Altars and shrines are different from one another, but people often use the terms interchangeably. Many people have what they call ‘altars’, when in fact what they have is a shrine they perform ritual at.

An altar is a working space - it may have a few things on it, but it’s usually used as a staging area more than anything. Altars usually have some expanse of open space.

A shrine is a space that honours a particular being or concept, and holds all sorts of objects dedicated to whatever the shrine is in honour of.

It’s not a hard and fast thing. Some altars are left in readiness for use by having tools and other things in place. Some shrines are simple, and relatively bare.  Both can be portable, although in most cases shrines are fixed in location and content, and altars are more transient, set up only when needed and then taken down.

I have shrines everywhere (13, last I counted). But this is my altar. It’s a working space for me. I leave my tools, such as they are, in place, but there are times I remove them. The space is open for whatever work I need doing - magical or ritual. I absolutely prefer my altar to be ready for any use, and not be cluttered or dirty. I tend to interact with the shrines in my house daily, while my altar sees use a couple times a month.

However, my altar also holds two small shrines, one for the Lady of the Wica, and one for Her Consort. I’ve taken what normally might be a single icon or statue for each deity, and added some small objects and multiple icons. So my altar is also a shrine.

Clear as mud!