- The Altar Within: A Devotional Guide to Liberation – Revised 2nd Edition
- Written by: Juliet Diaz
- Illustrated by: Annie Tarasova
- Published by: Rockpool Publishing, Australia. September 2025
- ISBN: 978-1923208629
- RRP: AUS $29.99 / GB £16.99
- Reviewed by: Bec Birrell
‘The Altar Within is a spell.
An invocation.
A key into your ancestral locks.
A practice in embodied liberation”
The revised edition of The Altar Within – A Devotional Guide to Liberation is an important book, one that seeks to heal and liberate, connect and unite. Written by award winning author and activist, Juliet Diaz, who is well known through her Seasons of the Witch Oracle series, Witchery – Embrace the Witch Within, Plant Witchery and the Earthcraft Oracle. Diaz is an Indigenous Taino and Cuban American, and The Altar Within offers guidance to decolonize and reclaim ancestral wisdom, connection and magic. Founder of the Literary Craft Society, Diaz leads a revolutionary writing community dedicated to fostering change through the transformational power of words. She empowers others to reclaim their voices and align to their truth.
The Altar Within exposes and teaches how to dismantle the colonized framework through which spirituality has been diminished and weaponised. The book lays groundwork to liberate, discover and re-connect, to unlearn, reclaim yourself, your truth and your ancestral wisdom.
Reflection, reconnecting with the self in healthy ways, building personal sovereignty, finding centre and rebuilding authentically, form the basis of this transformational book.
Diaz offers practices that include writing prompts, rituals, incantations, visioning tools, storytelling, tools for courage, lessons to channel anger and develop self compassion, spells and altars to promote liberation and dismantle oppressive empires.
The result is a guidebook to unpack layers of conditioning, to connect with and embrace your unique identity, and to heal ancestral wounds to honour the magic within.
Diaz also highlights that individual healing becomes generational healing, community care and our own personal liberation means liberation for those around us. This does not mean bypassing the reality of oppressive systems and structures but to break down harmful beliefs to reclaim humanity and connection.
There are 11 devotional practices in the book that guide the reader on a journey of deep discovery, beginning in radical love, recognising spiritual bypassing and decolonization techniques. The book also asks the reader to face some deep transformation for growth.
The book offers a process of reclamation to rebuild healthy practices and relationships with the self, the broader community, the collective and the earth. Here are lessons to reconnect to nature, the seasonal cycles and the understanding of time.
Diaz includes rituals, spells and instructions to construct a liberation altar to facilitate the dissolution and dismantling of the systemic oppressive empire by creating supportive practices for freedom, resistance and justice.
“True liberation begins when you stop seeking permission to be yourself”
Throughout, the author gives insight and guidance through lessons and practice to educate, integrate and empower the reader. This is a transformational and important book for reclaiming collective humanity, embracing diversity, inclusion and to honour ancestral wisdom.
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