Featured Project #1:
MAGICAL TRAVEL ALTAR

THE USE OF THE ALTAR dates back beyond written history to a time when primitive peoples kept sacred places in which they held rituals to call for successful hunts or bountiful harvests. Evidence of altars can be seen in the earliest known dwellings as well as in many ancient stone circles and other early constructions. Personal altars of one kind or another have been found in the excavations of nearly every culture from even the earliest civilizations.

Today, many people choose to reserve a place in their home that is considered a special place of prayer and honor. Often these sacred places, or altars, will be decorated with items of significance to one's personal beliefs and spiritual practices. The sacred altars are then used for prayer and meditation or to manifest blessings of love, protection, prosperity, success and more.

Many altars will have individual or religious symbols of the five elements - Earth, Air, Fire, Water and Spirit - often represented by handmade or purchased items that hold some special significance to the person creating it. Crystals, shells, twigs, flowers, feathers and other natural objects are also favorite elemental representations for many altars, as well as personal wands or other tools.

On my altar I keep an amethyst cluster to represent the Earth, a feather for Air, a smudge stick for Fire, a pretty shell to honor Water, and a quartz crystal for Spirit. In addition, I have a beautiful bronze figure that is the focal point of my sacred space. I have seen some altars that are very elaborate with expensive silver chalices and gilded wands and others that contain only items from nature to represent the elements.

Your own altar should be functional, but it should also be a reflection of your personality and beliefs because you will be using it to generate energy to bring you luck, love, happiness, prosperity, health or any number of other wonderful things. Some of the best ritual tools are ones you are familiar with, such as candles, incense, a favorite cup, bowl or statuette. Unfortunately, it's not always easy or convenient to carry a pile of bulky altar items and personal tools when traveling away from home; apart from weight concerns, there is always the risk of losing some precious items or breaking them in transit.

I got the idea to make my own little travel altar when I was traveling to Mt. Shasta, California for a week-long seminar. I had to fly and wanted to take my altar with me, but there was no way to carry all of the items on the plane. I was feeling a bit frustrated about the situation when I suddenly had the idea to make a miniature version of my altar. So I quickly cut out a circular bit of cloth and drew a five-pointed star on it with a paint pen. Then I chose tumbled stones to represent the five elements. I folded the stones in the cloth and tied them with a ribbon. When I got to Mt. Shasta I found a twig that I pressed into service as a small wand. My travel altar worked so well I spent some time designing a bag that could double as an altar space after I got home. I still use my tumbled stones with my new and improved version.

Your portable travel altar should have the same basic qualities as a stationary altar, except that it should be small, easy to pack and carry with you, and the items inside should be sturdy and durable. To make a simple travel altar, cut a circle out of leather or fabric, draw or paint sacred symbols on the inside, and use items such as stones, twigs or dollhouse miniatures to represent the larger versions of sacred ritual objects and tools.

In order to imbue it with your own magical essence it is best if you decorate and personalize it yourself. Every bit of energy you put into the creation of your travel altar is energy that will continue to build and be available to you for regular spiritual practices or emergency situations that require quick action and energy while away from home.

Making Your Own Magical Travel Altar

You can make your own magical travel altar to take with you on business trips, holidays or keep in your car for any situation. Using leather or a tight-weave fabric (such as microfiber or soft mock-suede), you can fashion a portable personal altar that you can use for a lifetime. Be sure to choose a symbol or design that fits closely with your personal beliefs and comfort levels. A pentagram to represent the five elements is certainly not the only symbol that lends itself well to use in a travel altar. You can even make up your very own symbol or design that nobody but you knows the significance of.

You will need:

• Tightly woven fabric or soft leather square approximately 9" x 9" (23 x 23mm) (mock suede works really well for this project as it has a nice appearance)
• Pinking shears and/or sharp scissors
• Leather punch if using leather
• Tapestry needle if making a fabric bag and using cord
• Fabric dye markers or indelible Sharpie markers (fabric paints are not a good choice since they tend to crack with use)
• Sewing transfer paper
• Two 24" (61 cm) lengths of floss, thin ribbon, thin satin cord, or leather cord (adjust length up or down according to the size bag you are making)
• Small sturdy representations to carry inside of the completed bag

1. Lay out your leather or fabric with the inside facing up. Draw a circle using a protractor, or by tracing around a plate or saucer that is the desired size. If the fabric is light you can use a pencil. If it is dark you may want to use a piece of chalk to trace around the edge. Cut out fabric with pinking shears (to prevent fraying) or soft leather with sharp scissors (though you may be able to use pinking shears on soft leather as well).
    
