#chthonic dieties

If a witch chooses to keep an altar as part of their practice, it is their choice what items and tools they display and/or use. These are just a few ideas I have taken from my personal altars. Feel free to use anything for your altar that feels right. These are just suggestions!

Tools
Athame (Knife) - Can be used similarly to a wand if desired or to prepare offerings, incense, etc. Any safe metal is appropriate and a bone handle is a plus! Many use them for display or as protection talismans.

Wand - Can be used as an extension of your hand to channel energy, point, or draw sigils within a circle or as part of a spell. Metal, bone, wood, or crystal wands all work equally well. 

Candles - Either to use in spells, to create atmosphere, or to burn during meditation. Black, white, red, silver and gold candles work well and metal candleholders or candlesticks compliment death work.

Cauldron - Often used to burn offerings, spells, or incense. 

Offering Dish - Primarily used to place offerings on the altars. I prefer bowls so that liquid offerings can be given. I prefer to designate one vessel for food/drink and others for unrelated offerings.

Crystals - Can be used for spell work, to cleanse or protect an altar, or as decoration. Some excellent choices are onyx, obsidian, tourmaline, pyrite, clear quartz, and hematite.

Other
Plants/Terrariums - I love using graveyard dirt and moss collected at cemeteries to make small terrariums for my altar to give me a task at my altar each day. Living plants can also be tended on an altar. 

Skulls, Bones, Mummies - This may be a given, but oddities like these are excellent representations of death (skulls, bones, mummies, wet specimens, mounted insects, etc.).

 Graveyard Dirt - I like to keep a small amount of graveyard dirt on my altar at all times. Ensure this is collected ethically and with respect.

Art - Visual representations help motivate a lot of my practice and keeping my altar beautiful aesthetically supports my craft. Keeping figurines, prints, paintings, etc. on or around your altar may be a source of inspiration.

Photographs - If your craft is centered around ancestor veneration, grief practices, or funerary rights, than it might be appropriate to keep photos of deceased relatives/friends/pets on your altar.

Altar Themes:
Dieties
Mushrooms/Fungi
Ancestor Veneration
Decomposition
Life Cycle
Funerary Rites