The Portable Temple

 

Bomos and Micro-Bomos

 

While the big bomos in the temple is designed to be lugged around from place to place, it is obviously too tall to use in our portable temple, whether that be a tent, stepside van or within a pickup truck shell. What we need for these purposes is a basic box manufactured to a dimensions of 1' x 1' x 2'. The instructions we give here can easily be applied to a large bomos as well.

Firstly, we would construct it in two parts, one of which slid down over onto the other, their edges butting as would any similar "pillbox" type construction. This is accomplished by simply building each half of the altar as identical 1' cubes, open on one face. Altho' it can be maddeningly frustrating to the beginning woodworker, we recommend using mitered edges throughout so that the resulting appearance is nearly edgeless and seamless. If this method isn't used, one can expect to spend a great deal of time in the finishing process to achieve a high-quality finish suitable for painting.

The cube designated as the lower will next have four strips of of the same materials used in the construction of the rest of the box installed to make a lip projecting from the inside of the box which the upper cube will receive. Cut these strips about 3" wide and almost as long as one inside face's length, then settle them into place with about 2/3rd of the width inside the lower cube and 1/3 projecting beyond its opening. Glue and short screws are in order for this.

The cube designated as the lower will next have four strips of of the same materials used in the construction of the rest of the box installed to make a lip projecting from the inside of the box which the upper cube will receive. Cut these strips about 3" wide and almost as long as one inside face's length, then settle them into place with about 2/3rd of the width inside the lower cube and 1/3 projecting beyond its opening. Glue and short screws are in order for this.

Set the upper cube onto the lower and observe how it mates with the lower parts. try all four orientations and see which one gives you the best appearance and lightly mark it so you can find it again. Conduct any more finishing that mat be required and prepare the surface for painting.

The manner of decoration is really best left up to the ingenium of the individual craftsman, but we will give here a somewhat familiar design:

Bottom: a quadrisected crcle colored as per typical Malkuth scheme (russet, black, citrine and olive) on a black background. Circle is oriented such that it is quartered on axes spanning corner to corner of the square surrounding it. In other words, a given pie-shaped quarter of the circle butts up against a face of square, not a corner. The black quarter will designate North for purposes of all further orientation and the other colors of the figure will also correspond to their appropriate quarters

Lower half: Black

Upper Sides: Decorated with large-scale enochian tablets, each to their appropiate quarter. These should be principally white with the figures and grids drawn in black, or, if color is used in the appropriate colors. We avoided adding a great deal of color to the upper sides, as it seemed to cloud the symbolism presented by the simple white over black.

Top: On a white background, the symbol of the order.

There is yet another variation submitted on this theme, and it is worth the while to give it. It was designed for a Glyph such as that maintained by the Prime lodge and therefore called for a hexagonal cabinet built in the same manner as the one above. For calculation purposes, assume the ratio of width to length as being the same as above, but the width figure used in arriving at the length is calculated as an average of the measurements taken from face to face across the hex and the measurement taken across opposite points.

The bottom of this device is simply painted black, while each side and the top is painted in the flashing colors appropriate to a planetary sphere, the face of it further being decorated with signatures, presigillum, etc.

 

Drape Management

 

The quickest and easiest way to make a small space into a temple is with the use of drapes of some sort. Back when the prime lodge, was considering the use of a Ford Econoline van for that purpose, Frater A. I. was quick to design a set of mechanism by which drapes could be hung in short order.

This vehicle had a custom wooden headliner attached to the metal roof, and that made it a simple matter to use simple screweyes to anchor the cords which would become our "curtain rod". When one is not so fortunate, is necessary to get a series of nuts, wide washers and the like (see illo at left) such that sheet metal can be negotiated. A few rubber washers and a couple of squirts of silicon caulk will go the rest of the distance if it is required to be exposed to potential leaks and other weather-hazards. The important things is to get a good solid anchor in each of the four corners of the space.

To these anchors are attached bungee cords stretched as tight as one can manage which have first been fished through the wide hem which is to be sewn into the top of the fabic panels. Alternately, this yardage of fabric can be simply drapped over the taut cords, if it is not too heavy.

The drapes themselves should lightweight (not unlike bed sheets) and dyed (perhaps even batiked) to appropriate colors. Also, they should be of a uniform length, sufficient to span the greatest distance, should one's space be longer in one dimension than another. The reason for this will become clear the first time the space is put to use, for one cannot guarantee always that the vehicle in question will be able to orient it self the same way to the compass at each location.

The ceiling fabric (ours is a celestial print of stars on black) is the true challenge, and may require ingenuity. If one has a metal ceiling with which to work, one need only invest in a collection of medium-weight magnets, sticking the fabric to the metal and letting the edges drape down behind the side panels. If one has a wooden ceiling, thumbtacks or push-pins are in order. More challenging spaces could see the use of velcro or elastic.

Floor covering was a simple carpet of turkish design, but could just as easily be a collection of black and white squares sewn together in the familiar checkerboard, or something quite ornate.

 

This page is part of The Companions of the Glyph website