffee and dew berries, and sometimes I share my morning coffee with her as I tell her about my week.

That being said, the ancestor altar should also have the basic rudiments of ritual in order to be conducive to contact with the deceased. An altar, at minimum, should have a candle, white or of a color enjoyed by a certain ancestor, a glass for leaving simple drink offerings, and photos of the deceased, as an icon. I also choose to leave items I received as gifts for the recently deceased.

Those longer dead may be referred to simply as “the ancestors”. It is incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to recall and honor the entirety of one’s lineage by name. You may also choose to include particularly notable ancestors of the distant past in your more in depth worship. For Americans of Old World descent, you may choose your First American Ancestor.

Remember, an altar is not the only way to honor your ancestors, nor is it the most traditional. Praising the ancestor’s names and deeds is a very common, and I feel necessary, practice.

The House Wihte

There are questions to answer when discussing house wihtes. In my personal opinion, these are not animistic representations of the house, as some may argue. Rather, when looking at the fairy tales of Europe, or even the religion of the Romans, the house seems to be inhabited by a variety of spirits, although their existence is often intricately linked with the home itself.

With that in mind, it is possible that a given house may not have wihtes. In British folklore, we can observe certain rituals performed during or shortly after the construction of a home to bind or attract a spirit to the house, such as a practice of nailing a worker’s shadow to the wall of the new home. In the Roman tradition, certain deities associated with the hearth may bring a retinue of spirits with them. A home could very well be “spirit-dead”.

There can be a vast manner of ways to bring a wihte into the home. One could argue that this is a function of the land taking ritual, or they could observe some sort of ritual to bind a spirit to the home, such as a sacrifice, or they could even perform some sort of modern ritual to attract spirits, such as those popular among Wiccans and witches.

Once the home is inhabited by a wihte, I believe that, like the ancestors, it is the duty of the homeowner to establish how the relationship is best maintained. In some folktales, it is an insult to thank the spirit for the work done in the home. In other sources, it is a prerequisite. One may choose to simply leave a bit of food out, or have an entire altar dedicated to the household spirits. The head of the house or the lady of the house may be designated to deal with the wihte. There is very little written on this aspect of the hearth cult in germanic cultures, so one may want to look towards Rome for inspiration.

Hearth Goddesses

There are numerous Goddesses associated with the hearth and home. These watch over the housework, traditionally the woman’s work, and therefore the lady of the house, and in some cases the children. When establishing the house altar, it may be preferable to put an icon of a chosen hearth goddess in a place of especial honor, such as the center of the altar. She may be invoked to watch over religious rites in the home.

There are a variety of hearth goddesses to choose from. I personally worship Berhta (Berchta/Holda) in my home, and give her offerings at the beginning of every major household ritual. One may also be attracted to some iteration of Frigga, or to the Gallo-Roman Matronae (while not necessarily hearth goddesses, they should fill the role quite nicely). After choosing a certain goddess, I suggest studying them in depth to find appropriate offerings, or else leaving simple offerings, such as a bit of the family meal or a stick of incense.

The Altar

While there is little evidence of household altars in most Germanic societies, it has become a staple of modern paganism and was certainly present among the Romans. Ideally, the altar will be placed in the foyer, or the main room of the home. If this is not possible, place it in the kitchen or near the fireplace, should you have one. If this also proves impossible, the bedroom will suffice (if you have an altar in the foyer or kitchen, you may wish to put a second altar in the bedroom anyway). The altar should not be somewhere so out of the way you forget it, but also not in the way where it may be jostled. Only items to be used in religious ritual should be stored on the altar.

The altar can be made of any flat surface; I use a book shelf. Other options may be an end table, a countertop, or a nightstand. An altar with shelves or drawers will be ideal for holding ritual supplies when not in use. Over the surface should be laid an altar cloth; this can be a cloth specially purchased and blessed for this purpose, or it can simply be a nice, clean towel or blanket.

The altar should at very least have a bowl in which to receive offerings, a candle or oil lamp, an incense burner and a case in which to store incense, and a vessel (preferably a pitcher) to hold drink offerings prior to being poured. This is based off a Roman household altar, and if you perform more Roman-style rituals in your home, it would also be nice to include a container for salt.

You may wish to place icons of the Gods on the altar. Excellent choices would be your hearth goddess, a god or goddess designated for frequent worship by your family (I personally worship Nertha (Nerthus) heavily, and am in the process of procuring an icon for her), or various deities you have a particular attraction to. My own altar includes icons to Sunna and Manno (Mani).

There is an excellent outline for use of the altar in ritual here. I prefer to only burn the candle while I am present and performing the ritual; others may prefer to burn it until it extinguishes itself