Since an altar can be set up anywhere, the sky’s the limit for what you consider to be your altar. Maybe you’re a kitchen witch and your spiritual practice is only in the kitchen. Having a special altar cloth where you set your consecrated cooking tools is your altar. Or if you are a green witch, maybe your altar is a certain basket you transport from the garden to indoors while you work to prepare your herbs for use in spells and rituals. It does not need to be a permanent thing by any means, it can be something temporary you decide to set up for special rituals only. But of course, an altar is not necessary because you can find your sacred space inside yourself. You are a witch and whatever you deem sacred, so it is! How To Set Up Your Witchcraft Altar Dried herbs, this could be a bundle for burning or loose herbs you commonly use for spells (or both!) If you haven’t come out of the broom closet yet, there’s lots of options to keep your ritual tools discreetly out of view. A simple drawstring bag works.

Each morning I wake up uncertain of where I’ll land, and for the most part, I don’t mind; after all, it’s what you do during your Morning Ritual that makes it meaningful. However, while I have my favorite cozy nooks—spreading out on the couch as I watch the sun rise, cozying up on my new daybed by the window, sitting outside in my garden as I take in the sights and sounds—there’s one thing I miss: having an altar. The most important question to ask yourself when setting up your altar is: Does the way my altar is set up make it easy for me to work my witchcraft? Think about what you use it for most: Is it meditation, divination, spellwork, or ritual? If you do a lot of rituals with deities, you might want to decorate with their specific correspondences. If you mostly use it for divination or spellwork, make sure you have enough space on your altar to give you the room you need to work. I chose to do the outside cover and inside covers with watercolor panels–painted them, cut them to size, and then used a water-based superglue (the Ultimate) to adhere them. I sealed them with clear acrylic. The outside of the panel just had a little tree scene on it. The inside of the panel included the Druid’s Prayer for Peace as a focus for meditation. Alcohol ink inside the boxes Wherever you decide to put it, having a representation of the four elements can be helpful for when you want to call on the elements when doing spellwork or casting a circle. Your representation of earth should be positioned to the north, air to the east, water to the west, and fire to the south. You might choose something like a bowl of dirt or salt for earth, an incense burner for east, a chalice or a seashell for west, and a candle for south. Whatever first comes to mind when you think of the elements, that is what you should place on your altar. Let’s Talk About Tools But what if you don’t want a permanent altar, are practicing in secret, or have nowhere to put it? A travel altar is easy to make and can easily fit inside of an empty breath-mint tin. Here’s how to make one, whether it is the only altar you have or a secondary one you use when you are away from home! You will need:Optional: a small feather or bell to cleanse energy or represent the element of Air if not using an herb bundle for burning With the biggest travel day of the year coming up, putting together a travel altar is a fun, rewarding project. Tea lights are a great alternative to more cumbersome alternatives if you enjoy the ambience that candles create.

If you take one essential oil with you on your trip, make it peppermint oil! 8. Include a vile of moon water in your altar kit. Peppermint oil is a great essential oil to take on a trip. 8. Include a vile to Moon Water In Your Altar SetRepresentation of earth: wood burned tree image on wood round, rough stone, green stone, vial of earth, sand, vial of salt, salt cube Even though I’m now a homeowner, sometimes it still doesn’t feel like I have a place to call my own. In terms of decoration, I had two different approaches. Since I wanted to cover up the Altoids logo (I was using repurposed tins), I made nice watercolor panels that I sealed with an acrylic sealer. This helped protect them from wear and tear. I glued those on the inside, top, and bottom of each altar.

Dot it on your wrists or behind your ears like perfume to calm frayed nerves from a long flight or help you keep from saying something you’ll regret to your annoying Aunt Nelly. A travel altar is a great idea for anyone. You can set up a travel altar for any kind of purpose. You can use whatever kind of carrying case you like, too! If you like the atmosphere candles create, tea lights offer some advantage for travel over their more cumbersome counterparts. There are many options for keeping your ritual tools hidden from view if you haven’t yet gotten out of the broom cupboard. Simple drawstring bags work well.Other tools you may choose to include could be an athame or wand for directing energy, a bell or broom for energy clearing before spellwork, or even displaying your Book of Shadows. You might also like to decorate your altar with crystalsand dried herbs and flowers. DIY Travel Altar In the end, what you place in your travel altar is up to you because anything has the potential to serve as a window to the Divine—you simply have to pay holy attention. I know that my travel altar will encourage me to do just that, inviting me to seek deeper meaning even on the most ordinary of days. GO FURTHER… Another option here is painting–if you are working on metal, enamels work well. You can also use spray paint (a technique here is to paint one shade, let it dry, then take leaves, flowers, or ferns and then lay them on top of the box and spray a second shade).