Teeny Tiny Altars

Many people can’t set up a full sized permanent altar in their living space for various reasons. Some folks are still “in the broomcloset”. Some don’t wish to upset loved ones. Some simply don’t have the space, or live where they’re not allowed to light candles or incense. It is for those people that I offer these suggestions for teeny tiny altars.

The tiniest of altars I’ve ever put together was done in a matchbox. Talk about portable! This is perfect for the witch or pagan who is still in the broomcloset or who is on the road a great deal.

You’ll need a matchbox and small items to go inside. For a witch, half of a birthday candle with a little oil clay on the bottom to stand it up, a tiny stone, a tiny vial of water and another of salt (the vials that perfume samples come in are ideal), and a small feather will work to represent the elements. If you can find miniature figures to serve as representatives of your gods, even better, but they’re not necessary. Decorate the outside of the box to suit yourself. I painted mine black and drew on a pentacle with a silver paint pen. The top of the box becomes your surface and will hold all the tiny tools held within. (For a Kemetic, take a look at IJ’s suggestions, for they could easily be done in a tiny matchbox size altar!)

Moving up in size, find a small box. Those lovely carved boxes that occult shops sell to store tarot cards in work perfectly, but any box that has a fitted lid that is flat enough to stand things on will work just fine. A baby shoe box would work, just decorate the outside nicely. Inside, tuck away a square of silk (hunt your local second hand shops for lovely old silk scarves!), a candle and a holder, vials of salt and water (small spice jars work nicely for the salt, and any small vial that won’t leak for the water), small figures if you desire. Whatever suits your practices that is small enough to neatly tuck in the box. You can even find tiny athames that would fit well (and a letter opener will work nicely for the purpose) and a cordial glass would make a nice, tiny chalice.

If you need your box to be private, look for a small locking jewelry box. Because the contents will be securely hidden, you can get a little more obvious with the symbolism on them, and many of these boxes have a lift-out tray that can be inverted to use as your working surface. You can also go a little larger. I have one that is about 8x13x8” in size that is large enough to hold full sized candles, an athame, small stones, an altar cloth, a jar of salt, anointing oils, incense and a holder, a bell, a small chalice and various other altar wares. It latches shut and has a loop for a padlock. It has a lift out tray inside that, if I wanted, I could decorate the bottom of it to be a good working surface with a pentacle painted on.

Some other tips for these portable altars:

If you can’t have lit candles, you can imbue the candle with flame, trim off the burnt wick and voila, a candle that has no sign of ever having been lit and thus should pass inspection by dorm heads, etc., as they then appear to be merely decorative items. If the rules don’t implicitely state otherwise, just lighting and putting out will do, but check the rules of your dorm.

In the same vein, for those places where you can’t burn incense, anything that is fragrant will work for the purpose. Small vials of perfume, oils, or unlit incense would be perfect.

As noted before, for the tiniest of portable altars, perfume sample vials work beautifully for carrying a bit of water and your salt in. If you don’t want the printing on them, try removing it with denatured alcohol (CAUTION: denatured alcohol is highly flammable, so no smoking, candles, etc. while working with it!) or acetone nail polish remover. Or paint over them with colors that symbolize what they contain. Small spice jars are a great way to contain things as well, depending on the size of your portable altar box. To hold water in a small jar without leaks, you can seal the lid with wax. For water, I like the little bottles that vanilla and other liquid extracts come in, as they’re designed to contain liquids. I still seal with wax to be on the safe side, though it isn’t necessary.

You can find small candle holders that will hold a birthday candle at craft supply stores, or use a bit of oil clay to support your small candles. There’s also sticky wax that you will find at the candle stores that is meant specifically for holding candles up in their holders.

For small athames, look for letter openers, as they make excellent athames. You can also find tiny stone and bone blades that will work, and in the tiniest altar, you could use a cocktail pick in the shape of sword for one. Anything with a dual-edged blade, really, will work fine.

For element representations, look around your home and yard. You’ll probably have something to represent all four primary elements, air, earth, fire, and water, that you can use.

For air, a feather works nicely. In my teeny tiny altar I use a down feather with a blob of wax on the end to weight it down so it doesn’t fluff away on me. Incense, of course, would be ideal. A miniature fan would do nicely as well.

For earth, a stone, a bit of dirt, salt or any number of other things will represent the element beautifully.

For fire, something red, a candle, a vial of sulphur or a match will work.

For water, a seashell, a vial of water or a bit of dried seaweed would be good.

You can make your tiny altar as simple or elaborate as you desire. I prefer to keep it simple. But with the many miniatures available, you could pack a full altar with athame, chalice, pentacle, altar cloth, candles, figurines, and all the other gear on your full-sized altar into a case no bigger than a cigar box quite easily.
For an altar to carry with you to events, I’d recommend going a little larger, while still staying compact.
For a witchcraft version, you’ll need:
A box about the size of a shoe box with a flat, sturdy lid.
A cloth large enough to drape over the box.
A small athame.
A silver, plastic or other shatterproof chalice.
Two (god and goddess) to four (quarters) shatterproof candle holders and candles.
Incense and appropriate shatterproof/heatproof holder to burn it in.
A small jar of salt.
A small bottle of water.
A small bottle of annointing oil.
An shatterproof bell.
Small figures to represent your god and goddess, if you’re not using candles for that purpose, and something to wrap them in during storage.