2. Using the sewing transfer paper, trace the symbol or design you have chosen onto the inside of the bag's fabric. Or you can create a stencil and use light sprays of household spray paint to stencil your design onto the inside of the bag (this second option is labor intensive). Be sure to mark spots for the holes. For leather you will use one hole and for fabric two holes, one above the other. There should be 24 holes for a leather bag or, for the fabric bag, 24 sets of two holes, one just above the other, spaced evenly around the edge of the bag. The sets of holes should be placed at least 1/2" to 3/4" in from the edge. There must be an even number of holes in order for the drawstrings to work properly.
    
3. Use fabric dye pens or indelible markers to define your symbol and add personalized embellishments. Take care that you use a fairly light hand with them as they can bleed through to the outside of the bag. You might also want to adorn your travel altar with seed beads or other small and easily affixed items.
    
4. For the fabric bag, using a tapestry needle and light cord, stitch the outer ring of hole marks, starting from the outside of the bag on one side of the circle. Stitch in through one hole mark and out through the next hole mark, until you have made your way all around the circle and back to the same side. If you have done this correctly your cord will end up on the outside of the bag. Then repeat starting from the opposite side and following the in and out pattern of the inner ring of hole marks (just below the stitching points of the first ones), taking special care not to sew through the other cord. When finished, you should have two cord loops that enter and exit on opposite sides of the bag.
    
   If you are using leather you will punch single holes all the way around the circle. Then follow the above fabric instructions to thread the laces in and out of the holes. The difference is that you won't need a needle and you will use the same holes for the two laces instead of having two sets of holes.
    
5. Take the cord ends on either side, match that side's ends (maybe add a decorative bead) and knot them together so that you can pull them taut and tie a bow. When you open your travel altar it may not lay flat, but don't let that worry you. Having a cupped edge will protect the bag's contents from spilling when you lay it out (especially if it is opened on a surface that is not level, like a rock or your lap).
    
   NOTE: When you pull the cords you will have very long drawstrings. Do not cut them off as you will not be able to open the bag fully if you do. Simply tie them up in a large bow.
    
6. Some people like to use tiny miniatures, like tiny candlesticks or miniature table knives or chalice cups that can be found in dollhouse shops. Others prefer to use small tumbled stones as representations and tools. Still others enjoy using Sculpey Clay or baking clay to fashion thick rounded bead-like shapes to represent altar items. Use your imagination and keep in mind that you will want the items to be as sturdy and unbreakable as possible since your altar bag may end up in places where it is subject to jostling or crushing.

After you finish crafting your altar be sure to cleanse it and all of its components with sage or incense smoke, or your breath. Then create and perform a small personal ritual using the altar to dedicate it to your use. Some symbols that may spark your imagination for use in your travel altar:

Celtic Knot	Tree of Life	Triskele	Ying Yang
Pentagram	Ohm	Chi Rho	Spiral
Druid Awen	Triqueta	Cinquefoil	Wheel of Life

Check back next month, as Carol shows us
how to create a Manifesting Map!

© Carol Holaday, 2009
This craft was excerpted with permission from Crafting a Magical Life: Manifesting Your Heart's Desire Through Creative Projects by Carol Holaday, ©2009, Findhorn Press.

Crafting a Magical Life contains a lot MORE
for you to explore and enjoy... and it is available NOW
from Findhorn Press, Amazon.com, and other major bookstores.

Click on the cover image below to purchase.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Carol Holaday was born in Lubbock, TX on February 20th, 1957 and shares her family tree with the sleeping prophet, Edgar Cayce, through her great grandmother Edna Brown. A 1988 graduate of Texas Tech University and certified teacher, artist and writer, Carol has long been interested in the magical aspects of folk craft traditions, particularly those that involve crystals and minerals. Carol has written many articles on the spiritual and magical uses of crystals and stones for the international monthly online magazine, Planetlightworker.com, for which she also writes an exclusive monthly forecast called the Crystal Star Oracle. She lives in San Diego, California where, along with husband Chris, she owns a crystal and magical crafts business called Wisdom Crystals and teaches spiritual and metaphysical classes on a monthly basis. She may be contacted directly at Joysprite@gmail.com.

Visit Carol's website at www.wisdomcrystals.com/ to find out more about her new book, Crafting a Magical Life: Manifesting your Heart's Desire through Creative Projects, published by Findhorn Press in 2009. Purchase Crafting a Magical LIfe now by clicking on the image above.