Incense

[Rustig]

So, as of Monday this week, I started getting into incense. So far I've not really done much with it other than burning-it-to-see-how-it-smells. I've only bought stick incense so far, but since I have a small cast-iron pot, I'm considering buying some cone or granular incense. So far the only "true" scents I've got are Sandalwood and Strawberry. I say true because the other scents are named things like "Witch Doctor" or "Something Strange", and since the store I buy them at sells them individually, I don't know what's ingredients are in them.

Does anyone have any advice for a beginner? D=  

[Nuadu]

First, never buy anything that doesn't have a real name. You've gotten that one down already it looks like.

Second, shop around. I've found, for instance, the quality of frankincense sticks to vary greatly between stores, though sometimes the cheap stuff is pretty good.

Third, definitely play with both cones and resins. Frankincense stick incense is nice, the real deal is soooo much better.

Fourth, get a small pair of pliers and a good lighter for lighting charcoal. Use incense charcoal, not the stuff you use in the grill, that stuff is highly toxic.

Fifth, try not to burn your flat down wink  

[Rustig]

Thanks very much!

As it happens, I bought something advertised as "Frankincense and Myrrh" (I'm half-doubting it, since it's obviously a pretty commerical product and there're no ingredients on said packet) and it's... pretty damn pungent. Nonetheless, I'm going to head around the city and see if I can find anywhere better to buy my supplies from.  

[Nuadu]

Myrrh is pretty strong stuff. I have a container of F&M resin from a Greek company. Its pretty easy to find in the States, not sure about the UK. I can look up the company name if you are interested.  

[Ges]

Oh Mitsh, you stumbled to one of my weaknesses, incense, heh.

Personally I see nothing wrong with mixed sense "Witch doctor" and what have you, but I think it's good to know some of the "basics" first. I find stick incense is so much more convenient, but resin just so much better. I tend to use stick incense for my nightly rituals, because it's quick, easy and I can work it into the symbolism of three sticks for the three pillars, and the three selves, in this case The Self I See (Conscious), The Self I Hide (My Shadow), The Self that Lies Between (Whatever truth of Self there is). But for more direct rituals, especially Goetic or Conjuration, I tend to use the resins.

I prefer resins for several reasons, they smell better, the smoke is "cleaner" so while there is more smoke (which is also a plus) it tends to be easier for me to breath. But, I can mix my own. My mom, who doesn't believe in past lives, once joked I was an alchemist or chemist in a past life, because I love mixing things.

I love being able to mix incense, because I can create custom incense for various rituals.

(Sorry this is rambly and jumpy)

Crowley and Frater U. biggrin .: both give good information on incense (though U. biggrin .:'s is just Crowley's rehashed). The basic idea is you shouldn't have pages of what each incense is for, what planets, etc, and that is largely personally. Crowley gives one, rarely two examples for a scent, and then says "all gloomy scents" or "all fiery scents" etc, and leaves it up to us to decide where a scent belongs, and how to categorize it into a planetary system.

Once you have the basic of that, mixing incense for ritual, or even knowing what to use, just becomes so easy, plus you can explore. Imagine that, I like exploring and experimenting.

My last piece of advice go to an apothecary. I used to buy my resin at the various occult shops, then I stumbled into an herbalist store, and saw their prices on the same resins, and never looked back. I don't know if Toronto is isolated in this regard, but I can literally buy four times as much of any resin from an herbalist, than I could from an occult shop for the same price. It used to take me $80-100 to fill one of my incense jars (note, I only spent that much at once just to see, then became more strict with incense use, heh), but now I can fill any of my jars with for $20-$30. So at least check out an herbalist store to compare prices.  

[Hekate81]

If you are interested in making incenses then I suggest that you take a look at Scott Cunningham's Oils, Incenses and Brews. Do you have a decent quality censer to burn cone incense in? 6-10 drops of your favourite essential oils are really nice in about 30 ml of water in a diffuser that takes a tealight. The scent lasts for hours and has a much purer smell than some incenses do. It's a good idea to get a few basic incense like Sandalwood, Frankincense and anything else that you use for ritual or meditation. Cone incense burns much nicer but you have to be a little more careful about fire hazard (I burned a few things that I thought were fireproof).  

[Rustig]

Oh wow, thanks guys!

My prime concern with cone/resin incense is that it might create too much smoke -- I live in a rented apartment and my room's fairly small, so I'm worried about setting off the fire alarm (or smoke alarm. I have no idea). I'm going to go out and buy some cone incense in a day or two, since it's on my list of Magickal Things To Do, so I guess I'll have a better idea of how much smoke these things make.

As for censers, I can easily get one at my local occult store. All their stuff is really well made, and, for whatever reason, often cheaper than their books.

Cheers for all the help!  

[Elfshaman]

I'm sure I am showing off my stupidity but what is the purpose of incence? I know nonmagick users use it for the smell in their homes but what are the magickal properties of it or is the smell and smoke the only thing?  

[Rustig]

Sengem

I'm sure I am showing off my stupidity but what is the purpose of incence? I know nonmagick users use it for the smell in their homes but what are the magickal properties of it or is the smell and smoke the only thing?

In many different magickal systems, people use incense as an offering to deities - some traditions go so far as to attach correspondances between incense and gods. Moreover, it's often used a purifier - you can use it during banishing or cleansing rituals to "purify" the area. Lastly, the scent (and the smoke) can help trigger specific states of consciousness or memories/associations, so it's a great prop for ritual work. It's a ritual tool, like wands, chalices, candles or talismans, but it's an immensely versatile tool at that.  

