Black Velvet Altar Cloth (Small, ~24 in.)

Sinderella's note

Black velvet, small square, drapes over the corner of the folding table. The cloth under the deck before you cut it. The cloth under the candleholders. The cloth that turns a kitchen counter into an altar. Cheap on Amazon, lasts forever, gets better with the wax stains. Get one. *Madonn',* every reader has one.

The long version

A small black velvet cloth — usually 24 × 24 inches, sometimes embroidered with a pentacle or Tree of Life or just plain — is the universal *under-cloth* of altar work and tarot reading. The cloth goes under the deck before you cut it. It goes under the candleholders during a working. It transforms a kitchen counter or a folding table or a dresser top into a *space set apart* — which is what an altar is, more than any specific shape or content. Velvet is the traditional fabric because it absorbs candle wax (which inevitably drips) and it absorbs *light* — your eye stops seeing the surface beneath the work and starts seeing only the work itself. Black is the standard color (most absorbing) but deep purple, oxblood, and midnight blue all work. Sinderella keeps a small black velvet square on the corner of the folding table that she folds back when she's not reading — the act of unfolding the cloth is part of how she signals to herself that she's *starting.* The cloths are cheap on Amazon (~$15 for a 24-inch square) and last for years. They get better with the wax stains, the candle smoke, the fingerprints. Don't wash them — the patina is the point. Pair with the brass candleholders, the abalone shell, the saint card stack. Saint Cecilia for the music played at the altar. Saint Mary Magdalene for the women who keep their work close.