Dorm rooms!

[gatto]

is anybody else living and practicing out of a dorm room? I've found that practicing out of a dorm room is extremely challenging because

A. I have a roommate
B. I am technically not allowed to burn candles/incense
C. I barely have any room


I've dealt with this by going outside to do things when I can because my dorm is next to a big lake and nobody walks around at night or just trying to find times when my roommate isn't around


how do you guys deal with dorm rooms?

[new_hope]

I just moved into a dorm, and while I do not have a room mate, I'm not allowed to burn anything either, and there is no room anywhere. I also have to problem that i am not openly pagan, and a lot of friends spend time in my room and the cleaners vacuum biweekly. I got around it by buildng my altar in my wardrobe. It's lockable, so people don't play with it.

[gatto]

I just moved into a dorm, and while I do not have a room mate, I'm not allowed to burn anything either, and there is no room anywhere. I also have to problem that i am not openly pagan, and a lot of friends spend time in my room and the cleaners vacuum biweekly. I got around it by buildng my altar in my wardrobe. It's lockable, so people don't play with it.

that's a good idea! My pagan mentor is very openly pagan and is friends with all of my friends so while I haven't gone around announcing anything most people know so I don't have to worry about hiding it from people. I have a few things set up on my night table but I don't have the room for anything significant.

[new_hope]

Goodluck working it out!! Are you in America?

[gatto]

Goodluck working it out!! Are you in America?

Thanks :) yes I am in America

[brymble]

It's been 20 years since I lived in a dorm. My roommate was Pagan, so there was no problem there. I set my altar up in a cabinet due to the same space concerns, and to keep it out of the way, since we were also both art majors and there was stuff everywhere. For the candles and incense, get some of those electric candles people put in their windows. Get different colored bulbs: white for the Goddess, purple (check Halloween displays around Samhain) for the God, green for earth, yellow for air, red for fire, blue for water. In place of incense, get an essential oil diffuser. We used little clay pots, filled with oil.

[new_hope]

That is a really good idea.. I didn't even think about oil diffusers. And trust me, it's not just Art Majors that are a mess, I'm 1st year Vet medicine, and my room is a pigpen

[brymble]

My son is interested in Vet medicine, and his room's a pig pen too. Of course, he's 12, that goes with the territory. Wants to create some kind of emergency information hotline for animal care. He also wants to scuba-dive and be and explorer.

The oil diffusers work great. Most occult incenses are also available as oils. You can use the clay pots, get "plug-ins", or use an electric potpuri simmerer. Don't use tea lights, girl at the U of R burned her dorm down with a tea light simmerer while my mom was working at the med school. Happens all the time.

[Corvis Canis Latrans]

is anybody else living and practicing out of a dorm room? I've found that practicing out of a dorm room is extremely challenging because

A. I have a roommate
B. I am technically not allowed to burn candles/incense
C. I barely have any room


I've dealt with this by going outside to do things when I can because my dorm is next to a big lake and nobody walks around at night or just trying to find times when my roommate isn't around


how do you guys deal with dorm rooms?

First, a word, you say you are technically not allowed to burn candles or incense. Use of the word technical implies that you're skirting the rules and doing it anyway. I'm hoping that means you're doing it at the lake rather than in the dorm room. Fire hazards aside, part of the reason for those rules is because a lot of people are sensitive to the fumes that incense gives off, and it gets into other dorm rooms easily. For me, getting a whiff of incense involves a puking bad migraine, others it might trigger allergies or generalized discomfort, even anaphalactic shock.

Meaning there's the potential to hospitalize someone, but in general it causes other people discomfort, and depending on your ethical mindset, that alone might interfere with whatever the purpose of the ritual is, and certainly if you believe in vibes and environmental ambiance influencing your ritual, the negativity generated by the discomfort is going to interfere with whatever ritual you are going to do.

I will say that if I were rooming nearby, and traced the incense use to a student, and said student didn't stop upon my telling them about the discomfort they were causing, I'd take actions to defend myself, which would involve both reporting said student and taking my own ritual action to neutralize the pain caused...which would probably neutralize and cause their ritual work to backfire....I'm a bitch when I'm in pain, and pain can be channeled rather powerfully...I'd be aiming for the student to have the exact same reactions I do.... :hahugh:.

That said:
A few helpful links regarding pagans and dorm life:

This site is by far the most extensive:
http://www.collegewicca.com/

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/257662/dorm_survival_for_pagan_students.html

Geared toward Druidism, but tips can be generalized:
http://www.chronarchy.com/essays/dorm-room-druid.html

[Phoenix Blue]

First, a word, you say you are technically not allowed to burn candles or incense. Use of the word technical implies that you're skirting the rules and doing it anyway.
You're making a huge assumption here, don't you think?