Everything should neatly fit inside the box, and you should decorate the box with appropriate symbols. My own is a wood box. It has a pent painted on the top, with the alchemical symbols for the elements on the corners. It’s very simple, but carries everything within that I want on my altar when I’m working away from my main altar. For those who can’t openly display witchcraft symbols, paint them on the inside and make sure that your box can be securely locked. I also have in mine a point of quartz (earth), a feather (air), a chunk of sulphur in a vial (fire) and a seashell (water) to place at the quarters with my quarter candles.

There are many other types of altar, and several folks have offered their input on what they keep on their altars. I’m offering their input here as well. My thanks to all those who offered their input, and if you don’t see yours listed, it’s only because I’m trying to present only those that are most different in some manner from what is in my own.

-->The arrows indicate my comments.

Full sized altar: 2 candles, salt/water censer/incense chalice, pentacle, cords, bell wand, athame, sword. Tiny altar: (ideally) 1 candle (or small 4tealighter I have is nice) pentacle, crystals, small censer/incense Lisa

-->Lisa’s main altar is pretty typical, but I like her pared down tiny altar ideas.

I have a incense burner that is heated by a tealight. You know one of the oil burner things. Works great because it is both fire--tealight and air--fragrant oil. I have two tiny crystal censers from Restoration Hardware that were ment to be used for salt and pepper with these tiny silver spoons. Well I use them for my salt, or at least one of them. I can put a bit of sea salt in it and the silver spoon is used to put the salt in my goblet/chalice/cup. Water--I usually have spring water on hand, but tap works in a pinch. Meryt

-->Meryt’s simple altar is elegant in its presentation, I think. Everything is there that needs to be in very little space.

Ok, my personal altar has:
Two pink candles (to invite female energy into my home, and encourage the conception of a girl child)
A Venus of Willendorf sculpture that I made in a design class (to honor fertility)
A vial of rain water
One of Tristan's first shoes (to shield him)
A tiny edition of Shakespeare set next to a tiny pen (To encourage my muse to visit when I write)
Some rocks that I gathered on Beltane
Incense
Massage oil that we use during Tantra sessions.

Our shared altar has:
A statue of lovers
The goblet we use for sharing water
Nag Champa, which we burn during Tantra
A small Petunia plant for fertility
The Principia Discordia A golden Apple Three stone eggs, one for each of us. The wreaths we wore to our Midsummer ritual. L'Rae

-->L’Rae’s altar is abundant and layered. So many things that one could adapt to a small, portable altar. Her mention of rainwater is a good one. I prefer to use rainwater myself, but I am not above using tap water at need.

Well, it's not really tiny, but it's not big either. lol Mine is the top of a small bookcase, so my space is limited. Currently, it houses a small, battery-operated fountain, a big jar of seashells, four candles/holders, a crystal ball my dh got me a few years ago, two small jade bowls, an incense burner, a beautiful sun and moon box I picked up a while back, a clay dish one of my boys made me in art class, and a small bust of Aprhodite I found last summer. It's a little crowded, but it works. :-) Elizabeth

-->Elizabeth’s altar may be crowded, but I like the representations she uses. Again, ideas to adapt for a tiny altar. There are even very small battery operated fountains that could be carried along with if desired. I love the use of items made by children on altars. They add that personal touch.

My main altar was always a bit of everything - earth, air, fire, water, salt, plants, spells-in-progress, herbs, stones, etc. My idea for a mini: wooden box with a lava rock, a seashell, and a feather. In a small wooden box (pocket sized) I have 7 wooden candle holders (craft store minis), a silver goblet (jewlery charm), a small incense holder, a thimble sized cup (salt/water), a patten, a needle, birthday cake candles, incense, matches. I plan to get some small vials for salt and oil, a minature blade, an appropriate twig (possibly carve it) wand and maybe an altar cloth... by EMBER

-->Ember’s suggestions are great. I like the idea of a tiny wand a lot! The mini, with only three items, is about as pared down as you can get and still get it all in there. Beautifully simple.

Piece of gold, piece of blue lapis lazuli, salt, strip of linen, feather. Can't think of anything else at the moment. Ideally, water would be in there, but I don't see how that's portable. ~ IJ

-->IJ’s Kemetic altar is simple and lovely. Add a pretty bottle of water and she’s got everything covered. NOTE: Ij mentions salt, but in her case the salt is natron, a sodium product that was used in ancient Egypt to desicate the body prior to final mummification.

I like crystals on my altars... and candles. Bells, and things that represent the season, like flower garlands or fall leaves and whatnot. Also, statuary, I've got some tiny goddess images I love to use. StychKitty

-->StychKitty’s suggestions for seasonal additions are wonderful. It wouldn’t be hard to add flowers, leaves, etc. to the altar as appropriate. Dried or silk would work nicely, too, and you can find silks in miniature.

Naturally everyone will personalize their teeny tiny altars to suit their personal beliefs and practices. These suggestions are a good place to start, and again I thank those who offered their input.

Blessed be.
Mattie