u/laurellestars

Hi, I'm interested in studying the Quareia course, but I'm struggling with the requirements because of my living situation.

My income is low enough that I can't afford to rent an apartment or even a studio (For context, I live in the U.S. - West Coast). I rent a room in a large city and have very little private space. I live in an earthquake-prone area where the buildings are primarily made of wood and the place and the floor is carpet covered, so I can't safely use 1 candle, let alone 5 candles.

I also don't have the space to use tools and altars and I ran into problems with the exercises that required movement. I've tried walking the circles as instructed, but my room is so cramped that I don't have enough floor space to walk in a full circle and take front and back steps during ritual, even without the altars.

Another possible issue (although I don't really see it as one) is that I must keep my voice low because the walls are thin and the neighbors can hear everything. I don't have access to a public park either and have limited transportation and there are no woods nearby I can go to do ritual. My only private area is the room I rent.

To clarify, my limitations are due to my living situation, not a lack of willingness to follow the course rules or use tools or have an altar space.

Given those constraints, is it still possible to work through the Quareia Apprentice course? If so, how would one work through it without tools or space? For example, instead of walking in a circle, would I spin in a circle or imagine walking in a circle?

Or is it better to postpone Quareia until my situation changes? I'd rather not postpone though, given what's happening in the U.S., I'm not sure this situation is going to get better because prices and rent keep going up, so transportation and living space is becoming a bigger issue over time.

The thing is, I already bought the book and I don't just want to read it, I want to do the work and make progress, without skipping sections or jumping around, but I'm not sure how to do that given the circumstances and I don't want to break the directions in the textbook, it's why I ask.

If you've made it this far, thank you for reading. Any advice is appreciated. <3
Like, Polly Pocket altars, toy candles, idk. I'm open to it.

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Note: Thank you for the encouragement you guys, but please don't suggest anything with real fire. As stated previously, it's a hazard due to how the building is made and the extreme lack of space. I would not endanger the other renters, or the building I'm renting the room from, to succeed in this course.

Also, in some buildings, candles have been banned. So even if I somehow fix my living situation in the future and rent my own appartment, this problem will still potentially be there.

If we really think about it, why would landlords allow renters to have candles in this day and age? Even my workplace bans candles and electric heaters, and the forests have fire restrictions. Sorry, I think I'm in a very particular area of the country (and world) and it's looking difficult to solve this issue.