[drk phinx]

I started out getting just basic resins like frankincense and myrrh, and made protective incense first. my first incense i made was frankincense, myrrh and lavender, i think it was called Jerusalem incense. I would make these incense on the waxing moon and charge them out on full moon.

If you want to try a good stick incense you could try fred soll's incense. He makes resin incense sticks and my teacher in Kabbalah loves the frankincense and myrrh classic bland. They're kind of pricey, but worth it.

I used cunningham's incense book many times, then used more of my intuition as time goes on since i had a general idea of what properties the herbs and resins has.

Hope this helps. smile  

[Ges]

Mitsh

Oh wow, thanks guys!

My prime concern with cone/resin incense is that it might create too much smoke -- I live in a rented apartment and my room's fairly small, so I'm worried about setting off the fire alarm (or smoke alarm. I have no idea).

*nods* Resin produces a lot of smoke, I have to unplug my smoke detector, which is outside my room, but I have a curtain to my room, not a door (trapped in the 70s what now?) so the smoke goes out really easily.  

[WebenBanu]

This is one of my favorite topics, too. A while back, on a forum which I'd been reading, the question was asked as to whether or not it is necessary to custom-fit your incenses to individual ntjrw (Egyptian gods), and where to find them if you do. I think there truly is something to be said for having particular incenses for particular ntjrw, personally. It's not so much that They're limited to one sphere or another, but because They have distinct personalities, They also have distinct personal preferences. Skhmt isn't too fond of sweet, perfumey incense for instance- those things which She particularly likes tend to be spicy, musky, or bold in some way. She likes Dragon's Blood, though I doubt that's a traditional Egyptian scent. Frankincense is pretty much good for Everybody in the ancient Egyptian pantheon, so that and Kapet/Kyphi (if you can find it) are good starting places for developing a relationship with any ntjr.

I'm working on a theory that the scent of an item carries the essence of the thing- considering if the aroma could be experienced as the most tangible part of the ka (i.e. spiritual essence of a person or thing), and the one part which is readily accessible through our more physical senses. Hymns sometimes praise the way the ntjr is "present in the incense," and liturgy from the Daily Rite links the scent of the incense with the god's presence. It's much more than just something that smells nice- it's a part of the ntjr's being and that's why burning special types of incense (thereby releasing their essence into the ritual atmosphere) can strengthen a ntjr's presence in ritual. The ntjrw are manifest in everything- the materials of this world were created from Their bodies, and Their power is still locked inside every object here. You just have to figure out which ntjr's inside, and how to release and focus that energy. That's the essence of heka. We interact with the ntjrw everyday in this world. What you do with that presence, and how the ntjrw react to that... that depends on the situation.

That being said, incenses which are specifically formulated and/or charged to invoke a certain ntjr- or a certain manifestation of a ntjr- are extremely effective. I keep my incenses in a compartment within my altar, so they're fed and charged by their proximity to the working space and the images of the gods. I just have to find a good quality incense with which to start, and the guy who runs the shop where I pick up most of my ntjrw-specific incenses has demonstrated a great talent for formulating incenses which both evoke and satisfy the individual ntjrw with great efficacy. It's important to select incenses which are pure- meaning that they don't use dung as a filler (incenses from India, especially stick and cone forms of incense, are notorious for this) or urine as an accent (a small amount of urea is sometimes used as a sweetener in "perfume" oils). That's why most Kemetics prefer loose incense- it's a lot easier to do quality control that way, and also easier to blend incenses if you're calling on a syncretic or dualistic deity.

Incense is an extremely flexible tool and easy to incorporate into practically any working or worship session, and pretty much any religious style or school of magical thought. I found a link a while back which I particularly enjoyed and will share below. The author seems to approach the subject from a Western esoteric frame, and he or she has clearly put a lot of thought into his discussion; it's really quite interesting. I highly recommend it if you're into this kind of thing:

http://www.lawbright.com/logdos/incense.html  

[erinnightwalker]

a note on fire safety- trivets are your friend XD should you have no trivets, use a tile. should you have no tiles, use clean sand in a bowl (preferably a metal or ceramic or glass or something similar). and should the sand fail you, and yes i know how it sounds, use clean unused kitty litter. the kitty litter has a bit of an aroma when heated/burned but it doesn't smell that bad to me. if you do use kitty litter, then get the plainest kind you can. no odor trapping super cyber necromantic uber crystals. most kitty litter is just basically clay bits and is an excellent way to insulate your flaming bits of smelly matter from leaving scorch marks on the furniture (like if you go for incense charcoal). the only problem is if you have cats- one doesn't want to find poop presents in one's consecrated censer, so put it away when you're done
and fyi, you can get incense charcoal and frankincense and myrrh at christian shops. it is a good idea, however, to leave the more recognizable occult jewelry/accouterments at home. that holy water is murder to get out of your clothes......  

[Vengeful Elegance]

My hubby got me this awesome incense holder! It is in the shape of an Egyptian sarcophagus and it's head looks like Anubis! I LOVE IT SO MUCH! When we light one up the smoke billows out if it. It's pretty cool...

Anyways when I light incense in my apartment it seems to greatly decrease the amount on things that fly across the room for no apparent reason. It happened a lot when our roommate moved out...we found not-nice things in his room....(my husband found some stones that he described by saying that if he wanted to kill someone he would use those...a story for another time) but the incense really helped get rid of the negative energy.