Making Herbal Incense ~ Books of Shadows

Making Herbal Incense

by Karyn Siegel-Maier

Light-winged Smoke, Icarian bird,
Melting thy pinions in thy upward flight,
Lark without song, and messenger of dawn,
Circling above the hamlets as thy nest;
Or else, departing dream, and shadowy form
Of midnight vision, gathering up thy skirts;
By night star-veiling, and by day
Darkening the light and blotting out the sun;
Go thou my incense upward from this hearth,
And ask the gods to pardon this clear flame.
HENRY DAVID THOREAU
Walden (1854)

Incense has been burning on altars for more than 5,000
years. One of the oldest artifacts to evidence the use
of incense during religious rites was found on a
tablet placed on the Sphinx at Giza, Egypt, in about
1533 BC. In ancient times, smoldering incense served
to mask the odors of animal sacrifices, but eventually
became an offering in itself. Today, it is used in
ceremonies to rouse and direct personal energy, and in
purification rituals, particularly in many Oriental
religions. In the West, the use of incense in
religious practice is mainly restricted to Orthodox
Eastern churches, and the Roman Catholic church. The
Anglican church allows the burning of incense, but it
is not integral to the service. Of course, followers
of Native American, or Pagan traditions, use
handcrafted incense as a natural expression, and
empowerment, of their spiritual beliefs.

Home made incense can be prepared from an elaborate
formula, or can be as simple as the sprinkling of a
single dried herb on a bed of glowing coals. Some
traditional formulas may consist of endless
combinations of dried leaves, roots, flowers, barks,
resins and essential oils. Sometimes, ground
semi-precious stones, or empowered crystals, are added
to lend their energies, as the ancient Meso-American
peoples did with emeralds. Native Americans make a
simple incense known as smudge, which is sage leaves
woven or bound together. The belief is that as the
sage smolders, the atmosphere is relieved of negative
vibrations, similar to the cleansing rite performed by
Catholic priests, who use a mixture of frankincense and myrrh.

Incense making is a forgotten art to all but a few
traditionalists. While there are many good quality
brands of incense available on the market, most of
them contain artificial ingredients, and many produce
an aroma that is just that - artificial.

There are basically two forms of incense: combustible
and noncombustible. We'll tackle the latter first,
since it's by far the easiest method and requires little explanation.

Noncombustible incense is achieved by simply
sprinkling a few pinches of dried plant material, or a
blend of materials, on a smoldering charcoal block.
That's a charcoal block, not a charcoal briquette used
for the barbecue! Briquettes are of different
composition, and give off toxic amounts of carbon
monoxide. Don't use them to burn incense! Instead,
occult supply stores, and many novelty shops carry a
supply of raw charcoal blocks for this purpose.

While we're in a cautious mode, let it be said that
you should always burn incense in some type of censor.
It could be a censor purchased just for this purpose,
or a ceramic dish laid with a few inches of sand or salt.

Sometimes the sweet aroma of dried plant material can
change dramatically when burned! You'll need to
experiment with blends you may already have in mind,
or to discover new ones. And, by using the
noncombustible method, your mistakes, if any, will be
short lived. I would also advise that you sample
mixtures on smoldering charcoal before proceeding to
making them into combustible incense.

The plant material to be used should be finely ground
in a food processor, blender, hand held coffee
grinder, or an old fashioned mortar and pestle.

Combustible incense is made in the form of sticks
(sometimes called joss-sticks) , bricks, or cones.
Whatever the volume and shape, combustible incense is
always made with potassium nitrate, better known as
salt peter. This helps the incense to burn well, and
evenly. You can find potassium nitrate in nearly any
drug store, although you may have to ask thepharmacist for it.

Gum tragacanth (or use gum arabic as a substitute) is
made into a glue, and acts as a binding agent. It is
the key ingredient in all molded incense. To make the
glue, place a teaspoon of the ground gum in a glass of
warm water and mix completely until dispersed. A foam
may rise, but it can be easily redistributed, or
skimmed off if it gets in your way. (The gum is
unbelievably absorbent! A mere ounce will absorb up to
one full gallon of water in a single week!) Allow your
gum mixture to absorb the glass of water until it thickens to a paste.

Now you will need to create your incense base. An
incense base is made up of talcum powder, sawdust,
ground spice, dried herbs and flowers, or any
combination thereof. Once you have defined your base,
an essential oil may be added for additional scent,
the potassium nitrate is blended in, and finally, the gum-glue.

Here's a sample mixture for cone incense:

Kyphi

~ Incense for Special Celebrations ~

~ Incense Papers ~

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