I mentioned once that I make use of
portable shrines when I'm not at home. I find my morning and evening rituals too important not to have the proper tools with me. Back in ancient Hellas, I wouldn't have need for portable shrines--as I would be allowed to sacrifice at the heart-fire of the family that housed me--but alas, in this day and age, I do need one. And so, I have not one, but two; one which resides permanently in the car and can be used when I suddenly sleep over somewhere, and one which I take with me in my bag when I know I'll be spending the night somewhere.
Since that post about my portable shrines, I have gotten a good few questions about it, so I decided to show you what is in them. I'll show you the smaller one first, which is the one that fits in my bag.
And now the larger portable shrine, which resides in my car:
Both shrines have about the same things; a candle and a holder, a container with khernips, a container with ethanol, a container with olive oil, a cup for khernips, a cup to burn offerings--or pour libations--in, cloth to dry my hands and face, some incense, matches, an empty container for my burned offerings (in both cases an empty matchbox), and a container of barley. My larger kit also has a vessel to pour libations from and an electric candle to burn during the night, like I do at home.
These are the basic tools I use in my practice. When I am away from home for a few days, I can absolutely continue my practice with this. It's not perfect, but it works. The smaller kit can sustain me for up to five days, the larger kit for about two weeks. Do you have something like this? How do you feel about portable shrines? Let me know in the comments.
I love the wood boxes that you place all your ritual tools in. The wood looks beautiful.
ReplyDeleteMaybe more familiar readers already know this but do you travel a lot or do you work long hours in which you're on the road for traditional ritual times? I've never studied Hellenismos in too much depth or known anyone who does so I'm not familiar with what rituals are relevant and how important timing is.
In my own practice I work on not having too many "must have" tools in part because the heat in the south and the humidity will destroy half of the items I'd want to bring with me. I do find I like to keep a Halpern cd to aid in meditation, a camera to bear witness with, and some holy water.
I am fortunate enough to have a job which does not take me away from home. This is a good thing, since I'm most happy when I'm at home. Yet, I, too, enjoy going on vacation. I sometimes end up staying the night at a friend's house because it's simply too late to drive back, or just because I want to. It's these instances where I make grateful use of my portable shrines.
DeleteI make morning and evening offerings, a practice that I would not want to miss because of these choices. I try to work around the times I am not at home, though; only very few Hellenistic rituals take place at a set time. Usually it doesn't become more specific than 'morning' or 'night', which I can plan around. Unless I'm not going to go home within that time span. So I picked up the habit of taking one of my shrines with me.
Hellenismos has a few basic tools that are needed for practice; barley, khernips (lustral water), and some type of offering, for example. Fire helps carry the sacrifice up to the Theoi, so I bring equipment to make one (a bowl to burn in, matches, ethanol). Hestia's candle should burn on the shrine, so I take that with me as well. Then, there are some extras like cloth to dry hands and face with, a vessel to pour libations with, incense (which, I feel, is just good manners), and a cup for khernips, so I don't have to apply it straight out of the bottle.
I'm very happy with the boxes I found for my shrines :) Thank you for your comment!
I have created travel-worship kits, and am still perfecting them. Now that I have gotten into sculpting more I am going to create mini images of the gods that I can carry with me in the box I have. I don't use ethenol myself, though I have tried it before and have found that I just didn't care for the result. But I do carry a vial of olive oil, a vial of essential oil that I occassionally libate as a perfume (which one I set in the box will depend on what will be going on while I am traveling and I don't particularly travel much either), one of the miniboxes of wooden matches, a kylix for pouring libations, a small votive candle, and a bit of incense. Other small items may vary upon season and what is coming up...such as I sometimes use honey as offerings, one of the small personal-sized mini bottles of wine etc.
ReplyDeleteMini images of the Theoi sounds wonderful! Those would be a great addition to any travel kit. Your kit sounds very nice. Thank you for sharing!
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