Ever since Witches’ Sabbat last year, I’d been thinking about easier ways to bring the majority of my tools and bits and bobs with me, in the event I want something while I’m away from home (like at an event at a campground in a whole other country). I began compiling a list of things I might want, but I kept getting stuck with a list too long or too short and I couldn’t figure out what sort of container to put it in. I wanted something structured and weather-resistant, but beyond that I wasn’t really sure.
Then, about a month ago, both Seo Helrune and Morgan Daimler started talking about their go-bags, and I went scrolling through types of bags on the internet and ran straight into a bag type I hadn’t realized existed: structured makeup travel bags. (Yeah, I’m not that into makeup. But then, if you’ve seen me in person you probably already know that.)
So I looked around and ordered one that was black and water resistant and had what looked to be a good layout, and I waited. When it arrived, I started gathering things and moving them around and revisiting my list and adding more things to a shopping list and taking things out and looking for the perfect notebook and now… Here it is!
The Final Kit:
- Mirror (came with bag, not pictured)
- slim A5 notebook and mechanical pencil (in outer pocket, not pictured)
- 3 plastic quart-sized zip bags (in zipper pocket, not pictured)
- 1 white cotton handkerchief (also in zipper pocket)
- a small bottle of whiskey
- a ceramic folding knife
- a corked test tube
- a mini rattle
- 3 biodegradeable plastic 5 gal bags (green, tucked around jars)
- a jar of sea salt
- a jar of pipe tobacco
- an empty jar
- a spice shaker of my ash salt (not quite the same thing as black salt)
- a compass
- a crystal pendulum and a silver ring in a small jewelry box
- a roll of washi tape
- an electric tealight
- 3 tealight candles
- a small box of matches
- an incense cone and a metal stand, that will be swapped out for incense matchsticks once I acquire ones I like
- a leather pouch with a few important crystals (this is sort of a divination set and sort of a set of tactile anchors for trancework)
- a tiny sewing kit with some different colored thread and a mini scissors
- a set of finger cymbals (in lieu of a bell, because I like them better)
- a tin with a mini tarot deck, the Radiant Rider-Waite-Smith
- an altoid tin, containing white chalk sticks, black birthday candles, and a number of bright candies
- some of my business cards (hey, a witch has got to self-promote)
This is the out-of-town bag, and as such it doesn’t contain the things I always have in my purse, which includes most of my enchanted jewelry (if I’m not wearing it), a number of small personal charms, and a set of oracle cards of my own devising, as well as my phone, calendar, pens, sunglasses, tylenol, hair ties, etc. If I’m wandering about a witchy campground, those things will likely also migrate into here or into my pockets (or, gods-willing, the apron I will finally sew for myself).
I’m glad to have finally made this, and it’s usable now even if there are still a few little things that need tidying. It might seem like a lot of stuff, and it is, so I may need to think about making something scaled down just a touch, something between what I carry everyday and this whole bag, but then again… As much as I love my tools, most of the time, most of what I do uses very few tools at all. This bag is a safety net, for when I can’t just pop home and grab something, for when the closest store is farther away than I can easily walk. I’ll take it to events and I’ll take it to house calls, and as I do the work, I’ll learn what I use most and what I can replace with something I’ll use more.