Taking the Show on the Road
Whether you have a dedicated temple space, a room you practice in as needed, or something else, every sorcerer can benefit from a mobile ritual kit. Let's crack open my sorcerous tote and take a peek not only at what is inside, but also why.
My husband and I recently moved from our apartment in Berlin back to the West Coast of the US. And when I say we moved, I really mean we are spending time between at least three different physical locations on a rotating basis: a tiny cabin in the woods on an island, a sailboat, and my parent's house near Seattle. I went from having a dedicated practice space to something far more... flexible. I've learned a lot in this process, and I'm hoping you find the following useful and hopefully inspiring.
Practical
A Brief Case for the Briefcase
My mobile ritual bag is a hand-me-down briefcase my dad used for work before he retired. It's in great condition considering its age. While I think you can use just about anything to carry your sorcerous gear, I think the humble briefcase has some key benefits. 💼
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The solid structure of a briefcase makes it ideal for carrying a variety of materia. For example, you can put documents in the designated compartment and they will be out of the way of other items, like your jars of various graveyard dirts.
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Everyone looks cool carrying a briefcase. Fact.
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Most briefcases have a built-in combo lock. It won't stop someone determined from popping it open, but it will keep your six-year-old nephew from getting into things he shouldn't.
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Most importantly, a briefcase makes an excellent temporary altar. It's already cleansed and consecrated, right? Keep an altar cloth inside, and you are good for ritual anywhere, especially outdoors.
Notes on Mobile Incense
While a censer and charcoal are totally doable in a mobile ritual kit (with the right-sized censer), I used the mobilization of my practice as an excuse to experiment with natural incenses that can be dried, bundled, and burned without charcoal. This had the added benefit of helping me learn more about the place I'm in, what can be used there, and making friends with the spirits associated with those materials. In my case, I'm using shoots naturally dropped by the many incredible Western Red Cedars found in the Pacific Northwest. The smoke from the leaves of Thuja plicata is used for purification (and other purposes) going back to well before European colonization. It is extremely potent and works like you wouldn't believe. My guess is it works best here in the Pacific Northwest, but if I get a chance to experiment elsewhere, I'll let you know.
This is an image from the
internet, but you get the idea
These little dried bundles are small, can be easily lit anywhere (don't forget your lighter), produce copious smoke, and can be stored in a Ziploc bag for freshness. Super handy and very effective.
A Little Thing Called a Compass
A compass isn't strictly necessary. If you spend at least one day in a place, you'll probably have a general sense of the directions. However, sometimes it's really handy to be able to whip out a compass and get (mostly) exact directions. Yes, there are digital compasses and even fancier survival kit compasses, but the one I have is about the size of three stacked dimes and works great. It is also a magical device, but that's a story for another post.
Speaking of Cardinal Directions
The following is likely to be contentious. That's OK. I'm used to being a bit contentious in the esoteric community.
I use waterproof LED tea lights for the thrones of the elements. 😱
When I have access to a dedicated ritual space, I have small altars in each direction with "real" fire-burning candles. However, one of the things about not knowing where you are going to do ritual next is also not knowing if that's going to be indoors, outdoors, or in some other location where you maybe don't want a bunch of burning candles (like on a sailboat). Battery-powered waterproof LED tea lights work pretty damn well and are extremely versatile and practical. There are metaphysical considerations to take into account, of course, but that's an exercise for the competent practitioner.
I mark my lights with symbols for the directions they belong to with a magic marker, so I know which one goes where.
The Inner Temple
While a mobile ritual kit potentially makes it easier to practice in a wide variety of locations, there is more to a ritual space than the physical objects. I spent nearly six years building up the metaphysical structure of my temple inside of (on top of?) the physical space it occupied. The more I used the temple, the stronger the pattern of the inner temple settled in, and the more potent it became. So I had something of a dilemma when taking my practice mobile: how do I package up the inner structure of the temple and take it with me?
Fortunately, I already had some experience packing up the temple. We used the room my temple was in as a guest room sometimes. On those occasions, I would put away the physical ritual objects and then magically "put away" the temple's pattern. I did that several times and considering none of our guests ever complained about weird dreams or strange noises, I think I did a pretty effective job. I never actually tried to move it though. After spending some time thinking about the problem and talking with my betters, I discovered a solution that works pretty well.
My ritual kit contains a physical anchor for my metaphysical temple.
It's a bit weird to explain, so I'll use a metaphor. Let's say you are a baker and you have been working on a natural sourdough for years. If you had to move, you could pack up some of that starter and take it with you to the new location. After feeding it and getting it going again, you could make new sourdough. Naturally, it will take on some of the characteristics of the new location over time based on the organisms local to that place, however, it's still the same starter and you haven't lost those years of work caring for it and making it delicious.
Hopefully that's enough to get you going if you are in a similar situation. If not, I also offer sorcerous services to practitioners. Contact me via email if you need help.
Meta
I've learned a ton of stuff going through the process of mobilizing my practice. The below is definitely not an exhaustive list but is hopefully enough to get your wheels spinning.
I Had a Lot of Shit I Didn't Need
Constraints are good. While a dedicated ritual space can be a wonderful thing, there is a lot of value in going through the exercise of: if all of my practice gear needs to fit in a briefcase, what do I keep? What is the most useful, and what can I do without?
Spirits of Place
Being mobile, like many things, has its pros and cons. One of the big pros is being able to interact with more spirits of place because I'm practicing in more different places. Obviously, one needs to do some work getting introduced, making offerings, and generally getting approval from the local folks before plopping down a magical briefcase and going to town. A good general life motto: don't be an asshole. But if you approach a place you plan to practice in with care and respect, it's amazing who you might meet there that you never would have otherwise.
Flexibility is Good in Modern Times
People move around a lot these days. Or maybe they always did? 🤷 That's not a bad thing. Even when I had a dedicated ritual space, I was still away from that space a lot of the time. I can (and have) done a lot with practically nothing. I have also re-purposed items in the vicinity for ritual use when needed—things any competent practitioner should be able to do. However, it feels really good to know that I can grab my kit and go just about anywhere, with very little notice, and still have access to the tools and materials I'm comfortable with.
So that's it! There's a lot more that I didn't even write about here because I just don't have the time. Hopefully, this is useful to you and has gotten the juices flowing for building out your own ritual to-go bag.