[Corvis Canis Latrans]

Every time I've heard someone say "Technically I'm not allowed to do this" it means they've done it and are just looking for rationalizations.

Saying I'm assuming is me putting it nicely. You use that word, and it's pretty much a given that you've done it (Edit: or possibly know someone who has, and not reported it, or have some way of knowing that the rules aren't enforced, whichis 99.9% of the time covered by the aforementioned two scenarios). :)

[gatto]

Incense I always burn by the lake for exactly that reason... I was referring more to candles then burning incense in here. On a bad day I've been known to light one for a min or two and blow it right out, all my candles are non scented so that isn't too bad.

[Corvis Canis Latrans]

I'm glad to hear that. :thumbsup:

[Heart of All]

When I was in the dorms and had a roommate, I made a tiny altar in my windowsill. Once I got my own room, I had a standing lamp with three little shelves I used for altar space instead. Then my senior year, my room was a little bigger and I used the top of my dresser and my desk hutch for altar space.

[Kaye Sweetbriar]

I live in a dorm room and we're not allowed to burn things in the dorms, either. Because of this, I purchased a pack of six electric tea lights from Walmart for $2.50. We've used them in ritual for my school's Pagan group, so I see no problem with them. You can find them in your local Walmart's candle aisle.

Other things to do would be to make a pocket altar that you can set up on your desk, dresser or other flat surface, or even on the floor. Simply gather together a few of your basic tools and place them into a container of some kind, such as a cookie tin, a small box or even a drawer of your room. You can also purchase a small plastic container or a toolbox to hold such items.

Hope this helps some.

[BlackSwan]

I've been living in the dorms as well.

My roommate isn't spiritual at all, in fact i'm not sure that she's aware of my beliefs at all. She and I don't get along what so ever, so that tends to make living together very awkward. It's a soon ending work in progress, that may never be completed.
Aside from that, my altar is very small anyway, so I have a fold away tv tray (you can get for 7 dollar at target) that I use for that purpose, and it folds away under my bed. All of my items I keep in this ottoman storage bench, or any drawer space I have.

We're not allowed to burn anything in our rooms either, and we have good reason. I've only lit incense for 3 seconds and then snuffed it out because there was a stench that was not leaving the room: i'm sure some can relate. Otherwise, I keep the sticks in my room but not burnt, and i'll use them that way (and powers of imagination if necessary). Otherwise I take it outside. The electric candles are a really good idea too! (though not all are unscented)

I'm a music major, and my side of the room at least is usually very clean with the exceptions of a book or two in the floor.

Good luck with the glorious dorm life! :smileroll

[brymble]

One of those lamp rings for scented oils might also be helpful. I'd completely forgotten, but it was while I was living in a dorm that I first started using them. The major drawbacks to using them are that they get hot, of course, and that you have to use them when the lights are on. So if you prefer the dim light of candle light, meditation in colored light (such as with the colored bulbs) for ritual, or you like fragrance while falling asleep, a plug-in diffuser may be a better choice. I actually used them while studying, and put them on my desk lamp, with concentration-enhancing oils like basil, grapefruit, or rosemary.

[Corvis Canis Latrans]

One of those lamp rings for scented oils might also be helpful. I'd completely forgotten, but it was while I was living in a dorm that I first started using them. The major drawbacks to using them are that they get hot, of course, and that you have to use them when the lights are on. So if you prefer the dim light of candle light, meditation in colored light (such as with the colored bulbs) for ritual, or you like fragrance while falling asleep, a plug-in diffuser may be a better choice. I actually used them while studying, and put them on my desk lamp, with concentration-enhancing oils like basil, grapefruit, or rosemary.

Again, bad idea when you're in a building with several people. :uhhuhuh:

[brymble]

*shrug* Never had a problem, no one complained. Of course, no one complained about my neighbor's stinky bong, and he wasn't supposed to have that, either.

But do remember to keep the oils natural. It's usually the toluene-related chemicals in the synthetics that people react to.

[Corvis Canis Latrans]

Truth in that (though most of the natural ones certainly stink to hell to those who don't use them regularly), however, generally people with hay fever will be allergic to things like chamomile oil.

Most people don't speak up for fear of being pooh-poohed though, I'm more outspoken here, I've noticed when I mention it in RL, people kind of smirk and do the yeah-right response and ignore me. Or worse, test it. Things aren't nearly as bad as they used to be, but in the past there were people who regretted that move when they had to dodge the vomit.

[new_hope]

The dorm I'm in is more like a motel kind of set up. The corridors only have a wall on one side, so there is more than enough ventilation, and we don't have air-con, and we have gas heaters. So the only reason we have the no burning stuff rule, is because of the smoke alarm. It is so very amazingly annoying when the smoke alarm goes off at 2am, and you have to go stand outside for an hour... =.=