Your altar and your casting circle are important parts of what makes your magic spells powerful and successful. There are three parts that I want to discuss in this article: your altar, the circle, and "anchor" objects.
Your Altar
Your altar is the place at which you perform your magic spells. It can be a custom made marble table designed for witchcraft, or it can be a simple fold out coffee table, or even just an old cardboard box on the floor.
Your altar is used for placing candles onto, for laying out any objects which might be involved in the spell you're about to cast, and to give you a central focus for your power. Your altar will also become more and more decorated and sacred over time, as you collect more charms, pendants, magical objects and so on, and as you impart your power into the altar with each spell.
Having a place you can go that is blessed, sacred and magical will help you with your magic no end.
Your Circle Of Magic
Your circle is where you stand or sit to cast your spells, or a place on your altar where you focus your attention. Circles are often combined with pentagrams and anchor objects (see the next section) to increase their significance and power. In general though, your circle can be just a circular rug on the floor, or a piece of string or ribbon laid out on the floor, or even cushions, or just a circular object on your altar.
The circle is there to contain your energy, keep it close to you and help you to channel it into your spell. You can cleanse and bless the circle by sprinkling blessed water around the circle before your spell, and purify it by burning incense, but these steps are optional if you're in a hurry.
Anchor Objects
Lastly, anchor objects are small trinkets, charms, pendants or other objects that have some significance to you and help you bring up feelings, emotions and energy inside yourself related to that anchor. For example, you might have a small jar of seawater collected from a very spiritual and wonderful holiday you had (which relates to the spirit of Water), or you might have a small crafted dragon you were given by an old friend (which relates to the spirit of Fire) and so on.
Look around yourself and think about what you have that you can use in your magic to represent the 5 elements - Earth, Air, Fire, Water and Spirit (Aether). Then find an anchor object for each spirit, and lay those 5 objects around your circle to connect it and you completely with the power of nature.
The important thing to remember about magic spells and witchcraft is that there is no "wrong" answer. Do what feels right for you, and what helps you to make a powerful connection with your inner spirit and the world around you. By all means take ideas from other witches, but don't feel like you have to copy them exactly. Witchcraft is a wonderful craft - now get out there and get involved!