Witches and pagans hear me out! Everyone else, ignore this post!
Have you ever been out in the park and suddenly thought "hm I'd really like to do a magical/religious thing right now but all my supplies are at home!"? You've probably already heard of the concept of a "pocket altar" but let me tell you, it is a lifesaver, and if you haven't made one yet then you really should! I mean, far be it from me to tell anyone how to do their own spiritual thing - like, you do you, obviously - but it is a nifty little thing that comes in handy.
First things first, you're gonna need an Altoids tin.
Why an Altoids tin, you may ask? They're a perfect size for carrying around - small enough to fit in one's purse or pocket (if you have real pockets, not female pants 'pockets'), but big enough to fit just enough supplies for magic(k)al/spiritual workings on the go. First things first, though, you're gonna need to empty the tin. Those super-strong mints are gonna have to be evicted one way or another.
Some ideas of what to do with the Altoids mints if you, like me, do not like the taste of them:
- Dissolve them in hot cocoa
- Make scented sachets for your bathroom to overpower that 'just took a shit' smell
- Make a peppermint spray by crushing them up and mixing the powder with water and a bit of unscented dish soap - it's great for keeping mosquitos away, not that that's a concern in February
You can decorate the outside of the tin if you like. Me, I left it as is because I'd rather people, seeing it my purse, just assume it's mints. I don't like too many questions about my spirituality. It's not like I hide it - if people ask me directly "are you Heathen?" I'll say yes, but I don't like to advertise it either because I prefer to just, like, keep my religious stuff to my damn self. (I realise the irony of saying this on a public blog...)
Anyway, once you empty the tin, you're going to need to fill it back up again - here are the basics I would recommend:
ONE BUSINESS CARD
It is imperitave you find one with at least one blank side. Doesn't matter what's on the other side, you won't see it. This is going in the inside lid of your tin - it fits perfectly, and so snugly that you don't actually need to glue it.
On the blank side, what you'll see when you open the tin up, you can write a small spell, maybe a circle casting if that's part of your tradition. You can write a sigil. You can draw a representation of the 4 elements or the gods or the fae or whatever resonates with your specific brand of spirituality. You can write your favourite prayer. Myself, I wrote the script to a small opening/closing rite - not strictly part of my religious practises but it works for me when I want to do spellwork.
TEALIGHT CANDLE
A tealight candle fits perfectly in an altoids tin. And they come in many colours, but I would honestly say to get a basic white one, because white works for every kind of working - no matter what you need it for (love spells, financial spells, prayers to the gods), white can stand in for any colour because all colours are derived from pure white light, it is the balanced presence of all colours in synthesis, so white candles can be substituted for any other colour in many rituals if necessary
MATCHES
If you're not sensitive to scents, you can get incense matches - this saves space in the tin, too, because you don't have to get incense as well. But a plain matchbook is just as well. You just need something to light the candle with when you use it.
SALT (for purification)
When you order takeout you get those little salt packets, so now you finally have a use for them! Salt has a long history across many cultures of being used for magical purification and protection. Among spell-casters working in many European folk-magic traditions, it is a commonplace to lay down a pinch of salt in each corner of a room before performing a spell. This has carried over into contemporary African-American hoodoo practise as well. You can also place it under your tongue to ground yourself after particularly intense trancework or meditation.
Warning - if out in nature please do not sprinkle salt directly on the ground. It can harm plants directly and also indirectly by eroding the soil they grow in - remember the story of Ancient Rome salting the earth in Carthage? Apocryphal or not, you still should never sprinkle it directly on the ground.
A DIVINATION TOOL
Optional but it's useful, especially if you're going to be working with deities or spirits. You'll want a way to communicate with them, won't you? I would recommend a pendulum for this. It's a simpler divination tool, really only good for yes/no answers, but it works well and fits better than, like, an entire bag of runes or an entire deck of tarot cards. (Though you can get mini tarot cards. I'm not sure how well they would fit, but you definitely can.)
These are the bare minimum of things you can put in your tin. Mine also has a dimebag of mugwort (yes it does look like weed) and a small amethyst in there. But as it is a small tin, you don't want to have too much in there. Remember, you don't need a lot of tools to perform magic - the magic is inside of you!
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| My pocket altar |
Nym
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