The Altar is the name for the work space where we perform our rites.  It can be a special altar, made for that purpose, a kitchen table or even a large rock or tree stump.

Some people consecrate their Altar and treat it like a Ritual Tool, and some people treat the Altar as a place to put your tools and don't consecrate it or keep it apart from their everyday items.

Some people choose to cover their Altar in a pretty Altar Cloth, and some people don't.  Again, some people consecrate this and some don't.  I am (eventually) going to make an Altar cloth for each Sabbat, in appropriate colours, and as part of the celebration I am going to embroider a symbol of that Sabbat each year (and date them) so that I will have something to pass on to my children (if they become Pagan).... If you do this, it might be a good idea to have a sheet of glass the same size as your Altar to go ontop of the cloth, so that if you spill anything, or the candles drip, it won't ruin the cloth.

I use a camphor wood chest or a coffee table I bought as an Altar, and I store my tools inside the chest when I am not using them.  I like to kneel at the Altar, so mine are always about 2 foot off the ground (or a little less), but you can have one that you stand at if you prefer it that way.

Another thing I often use is a "granny trolley".  The kind you see old women walking to the supermarket with, the box on wheels made of vynal..... well I have a black metal one of them (it's basically a black metal cage on wheels) so it doesn't look as daggy as the vynal kind, and if I am doing rituals out in a park or national forest etc. I can place all my tools and things into the trolley, wheel it to where I am going, unload it, and lay the trolley on it's side - which becomes the Altar.  I also have a sheet of thin wood that I lay across it to stop things dissapearing through the holes (the cloth doesn't stay taught enough)

My Altar is usually laid out in this manner:

This is a guide only.  Instead of candles for the Deities, you can have representations.  Here is a list of some of the objects that represent them:

Goddess:  Crystal, necklace, Cauldron, Shell, Pearl, Labrys, Corn dolly, Flowers, Stone with a hole in it.  You could also use a statue or a picture of a Goddess.

God: Censer,  Horn, Arrow, sickle, pointy shells, anything phallic.  Or a statue or picture of a God.

My Glossary page may explain some of these strange words. The Altar should face the north in a Northern Hemisphere, and the South in the Southern hemisphere.

If you don't have a compass, you can stand at the entrance of the room and take north to be infront of you.   Others may say that this method is wrong, but if you believe it will work then it will.  Another way is to see what feels right and place the Elements there.  It is not as important where you put them, as long as you have them somewhere.

You may also like to have an offering plate on the Altar.  The Offering plate is where you place some small cakes or biscuits, which you will eat some of during the feast.  You must always leave some for the Goddess and God and when you have finished the ritual, take it outside and bury it in the ground.  The feast also includes a chalice of wine or water, juice, whatever you like, again some of this is to be left for the Goddess and God.  You do not need to gorge yourself,  a small biscuit and a sip of wine should be enough.  The feast is to celebrate the Goddess and God, but to also ground you after your ritual.