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Subscribe to this list via RSS Blog posts tagged in frankincense

Posted by on in Culture Blogs

 The Smoke Medicine of Your Ancestors — Sacred Ancestry

 

“Mm, your hair smells good,” says my coven-sib as we share a post-ritual hug.

“Really?” I ask, “like what?”

(Back in the day when we used to hold rituals down on the banks of the Mississippi, my boyfriend said to me one morning: “Is it a pagan holiday today?” “Yeah, Lunasa,” I replied. “How did you know?” “Oh, your hair always smells like smoke,” he said.)

She takes another snuff.

“Incense,” she says.

I'm a little surprised to hear it, given that we burned no incense tonight, and that it's been more than 12 hours since I made the morning offering.

“Your house always smells like that, too: so good,” adds another coven-sib.

Dion Fortune talks in Moon Magic about how in time the entire fabric of the temple becomes imbued with the redolence of frankincense. For us of the Old Ways, there's no prayer without offering. Twice daily I offer incense, with prayer, at Temple of the Moon, where I live: morning and evening, day in, day out, year upon year upon year.

I sometimes wonder about the long-term health effects of such operational piety. Will I be seeing, in age, the priestly equivalent of black lung? A hieratic occupational hazard? Oh well: I burn the best quality stuff I can afford, and try to get plenty of lung exercise in the meantime. Let the sandalwood chips fall where they may.

I suppose it's not surprising, given that my house smells like incense, that I don't even notice it any more: the way, I suppose, fish don't notice the water they swim in, either. Funny, how in the end we become our environment.

Well, there are worse things to smell like than prayer. Living in the odor of sanctity sure sounds like my idea of the good life. Perhaps, over time, the body, like the temple, becomes imbued with the redolence of ritual.

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Posted by on in Culture Blogs
Mint Money Bags

Rather than chasing money or possessions, you can simply draw them toward you with wisdom from days gone by. A tiny green pouch filled with the herbs chamomile and mint, three cinnamon sticks, one silver dollar and a green stoneperidot or a smooth mossy-colored pebble of jadewould be perfect. The untrained eye might perceive this as a bag of weeds and rocks but any kitchen witch knows this is a powerful tool for creating powerful change into your life and attracting good fortune.

Prepare your attraction pouch during a waxing moon; the strongest power would be when the sun or moon is in Taurus, Cancer or Capricorn. Hold the pouch over frankincense incense and as the smoke blesses the bag, you speak:

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Posted by on in Culture Blogs
Ghostbusting Potion

To rid a house of haunting intrusion, brew a peppermint and clove infusion. Drizzle the potion throughout the space, and out, out, the ghost will race. Burning frankincense and myrrh incense sends negative spirits flying away as well.

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Posted by on in Culture Blogs
Foundations of Incense: Frankincense

While sandalwood is arguably the most traditional base material for incense, perhaps no ingredient’s name is better known than frankincense.  Its fame is based on more than just its place in the story of Christ’s birth in the New Testament book of Matthew.  In fact, frankincense plays an important role in ancient history that begins thousands of years before the beginning of the Common Era.  Frankincense was one of the key products shipped on the famed “silk road” of the ancient world.  It was a source of great wealth and, as a result, also a product of mystery and intrigue.  Even today the locations of many of the traditional groves that produce the highest quality frankincense remain a closely guarded family secret.

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Posted by on in Paths Blogs
The magic of: Frankincense & Myrrh

The magic of: Frankincense & Myrrh

Frankincense

A resin from the Boswellia tree, a deciduous tree that grows on rocky outcrops.

As with all resins when burnt on charcoal it makes a lot of smoke but I have to say I think this is my favourite resin scent and again as with most resins it works well for cleansing and purifying.

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