We Love These Portable Altars For Witchcraft On The Move
Portable altars take up little space and ensure you always have powerful tools at hand. Here are some of our favourites. What do you keep in yours?
Sometimes a witch stands still, holding the centre. Sometimes a witch moves with the speed of lightning, the fluidity of water, the inexorability of shifting tectonic plates. Movement need not be a barrier to magic.
You may prefer to work solitary magic before your home’s altar in comfort and privacy. A portable altars helps one achieve a glorious sense of agency, whatever the location. Outside workings in nature or stopovers at a friend’s house become far easier. Have magickal tools, will travel. Stand down, because this witch will never be caught unprepared.
We’ve found some really delightful portable altars for you to peruse at leisure. Their artful contents may inspire you to consider what’s in your own altar-on-the-move. And, of course, if you feel drawn to any of the portable altars we’ve selected to showcase here, you can buy them online. A lot of work, heart and art has gone into them.
Water Witch Portable Altar from Cypress Grail
If you’re witch, pagan or magickal other who’s called to the water, this cunningly refurbished cigar box contains the following necessaries:
- Miniature wand
- Miniature shell cauldron
- Gemstone
- Smooth stone with pentacle
- Small travel bottle with sea salt and rosemary herb mix.
The altar focuses on the spirit of water but you can imbue it with your own energy over time and reformat it at will. Cypress Grail offer many more desirables at their store including wands, bone jewellery and more.
Celtic Spiral Portable Altar from The Elvish Tailor
This 12-inch portable altar is based on an Elizabethan petal bag. Its four velvet panels open to reveal four pockets. Each pocket contains a handmade glazed ceramic bowl for salt, water, incense and a candle. folds easily into a bag, and its circle design is ideal for acknowledging the for quarters and making a shrine or altar to suit all needs. It is also beautifully tactile. Silk, cotton, felt and velvet were used in its making. The outer velvet layer is embroidered with spirals to symbolise the spiral of life and the spirit’s journey.
Portable Basic Ritual Altar from Maiden Mother Crone
This carved wood box (5 x 8 inches) contains everything you need for a basic ritual, and could serve well as a starter kit. It also has its uses if you’re living in a small space such as a studio or dorm. Its compact size means you can travel to outdoor workings or between places and know that your tools and ingredients within will be very safe in your bag.
This ritual altar kit contains a myriad of items suited to wiccans, pagans and ritual workers:
- Carved box
- Brass burner (approx. 3″ tall)
- 6″ Athame with a wooden handle, stainless steel blade, brass trim and leather sheath
- Soapstone pentagram (approx. 3″)
- Chalice featuring an engraved pentagram, approx. 4″ tall
- Two white candles
- Charcoal disk for burning incense
- Bag of cleansing herbs (sage, rosemary, cedar, lavender)
- Bag of frankincense resin
- Instructions for consecrating and blessing your magical tools
Portable Pagan Altar in a Tin from The Witch Chandlery
We are partial to things in tins. Tins are so small, so tough, so personal. More things should come in tins.
This very clever pagan altar contains an impressive array of magical tools in a compact space small enough to fit in your pocket. The tin is also very discreet, with no exterior markings. No-0ne need know its contents unless you choose to tell them. It’s unusual in that it contains green man and goddess pieces cast in Tibetan silver as well as a full array of useful things:
- Altar cloth
- Tibetan silver green man and goddess pieces
- Hand-made pentagram
- Hand-made candle holder
- Mini bessom
- Mini hand-carved wand
- Spell candle
- Incense cone holder
- 2 incense cones
- 3 glass vials for salt, oil and water.
So much in a tin. Tins are amazing.
Gothic Portable Altar from Sacred Grove UK
Continuing with a tin theme, this gothic portable altar paints it black. And black has always been our favourite colour. This kit contains:
- Black pentagram altar cloth
- Tibetan silver pentagram
- Tibetan silver goddess and green man
- Small clay incense burner with two Nag Champa incense cones
- Feather to represent air
- Quartz crystal to represent earth
- Tea light candle to represent fire
- Sea shell to represent water
- Glass vial for oil
- Sage for cleansing and protecting
- Mini besom
What do you keep in your own portable altar?
Do you represent the elements with bones, feathers, incense, salt, candles, lighters, seashells, glass vials of water?
Do you keep your items in a tin, box or foldable bag or pouch?
Do you like to use an altar cloth?
Do you have personal items in there, whether they are fetishes or Tarot cards or items you’ve gathered through your past?
Mookychick’s founding editor has a very simple portable altar. She invokes the elements with an easily replaceable sachet of salt (earth) and vinegar (water) from a fast food joint, along with a cigarette (air) and lighter (fire). Her wand is her finger. Sometimes she’ll use leaves she found on the ground. But everyone’s personal portable altar is just that – personal. We all build and cherish and consecrate our tools in our own way, and work magic in a way that fits us best.
The idea of a portable altar is just darling, darling. How do you do yours?