Aphrodite has been in my life for as long as I remember being entranced by the sea and the beauty of it all. As a kid, I was very entranced by shorelines and anything that came from the sea, especially seashells and pearls and other objects that come from the water all polished.

It came very naturally for me to accept Aphrodite as a strong presence in my life. I've always been enamoured with aesthetics and colors and things looking 'right'. She also called to me with how much of a hopeless romantic I was (and still am) back when I was a child.

I think it's sometimes very easy to dismiss love or strong emotions as some sort of frivilous or unhelpful thing. I remember being told that emotions equated to weakness, or that you weren't thinking 'rationally', whatever that meant.

I think it'd be near impossible to deny myself the love and joy that I visibly share every day. I won't lie, I am a very excitable and moveable person! I love poems and stories of romance and one of my secret pleasures is watching rom-coms. I've always been fixated in the various ways love can manifest itself, whether in it's romantic or platonic or whatever forms it takes on.

I have Aphrodite to thank for this boundless, cyclical life filled with pleasures and self-worth and love in all it's forms.

As for her altar, it remains in the same spot that my previous all encompassing shrine was. It carries my water associated items, especially the ones that I associate with Pisces or Cancer. I also have some personal items on there that are either from those close to me or they represent them.

I've recently repurposed an emptied Nivea Creme container into a pressed flower and plant box, as I literally had way too many pressings on her dish. Not that she doesn't deserve them all! But I like the idea of having them in a storage container and switching them out when seasons change. It also kept the dust to the minimum and made clean up easier!

My associated scent with her is also on the altar: a bottle of Florida Water. I sometimes spritz this on myself when I need a little boost of confidence. The smell is so incredible!

Gifts

• Online Altar (Includes GIFs and non-autoplaying music)